Comments on: Independent 7945 by Quixote

By: Paul B

Paul B — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 23:12:17 +0000

Well, ‘of or relating to Damascus’ is in Collins.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 22:32:50 +0000

Agree with all the remarks above: very easy but utterly sound and enjoyable, a good crossword for a novice solver.

K’s D had one tiny point; I had another: surely ‘Damascene’ means ‘from Damascus’. So is ‘in Arab city’ correct? It doesn’t seem quite right to me.

By: NealH

NealH — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:44:17 +0000

Not being up on football (certainly not NI football, anyway), it took me a while to see how 1 across worked and I carelessly put disintegrating for 3 down, which held me up a bit on 23. But nothing very challenging apart from that – a nice &lit in 15 across.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:01:00 +0000

Not much else to add – a gentle start to the week. A lot of anagrams but all the surface reading made sense. Last one in was 22a – just couldn’t see it until we had the final checking letter.

Thanks nmsindy and the Don!

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:00:53 +0000

Thanks, nms. Yes, this one fairly flew in; I’m by no means a fast solver but I reckon the quarter of an hour mark as well.

Nice variety of clue types and a gentle puzzle, perfect for improving solvers I’d say.

Only a tiny point: I personally would define INGEST as ‘take in’ rather than ‘take up’, biologically at least. The nutrient would be ‘taken up’ when it was DIGESTED.

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:47:45 +0000

1 across:
The first football match I ever went to see was Coleraine v Ards, and I once went all the way to Castlereagh Park (their old ground) from Coleraine by train and bus for a league game only to find when I got there that the game had been postponed due to bad weather!
So thanks for the memories Quixote!

By: flashling

flashling — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:49:58 +0000

Very nearly put UP in 18a but something nagged and left it till I had 17d. Very easy to me too, didn’t time but reckon certainly less than 15 mins. Ta NMS and the Q.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:37:15 +0000

I agree with you, nms – this was an easy solve, despite a footie reference and initially putting UP instead of ON as the last word of 18a. Completed in two passes in under 20 minutes.

Thanks, Quixote, for a gentle introduction to the week.