Independent 11,046 by Knut

15 comments on “Independent 11,046 by Knut”

1. Thanks for explaining 1d. Didn’t know Oblast.

   Had to guess AMOROSO as I didn’t know either meaning. Also, unsurprisingly, didn’t know the English seamer but the answer was clear.

   I’ll forgive Knut’s typo in 15d and yours in 21a, Quirister 🙂

2. Hovis @1: thanks for pointing out the typo. Muphry’s Law? Now fixed.

3. It is strange how crosswords, however far ahead of publication date they are compiled, quite often refer to events going on at the time of publication

   Another great Knut crossword so thank you to him and Quirister

4. crypticsue @3: I’ve been noticing that ever since the invasion. Unfortunate coincidences abound. But setters and editors are to be forgiven, I think.

   Little time as I’m running out so a quick note to thank Knut for a nice tight puzzle and Quirister for the usual excellent blog. I enjoyed all the multiple word solutions, BACKSTORY was neat and HYSSOP lovely.

5. Apologies for the unfortunate timing. Four people failed to bat an eyelid when the clue at 1D was checked originally, which shows just how quickly the situation has escalated. As for the misprint at 15D that was me, doing a late amendment and obviously typing with my mittens on. Mea culpa.

6. Lots of variety and entertainment. That BACKSTORY is one word (without a hyphen) was my TILT. And the proper meaning of KIBITZING (now to work it into a conversation).

7. I gratefully entered 15d mainly from the def, without reading the wordplay too closely so the typo passed me by. Of the two Yiddish words, I only knew DRECK; as you say it just sounds right.

   Favourite was 11a/12a. Call it self-identification.

   Thanks to Quirister and Knut

8. I really enjoyed this, finding it both challenging and do-able. In part thanks to getting most of the long answers quite quickly it was one of my quicker solves and with very little resort to the reveal button.

9. Thank you Knut, I was relieved that I did not ned to look up the Number Ones for the last decade to get 21a. I liked the resonance of 1a and 26a, 25a was really clver, and I had to look at 23d several times before I entered it, and several more before the penny dropped. 6d and 7d were brill too.

10. Thank you for the blog, dear Quirister, and thanks to those who have commented. I can only add my regrets at the unfortunate timing of 1d. According to my files, I sent this to Eimi on 11 January 2022 which is a fairly short turnaround time and the wordplay didn’t seem at all questionable then. Let’s hope this terrible business is over as quickly as possible for all our sakes.
    Best wishes to all, Rob/Knut

11. Knut @10 7 eimi @5: though it is courteous and thoughtful, no need for apologies. More than half of the puzzles published in the last fortnight have included clues or solutions that could be interpreted – directly or tangentially – as making reference to the situation in Eastern Europe. It’s a question of timing and will almost certainly die away naturally. (In my own amateur efforts, I have already found myself consciously avoiding possible combinations or connections.)

12. 15 down indeed ‘it makes you sick’. How annoying for all concerned. That could have been altered along with the deeply unfortunate 1 down in one fell swoop, one feels, but it clearly wasn’t. Actually I found the puzzle rather well-written, but hard really for it to shine.

13. Never heard of KIBITZING (but I like it, and worked it out by guessing it was Yiddish!), nor either definition for AMOROSO. I’m sure I’ve seen 6D before…

    1D’s unfortunate but entirely forgivable. 9A, 7D, and the pair of 1&26A.

    Thanks Knut & Quirister.

14. This all went in quickly. I guessed 1dn, not knowing oblast.

    I didn’t know DRECK was Yiddish, I knew it from German where it means dirt. In Brecht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera, someone calls someone else “Dreckhaufen” which the genteel translation on the recording I have is given as “manure pile” but I guess shit heap would be better.

15. Thanks Knut for another fine crossword. Most of this went in quite steadily although I had “seat” instead of BEAM in 1a; that held me up a bit until I checked and found it was incorrect. I enjoyed KIBITZING, one of the many Yiddish words I heard growing up in the NY/NJ region. Thanks Quirister for the blog.

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