Comments on: Independent 7,851 / Dac

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 22:18:21 +0000

Many thanks for the comments and for picking up on the points raised in my introduction.

Yes, I too ought to have mentioned the clever splitting of “film studio” in 4 as being among my favourite features of this puzzle – I had intended to but then it got overlooked.

By: flashling

flashling — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:41:04 +0000

I found this a bit of a struggle for a Dac, got there but… re WASP – I still can’t get out of my head an 80′s American rock group called W.A.S.P. who said it stood for We Are Sexual Perverts! 15d Resection was not a word I can recall despite working for the NHS. Anyway cheers RR and Dac.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:17:00 +0000

Having failed to separate “upper” from “crust” in Punk’s offering yesterday I was on my toes today and “film studio” presented no problems.

Regarding 12d I simply took it at face value. Actually the full title (in the King James version, anyway) is “The Revelation of St John the Divine” and “Revelation” is the usual way of referring to it. No idea when it picked up the extra S, but it’s found in Oscar Wilde’s “A Woman of No Importance”:
Lord Illingworth. ….let us stay here. The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden.
Mrs Allonby. It ends with Revelations.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:07:51 +0000

Thanks, RatkojaRiku.

Usual fine puzzle from Dac. EXES, REINSPECT and WALL STREET with its clever construction were favourites today.

I’d always understood WASP to refer to ethnicity and religious background rather than class, but Dac’s definition is there right enough in the SOED.

By: Cumbrian

Cumbrian — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:20:17 +0000

Thanks to Dac and RatkojaRiku. I liked this a lot, and walked straight in to the trap at 4a; even once I’d convinced myself the answer could only be WALL STREET, it still took a while for the penny to drop and to separate “film” and “studio”. I keep reminding myself to take off the blinkers! I also liked 4d for the groan factor of “French art” being “es”.

By: NealH

NealH — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:20:24 +0000

I thought this was Dac on excellent form. 4 across was brilliant – the seamless integration of film and studio was very deceptive. I also liked the &lits at 6 and 9.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:55:44 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku and Dac. Excellent puzzle as always – some quite easy, some much trickier with good misdirection. While by no means an authority on these matters, my take on the ‘some say’ in REVELATIONS was the same as MikeC in #2. I’d have said the ‘former’ in the reference to Don Revie was just that he is not a manager now, rather than referring to the fact he has passed on. The EXES clue was quite amusing.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:15:09 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku and Dac. An enjoyable puzzle.

RatkojaRiku, I think you’ve covered everything correctly: the only possible “refinement” that I can see is that the “some say” in 12 could also be taken to refer to the fact that there is apparently some dispute about whether Revelation(s) properly belongs in the NT. But that’s getting somewhat esoteric. Your simpler explanation is fine by me!

By: Uncle Yap

Uncle Yap — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:54:25 +0000

When I solved this earlier today, I made a mental note to visit here because in Times, MALAYA was an answer and here, 9Across was MALAYSIA. A double whammy!!

Many years ago, in rpc, the winner of a clueing competition which I moderated was
Set sail, May, to a tropical paradise (8) submitted by Dr Kamal Shah

Thanks RatkojaRiku for the blog and thanks Dac for the (as usual) enjoyable mid-week puzzle