Comments on: Independent 7954/Klingsor

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:09:35 +0000

The composer references were easy for me – I think I heard a reference to Mascagni on Radio 3 just this morning and I’ve been listening to Pärt for over 30 years. I am acrophobic but it took a word search to get that. CHERVIL defeated me even with a word search.

By: Mick H

Mick H — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:42:43 +0000

This was hard. Arvo Part? I naturally assumed the reference would be to Arvo Kraam, the Tampere defender who got three caps for Estonia in the 1990s (thank you wikipedia).
So 1a and 6d broke through the gaps in my musical knowledge, and like others I put AEROPHOBIA. I find CDs are often improved by added wordplay – it gives another way into the clue, while disguising the CD.
Loved 10a though.

By: Klingsor

Klingsor — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:19:47 +0000

Thanks for all the feedback, epecially to John for the blog. I’m glad the arvo/Australian misdirection worked – “arvo” is another of those words I picked up during my days as an avid fan of Cell Block H!

On CDs – these are actually my favourite type of clue by a long way. After all, it’s with the CD that the cryptic crossword began! The problem is that generally I am rubbish at writing them, so limit my use of them to when (very occasionally) real inspiration strikes, or more commonly when I can see no obvious way of defining a word without gaving the game away too easily. As with ACROPHOBIA here. I was unaware of plausible alternatives and I suppose that is one of the pitfalls of this type of clue. My admiration for Rufus in his various guises knows no bounds – he comes up with tons of them and they’re all very good.

On music – yes, my trademark is a (classical) musical bias, and I do accept that this won’t appeal to everybody. If it’s any consolation, I struggle with the football and especially the pop references which appear in many of the other crosswords!

By: NealH

NealH — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:34:54 +0000

I found this quite hard going and didn’t really enjoy all the musical stuff. 1 across was ungettable unless you’d either heard of the composer or were an expert on drug slang – it could just as easily have been Maroanni as far as I was concerned. 6 down lost me completely and I was also confused by the Australian slang meaning of arvo. Another possibility for 23 across is altophobia.

By: flashling

flashling — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:08:34 +0000

@ Mike#7 I tried that route too….

By: Mike Wade

Mike Wade — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:30:48 +0000

6d. Confused at first as ‘arvo’ is Australian slang for afternoon!

By: flashling

flashling — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:49:47 +0000

Indeed thanks Klingsor, Earhart – magnificient clue, I’m sure i’ve seen the second in command device recently, as for scag well I’ve had a fairly sheltered upbringing from that sort of thing but perhaps I’ve been exposed to too much cr*p US television by my other half!

Quite a few chuckles and curses solving this, great stuff! Cheers John, not an easy one to solve let alone blog.

By: anax

anax — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:25:46 +0000

My first opportunity actually solve a puzzle this week, and what a treat! Like others I adored the EARHART and EARLY DAY MOTION clues but the whole thing was packed with invention and humour. Top job K!

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:32:35 +0000

Thanks, John, and Klingsor of course.

Tricky in parts, especially for me the music references (I had to look in the list in my Thesaurus for MASCAGNI, but at least I had the starting letter). But a pleasing puzzle with EARLY DAY MOTION my favourite. I too put AEROPHOBIA for 23ac.

By: Lenny

Lenny — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:14:32 +0000

Thanks John, I too found this an excellent workout from Klingsor. I shared your ignorance of Scag and Chervil but managed to get them from the wordplay. I did not know the phobia either but I went for aerophobia, which is a valid word meaning fear of flying. It appears to fit the CD as well as, if not better than, Acrophobia. As you suggest, this is a major criticism of CDs in general.