Comments on: Independent 7903 by Quixote

By: eimi

eimi — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:42:01 +0000

I should think a blog’s a good place for irrelevant opinions anyway, but it’s not a bad idea for a blogger to state his own beliefs and why he or she might find certain clues less enjoyable.

I’m sure Neal has sympathisers on the Daily Telegraph, judging by this front page from last week:

http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2012/03/daily-telegraph-accidentally-insults-entire-royal-family/

By: Graham Pellen

Graham Pellen — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:54:10 +0000

NealH misuses this blog once again to force his tiresome and irrelevant opinions on us.

By: Quixote

Quixote — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:59:51 +0000

Yes — I got the week wrong and 6 Feb was in the original clue

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:34:38 +0000

Thanks, NealH and Quixote. Enjoyable, quite easy I thought, and I was familiar with RESTS ON ONES OARS.

It is said HM is a keen solver though not of the Indy puzzle so she is unlikely to be reading the blog…

I did wonder if Quixote had thought that the 60th anniv on that previous Monday was the Monday on his rota…

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:59:45 +0000

A nice relaxing solve in about 15 minutes, despite one or two false trails, e.g. ‘attendance’ in 21a and looking for a reversal in 16d because I misread the end of the clue as ‘going north’. Also had a minor problem parsing 17a thinking it had to be ‘amp’ in ‘dness’ which didn’t make sense; the ‘a’ in the clue before ‘politician’ wasn’t really necessary, imho.

Thought we might be in for a “heavenly” theme (to counter Nimrod’s recent devilish one) with TRAPPIST, STAINER and MAGDALENE, but it didn’t come to anything.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:03:34 +0000

We’d heard of ‘rest on one’s oars’ but were led astray trying to get ‘ascension day’ and ‘attendance money’ to work but soon found the errors of our ways. We were out of the country last week and weren’t aware (thankfully?) of the significance of last Monday. Despite being ‘devout atheists’ we were confused because we do know that Ascension Day follows Easter!
Thanks Neal and Quixote for a good blog and solve respectively.

By: Quixote

Quixote — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:40:09 +0000

Many thanks to teh blogger (though I regret the rant!).

By: Paul B

Paul B — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:39:28 +0000

I don’t know whether I could squint and raise my eyebrows at the same time – that sounds like a trick of some kind.

Resting on your oars is similar to resting on your laurels, I’d guess, with the latter coming to mind most readily.

By: Rishi

Rishi — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:11:31 +0000

I am surprised that neither NealH nor KD had heard of the expression “rest on one’s oars”.

This is quite common in India. Is it that we in this country have come across these idioms and old-fashioned phrases (e.g., ‘needs must’) from our strenuous reading “Book of English Idioms/Phrases”? Is our knowledge a legacy from the Raj?

Suppose any of you hear me speak English, would you squint your eyes or raise your eyebrows now and then?

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:31:10 +0000

Thanks, Neal.

Just the last few that I struggled with today. I’m glad I’m not the only one who didn’t know REST ON YOUR OARS, but as you say, it sounds like it ought to exist. Couldn’t parse ANTICLIMAX, but I should have been able to, because slug in French is une limace, which obviously has come straight from the Latin. NAPPY and ROLLING PIN were the ones I specially liked.

I did myself have a severe rant about the Indy puzzle last year themed on the royal wedding, but I think one clue out of 28 is acceptable … The clue won’t age well, though! Thanks to the Don for the puzzle.