Independent 7351 (Sat 8 May) by Raich
Posted by beermagnet on May 14th, 2010
This saturday was the 65th Anniversary of V.E. Day and this crossword had a WWII theme with several references in both clues and answers topped and tailed by two Vera Lynn songs.
Raich is better known to me as a setter of extremely devious Inquisitor puzzles that are too hard for me. So I was expecting a stiff challenge. But found instead a puzzle full of solid clues many of which were not too hard. In fact if had been timing myself I’m sure I filled most of this faster than a typical daily Indy. My only doubt was 26D which I left to mull over the next day. But all very pleasant to solve.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1/4/10 | WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER WHIT (Small thing) (F[ellow] SLICED OFF)* AInd: in stew. OVER (finished) |
| 11 | MOTORCADE MOT (test) OR (soldiers) CADE[t] Oh dear OR wordplay again |
| 12 | NEIGHBOURLINESS (HERO ENSIGN BUSIL[y])* AInd: Blitz. |
| 13 | OSLO OS (big – Over Size) LO (Look) Quisling was the Norwegian whose name is now synonymous with traitor |
| 14 | IDOL DO (party) inside IL (the italian) |
| 16 | LIE TO (TOILE[t])* AInd: break. When a ship stops at sea it is said to “lie to” |
| 19 | EERIE [p]EER (nobleman has no power) I.E. |
| 20 | TOYS T[w]O Y[ank]S |
| 21 | ACRE R[esistance] inside ACE (top pilot) |
| 23 | THE SILMARILLION (A HITLER MILLIONS)* AInd: battled. I tackled the two 15-letter anagrams early on. 12A Neighbourliness fell quite quickly, but this needed a fair few crossing letters and a realisation that the fodder was not S H ADOLF HITLER MM. This book was cobbled together after JRR’s death and popularly known at the time as “The Sell-a-Million” so maybe I should’ve spotted this anagram more quickly. |
| 27 | RECOUPING E[nglish] CO[mpany] UP (high point) inside RING (competitive field – e.g. boxing ring) |
| 28 | ALARM Á LA RM |
| 29/30 | WE’LL MEET AGAIN W[ar] (GET EL ALAMEIN)* AInd: struggle. And here’s a link with VL herself. I struggled to get this a bit – I always have trouble with answer phrases that include contracted words such as ‘We’ll’ |
| Down | |
| 1 | WIDEN First letters: War Invade D-day Enter Normandy |
| 2 | INVEIGLER (EVIL REIGN)* AInd: troubled |
| 3 | EARTHY HEART (courage) with H moved to end (top to bottom), then Y[ear] |
| 5 | LITERALLY LITER (US volume) ALLY (US’s war role) |
| 6 | FERVIDLY (REF)< (official set up) VID (film) L[ivel]Y |
| 7 | SHAPE Double Def. One def being S.H.A.P.E. acronym for NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, reminds me of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. |
| 8 | FREESTONE R[are] inside FEES (payments) then TONE (quality) Def: Fruit. I had to check this. I did not realise there was a term for this useful quality in certain soft fruit. |
| 9 | AMMO A[r]M[y] MO (time) |
| 13 | OVERTHROW OVERT (in public) H[igh] ROW (rank) |
| 15 | DATUM LINE (UNTIL DAME)* AInd: broadcast. A standard line that measurements are taken from. |
| 17 | ENCHILADA (HACIENDA L)* AInd: prepared. Appropriate anagram fodder. |
| 18 | RESIDUUM RES (object / thing in latin) ID U[nionist] UM (hesitation) |
| 22 | ALPACA Reverse hidden in A CAP LAncer |
| 24 | EXCEL Homophone: “XL” |
| 25 | RIGA G[ood] inside AIR< |
| 26 | NOMEN Really not sure about this but what else can it be? Definition (or is it a double-def?) is ‘Second name’, and NO MEN shows sexist discrimination. Full clue: Second name showing discrimination (5) |
May 14th, 2010 at 8:48 am
I thought this was terrific.
A very comprehensive and appropriate theme using both clues and answers.
And the singer herself appeared as a proper nina in the middle…
Nice one Raich.
May 14th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Thanks, beermagnet. Agree that it wasn’t as tricky as some Saturday puzzles, evidenced by that fact that I finished it (bar one clue), but it was very enjoyable with a clever theme throughout the crossword, as Ian says. SHAPE was the only one I couldn’t get, but if I’d taken the trouble to go on line I’m sure I could have found the acronym.
There were many good clues, but I especially liked LIE TO, ALARM and MOTORCADE. I agree with your parsing of 26dn.
Thank you, Raich.
May 14th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
My first Raich puzzle.
Yes not as tricky as some Sat puzzles but brilliant stuff.
May 14th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
A very good puzzle indeed, which I thoroughly enjoyed despite missing VERA LYNN and not getting SHAPE either, which I should have done.
I don’t know why on earth people think some of the Saturday puzzles are quite hard (!!)
May 15th, 2010 at 3:34 am
Very good although the quibbler in me wonders whether ‘quality fruit’ means the same as ‘a quality of [some] fruit’.
May 15th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Thanks Beermagnet – it was SHAPE that got me too. Chambers gives NOMEN – a Roman’s second name as in Gaius “Julius” Caesar.
May 16th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Many thanks for the excellent blog and to all for the comments which are very much appreciated.
Re FREESTONE, as the blog indicates the definition is ‘fruit’ with ‘quality’ = TONE being part of the wordplay. Collins and COED also give the NOMEN ‘second name’ definition.