Comments on: Independent 7987/i 399 Tyrus

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:07:34 +0000

Tyrus @13: Thanks for dropping in and clarifying 4dn. I am now completely happy with this clue.

By: Tyrus

Tyrus — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:37:02 +0000

Meant to say thanks to Pierre rather than KD. Apologies.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Tue, 22 May 2012 08:39:05 +0000

I saw the accidental nina but failed to spot the theme. Thought 12a was a great clue with ‘jerk’ as the anagrind (once I’d solved it, that is).

Pace PaulB @1, sea pie is “a sailor’s dish made of salt meat, vegetables and dumplings baked”. It’s also a name for the oystercatcher (a black and white, hence pied, seabird). Both definitions from Chambers.

By: Tyrus

Tyrus — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:50:31 +0000

Thanks to KD for an entertaining blog and to all others for the comments.

The construction for 4dn was meant to suggest ‘Going (off) to (in contact with) witter on (yap) about (reversed) bribe.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:43:05 +0000

Re interlinked answers, 23 6 5 22? 7 16 11!

By: NealH

NealH — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:27:49 +0000

I thought “one armed bandit” for inhuman robber was reasonable – even if you charitably say the things don’t exist just to rob people, the fact remains that they still have bandit in the name.

I didn’t tackle this until the evening, so was quite relieved that it wasn’t a themed Tyrus puzzle with loads of interlinked answers (or are they banned now after some of the recent letters?) Not being that familiar with the geography of London, Cheapside was the last I got.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:03:08 +0000

Hi other PB.

In 4dn’s context ‘to witter on about’ can equal ‘yap being on top when reversed’, so while the word order is as it is, I think the operations are described correctly. But as you say …

I enjoyed this puzzle immensely by the way, an excellent outing from AFC Tyrus.

By: Pierre

Pierre — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:13:20 +0000

You certainly may be pedantic, Dormouse. I’m not an expert on the streets of The Great Wen, visiting the capital only when I have to, but it looked like Cheapside when I got Google maps up on the screen (which tells you how I finally solved the clue). Funnily enough, though, I had the same assemble-this-in-your-mind-as-you-read-the-clue experience with DIABOLIST. Good job we’re all different.

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:58:48 +0000

Quite fun. Got “evaded” for 2dn, but couldn’t see why – thought it might be something about (r)ave reversed. And I couldn’t see the answer to 12ac without a word search.

25ac was the first in, one of those clues I could assemble in my mind as I read it.

If I may be pedantic, St. Paul’s tube station is in Newgate Street, not Cheapside; I used to work next to the cathedral.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:11:54 +0000

Thanks Tyrus for a lot of fun and Pierre for the blog.

14ac: I am sure that hounddog @2 has the intended explanation, and I like the idea, but the clue as it stands is not quite satisfactory for me. The wordplay in the clue is a valid indication not of the answer but of the letter sequence MABE, for which the answer is also a valid indication. To my mind there should be something in the clue to tell us that the wordplay does not lead directly to the answer. As usual, I have no quarrel with those whose tastes differ from mine.

4dn: This time thanks go to UncleAda @5 for the explanation, which again is convincing for what was intended, but once more I am not quite satisfied. The word order “to witter on about” does not quite match the process required which is to find a word meaning “witter”, then reverse it, and then put it on top of the word meaning “going”. As usual, …