Comments on: Independent 7,850/Punk

By: redddevil

redddevil — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:56:53 +0000

Bit late coming to this but I’m firmly with Wil on this one. Found 7/8, 12 and 9 to be 3 of the worst surfaces I’ve encountered since doing the Indy crossword. Am also getting fed up with self-referencing crosswords and one clue for multiple entries. I knew one of the BM songs and am embarrassed to admit that.
What next – an X factor theme?
I think I’ll take a break.

By: Ali

Ali — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:25:54 +0000

Thanks for the explanation for ST. JOHN’S WORT. I knew it’d be clever, but just couldn’t see it.

I do find it odd that people can never have heard (or heard of) Copacabana, but I’m sure I would be (and often am) equally stumped by references to opera and classical music, so I guess I shouldn’t labour the point.

Wil – I think ‘people’ here refers to the company, in the same way you might refer to, say, Starbucks as ‘the coffee people’. A bit clunky though I agree.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:59:48 +0000

Well…. after googling ‘Can’t smile without you’ our hearts sank when we discovered the singer. We needed a discography of his to give us some clues as well! We have to say that 9d and 12a defeated us although we knew what had to fit in without fully understanding why! Thank goodness for 225, Ali and the rest of you!
We normally look forward to Punk but some of the clues weren’t exactly 17a! Hey Punk, make our day next time!

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:07:07 +0000

I’m with Conrad and K’s D, also I think Quixote. Had never heard of any of these songs. As a result I didn’t really enjoy this very much, because in several cases one was left with the wordplay alone. I never understood 7/8 and even now can’t see why BIC clues ‘people with razors’: OK a Bic is a type of razor, but where do the people come in?

One or two good clues, as you would expect from Punk, but some were not in my opinion up to his usual standard: 7/8, even if it is sound and I’ve missed something, has a very clunky surface, as does 12ac, both of them uncomfortably long and with very little obvious meaning.

By: Quixote

Quixote — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:14:19 +0000

I managed this on the Oxford to London bus without any aids and without any knowledge of the hits of Barry Manilow — and I got it right, solving some pretty tricky clues and using 50 years of solving experience. But I really do worry about the unhelpful checking for these thematics and the level of difficulty this brings. This sort of puzzle isn’t going to draw in (I suspect) new readers to buy the paper, even those oldies remembering the likes of BM. That said, there were some very nice touches and I thought the clue to RIDE was beautifully creative. But colleagues (and esteemed editor eimi)– can’t we give these ageing rockers a break?

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:58:40 +0000

I am joining Conrad’s few. Good job there was a lovely Virgilius in the Indy i today …

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:39:12 +0000

I bow to the collective wisdom on St Johns Wort. And I find that Chambers gives one meaning of ‘upper’ as “a drug producing a stimulant or euphoric effect, or a pill containing such a drug (slang).”

By: Conrad Cork

Conrad Cork — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:17:27 +0000

Ali

You say ” though there can’t be many people who’ve never heard of most – if not all – of the 5 songs “.

Well, I had never heard of any of them. so I must be one of the few.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:47:39 +0000

I agree with Cumbrian/flashling on ST JOHNS WORT – that was one of my favourites too, along with FALSEHOOD and I WRITE THE SONGS, although with the latter I was hoping some synonym of FLATUS would be involved in the wordplay or even solution – not that I have anything in particular against the big BM. “Possible Upper” is a very nice definition – scrupulous in an almost Azedish way; no-one can complain that it’s not a real upper etc.

My only slight problem was that I’m sure I’ve seen BRIE+FLY before; still, it was a rare easy one to get me started in this challenging puzzle so I ought to be grateful.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:30:01 +0000

St John’s Wort is a herbal antidepressant so it’s “Possible upper” as the definition and (crus)T ultimately as part of the wordplay.