Comments on: Independent 8138 / Nimrod

By: Graham Pellen

Graham Pellen — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:34:38 +0000

In 26A the word “among” in the clue simply indicates that Nato is among “other things” ie alia.

By: jetdoc

jetdoc — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:14:27 +0000

This puzzle was a tribute to my mother, whose funeral took place yesterday. She loved crosswords, just part of the heritage for which I am grateful to her; she was still completing them, well into her mid-90s. Huge thanks to her brilliant son-in-law.

By: Trebor

Trebor — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:52:33 +0000

In response to the above.
For the record I never finished it (20 and the 28s eluded me); but just solving 11 21 25 and 19 make this puzzle much more satisfying than most we see.

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 22:51:29 +0000

A total nightmare for me. Couldn’t get more than a handful of clues.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:57:02 +0000

Very good crossword I thought. Difficult, but Nimrod’s crosswords always are, and all the answers made sense eventually even though sometimes I didn’t understand them to begin with.

In 6dn it seems to me that Duncan has missed Nimrod’s elegance. It’s not ‘place the ball on the tee’ being equivalent to ‘tee’ or ‘about to drive’: I think it’s sounder than this, for ‘about to drive’ doesn’t mean ‘tee’; isn’t it that ‘about to drive’ is equivalent to ‘on the tee’, in the way that announcers at the start of a round say ‘On the tee: Luke Donald [or whoever]‘ when they mean ‘About to drive …’, and we have NICK ELS on TEE L. Although I’m also not so sure that nickel steel is a compound.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:52:54 +0000

Thank you, Duncan. Now that the nina has been pointed out, I don’t really want to spend a lot of time commenting; just to say I enjoyed it (and unusually for a Nimrod, finished it). Thank you to the setter.

By: Trebor

Trebor — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:44:34 +0000

I had a similar experience to most; getting a good few in quickly (near unprecedented for a Nimrod!) and then hitting a wall. Nickel Steel was my favourite for its triple golf reference (although I’m not sure it’s technically a compound…)
Many thanks.

By: Liz Geear

Liz Geear — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:42:51 +0000

A great Tuesday puzzle from Nimrod. That I could find arse, prat and bottom says as much for me as it does for the setter. Tch!! I missed the very poignant Nina. I agree that this could have easily have been a prize puzzle but this guy is a genius (or Genius). Re the use of setters pseudonyms : I think (and could be wrong) that the vast majority of solvers of the daily cryptics do so on a regular basis and will therefore be familiar with the setters. And I hope that a flummoxed new solver would be encouraged to persevere, after reading this blog.
Thanks Duncan and Nimrod

By: flashling

flashling — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 11:24:35 +0000

Thanks Duncan for unscrambling a few that I knew to be right, but no longer had the heart to work at.

Started like a train in the top half then ground to a juddering halt, before limping home, but now it’s complete scratching my head a little as to why it was a struggle, the diagonal Nina now makes some sense when Tuesdays usually are more obviously themed.

Thanks Nimrod/JH enjoyed this in the end.

By: JollySwagman

JollySwagman — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:53:41 +0000

Raced into this but soon slowed down. A bit of research was needed but not too much. Loose ends all sorted now.

Thanks DS for a very thorough blog (agree – 12d takes a bit of beating) and N for a challenging puzzle, inventively clued as ever. The shaded squares make two clear crosses – maybe that’s part of the nina (which of course I had missed).