Comments on: Independent on Sunday 1170/Math

By: Gerald Summerlin

Gerald Summerlin — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 05:53:47 +0000

I am going to try this puzzle. I am sure that I will enjoy every second of it.

By: scchua

scchua — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 10:29:39 +0000

ALOE VERA….And I thought you meant look it up in a dictionary

By: Pierre

Pierre — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 10:04:12 +0000

Scchua, thanks for correcting my careless error. You are right, of course: AR is Arkansas rather than Arizona, which is why flashling was confused earlier (nothing to do with the beer, obviously).

Dormouse, that is your call. Get back to us once the investigation is complete. Or perhaps not.

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 09:49:11 +0000

I thought Thelonius Monk was one of those names that “everyone” knew. I think it’s in a Terry Pratchett book where someone is having trouble with a religious group stealing things, the felonious monks.

Whose areola do you suggest I look at?

By: scchua

scchua — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 09:25:16 +0000

Thanks Pierre, and Math.
My experience was like yours – a challenge to complete the last few (3), due to the tricky misdirections “kit bag”, “succulent…bit of breast”, “…”in ponds”.
If I might add to MONKS, its a semi-&lit, as Thelonius is a soul brother (in American slang). Btw, a minor correction – AR is the abbrev. for Arkansas.

By: Al Dente

Al Dente — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:53:31 +0000

Thanks for your good wishes Pierre.

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 07:19:14 +0000

I am at the lower end of the ability range but I reckon I can now judge how hard a crossword is -largely based on how far I’ve got after 45 minutes.Of course sometimes I can be lucky with a hard one and unlucky with an easier one. This was about a 8/10 as I got only a handful of clues solved before giving up -and seeing the answers there weren’t many where I thought I should have got that.Thanks for the blog.

By: Pierre

Pierre — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 07:02:59 +0000

That’s a nice compliment, Alice, thank you! And happy birthday for tomorrow!

By: Al Dente

Al Dente — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 05:23:17 +0000

Agree with you Pierre that this was a Sunday puzzle with more “gettable” clues. I have found some of the Sunday puzzles fairly difficult of late although I have been putting that down to just getting older(I’ll be an old girl of 73 by this time tomorrow. The Al is short for Alice). Being housebound I really look forward to the Independent puzzles and always enjoy the blogs, yours particularly. Thanks again.

By: flashling

flashling — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 23:19:14 +0000

Cheers Pierre, flew through this except for the last few which held me up quite a bit, took far too long to think of AR = Arizona state, I visited it and the locals used AZ not AR. Math has been missing for a good while but thanks to him/her. Still peeling after sitting in the sun doing this and reading the paper and a book… ok and having a few beers