Comments on: Independent 8023/Punk

By: Lancastrian Bluenose

Lancastrian Bluenose — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:58:21 +0000

I love cricket and I got nowhere near solving this !

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 00:01:51 +0000

Nice stuff from Punk I’m sure the cricket theme could be extended quite a lot further leg-itimately.

Bit surprised to be told by NMS that the Indy is no longer available at all in Ireland north or south. I’m sure we had/have a few commenters/setters from Ireland.

Cheers Paul/Pierre, quite agree about 27 Wil

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 22:08:57 +0000

I suspect Punk was thinking of few of those mentioned by hounddog@12, because all those which are 34s are well-known. Probably the least well-known one is Strauss, and he’s pretty well-known at the moment; and when he is looked back on he’ll probably be regarded in an especially glowing light because of his Ashes exploits. Mind you, he got to 17 test centuries many tests before Denis Compton, and if you asked people which Middlesex cricketer was first to 17 test centuries they’d probably say Compton. But there I go, talking about cricket when I should be concentrating on football.

There is one well-known setter whose crosswords always contain exactly 28 clues. Since he’s being paid for writing them he clearly doesn’t want to waste effort. Punk had 38 clues in this crossword, the most I’ve ever noticed in a daily cryptic.

I had LEVEL for 27dn until the checkers showed this was wrong. Don’t like this sort of thing; you should know you’re right.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 21:58:59 +0000

… ‘and so ON’: yes indeed, and OFF, of course.

By: Pierre

Pierre — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 20:03:30 +0000

I’m sure you’re right, hounddog, but not entirely sure Punk had all those in mind! And Bert and Joyce, Baffling for Foreigners is certainly apposite – not sure our overseas solvers would have appreciated this one. But of course I meant Best Friends Forever … where would setters be without c for caught, r for runs, st for stumped, and so on?

By: hounddog

hounddog — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 19:09:50 +0000

If you’re looking for references to cricketers in the clues as well as Gladstone Small you can have Jo Angel (Australia), Dan Christian (Australia), Freddie Brown (England), Vinothen John (Sri Lanka), Marcus North (Australia) and of course umpire Dickie Bird, formerly of Yorkshire.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:39:13 +0000

An enjoyable solve – despite the theme! We were completing this on Crossword Solver and had a guess at the setter when we completed 23ac! We were correct!! Despite limited knowledge of the theme, between us we managed to get all of the cricketers – they were all reasonably well known. Loved the Flintoff clue a definite LOL moment.

Pierre – we are not sure about cricket and cryptics being BFF unless you mean ‘baffling for foreigners’!!

Thanks Punk and Pierre for the amusing puzzle and blog!

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 17:29:06 +0000

My degree was 40 years ago. I get all my understanding of physics these days from Dr Who.

By: Conrad Cork

Conrad Cork — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:16:03 +0000

Well Pierre, I admit to thinking ‘oh no’ when I twigged the theme. The nearest I ever got to cricket was having tea with Eric Hollies. But all was well. Hugely enjoyable, and mon brave, a veritable tour de force of a blog.

By: Pierre

Pierre — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:10:32 +0000

Others seem to have enjoyed it too, so well done to Punk.

Yes and no, Dormouse? Are you currently looking after Schrödinger’s cat? But thank you, I’ve got you marked down for future reference as our resident physicist.