Independent 7849 by Quixote
Posted by NealH on December 12th, 2011
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Watt: Wa[s] + TT. Referring to James Watt, the steam engine pioneer. |
| 3 | Prolific: L(ecturer) + i in prof + I(n) c(harge). |
| 9 | Nomic: OM (order of merit) in nic[e]. |
| 11 | Rustles up: Result* + sup. |
| 12 | Marine biologist: CD. |
| 13 | Lambast: Lamb + as + [daf]t. |
| 15 | Titian: I in Titan. I did nearly put in tomato, on the grounds that there is a “Red Giant” variety of tomato. |
| 17 | Triton: Tri[p] + ton. Triton is a moon of Neptune. |
| 19 | Shebeen: Sentence completion – “Where has she been?”. |
| 20 | A Sheet in the Wind: DD. I’d heard the expression “Four sheets to the wind” and apparently this is a variation of it which means slightly drunk. |
| 22 | Gladstone: Glad + one with st (saint) in it. The definition is “PM no longer” i.e. Gladstone is no longer prime minister. |
| 23 | Deist: Desist with one of the two S(unday)s removed. |
| 24 | Dissever: (Dress I’ve)*. Not a word I’ve seen before – it just seems to be a longer form of sever. |
| 25 | Wend: N(ame) in wed. Wend is a historical word for a West Slavic people. | Down |
| 1 | Windmill: Wind (=insignificant words) + (John Stuart) Mill. Quite clever of Quixote to reference the Cervantes character here when we would automatically assume he was referring to himself. |
| 2 | Tamer: Hidden in quiet american. |
| 4 | Rarebit: DD/CD. Bit is a word for a coin, hence a rare bit might excite a coin collector. |
| 5 | Lash out: La (French the) + shout. |
| 6 | Follow the herd: DD. |
| 7 | Castigate: C + asti + gate. |
| 8 | Spit: DD. I think the “layer of earth” refers to the spit as a digging tool. |
| 10 | Contact lenses: (Clean contests)*. |
| 14 | Marshland: Mars hand around l(ake). |
| 16 | Unedited: Dundee* around it. |
| 19 | So there: The in sore. |
| 20 | Alga: Hidden in coastal gang. |
| 21 | Imide: I’m + ide. An ide is a type of carp, also spelt as id. |
December 12th, 2011 at 8:50 am
Many thanks, Neal.
Enjoyable and mostly straightforward puzzle, with only a couple of googlies thrown up (for me, anyway, these were the nicely misleading WINDMILL and the intersecting NOMIC). Like you, I was unfamiliar with the variation of the phrase at 20ac.
Quixote often manages to smuggle a science-based clue (IMIDE today) into his Monday puzzle, which I like. Tiny niggle: a question mark at the end of 4dn might not have gone amiss.
Thanks to Quixote for a good start to the Indy week.
December 12th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Thanks Quixote for a pleasant puzzle and Neal for the blog. We seem to be missing 18dn (NOISOME = Moonies*).
December 12th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Thanks, NealH and Quixote. Enjoyable puzzle, which I too found was on the easy side.
December 12th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Thanks, NealH. Pretty much raced through this, though anti-climactically drew a complete blank on SPIT. If it’s a dd, then sadly I don’t think I’m familiar with either definition.
December 12th, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Cheers Neal/Quixote, slightly held my self up on “a sheet in the wind” by putting in “to the wind”. Liked the non self referential 1d and I put in spit without fully justifying.
December 12th, 2011 at 9:39 pm
‘Three sheets to the wind’ is the variant I’m familiar with, though ‘in’ is just as good as ‘to’ (possible case for making an anagram with it).