Independent 10,629 by Serpent

23 comments on “Independent 10,629 by Serpent”

1. even by Serpent’s standards, this is a lovely gridfill and of course plenty of fantastic clues to boot. Great stuff and thanks all round

2. A chef d’oeuvre! Merci beaucoup .

3. Wonderful crossword – the perimeter fill was magnificent – and not as tricky as Serpent can be either

   Thanks very much to Serpent and to B&J

4. What crypticsue said (where have I seen that before 🙂 ). Wasn’t sure the plural of flounder (in the fish sense) was still flounder, as suggested by “dwellers” but this is often the case with fish.

5. Encouraged by my success with and enjoyment of yesterday’s Basilisk puzzle, I decided to have a go at this one and, as yesterday, I’m so glad I did.

   What everyone above said – sheer delight from start to finish, particularly the perimeter clues – but lots of others, too.

   Many thanks, Serpent and B&J – super puzzle and blog.

6. Very enjoyable and clever to have those three separate 4-letter parts of the four clues around the perimeter each being stand alone words. Of these clues, I especially liked MILLS AND BOON and of the others, the ‘Flat dwellers in the main’ brought a smile when I finally saw the light, as did ‘support for shift?’

   A real treat to have Serpent today after yesterday’s Basilisk in the FT as Eileen @5 mentions.

   Thanks to Serpent and to B&J

7. Got 1d and 1a very quickly, but the other two took a bit longer. Finished with the last bit of 7d and 20a.
   Unusually for me, I never needed any external aids. Super puzzle, even though it didn’t last long.

8. Very clever!  Really liked the perimeter entries.  I’m not usually a fan of the six letter answer split into two three letter entries, but taking that idea to the next level was brilliant.  As also noted by WordPlodder, we particularly enjoyed the “Flat dwellers in the main’” definition amongst many other excellent clues.

   Thanks to Serpent, and to B&J

9. This is real praise from me – I actually liked the perimeter entries just like everyone else.  Normally, splitting answers across several entries in ways that are inconsistent with either the clueing or the ‘normal’ view of the solution is a pet hate.  But, as DavidO says @8, this has taken it to a different level and I admire the result.  (Won’t change my pet hate, though!).  I’m another who enjoyed the clue for FLOUNDER – though I shared Hovis’s concern about plural/singular.  I had a moment of horror and a ‘surely not’ before the reassuring confirmation that ‘woman’ was not part of the definition in the delightful FEATHER BRAIN.  Ticks for the unusual definitions for BIG GAME HUNTING, BRANDING IRON and MAGIC LANTERN and the clever misdirect with Trip Advisor in 22ac.  LITTLE GREEN MAN made me laugh out loud.  And, overall, some lovely surfaces including the wonderfully relevant one for GONDOLA.

   My only slight criticism would be the wording for 7d: ‘Expected position of person above deck’ which could surely have been abbreviated by omitting ‘of person’ without losing anything but it’s a very minor point.  And, nothing to do with Serpent, but the mechanics of the grid weren’t working well today: mine failed to correctly highlight linked solutions or hop to the next word or recognise the 23d/2d combination.  Which is a slight nuisance given I went ahead and posted an encouragement to those on the Guardian pages to try some of the other puzzles on the site!  At least those who take me up will get some thoroughly good clueing to work through.

   Thanks Serpent and B&J

10. excellent stuff! i remember being taught about Poor Laws not that long after the welfare state was established…well, so it feels… good to see education is never wasted..

    thanks Serpent and Bertandjoyce

11. Top marks for the crossword with the clever linking of the perimeter lights and plenty more to enjoy such as FLOUNDER, LITTLE GREEN MAN and COATHANGER.  Many thanks to Serpent and B&J.

    But can the Indy PLEASE do something about the way the software handles linked clues.  Today’s puzzle was a nightmare to sort out with multiple repeat clues and conversely, since the recent revamp, no reference to the ‘master’ clue – for example in today’s puzzle 2dn is linked to 23dn but there’s no “2 see 23” – at least not as presented on a Windows laptop via Firefox.

12. Enjoyed the solving like everyone else but the perimeter entries played havoc with my little old iPhone app, and they weren’t even across/down combinations which have always been a pain. Flounder was my fave.
    Thanks to Serpent and B&J.

13. I had the same issues as PostMark and allan_c with the mechanics of the grid, in that where the clue was spread across three lights only two were highlighted, and the cursor did not move consistently between them, sometimes but not always sticking on the fourth letter.

    My only issue with the crossword itself was ON THE CARDS, which I had to reveal despite having identified the definition. B&J have split “position of person above deck?” into position of person above=ON and deck=THE CARDS, but I’m struggling to make this work, even with the question mark at the end. PostMark’s suggestion @9, that there was no need to include ‘of person’, might have been an improvement, but to me deck=cards, not the cards.

    Apart from which I am very much in accord with the praise in other comments for this amusing and elegant puzzle.

14. I was intrigued by the grid, with the perimeter entries not matching the word count. Never seen the like! Though I do agree that generally a six letter word over two lots of three is a but annoying. Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Thanks to Serpent and B&J. I print the crossword off. Couldn’t do it without a pen and paper to tease the elements of some clues out. So no technical difficulties.

15. Loved this with the very minor doubt about ‘taking ecstasy together’ to mean moving the 2nd E in 15.
    Seemed a little imprecise for Serpent.

    Thanks to S&B

16. allanc and PaulA. Guardian puzzles and iPhone don’t mix. Generally, for crosswords, the app goes into a loop when passing the last down clue. Today was even worse as you both noted. I gave up and resorted to pen and paper.

17. Just wonderful. Really loved the novel split entries around the edge especially

18. Many thanks, as always, to Bertandjoyce for the excellent blog. Thanks also to everyone who has been kind enough to comment. I’m delighted the puzzle seems to have been well received – I did wonder how the quirky splits in the perimeter entries would go down.

19. Super Serpent today. I thought the border entries must have taken a lot of work to find. Great stuff!

20. @PostMark@9: I have noticed before that the interactive clue highlighting on this site does struggle with three(or more)-part clues. So it had a very hard time with this puzzle.

     

21. A day late getting to do this, but must endorse all favourable comments.  A brilliant crossword.

    Thanks Serpent; and Bertandjoyce for the blog.

22. Me@16. Stupid mistake on my part. I meant the Independent (not the G).

23. I read 7dn as one thing: the expected position of a person above the deck [of cards]? is on the cards, not as above = on and the deck = the cards.

    Excellent puzzle, even though I was a day late.

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