Comments on: Independent 7,845/Dac

By: flashling

flashling — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:54:57 +0000

Had no problem with this, got CDs immediately and finished in about 20 mins, perhaps I’m a more liberal solver who accepts iffy definitions and noun/verb changes as fair game. Did like new englander though.

By: mhl

mhl — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:42:17 +0000

Thanks for the blog, Ali, and Dac for the puzzle. As often seems to be the case, my favourite clue ends up being the one that I just couldn’t see – NEW ENGLANDER in this case, which is brilliant :)

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:13:32 +0000

Thanks Ali and Dac. Usual fine stuff, with NEW ENGLANDER making me smile. Thanks for explaining TEACH-IN, which I couldn’t parse.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:13:30 +0000

The Concise OED has retrace = discover and follow (a route taken by someone else). Excellent puzzle and blog. Thanks, Dac and Ali.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:59:00 +0000

… and a typing error in my correction to 15ac: [-alsatia]N not [-alsatian]N.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:57:39 +0000

Thanks Dac for the puzzle and Ali for the blog. Nicely apt anagram at 25ac my favourite clue. 27ac: I had the same thoughts as Allan_C @1. I agree that we are in "little quibble" territory 4dn: The best I can find in Chambers 2008 is discover = espy and retrace = run over with the eye. I am not sure that is close enough. 9ac and 10dn: I enjoyed these. In each case we had a one-word defintion of the idiomatic meaning of the phrase and then a defintion of the literal meaning. Minor errors in the blog: 15ac: [-alsatian]N not [-australia]N 6dn: IN AGE not IN TIME

By: Cumbrian

Cumbrian — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:25:45 +0000

Ah – NealH beat me to it!

By: Cumbrian

Cumbrian — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:25:01 +0000

I enjoyed this a lot, with personal favourite being 10d. I’m struggling a bit with 4d: does “retraced” equate to “discovered”? I may be missing something obvious, but it doesn’t quite wok for me; if you retrace something, surely it must already have been discovered?

By: NealH

NealH — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:22:26 +0000

My quibble is with 4. How can retraced mean “discovered”? I only got it when, unable to think of anything else but convinced it couldn’t possibly be correct, I typed it into the online system and the message to say the puzzle was completed came up.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:57:57 +0000

Sound as ever from Dac and a satisfying solve.

Just one little quibble about 27a. Very cleverly clued but in fact Elizabeth II is not the second E.R. as she shares the initials E.R. with eight monarchs of regnal name Edward. The second E.R. was in fact Edward II (reigned 1307-1327) – at least in England.