Comments on: Independent 7,974 by Monk (Saturday Prize Puzzle, 05/05/12)

By: Graham Pellen

Graham Pellen — Sun, 27 May 2012 09:21:29 +0000

14D is ED in (not +)BANKERS*.

By: Polly

Polly — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:27:47 +0000

Well, I’m still reading this a week after publication, having only just finished the puzzle. (In fairness to self, I should say that I polished off Radian last Sunday.) Although Allan_C’s parsing is pleasingly concise, I’m with nmsindy: the cluing is too convoluted for the simpler parsing, and if that was what Monk had intended he would surely have written something like ‘There’s no stopping son [etc.]‘.

Thanks to Monk – a bracing but by no means painful ride – and Simon.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:16:09 +0000

Re comment #8, I think I’d agree with Simon’s take in the blog. I think ‘stop’ is an insertion indicator with X = “sign that it’s wrong” as in a teacher marking a student’s paper.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:01:19 +0000

If anyone’s still reding this on Monday morning, my take on 2d was that X is the “sign that it’s wrong to stop” – derived from the “no stopping” road sign, so that the construction is (XSOTHER)*

By: anax

anax — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:23:39 +0000

Ah – SCHMUTTER defeated me, but spotting the triple letter device early in the solve proved very helpful (amazingly, given Monk’s habit of basing his grid entries on letter patterns in preference to themes, I suspected something as soon as the first – STILL-LIFE – appeared in the grid).
Have to say I really enjoy Monk’s style. The grid designs and fills are always good, and something about his clueing is truly unique. LOL moments are few compared to some setters, yet there’s still intricacy and inventiveness presented in a very individual style. Themes and verbal fireworks can make puzzles challenging, but I always feel with Monk that completing a puzzle involves rising to a more technical challenge – and I do like it.

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Sat, 12 May 2012 21:46:58 +0000

I was just about to go out when I made my earlier post, so I didn’t have time to note that I don’t recall this giving me too much trouble last week. I completed it, anyway, which isn’t often the case with a Saturday puzzle, and I don’t think there was an answer I didn’t know. Didn’t spot the triple letters, did like 17ac.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:23:51 +0000

That is why I mentioned it of course, based a comment you previously made, Simon. And to add to the fun, Monk is I think based in Leeds.
If memory serves, when the Sheffield clubs were drawn together in the FA Cup semifinal (1993 I think), the FA fixed it for Leeds (which sounded all very sensible). Then there was a huge revolt and the game went to Wembley. Good luck anyway – at present it looks like another Yorkshire trek to the South.

By: Simon Harris

Simon Harris — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:03:49 +0000

Thanks, chaps. I’m glad others enjoyed this more than I did. It’s one of those things that I’m more than happy to be “wrong!” about! I’ve often noted that it’s the setters that I have this kind of frustrated reaction to that I come to love the most over time. Tees and Anax spring to mind; not quite there with Nimrod yet, but I keep trying.

Best not remind me of Bramall Lane, NMS. What happens there on Monday will dictate whether I have to fulfill a family promise and make a very expensive and no doubt disappointing trip to Wembley next Saturday (again), when I’d honestly rather be sat at home tackling next Saturday’s Indy cryptic.

By: Conrad Cork

Conrad Cork — Sat, 12 May 2012 14:58:41 +0000

I”m with nmsindy as well, I’m afraid, Simon. There is a special quality to Monk’s puzzles which makes them a particular kind of tussle. I usually feel as though I had gone up Mont Ventoux in the Tour de France with him snapping at my wheel. The (metaphorical) shower afterwards is most invigorating.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sat, 12 May 2012 13:06:46 +0000

I enjoyed this much more than you, Simon! BTW, it’s not just the across answers – there is also ILL-LUCK and SHELL-LIKE in the downs.
I saw this only at the very end and it helped me to get OFF FORM. That was a nice penny-dropping moment. Yes, it was hard, and some unfamiliar words had to be used for thematic reasons, I guess. There are in fact only a very small number of words/phrases with three letters occurring in succession so it must have been a hard grid to fill. Bramall Lane is another, as it happens.