Comments on: Independent 8035 by Morph

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:38:37 +0000

Apparently “Dis” is the city in Hell in The Divine Comedy (Dite in Italian). Been a long time since I read that, but Dis for hell does seem to be generally understood. I seem to recall that in one of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, written about the time the Psion Organiser became popular, someone has a Discworld equivalent, powered by a demon, so it’s called a Dis Organiser.

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:03:11 +0000

Dis = underworld is something of a crossword staple as dis is part of quite a few words. Toot = inhale was new to me too – dicts suggest it’s of US origin.

By: pennes

pennes — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 10:49:18 +0000

17d was very, very funny. Struggled to finish but I hadn’t heard of either toot for inhale nor dis for hell. Can anyone elucidate?

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:14:30 +0000

Some good clues here, nicely pithy. I particularly enjoyed 17dn and 19dn. Iman was far too much for me, but it had to be Naomi so I just stuck it in.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:51:35 +0000

Ahoy Morph! Nice to do you today!

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:40:03 +0000

Thanks Morph for dropping in and responding so nicely to my minor grumbles.

By: Morph

Morph — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:34:57 +0000

I mean “a bit far”. Hic!

By: Morph

Morph — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:26:58 +0000

Thanks very much for the blog, Neil, and all your comments. I realised David Bowie’s wife’s name might be a reference too far for some, but wanted to get away from the obvious I MOAN reversal, so I hope it was gettable anyway.
I note Pelham Barton’s complaints. I know using ‘overweight’ for ‘over weight’ divides opinion, so use such devices sparingly. Interesting to hear that the hyphen in 5dn makes it better. And point taken about 8dn. But I think Paul’s going a bit to call me a hic sunt!

By: Paul B

Paul B — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 18:18:32 +0000

It is the siren lure of a perfect surface, Pelham, that sinks the unwary cryptic sailor. As it were. Hic sunt dracones and all that.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:24:33 +0000

Thanks Morph for a crossword which gave a lot of pleasure in solving and NMS for the blog.

Three minor grumbles. The first relates to the grid. It looks as though there is a lot of linking between top and bottom halves, but in fact you have to go through either 14ac or 18ac to get from top to bottom or vice versa. Having said that, the excellence of those two clues more than compensates in this case.

22ac: I feel it necessary to point out that the device “Overweight” = “Over weight” = (WT reversed) does not have universal approval. As usual, I have no quarrel with those who like this sort of thing, as long as they remember that it is a question of personal preference. For me, 5dn was the right side of the dividing line in this grey area.

8dn: Similar to one on which I commented in Independent 8025 – by coincidence also 8dn. The linking “‘s” jars with the grammar of the cryptic indication.