Independent 11,939 by Crosophile

11 comments on “Independent 11,939 by Crosophile”

1. I really enjoyed this from one of our lesser-spotted setters. The nina itself provided some assistance, although only after I’d otherwise solved INDIAN INK, which was the only one of the plays that rang a bell. I quite liked the idea of SEASHELL UPKEEP as a play title, but upon reflection it’s more of a TS Eliot Prize winner.

   TAGETES was new to me, and I spent some time fretting over it before deciding that GET and SEAT really were the only suitable synonyms (‘see’ clearly not fitting), and that TAGETES looked better than TATEGES.

   Thanks both.

2. Well done to Amoeba for ‘getting’ TAGETES which I did not. I had SEAT but not GET and that middle bit eluded me. I have seen some Stoppard but the names of the plays have not stuck with me – I vaguely remembered INSPECTOR HOUND but not the REAL prefix – so, whilst the nina tipped me off, I could not spot the themers.

   Thanks for clarifying some queries in the blog. The parsing of READINGS was tricky – I could not find the E that was in the filleted ShakespearE. I suppose it is indeed a lot of things – but the abbreviations mentioned in the blog could also be included by the ‘sources in’ which simplifies it a bit. I have never encountered AP for ‘apparently’ in HANDICAP so bunged and hoped. I thought REAL (in particular) and YAWING were very good. I was a tad surprised to see two writing materials both defined as writing material.

   Thanks Crosophile and Quirister

3. 6d TAGETES was a jorum. Agree with PostMark@2 on the simpler Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead IN ShakespearE for 16d.
   LOi: 22d PICASSO. How is SO = “that will do”? Only in Chambers (’93), where it’s in between “…; be it ;” and “; very good ; so what?…”
   [First heard pitch- roll- and YAWING in a ’70s pamphlet on solving Rubik’s Cube.]

4. PostMark @2, FrankieG @3: I thought about that for READINGS, but it gives us one more A than we need, and there isn’t an obvious reason to omit one of the A words in the play title. I don’t much like my complicated version, though: anyone have any better ideas?

5. Quirister @4 – I took it as anagrammed initialisms like PM & FrankieG, but not ‘And’. I thought that was just linkage between the fodder words.

6. Although I parsed as Amoeba, I like the parsing in the blog and don’t think it over complicated. Unlike others TAGETES was my first one in. In case you are wondering how that came about – I guessed 10a was probably AORTA but, not having 23 or 6, started looking at the downs that crossed with it.

7. Knew RAGAD was by Stoppard, but wasn’t looking and didn’t wake up to the theme. [First Stoppard I saw was Peter Barkworth in Professional Foul, excellent] Nice puzzle ntl, ta C & Q.

8. Knew RAGAD was by Stoppard, but wasn’t looking and didn’t wake up to the theme. [First Stoppard I saw was Peter Barkworth in Professional Foul, excellent] Nice puzzle ntl, ta C & Q.

9. Sorry, no clue why that reposted ….

10. You know how, sometimes, you’re in the audience at a Shakespeare play, and everybody else laughs out loud, but you just didn’t get the joke?
    That’s me, on this one.
    I didn’t spot the NINA or the theme; but I did grind it out to the final curtain. And it works, very nicely, even on my philistine level, which deserves a standing ovation to the setter.
    I put ASTAIR in for 26(down). Sometimes you just have to collect your coat at the interval, and slope off to the nearest
    pub, on your own.
    Excellent puzzle, and blog , and posts by better solvers than me.
    Cheers, all.

11. Thank you, Quirister, for the blog and for the excellent multi-coloured grid too.
    Thanks, also, for all the comments.
    I’ll own up that the clue to READINGS was necessarily a little on the contrived side but Amoeba @5 parsed it as I intended..

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