Comments on: Independent 7994 / Monk

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:27:40 +0000

I attempted this late last night and found it very hard, probably just the result of my state of mind at the time. Not helped by having DAEMONIC for 4dn, blithely thinking that ‘one that’ was padding and this would do. So I entered GRAYISH rather doubtfully and got stuck of course.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Wed, 30 May 2012 07:05:12 +0000

This is what the Indy puzzles are all about!
We ran out of time last night so finished it this morning. Now that we are more awake we realize what a tour de force it is. We spotted the sequence of letters and the near double pangram which may have missed if we’d tried to finish it last night.
We always look forward to Monk’s offerings and this was no disappointment. We are pleased to see that he dropped by last night.
Thanks Duncan for the blog – we realised this morning that we had entered AXON last night without really knowing why!

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:25:39 +0000

Got 10ac very quickly, and then nothing for about an hour. Then managed to complete the bottom left corner then got stuck again. One final push with electronic help completed all but most of the top left corner and also couldn’t get 24ac. Quite a contrast to yesterday.

By: Monk

Monk — Tue, 29 May 2012 20:25:39 +0000

Many thanks to solvers for +ve comments and to Duncan for an amazing blog that contains more details than a house survey. Last but certainly not least, huge thanks to eimi@1 for 11th-hour manoeuvring to ensure that both dead-tree and online editions contained the correct(ed) clue at 13ac. Although anax@5's idea is charming, OVERSTRETCHED cannot be claimed as a deliberate inclusion; however, once it arose as a possible entry, it was snapped up. I was amazed to get as far as O=15, so accepted defeat gracefully at P ... which helped to avoid really obscure entries in the lower half of the grid. The pangram was an afterthought. Interesting that Paul B@2 suggests an alternative parsing from the one intended, which was [ as + M ] in [ aim, rev. ] . I wonder how often this arises; multiple parsings of the same clue that give the same answer ... Finally, sorry to be such a bugbear to crypticsue@7: your time will come!

By: Lenny

Lenny — Tue, 29 May 2012 20:20:15 +0000

I enjoyed this, mainly because I managed to finish it. This, to me was Monk-lite compared with his offering last week in the FT. The difference here was that all the answers were more-or-less everyday words compared with last week where I could not get Nuoc Mam or Shavuot even with the anagram fodder. I also have to admit to a touch of schadenfreude, since CrypticSue very often finishes puzzles that I struggle with.

All the wordplay today was clear and fair but I was tempted by Ax ‘un, rather than ‘Axon for the guillotined German.

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 29 May 2012 20:09:04 +0000

Didn’t start this till late but found it quite tough as I often do with Monk puzzles, nice blog makes my monochrome offering today look dull, thanks Duncan/Monk, saw the Nina as such but was slightly bemused by its petering out.

By: Trebor

Trebor — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:51:34 +0000

I’m with the consensus re: the nina. Great puzzle.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 29 May 2012 16:05:23 +0000

This was a step too far for me, but I don’t mind that. When I started doing the Indy puzzles a few years ago, I remember that Monk was one of the setters that I could never manage, and then he went off the scene for a bit if I recall well; but I still remember being pleased to solve his ‘ethane molecule’ crossword a while back.

I got about two-thirds of this one today, and enjoyed the bits that I did manage. North Shields fish market is the best spot on the planet for fishophiles, by the way.

Thanks to Duncan and Monk.

By: duncanshiell

duncanshiell — Tue, 29 May 2012 14:45:18 +0000

Sorry about blogging the wrong clue at 13 across, but when I am not sure how good internet connections are going to I tend to grab the puzzle at the first opportunity. I got the crossword on a good connection, but posted on an iffy connection and have only just got a good connection again. Thanks also to Anax for pointing out that O was for OVERSTRETCHED and may have been a suggestion that Monk couldn't go further with PQR... etc.

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Tue, 29 May 2012 12:04:42 +0000

It is not often, after all these years of cryptic solving, that I am defeated but when I am it is usually by Monk. A very enjoyable fight was had however, so thank you to Monk and to Duncan for helping me out with those on which I was stuck.