Independent 9909 / Radian

8 comments on “Independent 9909 / Radian”

1. I wonder if we’re 15 8 and if it’s better to bear the 22, 23 and 5 that 24 is heir to, or to take 11 before the 10 21 are sicklied o’er and by 1 end them?

2. Rushing out just now but I’ve found 16 references in a quick count, in both clues and answers – there may be more in the clues.

   Brilliant stuff, as ever, from Radian. Huge thanks to him – and Duncan, too.

3. Such a reliable setter.

4. A theme that even I could spot

   Thank you to Radian for the crossword and Duncan for the explanations

5. Knew Tuesday is theme day in the Independent, so was on the lookout. SLINGS & ARROWS proved to be the giveaway. Didn’t really help with the solve although it helped confirm in my mind that ARMS was the answer to 11d, my LOI.

   Beautiful crossword with lots of head scratching. Had to check BOURN was a word for ‘stream’, but completed without aids. I guess Bournemouth is at the mouth of one. Liked ‘bible (RV)’ for anagram of ‘bible’. Took a while to get HYPNOSIS (aside: ‘putting’ should be underlined in blog). I was convinced for ages that ‘outrageous’ was going to be the definition and ‘shops putting people out’ would be a word for ‘shops’ with ‘men’ removed.

   Thanks to Radian and Duncan.

6. Being Tuesday we looked for a theme but failed to spot it – all we could see were random words formed by the ends and beginnings of across answers in some of the rows – doh!

   That being said this was nevertheless an excellent crossword in that no knowledge of the theme was needed in order to solve it.  SECTION, SCRIBBLER, INNUENDO, SATIE, HEARTACHE and HERONRY were among our favourites.

   Thanks, Radian and Duncan.

7. In my orderly solving of the clues, I’d reached 1dn ORISON before I was alerted to the theme – it’s the only place I’ve met it, apart from crosswords. Then it was such fun, searching out the rest.

   My favourites today were  SHOCKS, HOMERIC, FLESH, SATIE, HEARTACHE, PERCHANCE [loved the fish expert] and SLINGS.

   I thought BOURN was interesting, as it works two ways: ‘without’ can mean ‘lacking’ or ‘outside’.

   I’ve found a couple more [in the clues] since my comment @2.

   “To be, or not to be: that is the question:
   Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
   The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
   Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
   And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
   No more; and by a sleep to say we end
   The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
   That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation
   Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
   To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
   For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
   When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
   Must give us pause: there’s the respect
   That makes calamity of so long life;
   For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
   The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
   The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
   The insolence of office and the spurns
   That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
   When he himself might his quietus make
   With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
   To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
   But that the dread of something after death,
   The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
   No traveller returns, puzzles the will
   And makes us rather bear those ills we have
   Than fly to others that we know not of?
   Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
   And thus the native hue of resolution
   Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
   And enterprises of great pith and moment
   With this regard their currents turn awry,
   And lose the name of action.—Soft you now!
   The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
   Be all my sins remember’d.”

   Renewed thanks to Radian – an absolute gem.

8. The HERONRY one was a bit tough, I think. Complicated for me by the fact that ‘on line’ would have clued ONRY without the need for ‘working’ and so I became a bit fuddled by it.

   A very nice puzzle nonetheless, with a theme supplied as if old Waggledagger himself had penned it.

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