Comments on: Independent on Sunday 1172/Raich

By: Raich

Raich — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 20:52:01 +0000

Many thanks, Pierre (for standing in), and Ali also of course and to all for the kind remarks.

By: Ali

Ali — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:16:41 +0000

Sorry all, I was down to do this one and did write my blog yesterday, but got sidetracked offline before having had chance to polish it off and post.

Pierre has more than adequately filled in for me here. Many thanks to him. For the record, here was what I was going to say in my intro: “This was great stuff from Raich. Lots of good clues, smooth surfaces and no uncertainties with the wordplay. Reminded me a lot of a Phi or Dac puzzle in fact, which I hope is high praise!”

By: allan_c

allan_c — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:25:42 +0000

Yes, thanks, Pierre, for filling the gap – and after doing the regular blog for the day!

A nice steady solve and nothing too difficult, though I was led astray at first by some clues; for example in 4a ‘a quiet street’ suggested the sequence APST and I was looking for something involving taps until the penny dropped when I got some crossing letters. Must remember that ‘quiet’ can mean SH as well as P in future.

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:24:47 +0000

Thank you so much, Pierre, for stepping in to fill a gap, and to Raich for a puzzle which I found at the easier end of the IoS spectrum, and which really hit the spot for me.

I was splendidly misdirected by the Wagnerian surface to 17d, LORGNETTE. With two crossing letters L???N???? I took one look at it and thought LOHENGRIN. My parsing? ‘Look’ = LO (but takes no account of the ‘right…); ‘German almost’ = HEN (well, a HEN is almost a HUN… yes, I know…) and GRIN is an anagram of the RING. Of course it made no sense but I spent a while trying to make it work until I had some more crossers. Also convinced myself that my politician at 4d was a WHIG and spent time trying to see how HIG = up-to-date. D’oh.

Favourite was WEREWOLF. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the river=flower device, but I had never thought to find an everyday word containing a reversal of flower.

Lovely stuff.