Comments on: Independent 7886 by Eimi

By: uncle yap

uncle yap — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:34:50 +0000

Wow!!!

Due to the Lunar New Year, I have been tardy with the Indies and only solved this today … and what a treat, my childhood reading revisited, Perry Mason, Della Street, etc and not forgetting the early tv series in black and white starring Raymond Burr and all those courtroom drama.

Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be (sigh)

Thank you eimi, you are indeed an excellent compiler … remind me to buy you a Guinness when we next meet

By: pennes

pennes — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:03:31 +0000

Thanks flashling.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:50:38 +0000

@Pennes #12 He/She’s fit means they’re attractive. 5dn In Spades – in the card game bridge spades are the highest ranked suit, so it tops everything else. In 21 the “i” is the paper and a sickle is a cutter. 27dn yes I forgot it but it’s at the end of the preamble.

By: pennes

pennes — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:40:03 +0000

A bit surprised to finish this as I have come seeking explanations of sa good number of answers. Still have some queries if anyone can help : I can’t see where “fit” comes fromin 12 ac; 5 dn, I understood “in spades” to mean a lot of something and I can’t find a reference to Yard in the dictionary; Not quite sure why 21 dn is “paper cutter” as I thought a sickle was for cutting vegetation; lastly 27 dn got missed and I am still puzzled about the bread.
Enjoyable solve, noting suet at 24 ac, eyelets at 8 dn and 18dn mirrored in particular

By: Eileen

Eileen — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:27:58 +0000

Thanks, flashling [yes, great result for us but still wrong-shaped ball for me!], for the blog and eimi for the puzzle.

I am old enough to remember Perry Mason and, when pointed out, all the links were obvious but the clue of the day for me [see local link above] was 24ac. Chapeau to this great lady in AM’s fortieth anniversary year! My son came 2nd / 3rd/ [I can't remember which] about thirty years ago, in the auditions for the TV series. We were sharing fond memories of Sue this evening – but I was struggling to interest him in the clue, I’m afraid!

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:26:01 +0000

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Thought we were on for a foodie theme with BURGER, FRANKFURTER and SUET showing up, and also perhaps APPELLATION (controlee). But no, the MASON theme then revealed itself. And then I couldn’t remember if FRANK N FURTER was another Gardner creation to partner Hamilton Burger…. wrong, Frank N belongs to the Rocky Horror Show.

Great fun, many thanks to flashling and eimi.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:29:40 +0000

Saw it was Eimi and thought we ought to start earlier. Glad we did but not as hard as we had expected.
The links to Erle Stanley Gardner were completely lost on us (we’d never heard of him!) so pleased that you sorted that out flashling. We guessed Stanley and google came up trumps with “Stanley crime writer”.
Nil was the last one in but couldn’t see why.
Thanks flashling and Eimi.

By: Newton

Newton — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:03:20 +0000

Thanks to flashling and Eimi.

Am I right in thinking that the explanation of 27d is missing? Roti wihtout -i?

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:41:58 +0000

Very enjoyable, mind you I am old enough to remember Perry Mason on the television (I was quite young then though!) Very enjoyable thank you Eimi and flashling too.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:52:56 +0000

What Eimi says is The Law. But … I’ll go illegal and say I’m all right with ‘drugs’ for E: you can certainly have ‘Es’ if you want, just as you can have ‘lions’, but ‘E’ is one pill or many to your average slack-jawed clubber.

Re footer, we @ St Marys are in the business of providing false hope for those in the chasing pack. Hah: see! You never thought of it like that. In other news, apparently the nutter Balotelli has until Wednesday to contest a charge that carries an automatic four-match ban.