Comments on: Independent 8147 / Phi

By: BertandJoyce

BertandJoyce — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 23:39:56 +0000

Hi Allan_C @9. Our version of Crossword Solver only gives the date at the top. We use an iPad version so perhaps that’s the reason why.

By: Guile Jackson

Guile Jackson — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 19:31:22 +0000

I really wonder if such puzzles are made from some algorithm since the inverse algorithm is performed by ourselves…

By: Phi

Phi — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 19:27:35 +0000

Just woken up – yes, NUMEROUS is as I wrote it so the error starts with me. Even if I try to justify it by saying I misread my handwriting when writing the clue, I then transcribed the note in all its tarnished glory. Very sorry, folks.

However, my clue to ABLAZE had ‘on’ as the definition (as in ‘Why does that office have all its lights [ABLAZE/ON] at 10 o’clcok at night?’), not ‘in’. I am vaguely aware of the usage K’s D mentions, though I wouldn’t have thought it good for a daily.

By: allan_c

allan_c — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:05:59 +0000

My experience was much the same as others’ – entered 3dn without thinking about it, and thought the clue to 23ac was missing the word ‘flames’. A very quick solve, though, under 20 mins. Thought 1/28 was a really easy clue – got the answer from the second half of the clue and the enumeration without really looking at the first half.

B&J @ 7 – I use Crossword Solver and it does give the setter’s name – right at the top of the clues; thus today it has “Phi-8147″

Anyway, thanks to Phi and Duncan.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:42:12 +0000

When we have our fire going, I exhort the children to ‘keep the fire in’ if I have to go out. Seldom has the desired result.

By: BertandJoyce

BertandJoyce — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:49:12 +0000

We also happily entered 3d without realising the error. We were solving this on Crossword Solver and wondered whether it was a Phi puzzle as it didn’t quite have his usual flair. Our last one in was ABLAZE and whilst we thought of ‘keeping a fire in’ we weren’t totally happy. As Sidey says, it’s more about damping a fire down to keep it going rather than being ablaze.

We wondered if it was heading for a pangram but there is no J.

Anyway, thanks Phi and also thanks to Duncan for the blog. We hope you reached your destination safely!

By: rowland

rowland — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:49:15 +0000

Shame about the whoopsie in a great puzzle. I liked the two long anagrams, which seemed very well thought out.

Cheers
Rowly.

By: sidey

sidey — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 11:50:46 +0000

Keeping a fire in in my youth meant all but smothering it with slack, almost the opposite of ablaze.

By: Thomas99

Thomas99 — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 10:56:28 +0000

Re 23a – Chambers, well into the entry, does have “alight” as a definition of “in”. I recognised it from the (1992) translation of Proust – right at the beginning, p.5: “the fire keeping in all night, I would sleep, as it were, in a great cloak of snug and smoky air”. I should add that the reason I remembered it is that at the time I found it baffling and had never encountered the usage before! (I don’t think I have since either.)

I totally missed the error at 3d – otherwise this was an enjoyably clear and precise, inventive but not too difficult one from Phi. Thanks for the blog too.

By: eimi

eimi — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 10:23:08 +0000

Apologies for 3 Down. You’re quite right – I failed to spot the mistake here. Of course, the clue as given produces numeroos.