I have been doing these Sunday Indies one week late on the Independent site and it took some nice co-operation from friends to get hold of a current puzzle without having to be physically in the UK and buying a dead-tree copy. I am therefore quite accustomed to the Don’s scrupulously fair clueing style; although he sometimes has too high an expectation of his clients. We can’t all be of the same calibre as Times Crossword Champions or setters for the quality dailies. Lesser mortals abound and abound abundantly.
This week’s offering has a wide variety of devices to entertain and challenge. Rocinante, away we go !
ACROSS
8 BACTERIOLOGIST Ins of *(REACT) in BIOLOGIST (another scientist)
9 DANGLING D (Day) ANGLING (fishing)
10 REHAB REH (Rev of HER, the woman) AB (able-bodied, seaman)
11 PRIMATE PR (public relations or publicity) I (one) MATE (friend)
13 LUNETTE Ins of NET (difficulty) in LUTE (musical instrument) Believe you me, on the 11th line of my Chambers CD-ROM entry for NET is a difficulty
14 STENT ST (street) ENT (ear, nose and throat, hospital department)
15 PEA Ins of E (energy) in PA (old man)
16 ALPHA Ins of LP (long-playing record) in AHA ! (expression of surprise)
18 IMMORAL IMMORTAL (always) minus T (time)
20 TADPOLE Ins of D (daughter) PO (River) in TALE (story) My COD for its simply audacious definition – a potential potential prince indeed!
21 LIMIT Ins of MI (motorway) in LIT (illuminated)
22 MOMENTUM Ins of MEN (chaps) in MO (Maureen) & TUM (little Mary?)
24 TERROR-STRICKEN Ins of ERRORS (mistakes) & TRICK (stratagem) in TEN (number)
DOWN
1 PALATINE Ins of IN (home) in PALATE (roof, look in your mouth)
2 STAG STAGE (step) minus E
3 BRAISE Sounds like BRAYS
4 MONGOLIA *(oilman go)
5 FOUR-IN-HAND FOUR (square of 2) IN HAND (being dealt with) for a coach drawn by four horses, two by two, driven by one person
6 WITH IT Cha of WIT (comedian) HIT (big success)
7 STABLEMATE Stable (company) *(team)
11 PISTILLATE Ins of ILL (not good) in PI (pious or very good) STATE (condition) for picking?
12 ALTERATION *(neat tailor) I rate this an &lit
15 POLEMIST Cha of POLE (European) MIST (something that clouds vision)
17 PRODUCER *(up record) A likely &lit for someone like Simon Cowell
19 MEMORY Ins of EMOR (rev of ROME) in MY (expression of surprise)
20 TIMBRE Ins of BR (Britain) in TIME (enemy)
23 NICK dd
Key to abbreviations
dd = double definition
dud = duplicate definition
tichy = tongue-in-cheek type
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
Welcome Uncle Yap to my IOS Quixote puzzles. These are generally aimed to be a bit more straightforward than my Times or Pasquale or Bradman puzzles, so I’d fully expect bloggers here to find them quite easy.
Thanks Uncle Yap and Quixote.
I’m afraid I can’t help with your two queries, as I gave the same doubts. Still, an entertaining and doable puzzle
I’ve just got around to trying to finish this one, believe it or not. Far too hard for me, I’m afraid, so it’s a good job this wasn’t my week! I too cannot answer those two queries.
The clue for PISTILLATE was “Word to describe flowers in very good condition, not good for picking”. I think the definition is ‘Word to describe flowers’ ‘describe’ suggests an adj and Collins defines it “(of plants) having pistils but no anthers”. As the blog says, I think the wordplay puts ILL (not good) in PI (very good) STATE (condition).
Got left hand side quite quickly but having horror stricken didn’t help.Couple I’d never heard of but completed about two thirds before grinding to a halt.
Re 22ac “Little Mary” is a euphemism for the stomach. It dates from 1903, then still a time when body parts were never mentioned in polite society, and alludes to a long forgotten play of that name by J M Barrie which explored the idea that one could change one’s life by what one ate. Chambers gives that meaning but without explaining the allusion.
Well done allan_c, no-one else seemed to know that. We discuss these i puzzles on the idothei blog website where you would be most welcome. 🙂
Ha! You’ve already been, I see!