Another Bank Holiday? They’re like buses at the moment. Well what could be happening today? Phi moves over for Morph. A week with neither Phi or DAC, very odd. Edit Phi did saturday’s stint, any themes or ninas completely lost on me though.
.
Of course it’s that wedding, but fortunately it’s not all fawning – this is the Independent after all. I’d rather hoped to avoid the event, but the blogging calendar has conspired against me. Seems an over reliance on E.R .for Queen etc. but inevitable today I guess with many thematic surfaces and wordplay, if not solutions. Definitions underlined in the clues. If you somehow managed to miss the occasion there’s edited highlights here:
OK perhaps not 🙂
Across
| 1 I ignore b-bell rounding off big occasion (3,5,2) | The Royal We | The Royal We{d-ding} is rounded off. I = WE in this |
| 6 Backing Frost is Arab ruler (4) | Emir | RIME (frost) reversed |
| 10 Phil’s nickname for Spanish painter? (2,5) | El Greco | The Duke of Edinburgh is known as Phil The Greek hence El Greco |
| 11 Revolutionary decapitation of royal in time comes in for attack (3,4) | Lay Into | [r]OYAL decapitated and reversed around IN T[ime] |
| 12 Prince is not unknown somewhere in the Outer Hebrides (6) | Harris | (Prince) HARR[y] (no unknown) + IS. Scottish Island |
| 13 Seafood may be London fare (6) | Oyster | Oyster is the pre-paid travel card used in London |
| 16 King, Jack, another king, queen then four of hearts laid by east holding ‘one club‘ (10) | Knobkerrie | K + NOB (=jack) + K + ER + 4th letter of heaRts + 1 + E[ast]. Stick used by native South Africans |
| 18 Prince dismisses article in French daily (4) | Char | Prince CHAR[les] less French article LES |
| 19 31’s exhortation perhaps rejected by member of the angry brigade? (4) | Ogre | 31 = Republican so “E.R. – GO!” rev |
| 20 Everything held by Madoff lost, comprising a most serious lapse (4,2,4) | Fall of Adam | ALL in (MADOFF +{comprising} A)*. Nicely done clue. &lit perhaps |
| 22 Liz, dig the fur trim (6) | Ermine | Queen Liz – E.R. + MINE (dig) |
| 24 Northern supermarket, next to Royal Exchange (6) | NASDAQ | N[orthern] + ASDA (UK supermarket) + Q (royal) NASDAQ |
| 28 Cover-up following prominent ex-royal’s separation (7) | Divorce | Prediction perhaps? DI (she’s back again!) + COVER*. Try telling Al Fayed there’s no cover up! |
| 29 Arsenal player, after sacrificing lead and victory in Europe, is upset (7) | Unnerve | [g]UNNER [Arsenal are known as the Gunners after their old home of Woolwich Arsenal] + V.E. (day) |
| 30 Pitch and roll (4) | List | Double Definition |
| 31 I’m not keen on The King and Queen – it’s to do with the landlord (10) | Republican | Never known a pub called this. RE(to do with) + PUBLICAN (Innkeeper) |
| Down | ||
| 1 Make Windsor marry? (3,3,4) | Tie the Knot | Windsor knot, a way of tying ties, marry. Cryptic Double Definition |
| 2 Queen taking time to get enthusiastic (5) | Eager | AGE in E.R. |
| 3 Pillar of British establishment lacking in social know-how, for starters (7) | Obelisk | A pillar, initial letters of words in the clue starting at OF |
| 4 Declare choice of electoral system with pained expression (4) | Avow | Alternate Vote + OW The Indy seems rather keen on AV. |
| 5 Inevitably, groom left with nothing on in middle of royal yard (5-5) | Willy-Nilly | Def=Inevitably. Groom = WILL + middle of roYal + NIL + L + Y(ard). I’m used to willy-nilly meaning haphazardly but it’s in Chambers |
| 7 I’d follow leader, showing love for one having a ball (9) | Monorchid | O not A in MONARCH + I’D. Having one testicle like Hitler allegedly. |
