Independent 7,120 by Virgilius
Posted by Simon Harris on August 11th, 2009
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
For once I’ve actually picked up on a theme and spotted a Nina, although the penny dropped much later in the game than I should really admit. The significance of the date is that this week marks the 40th anniversary of the Abbey Road album cover photograph being taken.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PEPPERS – PEERS “over” PP. |
| 5 | REPACK – RE PACK (of cards). |
| 10 | SEEDY – differently-stressed hom. of “CD”. |
| 11 | CLUB – dd. |
| 12 | SERGEANT – SERGE + ANT. |
| 13 | LONELY – ON in LELY. Sir Peter Lely was indeed a “Dutch artist in England”, I have just this moment learned. |
| 14 | HELP – L in HELP. |
| 16 | SMALLISH – ILL< in SMASH. |
| 19 | SARDINES – dd. |
| 20 | MAGI – MA + GI. |
| 22/9 | RUBBER BAND – dd. |
| 24 | REVOLVER – LOVER< + VER[y]. |
| 26 | STAY – dd. “Last in race” is a nice bit of misdirection, this is “last” in the sense of “endure”. |
| 27 | MILER – I’ve no idea why “fourty-two ponies”. “Pony” as in £25? |
| 28 | SOUL – hom. of “sole”. |
| 29 | HEARTS – dd. |
| 30 | READING – dd., with an extra hint that the two terms are not homophones. |
| Down | |
| 2 | ERASER – AS in (E[leven] + R + E[leven] + R). |
| 3 | PEDIGREED – cd. “Boxer” as in dog, that is. |
| 4 | RASTA – [orchest]RA STA[lls]. |
| 5 | ROYAL PALM – dd? I guess this is just tree/literary award, but I haven’t worked out what to do with the “by the way”. |
| 6 | PECAN – AC< in PEN. |
| 7 | CLUELESS – CLUE LESS. This one raised a smile. |
| 8 | DENTISTS DRILL – cd. |
| 15 | PANORAMAS – OR in PANAMAS. |
| 17 | LEGALISED – 1S in ALLEGED*. |
| 18 | BAGUETTE – (EG + BUTTE[r] + A)*. |
| 21 | RETURN – dd. |
| 23 | BOYAR – BOY + A + R. |
| 25 | VERNE – [go]VERNE[d]. “Divine protection” is great here. This is Jules Verne, of course. |
August 11th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
The first 3 answers I got were PEPPERS, SERGEANT and HEARTS, so I twigged almost immediately. Just as well really as I was struggling a bit on my first pass.
I was unsure on the ROYAL PALM clue as well and only guessed at it once I’d seen BEATLES running across the middle of the grid.
24A is LOVER rev. + VER[-y] I think
August 11th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Fixed – thanks Ali. I think that’s how I read it, but this was quite hastily typed, I’m afraid.
August 11th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
In 27A, 42 ponies = 42 x £25 = 1000 guineas which is a horse race, presumably run over a mile.
August 11th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
There was me thinking only 10 thematic answers was a bit light for a Virgilius puzzle! I completely failed to spot the BEATLES running across the central row – thanks Ali. And thanks to Richard for explaining 27Ac, a lovely clue which, along with 5Ac and 29Ac, typifies the seemingly effortless brilliance we’ve come to expect from Virgilius.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
The 1000 Guineas is indeed run over the Rowley Mile at Newmarket. It is also one of the two Classics limited to fillies (The Oaks is the other one). So I put FILLY in for 27A which was a bit of a blind alley.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Another brilliant Virgilius.
Don’t know quite why, but I loved 20ac.
Great surface, lovely wordplay.
Got the theme as soon as I got Pepper, Revolver & Soul.
And the central nina helped with 5d.
Thanks again, Mr Greer.