Independent 12,094 by Stamp

18 comments on “Independent 12,094 by Stamp”

1. A sticky Stamp, for me: a Cryptic crossword with a capital C, packed with original devices and leftfield definitions. To nit-pick, I personally felt I had to cut the setter some slack, on a number of clues.
   9(d) stops = inhibits; 20(ac)warnings = lessons; 21(ac) cordial = sincere; 12(ac) who am I = self; 27(ac) groundS, plural.
   In 11(ac), why is nears, ” gets EVEN closer”? 25(ac), DRAWN feels OK….until I think about it.
   Despite quibbles, I found this a fascinating and immersive puzzle, with the front-runner being 28(ac), LEAD, of all things. Though don’t ask me if this is a charade/CD/ &lit/ or semi&lit, I’ve no idea.
   First-class Stamp & MOH

2. Not a hard puzzle, but quite enjoyable. Neat surfaces. Stamp tries to construct his clues
   without link words, I think. I couldn’t find any link word in the entire puzzle.

   Liked METHADONE, SMITTEN, FRONT LINE, LEAD, MUTTERING, EVOLVING, TRAVERSE and SINCERE.

   Excellent blog. Quite neat and detailed.

   Thanks Stamp and MoH

3. Pleasing an imaginative as usual from Stamp. LEAD was very neat. I also liked METHADONE CICADA. KVa@2 Interesting point.

4. Supremely elegant, as always, with lovely little stories all over the shop. INHIBITS, VIOLINIST, OBSCENITY and LEAD (super &lit) are all crackers. I didn’t really consider it mid-solve but KVa @2 is, of course, spot on. The lack of links is extremely impressive. Best thanks both.

5. Great point KVa @2; what about, eg, “attached to” in 28ac, is it because they do have a function that they’re not link words?

6. grantinfreo@5
   LEAD
   Yes. ‘attached to’ is part of the WP as well as the def. It’s an & lit by the way.

   I have one query though here. What is an electronic plug (in the def)?

7. It’s Iike moh says, the three bits are separate: line is l, e is short for electronic as in email, and plug = ad[vertisement].

8. KVa @6 – to distinguish it from a sink plug? Actually, ‘electric’ would work better for the def, and just as well for the wordplay, since E can be an abbreviation for ‘electric’ as well as ‘electronic’. So yes, I’m knocking half a mark off 28ac!

9. I didn’t find this as easy as some others, largely owing to the ‘original devices and leftfield definitions’ but all meticulously clued and therefore ultimately rewarding.

   As always, I appreciated the smoothness of the surfaces and particularly enjoyed those highlighted by moh.

   My ticks were for VIOLINIST, BEGGAR, LEAD, ROSETTA, ADORATION and BROTHEL, where I was temporarily held up by not knowing the definition. TRAVERSE in that sense was new to me, too.

   Thanks to Stamp and to miserableoldhack.

10. We’d like to echo Eileen’s comment. We did however know traverse as a climbing route but it was our LOI as we kept looking for a ‘reversal’ of something.

    BROTHER went in first until we couldn’t parse it and then checked BROTHEL in Chambers.

    Thanks to Stamp and some miserable old person who has brightened up our day with a blog!

11. Setter popping in to thank MOH for the excellent and accurate blog and commenters for their input.

    It was fun to create a puzzle without links – that is, links between WP and definition. Though I am not against them at all; they can add lots to surfaces. The link in LEAD is simply a connector between two elements of WP. And I would have loved to use ‘electric’ in the clue but the editor will not accept definitions that are not dictionary supported and ‘electric’ = E is not in Chambers – despite its ubiquitous use. I have tried to get it in before! I will just have to accept the half point deduction.

    Ref ENBoll&’s list of slack being generously cut, Chambers defines ‘inhibit’ as ‘prevent’; ‘lesson’ as ‘a warning experience’; ‘cordial’ as ‘sincere’ and ‘self’ as ‘who I am’. The S in ‘Grounds for …’ I justified on the basis that the WW1 Western Front stretched for hundreds of miles, giving multiple grounds on which engagement might occur. And ‘drawn’/’pulled together’ are surely synonymous as past participles or as adjectives – at night my bedroom curtains are drawn/pulled together? I shall fess up to EVEN being strictly unnecessary and am happy to accept the slack given there!

12. More with Eileen@9, altho I have had practical experience of TRAVERSE, in that sense.. I did find working out the actual definition tricky in places, but accepted them after some thought.. BROTHEL/STEW was a case in point, partly because the French use BORDEL to describe a difficult situation, or a mess which I am familiar with as a def of stew… pleased to finish… defo no speed awards, but not a bad way of spending Bastille Day…
    Thanks Stamp n MOH…

13. Hi Stamp, thanks ever so much for popping by. Didn’t realise E=electric isn’t sanctified by Chambers… I know this is rather perverse of me, but I prefer to solve without aid of a dictionary. I’m not claiming any kind of cruciverbial superiority here, I know many solvers will resort to them and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that – it’s just the way my mother raised me to do cryptics! In cases like this, however, it’s extremely useful to have an arbiter of last resort, so I am forced to reconsider my half-point deduction…
    It was, as KVa points out above, a real feat to compile a puzzle so devoid of link words and yet not sacrifice the surfaces. Brilliant work, thank you!

14. It’s surely only a matter of time till dictionaries acknowledge E = electric, given the current ubiquity of E-bikes and E-scooters.

15. Thanks Stamp for a nicely crafted crossword. I didn’t notice the lack of link words; when surfaces read so well it’s easy for me to miss such things. This was not a cakewalk but I did complete it in a reasonable amount of time. My top picks were SHELF, SMITTEN, HOPES, MUTTERING, CHAFF, and SEPIA. I did wonder about ‘set’ as an anagram indicator in VIOLINIST; I’m only familiar with ‘upset’ and ‘reset’. Thanks MOH for the blog.

16. Couldn’t really get into this. After 90 minutes, I’d got about a third done and had other things to do.

17. Whre or when has Nemesis (fate, doom) meant arch rival?

18. Croc @17 it’s in Chambers, Nemesis, 4: A rival or opponent who cannot be beaten

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