Independent 8783 by Kairos

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I found this ultimately a little unsatisfactory because 16 and 15 across were rather obscure and your only recourse, if you didn’t know the words, was to guess. Apart from those two, it was of medium difficulty: certainly not easy but not so difficult that I became completely stuck. A few of the parsings required a bit of work and some people might not be too thrilled at the Harry Potter reference in 5 down, although I didn’t mind as I have seen a few of the films.

Across
1. Tried attorney cleared after first of indictments dropped (9)
Attempted Att(orney) + empt[i]ed.
6. Managed to get money for corps’ transport (5)
Moped Coped with M(oney) replacing C(orps)
9. Period of time in years regularly taken to get a tool? (7)
Spanner Span(=period of time e.g. span of years) + even letters of “in years”.
10. Poison swallowed by coarse Nicaraguan (7)
Arsenic Hidden in “coARSE NICaraguan”
11. Character of that lot moving east to west (5)
Ethos Those with the E (East) moving to the West i.e. moving to the front of the word
12. Table in jumble sale maybe with high charges at first (9)
Bookstall Tall with books in front of it. If you recall the American detective series, Hawaii Five-O, you will know that virtually every episode included the line “Book him, Danno – murder one”, hence the use of charge here.
13. Sausage and ginger beer! (9)
Pepperoni Pep + Peroni. Ginger can be used as verb meaning to pep up and Peroni is a well known Italian beer.
15. Ecclesiastical host’s supporter? (5)
Paten CD referring to the dish used to hold up the bread in a mass. Not my favourite clue – too much religious knowledge required.
16. Niggardly old waitress (5)
Nippy I can only assume this is a DD of niggardly and an old word for a waitress, but haven’t been able to confirm either.
18. Smooths over vehicle’s hazards (4,5)
Sand traps Sands around trap, trap being a type of coach
20. Deadly offence? It’s normal in a riot (6,3)
Mortal sin (It’s normal)*
23. Anything or nothing (5)
Ought DD – aught, also spelt as ought, is apparently a contraction of “a naught” and means zero
25. Fussy does not begin to describe graduate’s barbecue (7)
Hibachi [C]hichi around BA
26. Move slowly to overturn the Spanish bishop’s prison sentence (7)
Dribble (El B(ishop) + bird)<
27. Offer minister free entertainment (5)
Treat 3 defs, the first one probably being in the sense of “to negotiate”
28. Doctor is unarmed caregiver (9)
Nursemaid (Is unarmed)*

Down
1. Path in the centre of Scottish town (5)
Aisle [P]aisle[y]
2. Kid does not finish dance in cafe (7)
Teashop Teas[e] + hop
3. Community of Merton, say, redeveloped (9)
Monastery (Merton say)*
4. Pound found in bathrobe (5)
Throb Hidden in baTHROBe
5. Member of Slytherin’s relative I assumed to be cruel (9)
Draconian Draco + Nan around I. Draco Malfoy is a schoolboy rival to Harry Potter who is a member of the Slytherin House.
6. Tribal leader fails to get master for student (5)
Moses Loses with M replacing L
7. Shut up about expert’s jewellery item (7)
Pendant Pent around dan (dan can mean a martial arts competitor with a black belt dan grading)
8. How to get larks into ark in part of London! (9)
Docklands Dock L and S to convert larks to ark
13. Criticise Asian servant attending in headgear (6,3)
Panama hat Pan + amah(Asian maidservant) + at(=attending)
14. Mania of former pupil on drinking spree (9)
Obsession OB (old boy) + session
15. Frequent pains tore dreadfully (9)
Patronise (Pains tore)* – frequent here is a verb
17. Story of Saracen evicting international leader from mansion? (7)
Parable ARAB replacing I in pile
19. Mature British artist includes line in symbolic system? (7)
Algebra Age + B(ritish) RA around l
21. A special function for racecourse (5)
Ascot A + s(pecial) + cot(angent)
22. Low water mark for former Polly Peck executive (5)
Nadir DD referring to Asil Nadir
24. Track energy in rising river (5)
Tread E(nergy) in Dart<.

