Comments on: Independent 7939 by Mordred

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:06:23 +0000

Further to comments 15-17, I think AISLE would be the better answer to the clue for 9ac if there were no question mark on the end, but the question mark points us to the definition by example in the wordplay.

By: StainsJunction

StainsJunction — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:40:46 +0000

I fell into the AISLE trap at 9 across too, meaning I finished it but for one or two in the top left corner.

By: PeeDee

PeeDee — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 07:09:42 +0000

Thanks NeilH.

Did anyone alse have AISLE for 9 across (pAISLEy)? Ascot is cetainly a better answer, but having written aisle in I got stuck in the top corner.

By: pennes

pennes — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:34:10 +0000

I did half the down clues on first pass and then got pretty stuck. I didnt really enjoy it. I thought 1 ac was a bit unfair as I thought it might have had a “for example ” at the end of the clue. I had not heard of either “umbo” or bolden and although I got 8 dn on first pass I don’t really see how a blank cheque is an empty cheque. I can’t also see how soil is either something to throw away, to dirty something or refuse to do something.
Maybe I’m being grumpy because I can’t sleep!

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:36:31 +0000

Phew! We needed to check a few final clues to finish this. Much more difficult than the recent Monday puzzles. Thanks for the info about the nina – now we can see it the puzzle makes some sense.

Some of the clues felt a bit obscure although there are no uncommon words. We were on the lookout for a nina to help with the solution but expected it to be on the top and bottom rows. Now that we can see the full solution it has changed our opinion enormously!

Thanks NealH and Mordred for a good start to the week.

By: postrophe

postrophe — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:55:04 +0000

fo’c's’le!

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:54:01 +0000

The nina is in the first and seventh columns and the second and seventh rows of unches and reads clockwise. Took me a while to find it as there are quite a lot of irrelevant words hidden in the unches as well.

By: flashling

flashling — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:38:49 +0000

got through this quickly except for SE corner but got there, maybe I’m being fick or summut but wot Nina?

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:17:46 +0000

Ian @4: Thanks for pointing that out. I agree that the Nina is suitable.

By: NealH

NealH — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:23:36 +0000

Oops…sorry – I was obviously thinking about the later apostrophes when I was typing mothers.