Comments on: Independent 8,154 by Monk (Saturday Prize Puzzle, 01/12/12)

By: Graham Pellen

Graham Pellen — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 02:59:10 +0000

16A is not (Baathists + weighe[d])* but (Baathist[s] + weighed)*.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:30:48 +0000

Hi Wil
You are absolutely right. I’ve made the correction.

By: Wil Ransome

Wil Ransome — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 17:56:37 +0000

Isn’t this crossword 8154? Certainly that’s what the paper says.

By: Monk

Monk — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 09:16:05 +0000

Thanks, Simon H, for excellent blog, to whom: the top and bottom rows (a seed, rather than a Nina) are respectively the (first eight) "blow" and "draw" HOLES (22ac) on a diatonic HARMONICA (20ac, my instrument of choice) in the key of C. To allan_c @1, the first definition of "assorted" in Chambers is "classified".

By: allan_c

allan_c — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 15:05:51 +0000

“Monk always puts us through our paces, and this week’s puzzle was no exception.” I’d agree with that, but nevertheless this was an accessible puzzle with nothing obscure. I thought we were heading for a pangram but in the end there was no K or Q.

One quibble regarding 19dn; I wouldn’t equate “assorted” with “classified”. I’d have thought an assortment of things was more likely to be unclassified and they’d need to be sorted to be classified. But I haven’t checked Chambers or Collins so I’m open to correction.

Thanks, Monk and Simon