Comments on: Independent 8,181 / Nestor

By: Bertandjoyce

Bertandjoyce — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:41:10 +0000

A difficult puzzle today. Sorry, yesterday – we’ve only just finished it!

We wondered whether ‘backing’ in 23d referred to Ringo’s role (as opposed to drum-roll).

Thanks RR and Nestor fir keeping us awake with a good and enjoyable challenge.

By: RatkojaRiku

RatkojaRiku — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:03:16 +0000

Many thanks to allan_c for spotting the typo – there is one almost every week, despite my efforts to proof-read my blogs before posting them.

And to Raich for the parsing of 23. The bit about the word “ring” and the picture (of a ring) “o” seems obvious now that it has been explained to me. I think that I was expecting a more technical term for papal regalia, although I suppose the wording was chosen mainly to reinforce the papal reference initiated by John Paul I. I did, however, expect a reversal (“backed”), although I suppose this could be understood to be back to back, one after the other. If this is the case, it is not a device that I recall having seen used very often ….

I will supplement the blog accordingly.

By: Andy B

Andy B — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:20:24 +0000

I thought this was hard but fair, and I was very pleased to finish it without resorting to aids. Ringo was my last in after the penny finally dropped on “John Paul I”.
Andy B.

By: allan_c

allan_c — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:31:40 +0000

Oops, what happened there? What I intended was S(omebody) should read S(omebod)Y but the angled brackets seem to have fouled it up. So replace ‘(‘ and ‘)’ with angled brackets.

By: allan_c

allan_c — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:27:45 +0000

Just noticed a small typo at 17ac: S should be SY – but hardly worth bothering about.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:13:49 +0000

Another one who struggled with this one. Couldn’t get there in the end but enjoyed the bits I did manage. STAR TURN was priceless …

Thanks to S&B.

By: allan_c

allan_c — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:44:07 +0000

Yes, a tough one today – we’ve been spoiled by three fairly easy ones so far this week. Needed assistance to finish it, and the blog to understand some of the parsing.

One quibble re 12ac – MANITOBA is a province of Canada, not a territory. For the difference see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada

Thanks, RR – and Nestor.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:40:47 +0000

Thanks RR and N. I do agree this was a tough one! Raich’s explanation of 23d seems good; I also struggled with parsing 24a, although the answer seemed obvious enough. Good stuff.

By: Raich

Raich — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:07:49 +0000

I think 23D is ring in two forms RING O.