Comments on: Independent 8002/Mordred

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:29:57 +0000

It’s good to see so many comments, even if some of them are not about this crossword. We enjoyed Mordred’s offering today but would agree with some of the slightly dubious parsing of a number of clues. We wouldn’t normally expect that from Mordred. Really liked 9ac though.
Are the crosswords harder than they used to be? We think they are, mainly because the setters are becoming more ingenious. Maybe the feedback from blogging sites are giving them more insight on us solvers! Also perhaps the availibility of googling, searching on-line dictionaries etc encourages them to be even more devious.
Thanks to John and Mordred.

By: Lenny

Lenny — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 20:57:44 +0000

If we can get back to today’s crossword: this is an ugly grid with, as John so politely puts it, less than perfect checking. It is very similar to the one used by Raich a couple of days ago. That was justified by an ingenious hidden theme. I can’t see any similar justification today.

By: lizard

lizard — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 20:41:24 +0000

As an “i” reader, I’m really disappointed to find myself “Behind the Times” to quote an old Indy reference. (And, horrors, we may find ourselves recognising old crosswords, but perhaps our memories are not that good!)

By: Paul B

Paul B — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:34:35 +0000

Maybe, Jon, although the paper retained until very recently all three compilers you mention. But I think that Indy puzzles have moved on in a good way since those days, as indeed have other titles such as The Times (among whose compilers many now set for The Indy). Even sedate DT has introduced the Toughie (among whose compilers many now set for The Indy and/or The Times) to mix things up a bit, and that to me speaks loud and clear. Compilers are in general now doing it rather differently, and that’s a good thing.

Re Flash, as I’m sure my good friend Anax would agree, there are many ways to skin a themed cat, and the Higg’s puzzle (mine, in case anyone is confused) used a gateway clue, which can make things harder than for example a ghost theme, or a Nina’d nudge in a certain direction. Good call re Virgilius though – he’s a really great compiler.

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:20:31 +0000

Needed to e-search a couple – 7ac and 24ac. I was expecting Lee in 7 somewhere, but was fooled by the word “in” and thought it was going to contain some other letters. (We had a reference to General Grant in Sunday’s puzzle, so this evens up the score, I guess.)

I really should pay more attention to who the setter is. By the time I was solving 13dn, I’d forgotten and thought there was an Arthurian reference in there, so when I finally got the answer, I couldn’t see why it was so.

Didn’t know “dresser” as a tool.

By: togo

togo — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:10:21 +0000

Thanks Mordred and John.

Re: supply. I think it’s often used as an anagrind in the sense of flexibly? In a supple way…?

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:51:54 +0000

If the i are concentrating on 5 year old puzzles, is it an admission that we had more entry level crosswords 5 years ago than we do now? For three days out of six we had Virgilius, Dac and Phi, who I’ve always found v accessible. I don’t solve the Indy puzzles regularly now, but do recall some pretty tough weeks of late?

By: flashling

flashling — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:17:45 +0000

@Glueball yesterday’s i was by Virgilius most of whose have seemed pretty well themed to me…

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:10:17 +0000

K’s D (11) -
duncanshiell/Chambers seems to have saved HOARDS, but I do sympathize. In particular I can’t for the life of me see why I went for hard=difficulty, although it seemed perfectly logical at the time. It seems dotty now. In my second post I was seeing “exam with difficulty” as equivalent to “burger with fries”, I think, but it’s comforting to hear that Chambers has it too. I still can’t think of a proper example where they’re equivalent, but then as evidenced above I’m fairly dopey today.

By: Glueball

Glueball — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:00:15 +0000

Quite a lot of i readers, it would appear, are re-educated Torygraphers. Good for these new converts, but their daily crosswording needs were not apparently being met, as perhaps you could expect if you have ever solved a non-Toughie DT puzzle, by complex themed offerings such as the one by moi seen the other day. Hence audience fury, letters, and the decision to return to publishing older, and for now only non-themed Indy puzzles.

Whether or not it will ever be feasible to provide newly-created entry-level puzzles for the i readers will depend on economic factors inter alia, especially since very few Indy compilers habitually submit easier work, but I’m certainly sorry for any problems the ultra-feisty 7982 might have caused our newer, and very welcome readers.