Comments on: Independent 7,985 / Phi

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:12:47 +0000

Thanks to duncanshiell for spotting the error in 15D, which I have put right, if only for posterity’s sake.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Sat, 19 May 2012 08:32:06 +0000

Another late start and had to sleep on it, but got there in the end. A bit more challenging than some of Phi’s offerings.

But I got ENIGMA and FIDO straightaway and wondered if we were in for a themed crossword on WWII and/or acronyms. Nothing else in that line, though, with the possible exception of ERSATZ.

Held up for a while on 21a having put ‘rebelled’ for 16d, though I couldn’t see how ‘bell’ could equal ‘target’; then I checked ‘target’ in a thesaurus to find ‘butt’ and all was made clear.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:01:32 +0000

Phew!
Amother late start and we were both nodding off before we had finished it. Quite a few unusual words but all fair – mad for oddball was OK – but we needed lots of crossing letters before we could start to work out many of the answers.
Had to do a search for 25ac and groaned when we parsed it but actually a really good clue. Last one in was 20d when we had all the checking letters.
Thanks Phi and RR!

By: Paul B

Paul B — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:54:49 +0000

It’s where airfields go woof.

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:38:32 +0000

Me too for the top left corner. Took me ages to get 3d which at least suggested 7ac ended PIG, but I had to do a word search to get it, and even then I couldn’t see why. But that gave me enough to get 2d, and then the rest fell into place. I did vaguely know FIDO from somewhere, which helped.

Also had trouble with 20d, spending ages assuming it ended -ite or -ity.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:08:35 +0000

Sorry NealH and K’s D, we crossed.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:07:26 +0000

Thanks RR and Phi. I also found this a bit trickier than usual – and I’m with you, nmsindy, re 2d. My first thought was that “boiling” was the anagrind, and it took quite a while to see it the right way round! A good workout.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:07:18 +0000

Goodness, this was hard, and I really struggled to complete it. It’s all pretty fair, although some unusual words and devious clueing. I too liked BATTEN, and got confused too with the boiling/fluid mix in 2dn.

Thanks to both.

By: NealH

NealH — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:46:22 +0000

I was really struggling with the NW corner until I realized that it could be boiling rather than fluid that was the anagram – a brilliant clue. I did initially write hedgehog for 7, but realized that made no sense and change it to hedgepig, although I was dubious about high for grave. I also struggled with animadversion: it’s a rather strange, clumsy word that you don’t hear used anywhere. I worked out the ani…version bit, but it was a struggle to get mad for oddball – the two words don’t really have the same meaning for me.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:22:27 +0000

Thanks RatkojaRiku and Phi. Yes, I found this a bit trickier than usual from Phi with the hardest bits the NW and SE corners.

“Boiling fluid” in 2D deceived me for ages before the anagram possibility occurred – this helped me to finish the puzzle with HEDGEPIG (new word for me) being my last answer. Favourite clue BATTEN.