Comments on: Independent 7917 / Anarche

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:46:40 +0000

Excellent puzzle and I echo the words of praise that have been flowing.

One quibble though: a gambit is (or at any rate in chess this is the case) surely not so much a first move as a trick to unseat the opponent, which can appear at any point, not necessarily at the very beginning. There is for example the King’s Gambit, which is a gambit at the start of the game, but one can also gambit material at any point in the game. I believe it is related to the French ‘jambe’ and is to do with tripping the opponent up.

By: flashling

flashling — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:40:44 +0000

Enjoyed this, well I would marry you Anarche, legal technicalities aside. my only problem being the spider/web references, this not by arachne but by anarche, ok those “in the know” will understand the spider/web/weaving references or that the setter is female (no doubt there!)

Anyway another great blog from Duncan and a brilliantly made puzzle thanks Anarche. re Borscht well transliterations are always a complete mess/nightmare.

By: Anarche

Anarche — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:12:40 +0000

@Thomas99 – food for thought (sorry). Didn’t know it was also in Yiddish, but that would certainly explain something that’s puzzled me for years. Thanks!

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:46:55 +0000

I think borscht is a transliteration of Yiddish word for the soup (possibly not actually identical to the Russian soup), and that’s perhaps the word (and the recipe) that got to Britain first.

By: Norman L in France

Norman L in France — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:36:08 +0000

@arachne
I shuddered, so you must have at least winced:-). Delicious however you spell it, though.

By: Anarche

Anarche — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:50:48 +0000

Many thanks, Duncan, for the comprehensive and highly informative blog. Thanks to everyone for your nice comments.

crypticsue@9 – Mr A is watching his Ps and Qs particularly closely at the moment, I’m glad to say…

Norman L in France @13 – you have no idea how much it pained me to use that spelling >:( Why we don’t use the correct Russian transliteration (‘borshch’), or even the Polish ‘barszcz’, is a mystery to me. The various horrible spellings in our dictionaries are neither fish nor fowl (if you see what I mean).

Anyway, Happy Leap Day to all, and I hope there are no disappointed ladies or thunderstruck men out there…

Love and hugs,
Anarche

By: Norman L in France

Norman L in France — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:25:42 +0000

Very nice puzzle, but I hope the Spiderlady won’t mind a slight shudder at the transliteration of 15. It could easily have taken another 2 or 3 consonants, but I can imagine clueing would have been more alphabet soup than beetroot.

By: Lenny

Lenny — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:57:26 +0000

This was lovely stuff from the world’s fastest female beer bottle. I have to admit that I rarely get Anarche’s puzzles completely correct. I often slip up on the trademark Russian word so I was grateful for Borscht today. I also was grateful for the clear wordplay for the words that were new to me: Yorktown, Oculus, Rabbet and Bissextile. I enjoyed the anagram of Coppola.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:59:46 +0000

We agree with the rest of you – a good puzzle and we enjoyed the theme. We needed to check bissextile – never heard it before. Didn’t spot the Nina though until the very end!
Thanks Duncan and Anarche.

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:42:24 +0000

Magnificent. Beautiful treatment of the theme, and getting in a trademark spider and a Russian soup was the icing on the cake. MUSICOLOGY my favourite among a stellar set of clues. Hats off to Anarche and thanks to Duncan.