Sadly, it looks as though this the last Independent cryptic – appropriately it is set by Eimi, the crossword editor.
Thanks to Eimi firstly for this final puzzle with it’s ‘farewell’ theme but secondly and more importantly for the dedication you have shown over the years as Crossword Editor, encouraging new setters and innovation in the ‘rules’ of crossword compiling.
We’re pretty sure that we have completed every single Indy and IoS cryptic since the paper was introduced in 1986 and we have blogged over 900 Indy puzzles on fifteensquared, starting with a Phi in February 2012. We moved to the Indy from the Guardian mainly because we found the Indy puzzles more creative and innovative, with a wider variety of setters – and we have Eimi to thank for much of that.
We really hope that Eimi and the Indy setters will find a home elsewhere – maybe in ‘the i paper’, but if not – it really is ‘So long and thanks for all the fun‘.
Thankfully, it is not ‘Goodbye’ from us as we still have blogging duties on 225 – a regular Inquisitor plus 2 Guardian Genius puzzles a year. It will take us longer than we hoped to reach 1,000 but we hope to get there sometime!
GOOD (righteous) BYE (extra – in cricket)
A homophone (‘read aloud’) of CU (chemical symbol for copper)
An anagram (‘translation’) of AI DISTORTS LATIN
Hidden (‘some’) in geisHA I FAncy
RoVER (‘one of the dogs’) with the ‘o’ (off) changed (‘switched’) to ‘I’ (on) – a reference to River Cartwright, of of the ‘joes’ in the Slough House books
MOOn (satellite) missing the last letter (‘waned’)
An anagram (‘unfortunately’) of TALKS FALL SHOrT without the ‘r’ (resistance)
An anagram (‘rearranged’) of CONCERT IF GAME
Alternate letters (‘regularly trimmed’) of dArWiN
A reversal (‘turned to the west’) of IN NUS (National Union of Students – ‘student body’)
AD (promotion) I (Independent) E (first or ‘initial’ letter of editor) U (middle or ‘essential’ letter of refused) – a sad but appropriate clue for today!
SO (thus) LONG (extensive) + a ‘reversal’ of DNA (genetic fingerprint) + THANKS (cheers) FOR (in respect of) ALL THE (complete) FISH (school) – a reference to the Douglas Adams book in the ‘Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy’ ‘trilogy’ – coincidentally (or maybe not?) the theme for Thursday’s Indy puzzle by Kairos
C (first letter or ‘leader’ in coup) in GOTHA (German city) – although we had to check this as we had never come across this city before
nOAH (Hebrew patriarch) missing the first letter (‘losing head’) round BAD (awful) I (one)
An anagram (‘ordered’) of STRING BEAN I
A reversal (‘uprising’) of A ER (Queen Elizabeth – ‘former ruler’) TIRE (weary)
bELLy missing the first and last letters (‘trimmed’)
YAK (gossip) round SH and MA (‘two mums’ – one to be quiet and the other a mother)
UP (finished) SHOT (ruined)
A reversal (‘turned up’) of LEVIS (jeans) round (‘without’) N (first letter or ‘slightest bit’ of needework)
DAPHNE (nymph) after DO (party) with RHO (Greek character)
ANN (girl) + LA (‘the’ in French) in UR (ancient city)
THAT round (‘protecting’) IN (‘at the crease’ – in cricket)
IN DITCH with ‘ch’ moved from the back to the front (‘cycling’)
CHI (‘letter from Greece’) ANTI (opposing)
MASS (service) IF (provided)
PUT (state) SCH (school)
NILe (river – 12ac) missing the last letter (‘reduced’)
I’d like to echo everything Bertandjoyce say about this puzzle and eimi’s dedication to the cause, as well as adding my own enormous respect and gratitude to both B&J (or L&C) for all the guidance you’ve given to us solvers over so many years. Thank you all!
A big thanks to eimi and B&J. Very appropriate final offering, but when 1a and 5a slotted in I can’t say it was as enjoyable as it would have otherwise been…! Nothing to do with the quality of the crossword obviously, just made it all very real.
I’d hoped to try and help out with finding another home for all the Indy setters too, but today it feels like it might be a stretch too far. Hope there is some resurgence at some point though.
Can’t say I’ve managed as many Indy’s as B&J (I was only 6 when they started…), but thanks to eimi again for all the years. I can’t remember when how long it’s been since I missed completing an Indy. I still find myself looking at some other daily offerings when time allows, but none seemed to have managed the consistency that I’ve found here.
Thanks also to B&J for introducing me to this world, not to mention for humouring me in my attempts in setting too!
Hear Hear B&J.
I have never been sadder whilst completing a crossword and, what a tour de force Farewell it was.
As an extra bonus it contained a reference to Slow Horses, my favourite TV series by far.
I can only hope that we, as a group, will show the same resilience as River Cartwright and find a way back.
Huge thanks to Eimi and all of you.
Well, here we are at last. A nice puzzle by the boss with some appropriate sentiments intertwined. And probably appropriate that I needed a teensy bit of help to get over the line – I had the RHODO of RHODODAPHNE but there are quite a few nymphs and my knowledge of both them and of oleander is not good enough.
I suspect today’s comments will be full of thanks as well as goodbyes. Thanks to the Indy editor for building a super portfolio of setters and treating us to a myriad of well crafted and diverse puzzles over the years. And to the bloggers for their unstinting work, very much including those who might have ended up a gnat’s whisker short of the round thousand. I am sure you will get there. And finally to fellow commenters who, whilst they never seemed to be as many as they should be, brought cultivation, wit and appreciation to these pages.
Thanks all
PM
Thanks, B&J for a lovely blog and fitting tribute to eimi’s service as crossword editor for so many years. Thanks eimi for the farewell puzzle, made bittersweet by some lovely wordplay. I loved the substitution in 12a when the penny finally dropped and left me hopeful for an equivalent Slough House filled with an eclectic band of displaced setters! The surface of 15a sounds like a call to arms – what a brilliant spot, given the situation – and I hope that regular solvers, who perhaps have not yet picked up on the news, take note! Enjoyed 7d as a neatly clued NHO and loved 18d, and the poignant collection of farewells.
Thank you, eimi.
What a wonderful puzzle to end with.
A very sad day. I’ll miss the Indy puzzles and this section of the Fifteensquared blog.
Many thanks to all the setters, bloggers and contributors.
Valete.
Well, that puts the tin hat on that.
Thanks, all.
Bittersweet as Dan says. Thanks to eimi, all the setters and bloggers for all the entertainment, insight and innovation.