Independent 7292 by Eimi
Posted by NealH on March 1st, 2010
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Blu Ray: Blur + Ay. |
| 4 | Fake Tan: Implied anagram of ant. |
| 9 | Repulsive: RU (text “are you”) around EP + Elvis*. |
| 10 | Dwelt: CD. |
| 11 | Thereat: Threat around E. |
| 12 | Exactor: I assume this is a DD – Yoshio Tsuchiya is a Japanese actor and exactor in the sense of “one who exacts”. |
| 13 | I don’t get it: CD. |
| 14 | Lief: Life with last two letters reversed. |
| 16 | Tess: Initial letters of “text exchanges saddened Strictly”. Tess Daly is the presenter of Strictly Come Dancing and I think there was some controversy over invalid text/phone votes a couple of years ago, so it’s possibly an & lit as well. |
| 17 | Eye contact: CD. |
| 19 | Rossini: [C]rossin[g] + I. |
| 20 | Operate: Opera + te. |
| 22 | A-list: Alist[air]. |
| 23 | Tailpiece: DD. |
| 24 | En garde: Hidden in suken garden. |
| 25 | Elated: Tale< + ed. |
| Down | |
| 1 | Borat: Ora (plural of os) in B and T (IVR codes). |
| 2 | Unprepossessing: (Pepsi Guns N’ Roses)*. |
| 3 | Ailments: (salt mine)*. |
| 4 | Frederic Chopin: (I ride + French cop)*. Although Polish, Chopin spent much of his life in Paris. |
| 5 | Kodiak: Kodak around I. Kodiak is an Island, hence “one in Alaska”. |
| 6 | Theatrical Agent: (a altering the act)*. |
| 7 | Net profit: CD. |
| 8 | Little by Little: DD. I originally thought it was three people called Little, but the Eric is actually a reference to this book. |
| 13 | Interface: A[pple] in frenetic*. |
| 15 | Interpol: Didn’t really follow this – “Coppers corrupt but not worried”. Coppers=interpol, but not sure of the rest. |
| 18 | Winter: W + Inter (Milan). |
| 21 | Emend: Hidden in “policemen don’t”. |
March 1st, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Yes, this was good, I too found the right hand side tougher. I think today is 200 years since 4 down was born. 15 down is from INTERPOL(ate), I think.
March 1st, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Lots of nice clues. My fave probably B OR A T, for it is unspoken all that bit in the middle innit.
I DON’T GET IT is a DD, or D&CD if yer likes. Excellent stuff.
March 1st, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Thanks for blogging, Neal. This for me was definitely a puzzle of two halves: like you and nms, I found the left hand side reasonably straightforward; I particularly liked the anagram for 2dn, and 22ac (now you’ve explained it). But the right hand side was tough, and I had to give up with four or five still unsolved.
Bit of a stretch to say that EYE CONTACT would be frowned on by invigilators (but the surface is excellent), and congrats to anyone who got 12ac without access to Google/Wikipedia and all the crossing letters. And finally, 24ac was very cleverly clued.
March 1st, 2010 at 2:23 pm
I didn’t know Eric.
16ac. IS an &Lit. but is more likely to be referring to this story, I think…
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:55 pm
interpolate or
vt to insert a word or passage in a book or manuscript, esp in order to mislead; to tamper with or to corrupt by spurious insertions; to insert, interpose, interject; to fill in as an intermediate term of a series
I wonder for a long time about INTERPOL so mnsindy’s explanation (now backed by Chambers above)has made this a good and correct clue.
I read Yoshio Tsuchiya as an actor who has retired; so EX-actor.
As expected, Eimi did not fail to deliver a darn good puzzle.
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:24 am
Thanks to all for the comments and to Neal for the blog.
Nmsindy spotted the topical reference that explained the puzzle’s appearance on Monday.
Uncle Yap is right about ex-actor. Having found both exactor and yakuza among the synonyms for extortionist in Chambers Thesaurus, I went looking for a Japanese actor (to link with the Japanese word) who was still alive but not working. I didn’t think it mattered too much whether solvers had heard of him – the formulation of “someone’s name ‘in’ a title in italics” should lead the solver towards an actor.
In days gone by I have had to supplement my meagre crosswording income by invigilating at a local school – time has never passed more slowly – and I was always told that candidates were not allowed to communicate in any way with each other, verbally or otherwise, so I didn’t think the eye contact clue was stretching too much.