Comments on: Independent 8,134 / Nestor

By: Monk

Monk — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:18:04 +0000

Thomas @3. Didn't solve the puzzle, but I have very strong memories of 10cc's 1976 album "How Dare You", in which Nestor's Nina is in the lyric of "I Wanna Rule The World" (track 3, side 1). The good old days, when (inter alia) rock music replaced missed Latin classes for those of us doing woodwork and metalwork.

By: allan_c

allan_c — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:07:35 +0000

Only got 26ac by trial and error and needed the blog to parse it because ‘Spod’ was a new word to me.

I’m reasonably happy with ‘double definition’ to describe 6d and 16a though they are the sort of clue that defies accurate description without resorting to long-windedness.

Thanks, Nestor, for the puzzle – and RR for the blog.

By: Pelham Barton

Pelham Barton — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:06:39 +0000

Thanks Nestor for an enjoyable puzzle and RR for the blog.

In response to RR’s questions, I would give 16ac as “double definition (French and English)” and 6dn as “double definition (idiomatic and literal meanings of the phrase)”. I should add that 6dn was my favourite clue – I always enjoy a well-written clue of this type.

9ac: Nice indication for removal of one of the two Es from GeORGES.

3dn: This comes close to being an indirect anagram, but the transformation required after finding a synonym is what we mathematicians call a cyclic shift rather than a complete rearrangement, so I was completely happy with this clue.

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:55:09 +0000

I missed the Nina too, although I always do unless directed to it by some kind of preamble. Having just gone through a bad patch on the solving front, there is something rather poignant about this particular Nina for me

By: flashling

flashling — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:35:40 +0000

Missed the Nina not too surprising that though, actually found it the easiest Nestor for some time with nothing really troubling me on a 25 min train ride. With Thomas for 6d and 16a.

Many thanks RR and Nestor.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:01:15 +0000

There’s a Nina – Delapsus Resurgam, going down the left side and up the right). It means, appropriately, “When I fall I shall arise”. It’s from Pilgrim’s Progress, although it was only very vaguely familiar to me.

No problem with 6d and 16a – both are double definitions, I’d say.

I really enjoyed this – sophisticated but not maddening. Thanks for the blog.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:23:15 +0000

Goodness, well done for blogging and parsing this one, RR. There were enough gettable ones to give you a start, but there were half a dozen at the end which I got, but couldn’t understand. And I failed on LAZE. It’s a clever clue, but a solver of my ability would have appreciated something other than ?A?E to go at.

But I agree with MikeC – good fun and challenging.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:08:17 +0000

Thanks RR and Nestor. Good fun and quite challenging. Needed your help with parsing 22 (couldn’t see it at all, perhaps because I so hate the term “uni”!).