Comments on: Independent 7887/Crosophile

By: MeicG

MeicG — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:00:07 +0000

In the paper 1ac is shown (6,8) not as one word

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:58:53 +0000

Sorry, Miche, we crossed. The same question was asked in Another Place today as well!

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:50:57 +0000

Yes, a fine puzzle. I too had GIANT’S CAUSEWAY as my last in after convincing myself that the enumeration was wrong. Plenty of good clues in this one: I liked FIREARM and ANTHEM (which we’ve had somewhere else this week already, I’m sure).

I got LATER, but I’ve heard it more often among young people in this country as the plural: ‘Laters!’

Cumbrian, r is an abbreviation for ‘recipe’, the Latin imperative (I think, Eileen’s your woman to ask) for ‘take’. It used to appear on prescriptions for how many doses of medicine to take each day. It’s one to file away – it comes up quite often.

Thanks to John for the blog.

By: Miche

Miche — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:45:44 +0000

Thanks, John.

Cumbrian @5: r is an abbreviation for recipe, Latin for take. My feeling is that it turns up in crosswords less often than it used to.

By: Quixote

Quixote — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:04:35 +0000

Just the sort of puzzle one wants while having a pint and a sandwich after a 5-mile walk, Thanks colleague!

By: Cumbrian

Cumbrian — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:55:23 +0000

I liked this a lot, so many thanks for the puzzle and the blog. I was deterred from entering GAINTSCAUSEWAY at 1a as I was convinced it should be two words, so it was actually my last one in when I decided it had been incorrectly marked as 14 rather than 6,8. Favourite was 28 which produced a groan, my normal measure of a likeable clue (and it was very clever).

Can I ask for some numpty help with something? The explanation for 25a has r = take, which I don’t follow. If this is a standard device (r short for remove?) it’s one I’ve never recognised before, which is where these blogs add to my armoury.

By: Paul A

Paul A — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:04:43 +0000

1a was (6,8) in dead tree version

By: Crosophile

Crosophile — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:34:59 +0000

Thanks for the blog, John.

Well spotted, Thomas99. Millie is our new collie pup. 9,16,18,24,25 and 28 have more or less tenuous ‘collie’ links. [And I liked 'micronets'. With the rise of nanotechnology I'm sure they WILL exist if they don't already.]
Re 28, yes I had melancholier [!?] in mind.
Re 3, sorry, I hadn’t considered the possibility of MORNA.
Re 1, sorry again. It should of course have been (6,8)

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:12:37 +0000

Thanks for the blog. I found this hard, not helped by putting in “micronets” for “intercoms” at 2d. Don’t know if they exist but it took me a while to untangle that. Also surprised by the one-word Giantscauseway but have a feeling I’ve seen it before.

Re 29a – Custer’s last stand, surely?
I agree with Querulous. In fact, I think the pronunciation is different – melancholia with a dipthong (as in “hole”), melancholi-er (presumably) without, as in “collier”).

Any thoughts/inside knowledge on the Nina (MILLIE, across the middle)?

By: Querulous

Querulous — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:41:55 +0000

Thanks for the blog. Re 28a, I think it’s supposed to sound like “melancholier”, i.e. more melancholy.