Comments on: Independent 8,009 / Phi

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 15:03:06 +0000

Thanks to all for pointing out the Nina, which I perhaps ought to have spotted as blogger. A good example of how one as a solver can successfully finish and enjoy a puzzle while remaining totally oblivious to such things.

I am notoriously bad at spotting Ninas, although I do tend to look when the perimeter lends itself to one, as is the case with this particular grid. This one was harder to spot in that it is in French, with no obvious French connection in the puzzle, and it starts at 4 rather than in the top left-hand corner.

I was very interested to read that Phi had tried and failed to squeeze Magritte into the puzzle, which would have placed the Nina in context, of course.

Greetings from Magritte-land, incidentally!

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 22:06:24 +0000

Defeated me. Got maybe three-quarters of it. As for a Nina, I failed O-level French in 1968.

By: Lancastrian Bluenose

Lancastrian Bluenose — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 21:53:21 +0000

Allan_C The 1974 boundary changes were for administrative purposes only. They had no bearing on the cultural or social identity of the counties and people were not obligated to make changes to their addresses. No Act of Parliament has ever changed the boundaries so Widnes remains in Lancashire, Bournemouth in Hampshire among others and the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland still exist. It is only the muddled use of administrative areas with traditional counties that has confused the issue for most people.

By: Phi

Phi — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:55:13 +0000

Yes, I thought Widnes was in Lancashire too, but it was also one of those things worth checking.

I tried for ages to get MAGRITTE in, but he turned into MAINLINE, a surreal alteration that probably wouldn’t have displeased him.

It does look as if 5d may be heading back even deeper into topicality.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:03:47 +0000

Lancastrian Bluenose @14. Widnes, along with Warrington, Abingdon, Peterborough, Slough and a host of others, was one of those places which found themeselves in different counties as a result of local government reorganisation in the 1970s, so it “moved” from Lancashire to Cheshire, officially at any rate. Now, I gather, it’s part of a unitary authority with the uninsipred and uninspiring name of Halton, tho’ geographically still in Cheshire and no doubt culturally still in Lancashire.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 18:29:26 +0000

In case anyone thinks that John@11 and 13 is me, it isn’t. I’m quite fluent in French — well actually I’m not at all. Having taken French O Level perfectly successfully and done a bit more French afterwards, I was completely tongue-tied when I first went to France. People are surely taught to speak much more fluently nowadays.

Had never heard of Cophetua, so put in COPHETUK and never saw the Nina.

By: Lancastrian Bluenose

Lancastrian Bluenose — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 17:18:28 +0000

Factual error in 18 down: Widnes is in Lancashire not Cheshire.

By: John

John — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:23:54 +0000

Thanks

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:09:10 +0000

John @11. The nina runs clockwise round the edge starting at 4. It’s a variant on the name of the famous painting by Magritte. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images

By: John

John — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:24:13 +0000

So where is the nina (for those of us not fluent in french)?