Comments on: Independent 7,856 / Scorpion – All roads …

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:58:01 +0000

RatkojaRiku

I was doing this puzzle last night. I has about a third of the solutions in and was really enjoying the “all clues…” mystery, what could it be?

I nipped back to 15^2 to see if there were any for comments I needed to answer on my FT blog and then see your spoiler in big bold letters “All roads…” …lead to Rome, obviously. This really ruined the puzzle for me.

You state how much you enjoyed it in your blog, so why do you want put a giveaway in the title to spoil the enjoyment for others? This is the second time this has happened to me in two weeks, Uncle Yap last week and now you. Why do you do it?

By: MikeC

MikeC — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:42:56 +0000

Thanks Scorpion and RR. Good fun. I eventually spotted the theme – but missed both the “acrostic” trick AND the pangram. Setters must despair of people like me!

By: Cumbrian

Cumbrian — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:33:45 +0000

Loved it! Many thanks Scorpion, and RR for the enlightenment on a couple of answers I couldn’t quite work out. I did myself no favours with solving 7a by trying to fit CLEESE in to 1d (don’t ask) but BREEZE dropped in when I spotted the Pangram (and yes, I do remember the Beezer….). LOB is definitely one of my all time favourite movies, and still makes me laugh even though I know exactly what’s coming next. A piece of LOB trivia, for those who didn’t know: Sue Jones-Davies, who played Judith the “Welsh Tart” was Mayor of Aberystwyth in 2008. Allegedly, the film had never been screened in Aberystwyth due to it being banned there on release.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:46:55 +0000

Not being a LOB fan this took a while for the penny to drop. At least solving on line meant I could check that the apparently unrelated answers were correct. Those who haven’t seen LOB may, though, remember “What the Romans did for us”, a factual programme series on BBC TV with Adam Hart-Davis.

Nice one, Scorpion, and thanks, R-R, for the blog.

By: George Heard

George Heard — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:19:51 +0000

Don't comment vewy often, but this was an impressive puzzle and even the off-theme clues were very good (Beezer even made its way to Australia in the 70s, my grandmother gave me a few as gifts, might explain a bit). For Reverend Squiffington Q. Dingleberry, coming here to try to understand the theme, youtube has the answer

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:13:00 +0000

Welease Woderwick! Very nice thanks Scorpion and RR, found this quite tough despite Scorpion/Eimi giving the game away in the rubric. Must resist the impulse to put LOB quotes in

By: John H

John H — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:22:50 +0000

Just have to comment here. My favourite film of all time too Peter.

I did it in the ‘office’ yesterday afternoon (one of the priveleges of being in with the editor is I get the puzzles early).

Spotted the initials immediately, and irritated the wife (sitting opposite, doing another puzzle) with my shouts of “irrigation”, “irrigation and roads”, “irrigation, roads and peace”…

We were thwone out – very wuffly.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:15:41 +0000

Since it’s my favourite ever film, I couldn’t help but like this one, could I? It did take me a while to work out the ‘all clues initially’ bit (solving online doesn’t help, because you can’t see all the clues at once). But once I knew I was in Life of Brian territory, then it all fell into place, and I managed to remember most, and guess the rest, of what the Romans ever did for us.

As you say, RatkojaRiku, even if you didn’t know the film, you could have a good guess at most of the themed answers (unlike the recent Barry Manilow offering …)

CALIGULA, SMARTASS and BEEZER (which brought back some memories) were my favourites today.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:03:46 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku and Scorpion. A most entertaining puzzle and one I solved reasonably quickly despite never having heard of the sketch referred to. Was glad the initial letters idea was indicated as a preamble. Favourite clue, DOC.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:52:43 +0000

Thanks to RR and of course to Scorpion. This really was great fun. My last in was also 7a, and had to wait until I’d managed to dredge up the Beezer – wonder if it still exists; I think of it as almost before my time. I was surprised how few of the answers I actually remembered straight away from that sketch, despite having seen it many times. Only really wine (which I remember Eric Idle, I think, being particularly enthusiastic about) and aqueduct had stuck properly and the rest had to be deduced.