Comments on: Independent 7908 Bannsider (Sat 18-Feb-2012)

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:21:32 +0000

I’m not sure internet research would have helped a lot (well, maybe with “The Banjo player” and “Dollymount strand”!) : it’s perhaps unfortunate that puzzles like these give the impression that speciaist knowledge might be needed when it’s not in fact the case.

By: pennes

pennes — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 23:38:05 +0000

I can now see that it was very ingenious puzzle, but I settled down to a long rail journey and realised it was a theme that I did not know and doing the puzzle was beyond me, so I felt a bit disgruntled and ended buying another paper. Even if I’d been at home I couldn’t have made much of a fist of it without spending half my time on the internet. So I think it was just too specialised and I don’t find hunting for answers on the internet very rewarding.

By: bertandjoyce

bertandjoyce — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:33:34 +0000

beermagnet@9 All expenses paid trip organised by my parents who cannot drive! Actually sat in the sun drinking beer one day and worried we would get sunburnt!

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:48:41 +0000

I must give a huge thank-you to beermagnet for a wonderful blog. Whatever sort of a tribute to the Dubliners my puzzle may have been, this blog really is the crowning glory
The Dubliners and I go back a long way, though not back to 1962 I hasten to add: even I don’t remember that far back!
The puzzle’s date was chosen to coincide with what would have been the 77th birthday (actually Sunday 19th) of Ciaran Bourke, who sadly took seriously ill while on tour with the band in the mid-seventies and never fully recovered. (In fact the date in question was Sunday 19th, and the puzzle nearly went in the IoS, which I’m very glad it did not!).
Apologies to those who find this sort of thematic stuff tedious. I did wonder whether I was going a bit overboard with some of it, but I did hold back to the extent that I didn’t try to get absolutely every band member in, so Jim McCann and Bobby Lynch are not mentioned. As I mentioned to someone else, I hope the former is not an Indy crossword fan! And there was never a “Liam” (that’s just our son’s name!)
As far as alerting the band to the existence of the puzzle is concerned, I’m not sure. I might make tentative enquiries to see if there are in fact any crossword fans amongst the current line-up. I once had a long conversation with Barney McKenna in the bar after a concert: unfortunately I’d had about 10 pints of Guinness at the time, so if the topic of crosswords came up I can’t remember it!

By the way 6ac is just a cryptic definition: in other words a straight definition worded in a way as to make it look as though it’s saying something else, but with no conventional wordplay. The are 3 repeated letters in Luke Kelly’s, but the L is repeated most often. There’s no more to it than that.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:48:56 +0000

DUBLINER FIFTY YEARS ON THE ROAD
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that I missed the message in the top and bottom lines. One of those times when you can’t see what’s staring you in the face. I had been looking at the websites describing their upcoming Fifty Year tour, yet still had great trouble solving 6A FIFTY.
And I’m sorry I missed Paddy Reilly from the line-up present in the puzzle.

Thanks to RichardH for the elucidation of YANKEEDOM. If I’d have seen either Meek = Modest or Fiddle = Do I might’ve got it.
I’m no expert on what constitutes an &Lit so I’m happy to agree with that explanation for 18D – that’s why it felt that “nothing” was doing double-duty.
But if 6A is not an &Lit what is it? A (convoluted) single def?

Like anax I feel this was such a worthy tribute it should be made known to the band – I do hope someone has.

B&J what delights take you to Cornwall at this time of year? A burning desire to go through the Mên-an-Tol?

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:34:40 +0000

Many thanks for the surprisingly informative blog…

…I greatly enjoyed solving this without ever sussing the connection to the band. I just thought the theme was Ireland. It must be a very well compiled puzzle for that to be possible – the theme makes it even better but didn’t spoil things for the ignorant!

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 21:47:51 +0000

Fantastic blog Beermagnet! We finished the puzzle but totally missed the theme. We were on holiday while we solved this one, so perhaps the delights of Cornwall meant we took our eye off the ball!
The wording of the clues seemed somewhat convoluted at times but we can now appreciate why. We had no internet access so had to guess the footballer from the checking letters.
Thanks Bannsider – a tour de force!

By: Jan

Jan — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:00:50 +0000

Thanks, Beermagnet, I visited all the links and thoroughly enjoyed the YouTube ones.

I printed out the puzzle today so didn’t have Cheat or Check buttons, nor did I have time to go-a-googlin’, so had a couple unsolved.

Thanks, Richard @2, for explaining 8d. I thought the MODE came from ‘generally MODEst’ and couldn’t justify the KE.

By: scchua

scchua — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 14:54:07 +0000

Thanks beermagnet and Bannsider.

Amazing puzzle, and amazing blog. Though my knowledge of the group has been eroded with time to only “Seven Drunken Nights”, I was glad to be able to finish a Bannsider (with a little help from the check, and not the cheat, button on 2 of the answers), a feat I normally don’t achieve. Furthermore, your links add tremendously to the enjoyment of blog and puzzle.

By: anax

anax — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 14:25:57 +0000

Because I was away last weekend I missed the paper, so delighted to have had chance to solve it online today. What a superb puzzle! Like nmsindy I know little about the group, but could easily appreciate the huge number of celebratory touches in the clues… so many of them too! A remarkable achievement.
I do hope RR was able to somehow present the puzzle to the band, or at least let them know about it. He deserves their thanks, and certainly gets mine for a terrific setting achievement.