Independent 10029 / Maize

13 comments on “Independent 10029 / Maize”

1. It was good to be reminded of some old films such as AGATHA and ALIEN, though I didn’t know some of the more recent ones. I couldn’t identify anything they had in common either. Looking it up afterwards, I think EPIC THEATRE (drama) might refer to the theatrical movement of which Bertolt Brecht was a part.

   I liked VAPOUR – really pushed the envelope of my French vocab.

   Thank you to Maize and to Duncan.

2. Thanks Maize, Duncan

   I suppose you meant to say no strange grid pattern.  All at least 50% checked, most with first letters too, and no funny answers.  It’s no wonder we haven’t had a Maize puzzle for a while.  This sort of thing takes an age.  I was pleased to find there is a film Reds, rather than it just being Red, Red 2 etc.  There is also a Red 3 from 2016, but it’s not connected – I’d like to think it was made with the sole purpose of putting an end to a sorry franchise.

   Amazing stuff.

3. James @ 2

   Guilty as charged.  I’ve put in the missing ‘no’ now.

4. Thanks to Maize and Duncan. For reasons I can’t explain, despite having clocked the film theme straight off and having seen Gandhi again only recently to show it to my youngest, I put in PANDIT which put the kibosh on JEWISH.

5. Wouldn’t have spotted the theme in a month of Sundays. The last time I was at the cinema was to see Braveheart.
   Amaizing puzzle, as per usual.

6. Great puzzle- but mea culpa-took my eye off the ball for a minute and wrote in RELISH for 9d .

   100 lines!

7. Tuesday being ‘theme day’ we were on the lookout for one and it soon became obvious even though we’re not film buffs or regular cinemagoers (we saw Darkest Hour earlier this year but can’t remember when our last trip to the cinema was before that).  We recognised a lot of the films but weren’t aware that all the across entries after 1/5 were film titles – quite an achievement!  And it was possible, too, to solve the puzzle without knowing any of them so top marks there.

   Some great clues as well, starting with SILVER SCREEN.  Others we liked were GANDHI, HIGHLANDER, GORKY PARK, VAPOUR and CLARINET.

   Thanks, Maize and Duncan.

8. I never thought to look for a theme, but I should have twigged with STAR WARS, ALIEN and GORKY PARK, although I hardly ever watch films. Very clever. RHINESTONE my last one in. I liked VAPOUR, but CAROUSEL my favourite. Thanks Maize and Duncan.

9. Without the 1a 5a pointer I’d have probably managed to miss the theme completely; as it was I didn’t grasp the extent of it.  But I should have.  Maize has proved himself in the impressive gridfill department.

   In any case, the clues were a pleasure to solve independently of the themage.

   Thanks to Maize and Duncan.

10. For a change, I spotted the theme very early on, long before getting 1/5 which took me ages to see.  However, there were quite a few I couldn’t parse so thanks for all the explanations.

11. Thanks Duncan – you make an art out of detailed explanations, most appreciated.

    There are a few characteristics of Brecht’s epic theatre (or epic drama) and one of the most important is indeed its minimalist styling, as WordPlodder says.

    The films have nothing in common except that they can all be clued without mentioning the theme  – which is as a ghost theme should be, I suppose.

12. I’d always thought that The Silver Screen referred to black-and-white films and that there was some other term for colour films, but there seems to be no justification for this from Google. At any rate the term I always thought referred to films of a certain age that were in black-and-white, but perhaps no?

    But an excellent crossword, whose theme more or less passed me by, since I’m not an expert on cinema. Some of the films were unknown to me.  That’s just how it ought to be: one could do the crossword straight, without being affected by ignorance of the theme.

13. A brilliant example of first-class grid filling.

    As someone who finds the clueing itself always more important (impeccable, by the way), I was at first slightly disappointed that the southern half went in so (too?) smoothly.

    And then I spotted the theme which helped enormously to solve the upper half (which I found tough). It never occurred to me that all across clues were films. Impressive, indeed – and, as others said, not forcing the setter to do any concessions as to the choice of grid and the down clues.

    Recently, an emerging setter I know very well, ended his puzzle with: Maize removed from Goat Island.

    Well, if this remote Goat Island (either Canadian or Tasmanian) is a paradise then Maize should be quickly allowed to return ….!

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