Comments on: Independent 8,057 / Phi

By: nmsindy

nmsindy — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 11:57:37 +0000

The d.h. abbrev is in Chambers English Dict.

By: Tim Phillips

Tim Phillips — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 09:16:32 +0000

I didn’t check the full parsing of EINDHOVEN but I speak German and have never seen DH as an abbreviation even though I accept that ‘das heist’ translates as ‘that is’ (literally, ‘that calls itself’). Obscure, but fair. Maybe Phi could incorporate z.B. in a future puzzle (zum Beispiel, literally ‘for example’), which is very common in written German.

Buzz Bomb???

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 16:59:01 +0000

You didn’t look those up online then Allan? Good decision.

By: flashling

flashling — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 22:53:42 +0000

@7 Dormouse – yes here http://fifteensquared.net/2012/06/29/independent-8021phi/

Quite tricky for some of the poems, wordplay fair enough but needed to check after as I didn’t know them and I’d not come across the second German bit in Eindhoven before.

Cheers RR and Phi

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 22:37:29 +0000

Solved most of this on a train going to Cambridge this afternoon, but still had 18ac and 25ac on arriving at my destination. Finally decided I needed the internet to solve those two and had to wait until I got the wi-fi sorted out here and then I was busy most of the evening. I’m at a science fiction convention at the moment, so “fandom” seemed most appropriate.

I’d heard of all the poems except 18ac, and read three of them (but not in their original languages). And I didn’t know “huon pine” but it was easy to guess.

I’m sure we had “Gilgamesh” in a Phi puzzle only a few weeks ago.

By: allan_c

allan_c — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:04:07 +0000

A mixed reacion to this one: I was pleased to know some of the 1,28s (e.g. ILIAD, AENEID) but have to thank Phi for continuing my education with others (e.g. RAMAYANA). HUON PINE was also new to me, though easily worked out from the anagram fodder. And thanks, RatkojaRiku, for the explanation of 7d; having got EINDHOVEN from the crossing letters I didn’t look too closely at the parsing so didn’t spot that there were two German elements.
My CoD has to be LIFEGUARD for its superb surface.

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:03:49 +0000

Thanks to Wanderer for clarifying the parsing of 9A: your version makes much more sense and I will amend the blog accordingly. I should have known better than to think that a Phi clue would have been anything other than water-tight. I suppose it would have helped if I had known about the NRA to start off with …..

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:57:38 +0000

Wot, no Beowulf? An interesting enough theme, where you certainly learnt some new words. I got the gateway clue as my first solution: it just seemed to wink at me and say ‘put me in’. So I did; but it was only a help with the more well-known ones. I struggled with the longer anagrams. But entertaining – I particularly liked DEAFENING with its misleading ‘Minister’.

Never heard of Das Heißt, so certainly needed the explanation for EINDHOVEN.

Thanks for puzzle and blog.

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:42:44 +0000

Thanks RR and Phi for a cracking puzzle. Thanks especially for explaining the D.H. in EINDHOVEN — I guessed it must be something like that, but it was only a guess.

I knew the Kalevala as it inspired a lot of Sibelius’s music. I first discovered Sibelius in the 1970s and spent ages trying to find a copy of the poem, as I enjoyed the music so much. When I eventually tracked it down, it turned out to be unreadable. Ah well.

In 9a, ANGORA, I read the ‘gun group’ as NRA or National Rifle Association. This accounts for the ‘in’, I think. (‘A success IN gun group, getting rabbit.)

By: MikeC

MikeC — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:28:16 +0000

Thanks RR and Phi. My thoughts echo nmsindy’s, except that I did know the RAMAYANA but needed two goes to find the Finnish epic. Impeccable clueing, fun and education – what more could you ask for?