Comments on: Independent 7863/Crosophile

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:16:46 +0000

Cumbrian @18: No it would not, at least in my book. If you accept the legitimacy of splitting a clue word – which I do not – you could argue for “unde unchanged” to give NUDE. Even there, I would say that the anagram indicator is “changed” not “unchanged”.

By: Cumbrian

Cumbrian — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:57:08 +0000

Pelham Barton @17 – would Nuclear unchanged be UNCLEAR? It would require someone with far better skills than I have to hammer it into a clue.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:37:40 +0000

Crosophile @12: Thanks for popping in. You have settled my doubts about “lard”. Taking up your challenge for a word that cannot be an anagram indicator, how about “unchanged”?

By: Uncle Yap

Uncle Yap — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:30:52 +0000

One thought crossed my mind at 4Down. According to traditional Chinese herbage legend, gingko not lotus is supposed to improve one’s memory; and I forget what lotus is supposed to be good for

By: flashling

flashling — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:17:01 +0000

I saw lard as being like cross-channel swimmers when they are larded, it’s smothered all over the place and as such a fine a anagrind as you get, oh well.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:41:16 +0000

Just checked in to find out how we should have arrived at some of the answers! I (Joyce), checked lard in Chambers on the ipad as we’d never come across it as an anagrind before. The Shakesperean meaning of lard is ‘to be intimately mixed’! A bit like us really…….. although I think I’d object to being called lardy!
Anyway, thanks to John and the rest of you for all the explanations and to Crosophile for another evening of head-scratching! What will Thursday bring?

By: flashling

flashling — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:00:40 +0000

Apologies late on parade – hey I’m on holiday! would have finished much faster if I hadden’t written 3d in 2d’s place. Re 11ac I thought that it was so clearly that, that I didn’t realise the above felt it confusing. Cheers Crosophile for a nice tricky but enjoyable puzzle.

By: Crosophile

Crosophile — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:17:17 +0000

Thanks, John, for the blog and thanks for all the other comments, which I genuinely find of great interest and help in gauging difficulty levels. Perhaps this one was a tad harder than I intended – I’m still struggling to get it right but I am trying, honest!
I think most queries have been ironed out.
A couple of points:
28a. Chambers gives steel grey and steel gray equal prominence with no reference to Americanisms, and even under ‘grey/gray’ it only refers to gray as ‘especially’ rather than exclusively US, so I judged it unnecessary to further clutter up the clue with an America indicator. Since the A/E ambiguity was unchecked it occurred to me that an anagram would neatly avoid any doubt as to the right option.
There is no anagrind in 11a. It’s simply GUES+T ON swapping to TON+GUES.
Re 14d, as a solver I’d be happy with ‘cameras from centre’ being variously E or MER or AMERA – each seems equally valid to me – but I might be untypical in this, I don’t know, and I don’t want to set the solver’s teeth on edge.
Sidey [#8]. I’m not sure I agree about the comma. I think withOUT the comma it would be incorrect, indicating the impossible ‘PURE in S’ rather than the intended ‘PURE, with S coming into it’. Hope that makes sense.
re 12a and Lard as an anagrind, I’m sure I’ve seen this somewhere but can’t find it in a list of anagrinds. I had in mind the Chambers definition of to lard = to strew [= to scatter loosely] but concede it is arguable. I’d be sorry to find out, though, that there’s a word in the English language that CAN’T be used as an anagrind.
Thanks again, everyone.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:40:56 +0000

Thanks Crosophile for a crossword with a lot of good clues and John for the blog. Points that have not been settled above: 9ac: I took this as a straight "three meanings" clue, but the wordplay given by John works, so I would now take it as U + P + RIGHT & lit in three meanings. 12ac: I wrote in TREFOIL as the only word I could think of that fits, and an anagram of "litre of". Chambers 2011 gives bacon-and-eggs n birdsfoot trefoil, which gives us the definition. Therefore "Lard" must be intended as the anagram indicator. It does not appear in the seven-and-a-half page list in the new Chambers, and the nearest meaning of lard that I can find is "to mix with anything", which I do not think is good enough for a satisfactory anagram indicator. I am ready to be persuaded otherwise.

By: Conrad Cork

Conrad Cork — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:44:49 +0000

Hello Cumbrian @ 7

“Anyone else remember Ellisdons Mail Order Tricks and Jokes?”

Sorry to say but I do.