Comments on: Independent 7,944 by Bannsider (Saturday Prize Puzzle, 31/03/12)

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:44:29 +0000

And I should have thanked you Simon for the excellent blog which is always helpful as well as interesting to read!

By: Simon Harris

Simon Harris — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:18:33 +0000

Ah, beaten to it!

By: Simon Harris

Simon Harris — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:17:55 +0000

Bit of cross purposes here, I fear. It was 29ac rather than 9ac, and “process” rather than “processed”. In my copy it was printed exactly as reproduced in the post. It did seem a bit odd at the time, but not the end of the world.

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:15:40 +0000

Sorry, 29 across – I do apologise! I should have stayed in bed over Easter! “Process” was part of the clue for CRESCENT all along. Mystery solved! I agree, it didn’t need to be in there, but hopefully not too much harm done.

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:12:25 +0000

Apparently the clue to 9ac as printed didn’t have the word “processed” in it. Which edition were you reading BadHarry (!)

By: BadHarry

BadHarry — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:44:37 +0000

That’s as it was printed. No matter.
Still plenty of clues I really liked: golf links, gopherwood to name but two.

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:34:09 +0000

@BadHarry
So how does the clue to 9ac read in your version?
The SHILLELAGH clue, as I have it, reads “What smothers one in range with flipping hard blows!”. So “smothers” is a containment indicator and the “blows” are the “clobber” bit.

By: BadHarry

BadHarry — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:05:29 +0000

Aha, so 29a had the word processed introduced during compositing, figures. Are you saying 12 should have read What clobbers ... rather than What smothers ...? The whole clue could then indeed have been the definition.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 14:29:36 +0000

This was a cracking puzzle. I did not spot the theme but one did not need to. Favourites MOSS, MYTH, GURUDOM, APEX, LATCHKEYS, ORAL, DOG COLLAR, ANGELIC, ULNAE. A long list. One of the toughest Indy puzzles of the year, but none of the time spent at was regretted. Thanks, Bannsider, and Simon H esp for WAGE. It had to be that, but I had no idea why.

By: Bannsider

Bannsider — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 09:53:49 +0000

“Sally” is defined very explicitly in the latest COED as meaning “Sally Army”. However, I really shouldn’t have used it, as it breaks my rule of never using a definition that I’ve never heard of for a common word! And Collins defines it as a member of the Sally Army…

I don’t have the paper to hand any more, but my original version of the puzzle doesn’t have “process” in the clue for 9ac.

In 12ac the whole clue is the definition, though I wonder when was the last time anyone actually got clobbered by a shillelagh, as opposed to buying a stylised one in an Irish giftshop

I can’t sign off without mentioning the death of last original surviving Dubliner Barney McKenna on Thursday. Just 4 weeks after we saw him in fine form in concert. Hope it wasn’t the Bannsider curse …