12 comments on “Independent 8783 by Kairos”

  1. Thanks Neal
    I’m not sure that the Italian beer in 13ac is well known, as you put it, I’d never heard of it before today.

    Regarding 16ac, from Chambers: nippy: adjective – niggardly: noun (with cap; old) – a waitress, esp one in a Lyons teashop (also Nippie).

  2. I’m OK with the beer in 13AC – at least among Italian beers it’s probably the best known, I’d have thought. Jason

  3. I think criticism of 15A a little harsh. Is NealH simply saying that he is not of a religious bent? One could complain that a lot of clues (not in this puzzle) require “too much knowledge of” music, film, other languages etc; but they all fall into what most cryptic solvers would call general knowledge.

    Personally I have never heard of a hibachi (too much barbecue knowledge required).

    18A is SANDS around (“over”) TRAP.

    Thanks to Kairos and NealH.

  4. I think the criticism of 15A is because you have no other clue if you don’t happen to know the word. It is possible to deduce 25A from the clue (assuming you are clever, I got it because it fit and I’ve heard of it).
    I initially thought this was going to be too hard for me, but I was left with only a couple of gaps, which I aught or ought to have got.
    Thanks to Kairos and NealH

  5. Thanks, GeordyGordy, that was exactly my point. I didn’t know hibachi at all but worked it out from the clue (although I was helped by having a vague memory of the word chichi, which may not be in everyone’s vocabulary). I could not do the same with paten.

  6. Thanks NealH and Kairos. I’m with you NealH@5 re 15A: a word search brings up several words that fit the crossers (PITON was most tempting) and there is no way of getting to the correct answer without checking the definition of each of the potential ones. Clueing of obscure terms should be more precise, imho. Mind you, there were some crackers elsewhere in this puzzle – although I “got” 8D, the parsing eluded me. Now I understand it, possibly my COD.

  7. I agree that PATEN is ungettable. If arcane stuff is all that will fit, it should be given away, as a hidden word or something. HIBACHI also is a bit much for a daily I think, and the clue wasn’t exactly easy.

  8. Well, I remember my mother telling me that her first job, after she emigrated to England in the 1930s was as a Lyons nippy. I also used to be an altar boy so I had no problem with Paten either. On the other hand, I’ve assiduously avoided gaining any knowledge of anything to do with Harry Potter but Draconian was a reasonable guess, based on the definition.

  9. Thanks, Neal. We’ve had some cracking Kairos puzzles in the Independent on Sunday in recent months, but today’s wasn’t as good, I felt. NIPPY I guessed, since I didn’t know either definition; and as another ex-altar boy I did remember PATEN once I’d got the first letter. But I agree with some others: the surface reading is no help to you. And although I got the reference to the Harry Potter character because my kids were heavily into it, I think that’s a step too far for most solvers.

    MORTAL SIN, MOSES, PATEN, MONASTERY, PARABLE … you could almost believe the setter was a man of the cloth, couldn’t you? Thanks to him too.

  11. Thanks NealH.

    I failed on PATEN, but no problem with the word being here as a cryptic definition. All it showed was that on this clue my vocabulary fell short of what was required and I couldn’t finish. To me this is the whole point of cryptics such as the Indy, they are meant to be hard. If I wanted some dumb-down puzzle that ensured that everyone could always finish regardless of the limitations of their general knowledge then I would go somewhere else.

    Having said, on reading up on the solution I thought this was a weak clue, but that is another matter.

    Thanks Kairos or a good puzzle.

  12. NIPPY is the nickname given to waitresses at the old Lyon’s Tea Rooms that used to be commonplace in most town centres. We had one in Cambridge when I was a nipper! I think it was because they were quick servers, so nipped about.

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