Independent 8955 Sat 27-June-2015 Tyrus

21 comments on “Independent 8955 Sat 27-June-2015 Tyrus”

1. Aha…nice one, from setter and blogger…

   I, too, found the fish(es?), but couldn’t make the mafia link with ‘dormant’…I tried to find DORY or MANTA as in ray…

   I also couldn’t parse 20D, but now I see that ‘outside’ refers to the perimeter…if you ‘sing’, or break the OMERTA, then you will be sleeping with the fishies and the concrete boots?…

2. Thanks Tyrus and and beermagnet – a tough one. Re 13D, I think it’s made=GOT and man=HE.

3. Still struggling

   13d, made = GOT, man = HE ??

4. made=got: perhaps in the sense of salary, e.g. “I made/got £10,000 last year” (Collins has “to come into possession of; receive or earn”)
   man=he: I think he is the pronoun used for man in the sense of mankind

5. Thanks to mc_rapper for elucidating 20D – this is the final chink in the whole “sleeping with the fishes” perimeter.

   Also thanks Querulous and Cookie: Made=GOT, man=HE seems so obvious now.

   I was stuck thinking of the whole phrase “made man” because it also links to the mafia theme.
   This dictionary LINK gives the following as a sub-def. for “made man”:

   “A man who has been formally inducted as a full member of the Mafia.”

6. At 22dn I saw the definition as “another” referring to the “frenzied woman” at the start of the clue, with frenzied=mad and woman=ena “grabbed” as the wordplay. Tricksy indeed.

7. Thanks Tyrus and beermagnet, this took me a long time.

   I liked MAMMOTH, AMTRAK, BULBUL and ABUTILON; the game KABBADI sounds fun and healthy, a shame it is not played more.

8. DORMANT – OMERTA, cancelling out letters in common leaves END, just chance I guess…

9. Since last Saturday I looked about two or three times at this puzzle.
   Despite this, I could only find half of the solutions.
   I was just on the point of throwing it away as being ‘too hard’ when I visited Fifteensquared and saw this crossword’s preamble.

   I do not like preambles that give things away but this one really helped me to finish the puzzle.
   I caught a COD in the top line, then saw the GAR and – cheerfully – entered (or better completed) the remaining three fishes.
   With the perimeter almost fully filled, I managed to get there in the end.

   I didn’t understand the ‘dormant’ bit nor 13d.
   But it is clear now.

   This was a clever puzzle but I’m not sure whether it was my cup of tea.
   Mainly because I needed that little bit of help from Beermagnet (thanks, mate!).
   But it is cheating, isn’t it?

10. I think if I’d been doing this from the paper at home last week I would have got maybe a third done before putting it aside and returned to it fitfully throughout the week. As it was, I did it electronically in a very hot hotel room in Germany and had seen the bit about fish in the preamble here and made much use of the check button and guessed a lot to finish it. I couldn’t parse most of my guesses.

    3dn was one of my first in. I guessed ALTI. After all, I know the German for “old”. The check button showed my error.

11. Many thanks to beermagnet for the blog and to all who commented.

12. I was lucky enough to test solve this. It was difficult but I solved it without a dictionary and without spotting the Nina and I’m not a great solver. Tight clueing as ever. Good blog a well.

13. This was tricky – but enormous fun and the link ‘twixt 20dn and Nina most fulfilling. Huge thanks to Tyrus – and congrats to beermagnet (you virtually had it; I reckon if you’d read your own blog back, your two ‘gaps’ might have come together for you….)
    Thanks again both.

14. Gaufrid –
    I looked for this, unsuccessfully, at weekend (I enter newspaper and puzzle no. in Google). Only now have I found blog. Might it help to add 8955 to heading so future searchers won’t be thwarted. I’m moved by altruism, not Zoilism, I assure you!
    [Have you done with your work in the garden, or has it done with you? In either case have you reason enough to enjoy today’s men’s quarter finals – or do those tennis balls whizz over your head?!]
    W

15. William, I quite agree the number 8955 should be in the title – it is my mistake it is missing – I have added it in.

16. [……thanks, beermagnet. That’s my fourth gold star decided. Other recipients: Andy Murray, England cricket team – great day; have actually not watched Wimbledon or the Ashes for some years. But you are my overall winner as you’d already been awarded one for the blog!]

17. Another waste of ink , why oh why does the i keep printing these regurgitated puzzles for the mid week i readers,
    One reason only ECONOMICS,
    they have already paid for them 5 years ago for the failed Independent, I used to be average crossword addict, in the DT days, most days now I give the crossword a quick perusal then pass it by as on average they are far too difficult for mr average, ok for the masterminds. Who buys the i ? mr average or super brains,

    That’s got that off my chest, I know nobody will read this , but I feel a lot better

18. I have read it. I think you’ve been unlucky in stumbling in a very difficult puzzle indeed. I was hopelessly defeated by it, and I usually finish without difficulty.

    I don’t this is representative of the usual level of toughness, so don’t give up.

19. I’ve read it too – did you do yesterday’s, tortoise? That was much, much more accessible.

20. Probably the hardest puzzle of the year… so far!

    But give me the variety and sparkle on the Independent menu over the more predictable fare the Daily Telegraph any day – even if the odd fish bone does get stuck in the throat.

21. I managed to finish it. I thought this was a great puzzle with a pleasing level of toughness. Spotting the fishes definitely helped progress.

    I like the variety of the cryptics in the I – something for everyone – if they were all straightforward we’d be bored, wouldn’t we? I doesn’t matter to me that they’re recycled as I didn’t solve them the first time round.

    Don’t be discouraged Tortoise – raise your game!

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