Comments on: Independent7877/Phi

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:06:27 +0000

Pennes@16: An argument can be said to carry weight or to be telling; both mean (roughly) the same thing.

By: pennes

pennes — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:33:19 +0000

I got fish with the crossing letters and clue but still a bit puzzled about the answer. And re 22ac I can’t get “to carry weight” to mean tell. This was my last to go in.
Apart from those I enjoyed this

By: Phi

Phi — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:18:18 +0000

I did say to eimi that this would be one I’d be astonished if anyone got. But I couldn’t let everyone else have their fun with pop groups and not join in: so Salmonella Dub, Midnight Youth, Pitch Black and Circadian Rhythm(s) are all NZ pop groups. I can’t honestly say I pay enough attention to the ‘scene’ to say whether they are all current, but SD did a gig with the NZSO a couple of years ago, and there were posters up for a MY tour just before last Christmas. The one current NZ group that claims to be ‘internationally known’ is an outfit called Fat Freddy’s Drop, though I do sometimes wonder whether that merely means they had a hit in Oz.

Quite a few UK beers do make it over here, btw, though there’s a thriving local industry as well.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:01:11 +0000

flashling @13: As I recall it was “march” online as well. And I think you must have meant “not going to be well known…” – not that I necessarily agree with you re the ghost theme.

By: flashling

flashling — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:21:59 +0000

@Dormouse seems Eimi pays a bit more attention to dead tree most of the time. Or as I’ve not looked on line, it could just be a typo by John. Still don’t quite see the ghost looking for real ales as Phi is based in NZ and UK (ish) real ales are going to be well known or at all there.

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:35:45 +0000

Incidentally, at least in my dead tree edtion, 18a ends “charity march” not “match” which makes the anagram work.

By: bertandjoyce

bertandjoyce — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:33:37 +0000

After yesterday’s Nimrod, we decided that we ought to start the crossword earlier than usual. This seemed harder than the average Phi, so glad we did!

Allan_C you beat us to it! We were checking Inferno, Pitch Black, Midnight and Magic. Maybe more!

Didn’t really like fish…. is this perhaps linked to the theme?

Thanks John and Phi.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:14:32 +0000

Could the theme be REAL ALE? A bit of googling turns up AVIATOR and MIDNIGHT as names of real ales, and i guess a few more might be there in the grid.

By: Phi

Phi — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:16:46 +0000

I tend to think of nerds in techie terms rather than social inadequacy. Geeks don’t strike me as terribly socially engaged either, though I guess the rise of things like ‘geek chic’ and the greater prominence of people like Gates and Jobs (what is it with these plural surnames? Still, Jobs did rely on someone called Ive) have made geeks more acceptable than mere nerds (let alone dweebs).
Anyway, all this is merely prefatory to challenging you to find a rather nerdy ghost theme…

By: flashling

flashling — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:00:32 +0000

Wasn’t overly happy about fish (and it’s new homonym phish for conning customers). Circadian rythym by far my last in and only solved by working out the anagram – the phrase meant nothing to me.

Cheers John/Phi – a bit easier than yesterday anyway.