Comments on: Independent 7998 (Sat 02-Jun 2012) Anax

By: Graham Pellen

Graham Pellen — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:08:49 +0000

20A PROP = one is supporting; the second P has been missed from the blog.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 06:11:37 +0000

JS, looks like you’re setting up for that old joke:

To be is to do (Shakespeare)
To do is to be (Niestchze)
Do be do be do (Frank Sinatra)
Ya ba da ba do (Fred Flintstone)

By: JollySwagman

JollySwagman — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 04:03:28 +0000

And I’ll also buy nmsindy’s idea #15 – but why “apparently”?

By: JollySwagman

JollySwagman — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 03:57:51 +0000

Actually @BM #13 – when you wrote:

so, for instance, when “You are”, you a be-er.

I wonder whether you really meant to write:

you are a be-er

Ie folk who do stuff are do-ers.
Folk who just are, are be-ers.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:08:09 +0000

I wondered about the BEER clue too. If memory serves, another clue cross-referenced to that one, leading to ALE as part of the answer. This hinted strongly that the ?E?R was BEER. I thought it might come just from ‘one’ being a word for a ‘drink’ which eg Chambers has.

By: JollySwagman

JollySwagman — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:43:52 +0000

Thanks BM – I haven’t even opened the bottle yet.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:17:04 +0000

JollyS: Be-er was trying to indicate that “One is” is an element of the conjugation of the verb “To be”,
so, for instance, when “You are”, you a be-er.
(I knew that wordplay explanation was insufficient – I also knew it would take me too long to explain it and that I would likely merely confuse the issue)

Thanks for all the comments folks, and especially to Anax for adding to the discourse.

I would’ve commented earlier but for some reason spent a large part of the weekend watching “Weird Al” videos – cheers Monk.

By: JollySwagman

JollySwagman — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:05:44 +0000

Thanks Anax and BM.

Added extras (ie beyond straight themes – ninas etc) don’t do it for me – so while the “one’ trick was clever – especially getting it into every clue – what really hit me was what a fantastic puzzle it was – one where slow and steady really did win the race – and PILCROW (which I’ll never forget now) was for me the only obscurity and I managed to guess it without knowing its meaning.

Since I’m more slow than steady (the parsing of PIANIST (nice one) only came to me 12 hours later) can anyone explain “One is apparently” for BEER – the explanation “One is apparently” didn’t quite do it for me.

While I’m waiting maybe I’ll pour one into a glass and see if staring at the real thing stirs up the brain-cells.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 22:33:10 +0000

That’s impressive, thanks Monk at #7, or, as a former Emperor of France might have put it “Able was I ere I saw Elba”. No, I did not make that up myself but it fits.

By: Lenny

Lenny — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 19:19:49 +0000

I suppose this is the closest that one can get in the Independent to a nod in the direction of HM’s festivities. For me though The One had to be Gwyneth Paltrow, who was the only possible answer to 20D until I did a post-solve dictionary check. Pilcrow apart, this was a slow and steady solve. After 20 minutes I only had Nina. That was one of many red herrings as there wasn’t a Nina, was there?