Independent 12055 / Bluebird

15 comments on “Independent 12055 / Bluebird”

1. I was sailing through this lovely, smooth and witty puzzle until I came to a bit of a halt in the SW. I daresay I have encountered EMBAYS in another crossword but never in real life and that would not come to mind -even with the likely EM at the beginning. It intersected with ANY MORE which also beat me – I suspected an anagram but never spotted that ON was part of it and did not recognise the def. Faves inc SHADOW, SPRINGBOK, SADDER, ARBOREAL, LADYBIRDS, HOGSHEAD and BOXES. Paddington, of course, was a BROWN BEAR in more ways than one.

   Thanks Bluebird and duncan

2. SACRED COW
   I think
   around=C and C is moved.

   Liked STAMPEDES, CATHOLIC, HOGSHEAD, TIT FOT TAT, SHADOW, SILENCE and BOXES.

   Thanks Bluebird and duncan

3. An extraordinary puzzle which took no time at all to solve three quarters and then an eon of staring at the southwest quarter and revealing three clues in frustration.
   Perhaps Bluebird set the SW corner on a different day from the rest!
   Thanks all

4. I was too preoccupied making a pig’s ear of the SW to take much notice of the rest of the menagerie. I thought inlet might be bay, but failed to remember the totally standard bit of crosswordese, dash = em, grrr! So I cheated by guess-check for a couple of letters to finish. ‘Any more’ for ‘from now’ is slyly oblique. Skirret the parsnip waa a newie, nice word, and the pussyholic raised a grin. Enjoyed it despite a bit of pain, ta Bluebird and Duncan.

5. ANY MORE
   I assumed ‘From now on’ was the def. Also assumed a double duty for ‘on’.
   Duncan says ‘from now’ for ANY MORE is in Collins. So, no issues except
   that I would be happy to see an example sentence in which the interchangeability
   of these two phrases is established.

6. I think “I won’t do it any more/ from now” works although “from now on” would probably work better. Maybe somebody can come up with a better case for substitution

7. I’ve a feeling that BATTER might have been overthought. I took it as referring to Sir Alastair Cook, one of Englands greatest ever batsmen – or ‘batter’ in todays gender neutral newspeak.
   Certainly a slightly different challenge with a setter on a slightly different wavelength.
   Thanks to Bluebird and duncan

8. You might well be right, Doofs @7, never occurred to me though I’m a cricket lover.

9. That’s how I read it Doofs@7.

   Beaten by ANY MORE and oblivious to the arkful of animals, but that’s quite normal for me.

   Thanks both.

10. I’m another who thought of Alistair Cook for the BATTER; I don’t really follow cricket much, but I have heard of him. I was, however, unfamiliar with the conductor, so RATTLED was a bit mysterious until I came here. Also unparsed was BOXES; I’d forgotten that in Britain “pants” are underwear, not trousers. Thanks to duncanshiell for explaining both.

    I agree that the right half went along like a well-oiled machine, while the bottom left quadrant sputtered to a halt like a worn-out jalopy. But I did get there in the end!

11. I really don’t understand how Charlie gets you to tit, I can’t see the link to idiot…

12. MN @ 11

    Chambers gives one definition of Charlie as “a credulous person; an inefficient, ineffectual person, a fool, often in the phrase a proper Charlie”

    Collins has a similar definition

    For tit, Collins uses the definition: “A foolish person: often used as a term of address”.
    Often used in the phrase “that person is a right tit”

    I think therefore that ‘fool’ links Charlie and tit

13. I’m another who ground to a halt in the SW corner, after relatively good progress to that point. Several clues that I thought I understood, but which never quite worked as expected. I’m happy with “from now” as a def, I just always seemed to read it as “from now on” and consequently had fodder of E+MARY+IS, which unsurprisingly came to nothing.

    Thanks Bluebird and Duncan.

14. Thanks both. I liked SACRED COW. Those two simple words ANY MORE have certainly occupied many, myself included. Personally, I see it as an oddity (noting any dictionary support makes it fair game) as it’s not a standalone expression, and needs specific context, as if I were telling someone “I don’t sleep in a cot any more”, I would not mean I had done it up until that moment.

15. I had the same experience as everyone else, with the SW seeming like it was a different puzzle! I started revealing there, but wished I’d persevered with FOXHOLE instead but F-OX seemed soo obvious that I dismissed it out of hand! With the X I think I would have made a path through the rest. As it was, I revealed ANY MORE and BOXES.

    I interpreted ANY MORE as per Hovis@6 though it’s pretty sly since “from now on” it clearly the more common variant and so, like others, I wasn’t aware that I had the ON to play with.

    As a side note, I was tickled by TIT FOR TAT and reckon it’s ripe for picking in a clue related to some sort of dodgy product exchange on eBay…

    Overall I enjoyed spotting the many animals on this pleasant safari. Thanks both!

Comments are closed.