Comments on: Independent 8028 (Sat 07-July 2012) Monk

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 11:10:36 +0000

We finished the puzzle but failed to see the Nina! Thanks Richard.

Thanks to beermagnet for excellent blog and Monk for all the enjoyment!

By: Rorschach

Rorschach — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 09:18:34 +0000

Long live the Monk!

By: Al Dente

Al Dente — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 19:02:08 +0000

Thanks Monk for the second opinion! All part of the fun.

By: Monk

Monk — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 18:46:38 +0000

Al @8: indeed, woof! Niall/Will @9/10: the 12 answers with less than 50% checking were deliberately aided by the Nina. I seem to recall Notabilis doing something similar "in another place", i.e. using a peripheral Nina to help solvers with (apparent) underchecking. Richard @11: thanks again, this time for the useful info re grid images and the technicolor enhancement above.

By: beermagnet

beermagnet — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 17:50:18 +0000

I did look for a Nina, but was so convinced there wasn’t one didn’t mention that in the blog. I think I can be forgiven for not spotting that one. Not sure if I can be forgiven for not spotting it even after Monk popped up (Ta, muchly) and told us there was one. For penance I have adjusted the grid image to highlight the compass points.

I make these images by using Crossword Solver (free from http://www.crosswordsolver.info) then taking a “Screen scrape” image using Alt/PrtScn copy into Microsoft Paint, to save it as a jpg which can be inserted in the blog.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 17:07:27 +0000

A pretty Nina, which goes some way to excusing the ‘incorrect’ checking, (nearly 43% of answers ‘wrong’). Pity, because the rest of the crossword was good. I never got the girlfriend at 20ac, putting ‘AIME’ in: it seemed like a possible word, so I was completely mucked up at 21dn, trying to find a 9-letter word HER… and of course failing. But ‘When you get maiden over’ seems a bit odd from the cricketing point of view.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 16:57:29 +0000

Excellent spot, Richard at #7. I looked at the grid for quite a bit after Monk’s comment but never noticed that. I’ll have to admit that right through solving I thought the 5-letter entries NEPAL and SLICE with just two letters checked were there for a reason.

By: Al Dente

Al Dente — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 14:54:13 +0000

I am I bar(king) up the wrong tree or is the nina to do with King? Leon King, Dan King,Teri King,King John
and sovereign? Or am I just barking?

By: Richard Heald

Richard Heald — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 14:52:05 +0000

With Monk I find it’s always worth checking the perimeter letters for potential Ninas, and sure enough in this one you’ll find the points of the compass N, E, S, W, NW, NE, SE and SW in their correct positions.

By: Monk

Monk — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 13:38:03 +0000

Thanks to beermagnet for a very detailed blog and to all for comments. Niall @5, there is indeed a Nina that affects several answers: it should be visible above because beermagnet has kindly included the grid (how?!).