Comments on: Independent 7986 by Bannsider (Saturday Prize Puzzle 19 May 2012)

By: Rorschach

Rorschach — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:57:02 +0000

Stunningly enjoyable. Bannsider is up there amongst the very best.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:50:03 +0000

Very impressive stuff from Bannsider again. I bet he’s please he came out as the longest solve in the survey! All the difficult ones were worth the effort, I thought – LIBERTY MEN, ARAB SPRING, ADRIAN, RAUNCHY (all very late for me) and many more… Thanks for the blog.

FAILOVER is in my new Chambers – I had to use it to check as I hadn’t come across it before.

By: mc_rapper67

mc_rapper67 — Sat, 26 May 2012 09:52:29 +0000

Doh! I WAS mistaken on the double pangram – hoist by my own ‘IT skills’ petard, as I did a letter count in Excel from my typed up list of answers, but then forgot to discount crossing letters. Thanks B&J at #3 for pointing that out.

Thanks for the other feedback & comments – and to sidey at #2 for pointing out my missed anagrind – have tidied up 21d accordingly.

By: BadHarry

BadHarry — Sat, 26 May 2012 09:04:20 +0000

Especially liked 19d. Couldn’t see how 28a was what it must be – not a cricketer.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sat, 26 May 2012 08:23:31 +0000

Another cracking puzzle from Bannsider. Hard, but not as hard as some of his in the past (for me anyway). All good but esp liked ADRIAN, ARAB SPRING, HIT SQUAD and the wordplay for LIBERTY MEN. Also was glad of easier wordplay for less familiar words which enabled me to get them without consulting anything. Thanks, Bannsider and mc_rapper67.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Sat, 26 May 2012 06:39:15 +0000

A thoroughly enjoyable Saturday puzzle – many thanks to Bannsider and to mc rapper for the blog.
One minor point – we can’t remember the grid, but we think that there is only one ‘J’ – in FISH-JOINT where it crosses with AJAX. So close to a double pangram, but not quite!

By: sidey

sidey — Sat, 26 May 2012 00:10:20 +0000

Thanks for that mc_r. A slight quibble, 21d, the anagrind is ‘wild’, spreading is part of the definition.

Very clever construction and good clues although the unfamiliar FAILOVER possible warranted something a bit more straightforward, but what the heck, it’s a Saturday puzzle.

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:22:08 +0000

I missed two, and was only vaguely sure of 1ac. Couldn’t get 1dn and 3dn, but when googling did find there is a children’s entertainer called Alan Strong, also known as Ally the Clown. Alan Strong and Ally would fit in the final two answers, but I couldn’t find any other reason why they should be so.