Solving time: 7:45
I really liked this puzzle on the theme of 11s (coincidentally the first clue I solved), though I wonder if I have missed some of the thematic references. A very slow bottom left corner for me, but overall nothing too difficult.
Beginners’ tips of the day: ‘river’ = EXE (or AIRE, CAM, DEE, ODER, PO, R, TAY, TEST, URE…); ‘for all to see’ = U (= ‘Universal’ film rating)
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 9 | MO’ + USE + rev. of PART – refers to The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie, the longest-running West End show. Mo’ for ‘more’ is Scottish, but I can’t remember seeing this in a daily crossword before. |
| 11 | A + V + anag. of GREEN |
| 13 | John STEED – played by Patrick Macnee in the 1960s TV show. I haven’t seen the programme but knew this name; Emma Peel, Steed’s sidekick, crops up occasionally in the dailies. |
| 19 | EX(PERT + IS)E |
| 22 | S(URGE)ON – I don’t really like this clue as ‘summoned’ is rather superfluous to the cryptic reading |
| 23 | A brilliant &lit, which means that the whole clue is both the definition and the wordplay. Here ‘All of a gallop:’ is the anagram indicator, the remainder of the clue the anagram and the whole clue a description of the quartet in question. I regret that this clue was completely wasted on me, I wrote in the answer from the enumeration (possibly with a subliminal hint from ‘gallop’ or ‘hoof’?). |
| 24 | THE + ME – the last clue I solved. Using ‘the’ in the clue is surprisingly deceptive, I fell for a similar trick in The Guardian recently (“Lifting the foot” = THEFT) |
| 25 | Anag. of S[hamefu]L and ANOTHER – I think this refers to Jack, although I am familiar only with Jim and Ronnie, whose classic miss from 1992 rivals the other Ronnie’s howler on Saturday. |
| Down | |
| 1 | IMPA(rev. of BASS)LE |
| 2 | MULETEER – cryptic definition with a nice rugby surface (or was it, thematically, American Football?). I think I’ve seen a very similar clue somewhere earlier this year (Guardian?), which took me forever to get, but (probably because of this) I got this one straight away. |
| 4 | B + R + R + R – I think this is one of the few words of four letters to contain no vowel or Y that are permissible in Scrabble. Is BZZZ another? Or CWMS? I’m sure a Scrabble aficionado will enlighten us! |
| 6 | O + P(U + L)ENCE – complex wordplay but simple definition. For some reason I needed the former to solve this clue. |
| 7 | In The New 11s, Mike GAMBIT was played by Gareth Hunt… (go to 20) |
| 8 | MERE – This answer may be wrong as I don’t understand the purpose of ‘what is said’ in the clue, it seems to be just a straight double definition (‘only’ and ‘pool’). |
| 18 | EU + TROPHY – from the Greek eu meaning ‘good’, as in euphoria or euphobia (fear of good news) |
| 20 | (from 7) … and PURDEY was played by Joanna Lumley. I didn’t know either name, but both were guessable from the other parts of the clues. |
| 22 | SET + H – the third son of Adam and Eve. My last but one solve, very slow on this and it took me a while after stopping the clock to work out why ‘went down’ = SET (as in the setting Sun – obvious when you realise). |
I really struggled with this one until I found the theme – after that, everything fell into place fairly quickly – solving time 25 mins. Like rightback, was perplexed by MERE. Not too familiar with the (New) Avengers but had heard of Steed and a quick Internet search at the end verified all. It was a good idea to give easy clues to those names. I usually dislike v long anagrams and got the answer without referring to it – but this one is v good especially the “He”
I queried the clue for MERE with Tees and he pointed out that the first part of the clue comes directly from the first definition in Chambers. I also requested and received simpler clues for Gambit and Purdey for the benefit of people unfamiliar with the TV series.
Thanks eimi. I think this, and ‘more’ = MO’, might have confused a few gentlemen on the proverbial Clapham omnibus (GCOs?) today; both feel more like Listener devices to me. Like NMS I was grateful for the easier clues to Gambit and Purdey.
I enjoyed this but I did struggle here and there – not helped by filling in AVENGER at 12A instead of 11A by mistake (I hate it when that happens – it puts me right off). I got the long anagram – like rightback – just from the enumeration and the ref to STEED. 2D was new to me as was 18D but that was easy to get from the wordplay.
Another really enjoyable Independent puzzle, with the long &Lit anagram quite outstanding. I thought the clue for Steed very clever too, with the ‘bit’ joke.
The ‘mere’ definition some others mention I found in Chambers exactly as written in the clue, with ‘pool’ the other half of the definition. It got me, though!
The ‘summoned’ addition to 22 across I don’t mind either, as the clue parts in a sense ‘summon’ the quack. Laughed aloud at BRRR. ‘Late’ for ‘no longer in circulation’ I admired too. Took me about half an hour.
Pretty damn good stuff, Tees.
I gather that Independent crosswords are not available online, so for the benefit of anyone who didn’t see this puzzle, the full clue to ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ was:
All of a gallop: here espy malefactors He put on hoof (3, 4, 8, 2, 3, 10)