Comments on: Independent 7931 / Phi

By: pennes

pennes — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:56:51 +0000

I thought it was a bit harder than Phi’s usual, but as ever it was entertaining, well constructed and no real grouses although I also found “light yellow liquid” slightly strange , particularly as the nausea in the clue could have y allowed a more culinary cluing. With just the final “e” I was inclining towards”urine”!

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:30:15 +0000

Allan_C@8: In 7dn I took “Fool around” as the indicator for KID (as an intransitive verb).

Phi@9: Thanks for popping in and satisfying my curiosity re 13ac.

By: Phi

Phi — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:52:00 +0000

From a conversation with an Oxford townie thirty years ago:

“Which college are you at?”
“Linacre”
“That’s one of the new ones, isn’t lt? Where is it again?”
“You’re stood beside it”

Not even well-known in Oxford.

MAKE A LONG ARM was a phrase my mother used to use, and when I encountered it again recently I popped it in a puzzle, only to find Chambers defined it differently. In our household it was a request for you to pass something out of the requester’s reach: “Could you make a long arm for the salt, please?”

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:56:44 +0000

A little bit more difficult than some from Phi, but none the worse for that. Like others I’d never heard the expression MAKE A LONG ARM, tho’ Linacre College was tucked away somewhere in my subconscious.
7d seems to me to have a superfluous word in the clue; both ‘around’ and ‘keeping’ can be indicators for ‘containing’ and ‘around’ obviously doesn’t indicate a reversal. (Although ‘dick’ can mean a fool and if reversed gives ‘kcid’ but then there’s no indication that ‘c’ has to be dropped.)

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:39:12 +0000

SHILLYSHALLY is given as one word in Collins. When there is a doubt like this, I think it’s good to give the letter-count that does not give too much away.

By: Meic

Meic — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:08:50 +0000

If I remember correctly,wasn’t Linacre College Phi’s own alma mater?

Fine puzzle, fine blog

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:54:48 +0000

Plenty to enjoy here as usual from Phi, with another fine Friday puzzle.

I too took the REDDER to RUDDER route, but Pelham’s right that Duncan’s explanation is much better. And I think I would normally write SHILLY-SHALLY with a hyphen as well.

We’ve had some good anagrams this week in the Indy, and NATURAL HISTORY was a clever one today. In fact we’ve had five very enjoyable Indy crosswords this week.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:58:44 +0000

Thanks Phi for an enjoyable crossword and Duncan for your usual detailed blog. Favourite clues 1ac and 16ac.

12ac: I had an alternative parsing. I took it as REDDER (showing more colour) changing E to U (shifting one = changing one letter). I much prefer the way Duncan has parsed it.

13ac: I needed five of the checked letters to get this. I can understand that compilers sometimes need to include obscure words or phrases to complete grids, but I would expect answers as long as this one to be entered early before such constructional difficulties arise. I wonder why Phi chose this phrase. Please note that the length of this comment is out of all proportion to my extremely tiny feeling of discontent.

16ac: Already noted as one of my favourite clues. I particularly like the way that Phi has used “aboard ship” in full as an indicator for “in SS”. Minor point: should not the enumeration have been (6-6)?

Another thing I like about this crossword generally is the way that the multi-word and hyphenated answers are all clued as a whole, avoiding the mundane device of giving definitions for the whole word and then for each word separately. Thanks once more for that, Phi.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:51:22 +0000

Thanks Duncan and Phi. I agree with what’s been said – v accessible wordplay for the unfamiliar answers and everything clear in the end. Not too difficult.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:19:04 +0000

Thanks for the blog. I don’t understand the objection to “light yellow liquid” in 8d. It seems to me a perfectly good definition, albeit not suited either to Masterchef or concise crosswords. But why on earth should it be?