Independent 7,180/Virgilius

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As sometimes happens with Virgilius’ themed puzzles, I managed to get through this without fully understanding some of the connected answers. Probably me being a dunce, but I don’t quite get the links at 17A.

As always happens with Virgilius’ puzzles though, I’m in awe of the quality of his clueing.

Across
1 AWRY – R in (WAY)*
3 WHERE IT’S AT – Double def. The answers to the clues at 9, 14 and 29 also refer to their relative locations in the grid
9 SECOND ROW – Cha. of SECOND + ROW – This answer is located in the second row of the grid
11 TOTAL – TOT + A + L
12 EVENT – EVEN + T
13 BIFF – Hidden in joB IF Fomenting
15 NOUN – Double def.
17 SELF-REFERENCE – The def. here is ‘independent testimonial’, but I’m not sure how this links to the other answers?
19 TAKING A CHANCE – Hidden in upseT A KING, CHANCEllor
23 MINT – Double def.
24 UNDO – Even letters of tUrNeD fOe
25 ALIEN – LIE in AN
27 OMEGA – O + GA/ME with each half swapped
28 LOUISIANA – (OIL IN USA)*
29 BOTTOM LINE – Cha. of BOTTOM (behind) + LINE (policy) – This answer is of course on the bottom line of the grid
30 THIS – Hidden in ancienT HIStory
Down
1 ANSWER – I think this is a double def.
2 RACKETS – This definitely is a double def!
4 HARD BARGAIN – BAR in HARD GAIN
5 RAW – Double def.
6 INTO – Hidden in shINTOism
7 SET DOWN – Double def.
8 TALENTED – TALE on NT + ED
10 NETTLING – L in NETTING
14 FIFTH COLUMN – COLUMN supporting FIFTH (20%) – ALso describes the answer’s location
16 FRANCIS – A in FRANCIS
18 ATOM BOMB – A T + (MOB x 2)*
20 KINDEST – K + N in ID EST
21 EPITAPH – Cryptic def.
22 IN CAPS – I guessed this from the checking letters, but can’t quite work it out
26 FARO – FAR (much) + 0 (love)
28 LIL – 1 in LL

9 comments on “Independent 7,180/Virgilius”

  1. Thanks Ali.
    I’m not 100% sure of a lot of this myself.
    The def. for 17 is, I think “NOT an independent testimonial.
    The answers referred to are somehow describing themselves: A noun is a noun, Francais is French, this is this, etc.
    I think the “In caps” refers to the fact that everyone (I imagine?) fills in the grid with capital letters, an also contains the definition “covered above” (wearing a cap).

  2. …please forgive spelling and punctuation above…
    Also just wanted to say that, like today’s Guardian, this has a (sort of) double theme too.
    Coincidence?….

  3. I thought of IN CAPS but didn’t put it in, as it seemed to me unreasonable to assume everyone uses them (I DO OF COURSE!) I liked the ‘WHERE IT’S AT’ answers a lot – SECOND ROW, BOTTOM LINE and FIFTH COLUMN, but was lass keen on 1d and 22d, which didn’t seem to give you a second route to the clue – knowing it’s self-referential leaves you guessing rather.
    Anyway, I messed up by putting NEEDLING at 10d (is ‘I need’ the same as ‘I earn?’ What was I on?) so didn’t get 12ac.

  4. Glad to see it wasn’t just me then. I always fill my answers IN CAPS too, though I know people who don’t!

    If it’s any consolation Mick, I’d convinced myelf that 10D was either NEED[L]ING or RANK[L]ING before I got the right answer!

    Also, something I forgot to put in the blog, how do we feel about LL being used for 100? Don’t think I’ve ever seen roman numerals used in this way before.

  5. I missed IN CAPS, but I think it’s justified as that’s how solutions appear in the paper. LL might have been a bit of a stretch but I did have a penny-dropping moment when I saw it. Great puzzle as always from the master.

  6. Ali,
    I quite liked LL.
    I don’t think it would have worked had it been the end of the word (eg. ill), but I thought it was clever.
    Libertarianism, but in a good way…

  7. Excellent puzzle again. I’m really enjoying the Independent crossword at the moment – much more so than the Guardian…

    There were quite an above average number of hidden answers here (four) so I wondered whether “all the others covered above” might be a reference to that – I didn’t get IN CAPS in the end, but it’s a nice answer.

    I know some people who say they find it much easier to see words from crossing letters if they write them out as “_n _a_s” instead of “_N _A_S” – I don’t find it helps much, personally.

  8. I agree mhl. I find the Independent to be consistently good – you never know what you’re going to get with the Guardian.

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