Independent on Sunday 1,675 by Blythe

18 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,675 by Blythe”

1. Thanks and welcome to Blythe. A mixture of the relatively straightforward and some I’d never heard of or couldn’t parse which provided quite a challenge. The ‘material’ at 14d, the ‘Scottish town’ and the ‘Welsh river’ were all new and I can’t pretend I knew who ‘Samuel’s Mum’ was. I couldn’t parse BALHAM (should have been able to) or CYCLISTS (no hope).

   A bit macabre, but I liked HAS.

   Thanks again to Blythe and to PeeDee

2. Is Blythe a new setter? If so, welcome.

   Crosswordland seems to have been awash with TSUNAMIS of late. NYFER was new to me. Two London districts, no less, and three if we include Brompton! I await further interpretation of CYCLISTS.

   Thanks Blythe And PeeDee

3. I thought CYCLISTS was just a (barely) cryptic definition. I slowed myself down by spelling GRYPHON as GRIFFON and couldn’t decide between NIXON and NINON. Thanks both.

4. I can’t find any prior trace of Blythe, so I assume this must be his/her debut – and a very good one it was too: very light but a lot of fun with commendably brief clueing.

   I didn’t know the studious person in 9a, the Scottish town in 4d, the Welsh river by that name in 8d and the material in 14d but all were easily deducible and barely delayed my solving time.

   I think 18d is fine as a cryptic definition. Each Brompton has two wheels so one cyclist has two (wheels) going round. Therefore, two or more cyclists would each have two (wheels) going round.

   My top clues were NINTH, CLAW, TSUNAMIS and CATFORD.

   Many thanks to Blythe and looking forward to your next offering. Thanks too to PeeDee.

5. A fine debut, if that is what it is, with clear and precise clues. I’m in agreement with Rabbit Dave about the cd for CYCLISTS: I think on the one hand the whole thing can mean ‘cyclists’ whilst the other meaning, obviously closely related, refers to the two wheels on a bicycle (for example a Brompton) that ‘go round’.

   I am quite glad that NYFER was a hidden clue!

6. I enjoyed this and found it fairly easy to finish thanks to Blythe’s well-constructed clues. Plenty of unusual entries and an odd grid design so I was hoping somebody might enlighten me to the theme, possibly some fantasy novel in which a gryphon and unicorn riding Brompton folding cycles terrorise sarf London boroughs.
   Thanks to PeeDee and Blythe

7. Quite a HANDY puzzle but not many marks for devices or surfaces. Enjoyable for all that.

   I had a spooky moment en route: while approaching the southern half my mind turned to a friend whose daughter is expecting (he is so proud) but I ploughed on to suddenly unearth HANNAH – her name! I’m beginning to think that most, erm, thinking goes on outside the body.

   I liked BALHAM – I had to come here to find out what support had to be removed from which palace (but it had to be BALHAM from the crossers and I am one who doesn’t stress about the parsing once the answer is generated – thanks to 15^2). (Simiarly SONIC.)

   I don’t think CYCLISTS has anything to do with wheels – it’s just (as per Petert) a cryptic definition with the ‘two’ thrown in to give the plural.

   Congrats to Blythe and thanks to PeeDee

8. It’s always a pleasure to encounter a new setter! There were several (for me) obscure words: the Welsh river, the Scottish town, the folding bicycle, but the answers went in without undue difficulty thanks to clear clues. Thank you to Blythe and PeeDee.

9. Very original and accessible puzzle, which I found quite easy, which was good because there were some rather unusual answers but the clues led one there.

   Got stuck on BALHAM though, unknown or forgotten, where I should have thought of b = bye but didn’t, so thanks, PeeDee, for explaining that – did not think of ALHAMBRA either.

   Thanks, Blythe, for the puzzle.

10. There was an encounter with a gentleman, a Geordie called Ryan, in the Blythe Hill Tavern, in Catford, a little while ago. After some few pots of foaming ale, he requested of me a puzzle to celebrate a certain time in his life whereof he’d met two nice young women, Jules and Hannah, in a Catford pub, called Ninth Life, and gone on to form firm friendships with these two, and others, thereby gaining himself a foothold in the wonderfully gay social whirl that is southeast London, not to mention southwest London, where The Cyclists is a fun-filled Balham hostelry. And I was sufficiently sozzled to oblige.

    In the end, JULES, UNICORN, NINTH, LIFE, BALHAM, NEW YEAR, RYAN, NAOMI, JANUARY, NYFER, CYCLISTS, CATFORD, GUCCI and HANNAH were lined up to be the themed answers, and very generously the Indy editor allowed me to do it, so long as my thematic VPL wouldn’t show. And this is the result. I hope the bloke likes it — I hope he sees it at all, to be honest — and I’m glad it went down okay with you guys too. Many thanks PD.

11. I live on a farm just outside Nevern ( Nabhyfer mewn Cymraeg ) and it is a very small river. The Teifi and the Gwaun, Cardigan and Fishguards’ rivers (AberTeifi ac Abergwaun) are longer.
    Anyway, it made it a lot easier for me.

12. Didn’t read Blythr’s post, Why is NYFER part of the theme. Probably too late for anyone to read.

13. Evening Harry

14. It ain’t me, babe!

15. Ah…Mr B I presume

16. Thank you for dropping in and explaining all that Blythe. I had been wondering why the little known (11 mile long) river Nyfer made it into a crossword puzzle. To be honest, I still am.

17. Obviously not very many snooker fans on here, given that John Higgins (the Wizard of Wishaw) has and is currently on the telly-box.

18. Yup – Defo the flower, Tees, Mr B.

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