Comments on: Independent 7940/Anax

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:47:01 +0000

Well, this non-driver found it quite a struggle, and failed to complete the top left corner. Quite a few answers I pencilled in lightly because I wasn’t sure about them. And I had “turkey”at 10ac. And “vector” for 20ac, but there my mind was thinking one thing and my hand doing another. Needless to say, I totally failed to spot the theme.

By: anax

anax — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:08:16 +0000

Good evening all. Great blog as ever, John, and many thanks for all the comments.
Well, what a strange setting experience that was. It all started with the very simple concept that a lot of car names are words with their own meanings, so it felt like there was no need to announce a theme; just bung a load of them in and see if anyone notices. The grid was almost finished, just a bit of a nightmare completing the NW corner. A bit of jiggling about and I managed to get some extra theme answers in, but it left me with the awkward -S-T at 11a. ISN’T or PSST? It had to be one of the two and it was actually a good few moments before I realised the latter could exploit PASSAT and give me the unusual opportunity to explicitly state the theme. To the unsuspecting (or even suspicious) solver it may have looked like a pre-planned quirk, but it was anything but.

By: Querulous

Querulous — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:45:23 +0000

Thanks to John and Anax.

The Lulu was a type of old cyclecar, which almost fits the theme too.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:00:10 +0000

Nice accessible offering from Anax, solved without spotting the theme (hence I didn’t understand the “17th car” reference). So thanks to John for the blog and Thomas99 for the list of models – although wasn’t there an Austin Ambassador before Hindustan took up the name?

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:01:55 +0000

It occurs to me that I should comment on 20ac. I wondered if this was a clue containing two wordplay elements and no proper definition, but Chambers (2008) gives Victor as a headword in its own right as a code word for the letter V, which I think is enough to make "whiskey after this" valid as a definition rather than merely wordplay. Incidentally, the spelling "whiskey" is the only one accepted by that edition of Chambers in the relevant meaning as a code word for W.

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:12:42 +0000

Loved it. Suspected there was a theme quite early on, but got it wrong for ages — I thought it was going to be about publications. The FT/Times clue, then METRO nudged me towards newspapers, then VICTOR (a comic, as I remember) and (Minnie the) MINX made me think of publications in a broader sense. Took me ages to see what was going on, and the use of such non-obvious (to me) cars as AMBASSADOR, COUNTRYMAN, PRINCESS and STANZA kept the chase alive for a satisfyingly long time.

Favourite clue not car-related at all — the brilliant SPIN DOCTOR.

Many thanks John and Anax.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:56:12 +0000

Nice stuff, didn’t know all the models alas, I note that Anax’s other half gets called the Minx…

By: Paul A

Paul A — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:22:15 +0000

Could Sunday drivers go to church in a (Ford(?)) Liturgical?
Sorry, missed the theme, even with PSST, and had ‘turkey’ at 10a – Bird comes in after celebrating – well, sort of fits the clue, and could be applied to a fair few cars

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:03:33 +0000

We enjoyed this and found it easier than ones with long thematic anagrams. We can see the argument about 26a but given the complexity of the puzzle we found it OK. We were suprised to see Anax on a Tuesday but can see why after finishing it.

Given the theme, the surface reading of the clues was excellent. Love 4a in particular!

Thanks Anax for a good solve over lunch and John for the blog.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:52:34 +0000

Thanks Anax for an entertaining puzzle and John for the blog. Favourite clue 6dn.

14ac: I think is SIR A as the first on a list of knights.

26ac: I agree with John that this clue is not quite right. The clue would work if “8″ could mean the definition of the clue, but it is too much of a stretch to say Z = OMEGA.