Comments on: Independent 8130 by Klingsor (Saturday Prize Puzzle 3/11/12 )

By: MikeC

MikeC — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 10:10:56 +0000

Thanks B&J and Klingsor. Challenging puzzle and excellent blog. Finally finished this morning. My only regret (sugar!) is that I couldn’t parse 1d.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:00:16 +0000

You have assumed and lost, Wil.

But as both La Traviata (The Fallen woman, in which Violetta and Alfredo appear) and Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) are by Giuseppe Verdi, there’s still a nice connection beyond just ‘opera’.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 23:45:31 +0000

Excellent as always from Klingsor. I thought 13dn was absolutely outstanding (assuming that Violetta and Alfredo are both characters in Il Trovatore, something I don’t know and haven’t checked, but is I expect the case).

By: allan_c

allan_c — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 21:35:45 +0000

The lack of comments may have something to do with quite a few of us being occupied most of today at the excellent Sloggers & Betters event in Derby.

Good stuff from Klingsor and a comprehensive blog from B&J; thanks, all!

By: bertandjoyce

bertandjoyce — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 17:40:07 +0000

Thanks for the comment Klingsor. What you said brought back memories of when our son was younger. He used to think that sugar was a swear word and the only way of stopping him ‘swearing’ at the end was to ask him what sort he wanted and then listing all the different varieties in turn!

By: Klingsor

Klingsor — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 14:39:31 +0000

I’m going to be out for most of the weekend so I’ll express my thanks now to Bert and Joyce for an excellent blog. I’m hoping that the lack of comments is due to the thoroughness and clarity of their explanations, rather than a reflection on the awfulness of my puzzle.

Just one small thing – the sugar/euphemism connection in 15 down is not as clever as I’m given credit for. Sugar is simply an example of a euphemism, in this case for a common four-letter expletive that begins with the same sound.