Independent 7573 by Nitsy

by

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism

This is only the second Nitsy puzzle I can recall and it continues an improving trend. It was mostly on the easy side but had a good variety of clues. I quite liked 20 across, although I had my doubts about it at first, and 11 had an excellent surface.

 

Across
1 Nose: Son< on E.
3 Big Wheel: CD (fair ground ride).
10 Perpetual motion: (Train MOT people)* around [Subar]u.
11 Ineffable: Fine* + f + able.
12 Plum: Plum[p].
13 Low Down: DD.
15 Sheath: (Has the)*.
17 Slap-up: Slap (=smack) + up (=at college).
19 Rouleau: Our* + eau around l. Never heard of eau as a channel, although it does mean water.
20 Sofa: United (joined together) S[tates] of A[merica].
21 Matchless: DD.
24 Palaeontologist: &lit. (One’s apt goal)* around to i[nvestigate] [fossi]l.
25 Sedition: S(mall) + edition.
26 Pegs: Initial letters of p[oker] e[xhibitions] g[enerate] s[mall].
Down
1 Nuptials: (Paul isn’t)*.
2 Serve: Seve (Ballesteros) around r[ough].
4 Illness: [Dr]ill + ness (=tongue, another word for a headland).
5 Whoopee Cushion: CD.
6 Etiquette: [Omel]ette around quite*.
7 Long: Log around n[eedle].
8 Self-complacent: (Pet can smell of)* around c.
9 Turban: Turn around B[angladeshi] a[dult].
14 Well-oiled: DD.
16 Pulsates: (up least)* + [teenager]s.
18 Pimento: (Pot I)* around men.
19 Ration: [O]ration.
22 Elite: Tile< + [sal]e.
23 Opus: O(rdinary) + pus[h].

9 comments on “Independent 7573 by Nitsy”

  1. Thanks NealH for the blog, and Nitsy for a puzzle which, on the whole, was enjoyable.

    Favourites were 24A PALAEONTOLOGIST, a nice &lit, 10A PERPETUAL MOTION, and 8D SELF COMPLACENT, all anagrams one can really get one’s teeth into.

    Some niggly doubts: 19A ROULEAU, like you, not sure of “drainage channel”=”eau”; 10A “..make it work” indicates, say, a “perpetual motion machine” or similar device itself, not just the principle on which the machine is based; and 17A SLAP-UP which I think of as “first class”, “super”, and not necessarily “expensive”.

  2. For 19ac you need to look in Chambers under ‘ea’ which gives “a drainage channel in the Fens, sometimes eau, as if taken from French”.

  3. Thanks, Neal. Not sure what to make of this. I struggled with quite a bit of it, and normally I’d be saying that’s down to me. But I didn’t warm to ROULEAU either and the definition in PERPETUAL MOTION doesn’t really work for me. There were some good clues elsewhere, though, which I enjoyed.

    But SEVE for golfer? I’ve said before, golf isn’t even a sport, so why do setters insist on having golfing references? I’m with Mark Twain. FREDDIE for cricketer is fine, obviously, as is blind prejudice.

  4. Yes, this was good, not too difficult, favourite clues SHEATH and WHOOPEE CUSHION. Not 100% sure about it but I read SOFA differently ie that it united the three words STATES OF AMERICA by being hidden within them ie stateS OF America.

  5. This is a rather fine effort. PERPETUAL MOTION is fine if you think about it. And a foopball (teh beautiful GAME) supporter moaning about a game that requires individual skill, well really…

  6. Glad others found this easy I got there in the end but was a struggle for me. Thanks Neal for confirming some of my solving thoughts. Didn’t help myself mispelling 24a though.

  7. I thought there were some realy nice clues here — particularly for SEDITION (25ac) and for MATCHLESS (21ac). But I thought the clue involving ea/eau was strained by using this word, which doesn’t usually appear in an (easy) daily cryptic.

    When Jo Brand was on Countdown she called some word that I forget a “rubbish word”. This is how I feel about “self-complacent”, which seems to me to be rather tautological, like talking about safe havens. But it’s in the dictionary, so …

  9. Thanks NealH.
    A very good puzzle which I didn’t find easy.Didn’t help myself by reading ‘rioting’ as ‘noting’ in 25 across(must get stronger glasses).
    I thought the long anagrams at 10,24 and 8 were excellent,but I wasn’t that keen on the 2 CDs at 3 and 5,not my favourite type of clue so I’m probably biased.
    ‘Ea’and ‘Eau’ are regulary used by setters of barred puzzles but I think this is the first time I have come
    across them in a normal daily puzzle.

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