Independent 10627 / Gila

14 comments on “Independent 10627 / Gila”

1. I think it is very clever to make everything thematic like this. I especially enjoyed seeing familiar words like 25d being clued thematically. Very nice.

   My knowledge let me down for 29d. But I loved 22d.

   Thanks to Gila and duncanshiell

2. Although I don’t normally like the overuse of Americanisms in British crosswords, I am very happy to make an exception in this case with a theme that even I could spot.   Like Duncan it took me a while to get into this and I did need a bit of help from Google to check certain US matters, but I did enjoy it.  As an aside, what a ghastly “word” veep is.

   My podium choices are: CONGRESS, GOLF COURSE, PENCE and WATERGATE.

   Many thanks to Gila and to Duncan.

3. Same comments as DSQ. Couldn’t even make a guess at 29a so a DNF. Minor typo in blog for 24a where U is from U(nionist). Thanks all.

4. Yes, not too hard to pick the theme, which I took as an opportunity to learn more about American politics, so thanks Gila. I’d forgotten about Bo, the OBAMA pooch and the DONKEY as the ‘representation of (the Democratic) party’. I did know TAFT as an ex-President, but not as a ‘Chief Justice’ and missed the ‘Cruz perhaps’ reference.

   Favourite was RUMPUS. WATERGATE appearing today, and seeing the recent drama/documentary on TV, made me realise there’s a generation now to whom it would be almost ancient history.

   Thanks to Gila and to Duncan

5. Another dnf with Taft. Just couldn’t see it. Thanks Gila and Duncan. Interesting counterpart to yesterday’s.

6. I have to admit to needing Google help for the Democratic party’s symbol and the Chief Justice but didn’t do as badly as I’d feared once the theme became evident.

   Top three here were CONGRESS, GOLF COURSE and RUMPUS.

   Many thanks to Gila and to Duncan for the review.

    

7. We did finsh – sort of.  We’d temporarily forgotten about the DONKEY and had ‘dinner’ as a representation of a type of party for 8dn with a rather flimsy ‘inner’ for ‘dealing with’.  But we got all the rest although we couldn’t quite parse OBAMA and had to guess at the West Coast being traditionally Democrat.  Favourite was UTAH.

   Thanks, Gila and Duncan.

8. Though a timely theme is cleverly displayed, I thought this was suitable for a Monday at best.  NEWSAGENT and MANIFESTO were particularly weak.

   Thanks anyway to Gila, and of course Duncan.

9. Horses courses Ian SW unlike the Peter crossword at the weekend I certainly found this tricky in places even though the theme would surely hit the most theme blind solver between the eyes and over the back of the head with a cricket bat.

10. I thought this was smashing. Nothing felt forced or gratuitous and to do that while having every clue bang-on theme seems pretty impressive to me. There were definitely a few that required a little more than general knowledge but to me the timeliness of the theme makes all of that feel fine. As to whether it belongs on a Monday or any other day of the week – well, I think it belongs on Election Day.

11. as Bluth said .. and tbh a couple of straightforward clues just helps the whole thing to gain some form of pace… I hadn’t been aware of a difficulty versus day quotient, i’ve always taken it to be whether i was in any kind of tune with the setter? I felt the surfaces made some clues straightforward without specific knowledge which was extremely helpful.. 22d, 29d for example.. Donkey as Democrat icon only rang a bell after the fact and POTUS was a new thing for me.. every day a school day!

    thanks Gila n Duncan

12. A baseball bat, surely, Flashling.

    A really great themed crossword which I dipped into a few times throughout the day. I found that I knew all the US political references, which helped my enjoyment. I think my favourite was SIDE ORDER and I also liked DONKEY but there were so many good clues and I really do appreciate crosswords that raise a smile without being incredibly tough to solve.

    I agree with Bluth that it belongs on the first Tuesday of November in a year divisible by 4.

13. Truly impressive. Favorites were 6d, for its sentiment, and 22d, for its reference to ‘The Chosen One’.

    FYI, many of Trump’s far-right evangelical followers and the Q-Anon conspiracy theorists do seriously believe that he’s been chosen by God to fight the great battle against Satan-worshiping, cannibalistic pedophiles (ie, Democrats and the ‘liberal elite’ around the world). I’m not kidding. They also think Boris Johnson is something like Trump’s second-in-command. I don’t know if Mr Johnson has exploited that insanity in any way, but Trump has actually called himself The Chosen One, and he was not referring to the fact that he’d won the electoral college vote in 2016.

    FY further I, other POTUS-like acronyms are FLOTUS (First Lady of the US) and SCOTUS (Supreme Court . . . ).

    Thanks again for the great puzzle, Gila.

14. A quick solve for me, even though I didn’t know the name of Obama’s dog. TAFT was my last one in when that former president’s name popped up from a very dusty memory bank. Thanks to Gila for a well constructed thematic puzzle.

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