Independent 6951 by Punk

by

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone

An enjoyable puzzle that didn’t require vast amounts of general knowledge. There were some excellent surface definitions that appeared utterly bewildering at first glance (particularly 21 down).

Across
9 Epochal: Cope< + Hal.
10 Othello: Hello (magazine) after OT (Old Testament).
11 Yeast: [Baker]y + east.
12 Beelzebub: Bee + zebu in lb.
13 Ego: Go after [avenu]e.
14 Hummingbird: Humming + bird (in the prison sense).
17 Lateral Thinking: Kin in later Althing. The Althing is the Icelandic parliament (which, coincidentally, is mentioned several times in an article about Iceland).
20 Bearskin rug: (sure barking)*.
22 Yam: May<, although May as a synonym for spring seems a bit dubious.
23 Moonlight: Moo (low in its bovine sense) + first letter of luminescence in night.
26 Trust: Double definition.
27 On the go: ghent* in OO.
28 Monsoon: Monday soon.
Down
1 Very well: double def.
2 Cosa Nostra: (actor’s son)* over a.
3 Thatcher: last letter of government + hatcher.
4 Club: double def.
5 Come hither: me in (the choir)*.
6 Phizog: Phi + Zog.
7 Flab: Fab around l.
8 Forbid: For bid.
15 Melting pot: E lt in Ming + pot.
16 I kid you not: I kid + youn[g] + o + t.
18 Negating: eating* + ng.
19 Gemstone: MS in get one.
20 Bamboo: Bamb[in]o + o.
21 Solver: Sole around v + r = u (you in text messaging).
24 Otto: This was the only one I thought was a little obscure. It seems to be the palindromic name of a cyclist. The only moderately famous one I can find is Dag Otto, although there might be someone else.
25 Tome: Self-addressed = to me.

6 comments on “Independent 6951 by Punk”

  1. This was very enjoyable. 3dn, in particular, raised a chuckle. As far as 24 down is conerned, I suspect the two letters “o” suggest bicycle wheels.

  3. Thanks NealH for the blog and thanks Les for the explanation of Otto. I thought this typical of Punk’s humour and I enjoyed it very much too.
    I did stumble over 6d though. As a former student of the Beano and Dandy I recall seeing Fizzog used and I’ve never known any better. However after getting Othello it all fell into place.

  4. Good crossword, although even now I’m not totally convinced about Otto, who seems too obscure. The only very slight grumble I had, and I may be wrong in any case, is with 26ac: surely a trust is not the same thing as a cartel?

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