Independent 10,936 by Alchemi

17 comments on “Independent 10,936 by Alchemi”

1. As usual with Alchemi there were some answers which took quite a bit of teasing out, but it was an enjoyable challenge even though it seemed we were a bit short-changed for number of clues.

   I wasn’t quite sure about my parsing of 2d but Kitty’s explanation confirmed what I thought was correct.

   PRINCE CHARMING was my favourite.

   Many thanks to Alchemi and to Kitty.

2. Quite a challenge from Alchemi with a handful of unknown (to me) bits of GK sprinkled around.
   Think I’d agree with RD and give top spot to PRINCE CHARMING.

   Thanks to Alchemi and to our lovely Kitty – enjoy yourself in York.

3. I found this quite easy but was unable to parse several i.e 9/10A, 18A, 22A and 2D, so thanks Kitty for the explanations. Though I couldn’t find ACTA in any of my dictionaries or anywhere online. Is it the plural form of ‘actum’? But I couldn’t find that either. Clarification would be appreciated. Thanks Alchemi and Kitty.

4. Tatrasman @3
   Chambers
   acta
   plural noun
   1. Official minutes of proceedings
   2. Official proceedings or acts

   Collins
   acta
   plural noun
   An official record of public events

5. Tatrasman @3. Acta Diurna (Daily Records) was a Roman daily news bulletin (without crosswords!). Our word “journal” is derived from “diurna”

6. Beaten by ACTA & UMBRELLA TREE. Certainly wouldn’t have bet good money on spelling the sea correctly without the letters. Another vote for PRINCE CHARMING as pick of the clues. Very enjoyable.
   Thanks Alchemi & Kitty

7. Very enjoyable. Thanks RD @5 for the etymology of “journal”! Thanks also of course to Alchemi and Kitty.

8. Very enjoyable, apart from the app constantly crashing. I hate that EE advert. GOTHIC was my favourite. A minor quibble, is SALMONELLA a complaint or the cause of a complaint?

9. Very enjoyable puzzle from Alchemi today .

   Petert at 8. I have gone back to printing the Indy puzzles.
   The puzzle keeps freezing and you are right the ads are very annoying.
   Of course I accept that ads are necessary for revenue but they work so badly, I’m surprised the advertisers aren’t complaining!

10. Although I finished it, I did find it very tough, not helped by thinking the Marx brothers film must be Monkey Business, having misread lama as llama.

11. About a year ago I commented on an Alchemi puzzle (Independent 10,626 – 2 Nov 2020) that started off a quite unpleasant exchange of words, from about comment @25 onward.
    While I questioned only one of the clues in an otherwise excellent crossword, my query ultimately infuriated our setter, actually saying that, by default, “he was right and I was wrong”.
    Today, I could have kept my mouth shut but I had a sort of déjà vu.
    In 18ac (UMBRELLA TREE) Alchemi uses once more “is” when in my opinion it shouldn’t be there.
    The setter using “apostrophe-s” could, just like a year ago, have solved the issue [although I must admit that it wouldn’t improve the elegance of the clue].
    At the time, Hovis argued that “is” might be seen as “equals”, and while I understood what he meant that doesn’t make sense here as “is” is used in the middle of the wordplay.
    Same in 8/17.
    The “is” after Selassie is also questionable.
    In Kitty’s blog she took it as part of “re-guarded” – not for me, though.
    Don’t get me wrong, this was on the whole another fine Alchemi crossword
    [even if I still don’t get what’s happening in 2dn – other do get it and so, I am happy to ‘take the blame’].
    I didn’t finish the puzzle in one go, which, for me, means I didn’t find it that easy.
    For some reason, the puzzle cried out for some theme (as is often the case with Alchemi’s crosswords). Alas, there wasn’t one (I assume).
    The much-mentioned PRINCE CHARMING (9/10ac) and COMPASS POINT (15ac) were two clear contenders for Clue of the Day.
    Thanks Kitty (hope you enjoyed York!) & Alchemi

12. Sil@11

    You have indeed objected to my use of the word “is” in my clues on many occasions. No editor has raised such objections, and no-one else who has commented on the puzzles I have had published has made the same point.

    It may seem churlish, but I am not inclined to rethink my cluing style for one pernickety solver.

13. No problem with the “flying is” which I use myself in my modest efforts at compiling. I had to reveal UMBRELLA TREE.

    My main problem here was actually getting the answers entered. My tablet froze on 6 or 7 occasions, leaving me knee deep in adverts as I had to restart each time. This seems to happen on Saturdays, and at no other time. Probably 4 times in the last 10 weeks ? Does anybody else have this problem

14. Times Refugee@13 See me@8 and gsolphotog@9 above.

15. Times Refugee, solving on my iphone, I find that if I exit safari (not closing any windows, just going to the phone’s home screen) and go straight back in to the puzzle, it will have unfrozen. This puzzle was particularly bad for freezing, and some clues I had to repeat this more than once to be able to type the whole answer in, but it is better than refreshing and having to go through the adverts again.
    Sil @11, of course I agree with you. It seems strange to describe having unexplained words in the clues as a clueing style, when nearly all of the clues have no such words. It’s hard and time-consuming paring clues down to the minimum, so it must have been the setter’s choice to make them that way. The stray is’s do stick out all the more because of it.

16. Just solved in the train back from York. I rather agree with Sil that 8/17 would be better without “is”. And 18 would be more to my taste if the “is” was moved to appear before the first comma. (I am also finding it difficult to find a cryptic reading of 2D that works perfectly.)

    Much to like though. 9/10 is indeed charming.

17. Back from York now (not actually home home yet, but that’s another story), and suffused with warm fuzzy feeling for crosswording friends present and absent.

    Not sure how many people will return to the blog this late in the day, but anyway:

    RD@1 and others who mentioned 2d – I went with my best guess for that one but fully expected to be corrected.

    Petert@8 – I think it can be both the cause of complaint and, informally the complaint itself. Chambers has both meanings, so no cause for complaint about that.

    Sil@11 – It’s funny, I completely missed those “is”s at the time, but I can’t charge you with inaccuracy. (No idea either why I included the one in with “re-guarded”; now it’s been drawn to my attention my own liking for precision compels me to delete it.)

    Alchemi@12 – I’m sometimes in the mood to dissect finer points of crossword grammar, sometimes not (and I almost never feel like doing so online these days), but I’m always happy that people do care about these things, and appreciate those who take the trouble to discuss them on these blogs. Sil and James are two whose comments I particularly value in this respect – they are always considerate, considered, constructive and insightful.

    Caring about good clueing leads to better clueing, and it is solvers like me who reap the benefits (at the expense of making things harder for setters and editors, it’s true).

    While Sil was initially alone in voicing his opinion, subsequent replies show that he is not in fact alone.

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