Independent 10,773 by Phi

17 comments on “Independent 10,773 by Phi”

1. Definitely felt tricky in places today and, if there’s a Phi theme, it would appear to be one of his more obscure. There are no BLUR ALBUMS called PARAFFIN or BALLET MISTRESS, the names of no SCOTtish CASTLES appear, TARNS, FOLDS and BEAUTY all over the Lake District but nothing really stands out.

   I share Quirister’s appreciation of TENOR and TARN and SCOT was cheekily clued. ALBUM is clever and I’m glad my bet on BET resulted in seeing BEAUTY. YOSEMITE has appeared five times in the Independent since December! Twice by Maize and twice by Phi. And, as I had the Y, it did end up being the easiest write in of the day.

   COTD is FOREFINGER. I was on the right lines from the beginning but it took a while to resolve whether it might be foresight, harbinger etc. It does remind me of the lovely passage in one of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels where, in describing a particularly out of the way place, he says “When the first explorers from the warm lands around the Circle Sea travelled into the chilly hinterland they filled in the blank spaces on their maps by grabbing the nearest native, pointing at some distant landmark, speaking very clearly in a loud voice, and writing down whatever the bemused man told them. Thus were immortalised in generations of atlases such geographical oddities as Just A Mountain, I don’t Know, What? and, of course, Your Finger You Fool!”

   Thanks Phi and Quirister

2. One of the earlier Pratchett’s, I think, possibly The Light Fantastic, which I reread recently, and it feels like I recently encountered it.

   If you consider that blocks can form letters, you might find two more 13-letter words.

3. Thanks Phi – yes, I see the extra words crossing around the centre, now that you’ve mentioned it. Clever.

4. Phi @2: thanks for the hint. Chapeau. And you managed to do without patronising us. Very unsentimental of you. (BTW, UNSENT was very subtle!)

   It was, indeed, in The Light Fantastic. The Forest of Skund. In the vicinity of Mt. Oolskunrahod (‘Who is this Fool who does Not Know what a Mountain is?’)

5. Don’t often tackle a Phi but I’m glad I tried this one, very enjoyable.
   I particularly liked ALBUM, FOLD & UNSENT. Following Phi’s comment I’ve now also found the hidden extras – very neatly done, Sir.

   Thanks to Phi and to Quirister – both for the review and for doing the homework on LARGE INTESTINE!

6. I thoroughly enjoyed this and, like Jane, I loved ALBUM, FOLD and UNSENT. I also followed Phi’s hint and found the two extra words.

   Grateful thanks to Phi for the challenge and many thanks to Quirister for the review.

7. We found this a bit trickier than usual for a Phi-day. Very satisfying and well done with the way that you included 2 longer words Phi. Very original. We also take our hat off to you!

   Thanks Quirister.

8. I too greatly enjoyed this. Very clever hidden words. ALBUM and UNSENT were the top two clues for me. Thanks to Phi and Quirister, as always.

9. Sorry, but I would like to be patronised please. Completed the puzzle (nice one Phi), but I’m deuced if I can see the Nina, despite the heavy hints above.
   Good to see a name check for Pratchett, to my mind a far superior witty author than the completely overrated and contrived Wodehouse.

10. Deezzaa @9: if you look right in the centre of the puzzle, there’s a group of 5 black squares in the shape of a (rather squashed) capital letter I. There are two words in the middle row of the puzzle (15a and 16a), which read as one long word if you put this letter I between them; the same thing happens with the two words in the middle column (3d and 19d).

11. Deezzaa @9: the horrible block of black squares in the centre of the grid looks like a squat capital letter “i”. Which fits between 15a and 16a to link them into one word. Ditto 3d and 19d. Hope that helps – and doesn’t patronise ! 😀

12. Q: almost word for word!

13. I’m with Quirister that stress is emphatically not strain. But otherwise fair and fun. Can’t be bothered with the Nina…

14. I actually found this easier than some puzzles recently.

    It’s been over thirty years since I last read The Light Fantastic and I don’t remember that in it. I’d heard a similar story about the kangaroo.

15. I enjoyed this. Never would have spotted the Nina without a nudge but it’s fab.

    I’m puzzled that both Quirister and Ericw @13 think stress is not the same as strain. Chambers rather emphatically suggests it is.

    stress
    noun
    1. Strain

16. Bluth @15: as I said, stress and strain are the same in common usage, as in Chambers. But in materials engineering, stress is a measure of how much force is applied to something (actually it’s force per unit area), and strain is a measure of how much it stretches, squashes or bends as a result of that force. Cause and effect, if you like. So engineers usually have a bit of a pedantic grumble about it, but we know nobody else cares.

17. Quirister@16: Materials scientists care, too!

Comments are closed.