Comments on: Independent 8106 by Nimrod (Saturday Prize Puzzle 6 Oct 2012)

By: redddevil

redddevil — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:39:47 +0000

Had no problem with IN QUOD but never heard of Sara Cox nor the word deriving from her and would never have associated Elliott with the brat in the boring film (but at least that clue was gettable without).
I can’t see that “as for the human” works to make you put “Has ten” in 11/26. “Whereas the human” seems both to work and read better to me…
Much enjoyment nonetheless so thanks to both Nimrod and mc_rapper

By: JollySwagman

JollySwagman — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 07:07:46 +0000

It all made sense in the end.

Thank’s Nimrod and mc_r.

By: allan_c

allan_c — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:49:07 +0000

Would never have completed this without extensive use of a word finder – at least it did turn up the obscure words like SASARARAS and (obscure to me anyway) AIRSTOPS. Definitely a facepalm moment when I twigged the theme. And thanks, mc_rapper67, for the blog; I needed several explanations.

By: yvains

yvains — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 20:56:56 +0000

Left this one till late in the day, and rather wished I hadn’t. Some clues I loved – MOTHER’S RUIN, THROATY, ITEM, ANTIPOPE, (and HOGSHEAD once I read the parsing here) – but I limped over the finish-line, needing your explanation of WITCHES’ BREW, POETS’ CORNER and HOGSHEAD, mc_rapper67, never having heard of ESB, or seen ET. I’d probably have been a lot more enthusiastic, and felt more of a sense of achievement, if I’d tackled it fresher. Thanks to setter and blogger. A real tough one.

By: Trebor

Trebor — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 15:01:34 +0000

Marvellous puzzle. The D’Oh in 2D very apt for a Nimrod/Enigmatist solver. He might be the best.

By: mc_rapper67

mc_rapper67 — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 14:16:27 +0000

Thanks for all the comments/feedback – looks like this was a generally tough puzzle for everybody!

ewwo at #4 – glad you appreciated the blog – makes it all the more worthwhile if this has been some help.

- Chambers has ‘race’ as to run, or go, swiftly – as well as the connotation of vying with others in a race, usually of speed, so I think it is probably a suitable indicator for ‘hasten’

- Chambers also has ‘airstop’ as a ‘stopping place for helicopters’ – like a bus-stop for buses? Bit obscure, and I’d never heard of it, but I was certain of ‘airs….’ for songs, so it was a matter of thumbing through the entry for ‘air’. Even if I did get my helicopter reference wrong!

- similarly, much scrabbling around to find SASARARAS and QUOD.

As you say – hopefully something easier this week, but good to get a tough workout occasionally…

By: sidey

sidey — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 14:01:36 +0000

Thank you mc_r. Definitely one to be attempted on paper. Some very clever stuff. Micro point, Budgie is by alleged plagiarist Fergie, the helicopter in Thomas is Harold.

By: crypticsue

crypticsue — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 11:15:08 +0000

I thought it was a great theme – my mother would have loved it – she was a great one for altering signs outside greengrocers shops and the like when the apostrophe was wrongly used. As usual with a Nimrod a certain amount of muttering was required, but that is only to be expected with one of his puzzles. D’oh moments have to be the ‘ink wad’ and the NON EGO. Lovely puzzle thank you Nimrod and very well done to Mc_Rapper – at least you didn’t have to produce an ‘on the day’ blog for this one which always adds an extra layer of terror to solving one of John’s puzzles .

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 11:01:35 +0000

Q@3 I considered some variant of “Higgs” for a while but fortunately didn’t put it in. (And I’ve just seen a reference to a “Higgs bosun” in a magazine.)

Can’t remember now how long it took me to twig the theme, but I got most of the grid filled in by Saturday night. 2 & 6dn held me up. Got the former with a word search late in the week when all else had failed. I can’t remember if “in quod” turned up in a word search, but I wasn’t familiar with the phrase and couldn’t make the connection to the clue, so thanks for explaining that.

I did like 12ac. And once I got that I think that helped me get the rest of the theme. (I mean the answer helped, not the gin itself.)

By: ewwo

ewwo — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 11:01:18 +0000

Always enjoy the blogs but have never felt moved to post a comment before. Sometimes when you real aficionados think clues are great, I just wonder if the setter has gone too far, and this Nimrod was the prime example. I guess this only shows my ignorance, having never heard of sasararas or “quod”, so putting them in only when no other combinations of letters made sense.

Hasten – does it really mean race?
Airstops – is that a word?

Ok, don’t answer me, but this week I was particularly grateful to your blogger for explaining the word play in some of the clues. Hope for something easier this week.