Comments on: Independent 8040 / Nestor (Saturday Prize Crossword 21/07/12)

By: allan_c

allan_c — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 16:04:51 +0000

Finding Q and Z, I wondered about a pangram and then didn’t bother to check.
21a held me up for a while as having got ONE as the third word I was looking for the first to begin with something that could stand for ‘one’ (“circled by Polish aces”) though I couldn’t see what ‘Polish’ ad to do with it; only after getting crossing letters from 16d and 19d did the penny drop.
In 19d I think the ‘literary’ refers to the usage of the word ‘foe’; it’s not often encountered in everyday speech or writing. A super clue, though, and a candidate for COD.
Thanks, Nestor and B&J.

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 11:38:24 +0000

After a week, I can’t remember much about this except that I appear to have completed it. But I do remember that I had no idea how 23ac worked, so now I know, and thanks everyone for that.

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 11:05:19 +0000

Thanks Nestor for the corrections – we were down to one blogger this week with one of us ill so it didn’t have another brain to check it over!

By: Nestor

Nestor — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 09:08:33 +0000

A couple of minor corrections:
15ac isn’t a double definition; the answer is hidden (selective) in (infor)MANT RA(rely).
In 7dn you’re missing the second P. It’s {PRAY (attempt to contact spirit) + P (power)} in SAINTED.

I meant 4dn as an &lit, T(ourism) + RAVEL (to unwind), but it also works as you’ve described it.

By: Al Dente

Al Dente — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 07:22:24 +0000

Thanks for the excellent blog Bertandjoyce. I too started to look towards a theme especially when Joey and
Roseanne appeared. As one of the older solvers was ok with (Dr) Finlay. Always enjoy the longer answers to
clues so a thanks also to Nestor for Top Of The Pops, out of character, et al.