Comments on: Independent Crossword 8142 by Anax (Saturday prize puzzle 17-11-2012)

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 00:03:06 +0000

I am a great admirer of Anax, but hardly ever I can solve one of his crosswords without external help.
This one I solved without aides though, and I liked it very much.

BEHOLD (1ac) is surely more Paul than Anax, and even though the idea was clear right from the start, the penny dropped far too late.

I ticked (a la tupu) 26ac (COMPLETE) [unattractive surface for a pacifist like me, but very well ... executed], 18d (TRAVAIL) [great use of 'boxing'] and 20d (GABRIEL) [not sure though whether the man Peter considers himself as a rock star nowadays].
Oh, and PLURAL (27ac).

I agree with Eileen that 21ac (SHADOW CABINET) was another Great One. I have said it many times before but I am happy to repeat it here: Anax is extremely good (perhaps, The Best) at ‘original’, mostly long, anagrams!

Mostly?
Well, that was a bit of a pity.
A word used for the same device twice (10ac, 14ac).
Also, not really happy with with “One month” for May, but I understand that there was probably no way to avoid that little word “One” for our beloved setter (because of the surface).

There were two clues I especially liked for their surely unintended misdirection.
2d: “Animal one leaves in house” – I was looking for an animal in which I had to delete A or I.
12ac: I was very much focused on an anagram of “How Dambusters” (with ‘may be’ as the indicator). And actually, after having all the crossing letters [B?O?E?H?A?T?D], it could still be that – of course, it wasn’t!

Many thanks, twencelas, for the blog.
But I think in 2ac EP (European pressure) should be : E (Euro) + P (pressure).

And a huge thanks to DM for giving me a lot of pleasure last weekend.

By: flashling

flashling — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:17:51 +0000

Thought 1a was very nice, and spent quite a while with Sevastopol debating which spelling Anax was after, until seeing saves reversed.

A cracker as is Tees’ effort today.

By: Liz Geear

Liz Geear — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 14:18:36 +0000

Lovely stuff from Anax. 4ac was my last in and I had it from the wordplay- but it took a visual hint from a friend to confirm it.
Thanks twenceslas for a great blog.

By: kloot

kloot — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 12:04:59 +0000

Aaarrrgghhhh!! Solved this with a little help and checked my answers only to find I spelt the port 13dn incorrectly. I loved this puzzle. Anax is probably my favourite setter with Tees a very close second. This puzzle was full of good clues and wit.

By: Querulous

Querulous — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 11:36:59 +0000

Thanks twencelas and Anax.

Re 14A, I’d gone for posh as an alternative to posy.

Not massively keen on the Dingbat aspect of 1A. There was a similar clue in a Times puzzle a couple of years ago but without the redeeming feature of a decent surface (something like “Post lar? (7)”, with the lar being in bold). At the time I assumed it was a printing error but, this time around, forewarned was forearmed. Having said that, the rest of this puzzle was further evidence of Anax’s brilliance as a setter.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 10:59:05 +0000

Thanks, twenceslas, and jmac for clarifying 1ac, which I didn’t see.

A puzzle bursting with excellent clues: no one has mentioned 21, which is one of the best I’ve seen – and I liked 27ac very much, too. If I mention any more, I could go on all morning.

Many thanks to Anax – I just loved it!

By: twencelas

twencelas — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 10:32:51 +0000

Thanks Jmac – have updated blog

By: Polly

Polly — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 10:27:58 +0000

I too loved 1ac, not just COW but one of the best of all time, from my favourite setter. 4ac eluded me for a few days, until it turned up in a post relating to Tuesday’s puzzle.

By: Dormouse

Dormouse — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 10:15:13 +0000

MikeC@2: Me too!

By: MikeC

MikeC — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 10:07:22 +0000

Thanks twencelas and Anax. Good stuff! My COW was 1a. Very neat. There were several I couldn’t parse, including my mistaken entry of Sebastopol for 13d. D’oh (Is this brief enough?)