Independent 12,129 by Methuselah

13 comments on “Independent 12,129 by Methuselah”

1. Very enjoyable indeed. Unlike our blogger, this one solved pretty much in numerical order right until the last one – which beat me. I was staring at the crossers for BARENESS thinking ‘she was a BARONESS’ but not interpreting the substitution correctly. And it’s a device I’ve used myself! I agree that ANAGRAMS is very neat – fortunately the crossers made sense on that occasion; I liked the deletions in LOUNGE SUIT, the floppy discs in PANCAKES, the surface for MIMIC, SCHOENBERG’s bit of work, the clever assembly of QUARANTINE and the original approach to cluing SKYE. WOOLF had me hesitating until I had crossers – I did wonder if it was Tom WOLFE, possibly being homophoned?

   Thanks Methuselah and beermagnet

2. That was hard but mostly clever. But tell me there’s more to Circle of Life, which otherwise seemed very hard to get unless you’re a fan of children’s musicals.

3. Thanks Methuselah and beermagnet

   It’s funny how our minds all work differently: overall I thought this was on Methuselah’s gentler side.

   ANAGRAMS was my FOI, and solving LOUNGE SUIT and LEGION shortly after gave me enough crossers for MARRIAGE COUNSELLOR, which meant things started to open up nicely.

   CIRCLE OF LIFE was my LOI too, as I’d never heard of it, but surmised the answer and duck-ducked it for confirmation.

4. Even after I’d figured out LOI ANAGRAMS, it took a few moments to appreciate just how clever the clue is. “Nine cats” and “an insect” are anagrams for “instance”.

   Probably one of my favorite puzzles so far. Thanks, Methuselah.

5. Agree, beermagnet, that counsellors should be agnostic as to which way things go, but still I think the clue is &Lit.

6. My experience was very similar to PostMark’s. I must admit that I didn’t see the extra nicety of the ANAGRAMS clue, as mentioned by Nidoking. Lovely stuff, except for the CIRCLE OF LIFE clue which seems very weak, unless we’re all missing something.

7. Thanks Nidoking for pointing out the instance – I missed that too, and yes it makes the clue even better. WOOLF’s wordplay works in two ways: F putting on WOOL, and homophone (might you say) of “wolf” for the proverbial “fellow putting on sheep’s clothing”. Those two, plus LEGION, MIMIC, NOISE and PANCAKES were my faves. Thx Beermagnet and Methuselah.

8. What a great puzzle! And even better with the extras pointed out above. BARENESS, WOOLF and LEGION my favourites among many fine clues.

9. I’m 70 and definitely not a fan of children’s movies.
   I have also never seen the Lion King but have definitely heard of Circle of Life which seemed reasonable enough to me.
   Chaque un comme on dit…

10. I enjoyed this very much – thanks Methuselah. I agree with others that 9across is great. Double ticks also for 15across, 27across, 22down and 24down. 1down and 6down were refreshingly quirky – like others I originally thought 6down was an OK clue for WOLFE before realising it was a much better clue for WOOLF.

    I spent some time searching for a Tim Rice theme, given CIRCLE OF LIFE, JOSEPH, inEVITAble and LegION, though if there’s more to this I can’t find it.

11. Thanks Beermagnet for the blog, and to Nidoking for spotting the “instance” anagram. The WOOLF clue was designed to allow both the WOOL+F interpretation and the WOLF homophone because I thought it was a neat coincidence, but I guess it’s a bit cheeky given there’s nothing to rule out WOLFE. No Tim Rice theme intended, although his surname is also in CIRCLE OF LIFE, along with LEO and CLIFF, which might have made a better clue, but I already had a lion at 11d and didn’t want to double up.

12. The only one I had problems with was 29ac, where I could guess the answer from the definition but couldn’t parse it.

13. Figure=circle, Of Life=Animated, surely? My LOI though.

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