Comments on: Independent 7868/Raich

By: dialrib

dialrib — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:03:54 +0000

You are right Allan_C @10. Acronyms are normally pronounceable. I don’t have easy access to a hard-copy dictionary but the online Chambers 21st Century Dictionary has FBI as an example of an initialism – a set of initial letters used as an abbreviation. A new word for me.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:43:56 +0000

Re ‘unfriendly’ grids, Independent themed, Nina-ed or otherwise complicated puzzles have a tendency to reveal themselves as such via funny-looking black square arrangements. This is by no means always the case, but I’d say it’s well worth making a mental note of the possibility if you are an Indy convert.

Re FBI, as with the likes of CIA it’s never written using stops, nor ever is it so listed in the dictionaries, so for me an enumeration of (3) seems quite fair.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:29:54 +0000

Missed the theme totally despite being one-time (a long time ago!) fans of the Shadows. We could blame it on crossword deprivation over the last few days while we were away but maybe we just need to wake up a bit or something. Straightforward solve – maybe that was the problem. We were just glad that it was over quickly so we could have an early night!

Thanks Raich and John.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:26:40 +0000

Missed the theme – and I wondered at first if there was going to be a nina in view of the sparseness of unches round the edge.

pommers and dialrib: An acronym is surely a word that can be pronounced differently from simply saying the letters – if it can’t then it’s merely an abbreviation. The classic acronym example is ‘radar’ from ‘RAdio Detection And Ranging’. In the current context one might have ‘soca’ pronounced ‘soaker’ (or ‘soccer’) for Serious Organised Crime Agency but one can’t sensibly pronounce FBI as anything but F B I – hence imho it should be enumerated (1,1,1) as in the dead tree version.

That quibble apart, this puzzle would make quite a good introduction to cryptics for beginners.

By: Raich

Raich — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:47:59 +0000

Many thanks, John, for the excellent blog and to all for their comments. Yes, Paul B at #1 has listed all the thematic material that was included. I think however that it should not have been necessary to spot the theme to solve the puzzle as all the answers were fairly well-known words. I did aim to get all their biggest hits in – with WONDERFUL LAND split between two clues.

By: dialrib

dialrib — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:43:16 +0000

pommers @4 – does it depend on the answer the compiler requires: F.B.I. or FBI (an acronym, ie a word)? Either seems fine to me but on their website they refer to themselves as ‘The FBI’.

By: Jim T

Jim T — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:00:35 +0000

Enjoyed this. An impressive number of thematic answers.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:06:11 +0000

@Pommers #4 Dead tree 21a is (1,1,1). Thanks Raich for the puzzle, a bit of a relief after Tyrus yesterday.

By: Lenny

Lenny — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:00:06 +0000

The clear wordplay makes up for the solver-unfriendly grid. The hidden theme was no help to me. Once I got Theodora, I started looking for other Handel oratorios

By: pommers

pommers — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:56:49 +0000

Nice puzzle with a nice theme, but shouldn’t 21a be enumerated (1,1,1)? It’s 3 initials, not a word.

Anyway, I don’t often look at the Indy puzzle because it’s a bit of a pain on my small netbook screen but today I’m glad I did!

Thanks Raich.