Independent 12007 / Twin

13 comments on “Independent 12007 / Twin”

1. I will echo our blogger – I enjoyed solving this puzzle; a few regulars cropping up ( B-SIDES, and RISHI, for example), but some nice original plays, too.
   An open question: 7(ac), Hugh Grant, a “definition by example” / DBE, with a very fair indicator (Grant “for one”).
   I get a bit frustrated by clues which employ the opposite device, ” Example by Definition”; so, herein , there’s

   Writer = HARDY, and Captain = AHAB :- [ 22ac ], and 18(d), respectively.
   Some DBEs seem to go unindicated, but perhaps that’s not so bad (?). But EBDs are fiendish….the list of “writers”, for example, is somewhat infinite.
   Worse still, when, say “girl” leads us to….any name, of any female.
   At least, synonyms are fair game, even when stretched.
   Is there any protocol to indicate an EBD, or am I just being grumpy, because Thomas Hardy took me so long to twig, despite being an author that I enjoy reading? ( and, it’s a good wordplay).

   Anyhoo, good puzzle and blog, cheers, Twin & Duncan.

2. In 5d, I reckon the magazine is NME with NO as vote against.

3. Thanks to Twin & Duncan.

   I think in 5d the vote against magazine is NO + NME since the latter is a much better known mag & the vote against is in English rather than French. (edit: once again beaten to it!)

4. Just to add, I thought this was my type of crossword. Lots of devious wordplay leaving me scratching my head several times. Pleased to eventually complete it with no issues left over.

5. Quite pleased not to have fully parsed the old king — although a chant, maga isn’t yet in my auto-lexicon. A few grins and groans, rubb-ish for knead-y, and dnks like scrump (sans y) being a verb. Quite fun, ta Twin and duncan.

6. Splendid puzzle. Hard work towards the end with FOOLHARDY defying me for quite some time until the penny finally dropped on the sweet.

   (Ref ENBoll@1: I would not consider either FOOL or HARDY to be DBE’s. They would be DBE’s if they were used in the clue to represent the words ‘sweet’ and ‘author’. As the clue is written, ‘sweet’ absolutely defines FOOL so can stand for it without any indication and the same goes for ‘author’ defining HARDY.)

   This is one of those days when I don’t really feel I can list faves as it really would become a monster comment. Barely a single clue that I did not enjoy. OK – just the one but that’s only because I think GABFESTS is such an ugly word. Fortunately, with ‘visitors’ in his Spoonerism, the setter has ben relatively kind to us and when my mind finally came up with the unlikely combo of elements, I *knew* it was right.

   Thanks Twin and duncan

7. Enjoyed the puzzle thoroughly. Thanks Twin.
   Great blog. Thanks duncan.

   Special mention to SMITHEREENS and GABFESTS.

8. For those who’ve come to like Twin, tune in to this coming Saturday’s blog on here on his Listener crossword. An absolute masterpiece of setting.

9. ENB@1: re-reading your note, I think I’ve misinterpreted your comment. Apologies. I had a discussion with someone recently who was using the phrase DBE to refer to what you have coined EBD and this might have influenced the way I read them. True, the list of writers is very long, and the list of sweets not far shorter. To answer your question, there is no protocol other than the overall objective that solvers should be able to crack the clue and setters want them to be able to do so. I guess crossers come into play: Twin could take the approach that other solutions will give solvers enough guidance to be able to narrow down both lists to what fits. If one was trying to solve the clue on a standalone basis, it would be very tricky. A setter in generous mood might, say, use ‘English writer’, ‘English novelist and poet’, ‘Wessex writer’ even. However, there is then the danger that solvers try to fit E for English or the names of both a novelist and a writer into their solution.

10. Hard work but worth every minute.
    All parsed with great satisfaction bar my LOI (throb) which went in from the crossers.
    Then pressed “submit score” which meant I couldn’t go back so came straight to the blog.
    Laugh aloud haha & aha moment was Hugh/ Hew.
    Thanks all

11. Thanks both. I made pedestrian progress, but I am glad I persisted, with the intersecting ALDERMAN and AMIIABLE finally giving way. AGAMEMNON has made numerous previous appearance in Indy puzzles, and I’m not sure I quite understand the fixation with a character from mythology, but at least I was partly on the lookout for his next unwelcome inclusion.

12. Thanks Twin for a superb crossword. This was a slow & satisfying solve for me. I revealed the Spoonerism & couldn’t parse ACERB or AGAMEMNON but all else eventually came to light. Top picks were HEW, HENHOUSE, LIBERAL DEMOCRAT, AMIABLE, & MAHARISHI. Thanks duncanshiell for the blog.

13. PostMark@9, thanks for your usual sage words.
    My question was very poorly worded/explained.
    I suppose I meant, Hardy is a specific example of the generic class “writer”, and not a synonym of “writer”.
    If one might expect, in a “Definition By (i.e. “from”) an Example” clue, that there’s an indicator; then, is there an equivalent, for, “A person who is an Example of the Definition” ?
    The more I think of it, it’s a loose point……but you have answered it for me, Cheers, IanB

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