Independent 11,790 by Kairos

14 comments on “Independent 11,790 by Kairos”

1. 

   Rabbit Dave

   #1 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 08:20

   
   

   Apart from a handful of clues scattered across the grid, I found this relatively easy for a Kairos puzzle.

   I had never heard of 25a and my thought when solving was that this was an unnecessarily obscure answer, but Quirister has explained the reason for it. I would also suggest that the defining the answer to 7d as a former president’s first name is a step too far even though it is part of the theme.

   Those aside, this was fun to solve and my podium choice is SAY-SO, ELIZABETHAN and VERY SOON.

   Many thanks to Kairos and to Quirister.

2. 

   grantinfreo

   #2 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 08:25

   
   

   Quite a bit went over my head here: the composer and his oeuvre, and the Hunt character for starters (more an Avengers fan), and took ages getting the aquati nt, and remembering that the monkey puzzle was a Chile pine. All part of the fun though, thanks K&Q.

3. 

   Widdersbel

   #3 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 08:49

   
   

   I suspect anyone under 50 is going to be bemused by a lot of the cultural references in this one! But I enjoyed it. I didn’t spot the theme while solving but “Miss Melanie” across the middle looked like it was more than just a coincidence and Google revealed all. I’m very familiar with Sailing By but couldn’t have told you who composed it before today. Apparently, Binge was responsible for arranging most of Mantovani’s most famous works, and created the signature “cascading strings” sound. Interesting character.

   Thanks, Kairos & Quirister.

4. 

   KVa

   #4 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 09:17

   
   

   Thanks Kairos & Quirister.
   Enjoyed the puzzle. Neat & detailed blog.

   RELIC
   Agree with the blogger. The WP is odd.

5. 

   PostMark

   #5 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 09:19

   
   

   Plenty to like in this and it’s a neat treatment of a theme, albeit one unknown to me so the blog was very much needed. Clearly BINGE is a key word but there was no way I was recognising it from its definition so that needed revealing in the end. LOI was LOUVER and I agree with Quirister that a US indicator would have been helpful – I had reluctantly dismissed LOUVRE on the basis that LOVER would have led to a mis-spelling. Although it seems to be OK with RD who would normally notice such things. I agree with RD that RONALD is a bit too loosely defined as President. As for the insertion of I into the hidden non-word RELC, this is a trick I have seen this setter use before: I’d accept it is technically OK on the basis that following the instructions does get to the answer but it is not a device I like at all and I’m not convinced it’s fair.

   Thanks Kairos and Quirister

6. 

   copster

   #6 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 10:09

   
   

   Never heard of him. He makes it into my Concise Oxford music dictionary but not the Chambers Crossword one.
   Dont approve as Ronald as a president(in more ways than one}
   But I finally learnt that Cinephile was an anagrind of Chile Pine
   Which explains the Rev using that name in the FT

7. 

   matthew newell

   #7 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 10:15

   
   

   I never bother looking at the Setter so I am heartened that this was a newish setter for me; a fair number of the clues felt a little odd – doable and fair but unusual. That this was a puzzle from Setter I have rarely solved explains this nicely. I missed the theme obviously. I liked a lot of clues – Elizabethan especially

   thanks Kairos and Quirister

8. 

   Tatrasman

   #8 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 12:24

   
   

   As a fan of his music, I’m thoroughly ashamed of myself for not spotting the Ronald Binge compositions. My only excuse is that I tackled it too early in the morning. But thanks anyway Kairos and Quirister.

9. 

   TFO

   #9 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 13:26

   
   

   Thanks both. Most went in for me relatively quickly, then it became something of a struggle, as I didn’t know ANAGLYTH nor glyph, and I was looking for something more malicious than a meanie in the loosely defined MELANIE. I’m with others here that the clues for RONALD and BINGE were an example of a setter’s determination to deliver a niche theme at all costs – in the obvious order, I had heard of one and not the other, but we do not refer to Reagan as just Ronald any more than we will refer to another from US politics as Donald in later years.

10. 

    jane

    #10 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 14:05

    
    

    As RD said – apart from the odd one or two this was a fairly easy one from Kairos although I must admit that the theme was a complete unknown to me. Clues that I particularly enjoyed were those for SISTER-IN-LAW, NO FLY ZONE & SAILING BY. The flower girl would have been up there as well but I didn’t know the agent Hunt.

    Thanks to Kairos for the puzzle and to Quirister for the blog and the explanation of the theme.

11. 

    Amoeba

    #11 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 14:36

    
    

    I found this quite tough for reasons outlined above (and not knowing the composer!), and agree with Postmark & others on a few of the clues.

    My LOI was BINGE, on the basis that BIN is a better synonym than BAN and it looked marginally more plausible as a surname. But prior to that I was quite stumped by the crossing pair of LOUVERS and AQUATINTS. I’ve possibly come across the former, but neither the answer nor the bolt were familiar, and I toyed with LIKERS for a while as well.

    There then seemed to be several ways to consider the wordplay in AQUATINTS (‘with small’ could have given you AND S at the end, while I wondered if there might be an abbreviation for ‘abridged’ to kick off the clue). I eventually pencilled LOUVERS in, and began to wonder about a Q – at which point I hit upon the right synonym for ‘nautical’ and constructed the unknown word.

    I completely missed the theme, although the presence of ROB, RONALD, and MELANIE, alongside the less convincing INDIA and SERENAde made me wonder if it was related to first names.

    Thanks Kairos and Quirister

12. 

    Pete HA3

    #12 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 14:57

    
    

    I got much of this but not all. The composer a nho.
    I went down a long scad cad, bass ass rabbit hole before getting to heel eel, which probably sums up the sort of day I’ve had solving puzzles.
    Thanks Kairos and Quirister.

13. 

    DuncT

    #13 - Wed 24th Jul 24, 18:52

    
    

    Thanks Quirister for the details of the theme. I suspected there was one with so many names appearing, and also suspected (correctly) that it was one I’d never spot. Didn’t affect my enjoyment of the puzzle (other than the “surely there can’t be a composer called Binge” moment).
    Many thanks to Kairos.

14. 

    FrankieG

    #14 - Thu 25th Jul 24, 09:57

    
    

    DIdn’t spot the themers, apart from ELIZABETHAN SERENADE, a favourite of my Mother’s.
    [Boris Gardiner did a reggae version Elizabethan Reggae (1969) – more my style at the time]
    Thanks K&Q

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