| 8 Disturbance sees one surrounded by riff-raff (4) | Riot | I in ROT, Chambers has riff-raff = rot, not a usage I’m used to. |
| 9 Juicy story featuring bit that may have to be cut out (4) | Cyst | Hidden (featuring) in juiCY STory |
| 14 Relative goody-goody taking ecstasy (5-5) | Great Niece | GREAT + E(cstacy) in NICE |
| 15 Drop of the hard stuff given to one member of groom’s party who’s acting up? (5,5) | Drama-Queen | DRAM + A + QUEEN (Will’s Grandmother) |
| 17 Broken down, it’s solvers – you and me, ultimately (9) | Ourselves | [SOLVERS (yo)U (m)E]* &lit |
| 21 Floor princess with line in waffle (7) | Flannel | FL(oor) + (princess) ANNE + L[ine] |
| 23 Half-heartedly get together with stable mother-figure (4) | Mary | Half hearted MARRY. MAR[r]Y (mother of Jesus, did I spend too long looking at mare!) |
| 25 The same as Croesus, cut down in Greek style (5) | Doric | DO (Ditto) + RIC(h) |
| 26 Loved one left after words in church (4) | Idol | Wedding words “I DO” + L |
| 27 Teacher brought up almost half the country (4) | Guru | URUG[uay] reversed |
Thanks for a very thorough blog, flashling.
Having imposed a twenty-four media blackout chez nous and coming to my favourite crossword page for half an hour of entertainment over breakfast, what do I find but the chuffing royal wedding? One of the reasons I’ve stuck with the Indy since day one is that they don’t cover all this royal crap.
Nice clue at 7dn. If only Brenda’s forebears had been ANORCHIC instead of MONORCHIC, we might have been spared the sight of the feckless, adulterous, brainless lot of them gathering together today in the sight of god.
And at 29ac, if we absolutely must include Premiership football teams in clues, can we at least reference ones that have won a trophy recently?
19ac was good.
I had to be persuaded that this wouldn’t be a ‘celebration’ of the royal wedding or the royal family before I agreed to publish it. I’m doing my best to avoid the event, but still feeling violently nauseous about the fawning over this anachronistic institution.
And I’m stuck at work having to engage with it (yes, even at Al Jazeera). As eimi says, his instinct was to ignore it. I admit my heart sank when I turned to the Times crossword for a break from the rest of the content and was confronted with a bunch of royal stuff. The aim here was to be a bit less sycophantic about it.
So I’d be interested to hear what others think (but maybe they’re all too busy watching the live coverage to do the puzzle, never mind comment!)
Morph
At least the Times had the clue ‘Young lady who’s worked hard to pull’ so it isn’t all sycophantic there! Plus Duke Ellington (born this day 1899) gets a mention.
Take a look at the Telegraph’s TWO offerings. One good and the other…….
Loved the puzzle, thanks Morph! I didn’t feel it at all sycophantic. I particularly liked some well disguised definitions; my favorite was 1 ac in that regard. And flashling, I too spent forever on 23 dn trying to make it MARE against all evidence. Thanks for the blog.
This all sounds a bit serious, guys, for what is just a crossword puzzle really. Some excellent clues in this, which was quite a hard puzzle, esp liked HARRIS, TIE THE KNOT (best of all), OBELISK, IDOL. Thanks, Morph, and flashling.
I can hear Dave C in my ear saying ‘Calm down, dear’, and I have a bit now. But if the editor feels that way, and the setter is clearly not mad about the whole affair, then why publish a themed crossword today anyway? An unthemed Morph or the usual Phi would have been fine for me, and then we might have had a few more crossword-related comments on the blog.
Anyway, a good weekend to all.
I wouldn’t mind so much if HRH and Co took a bit more interest in OUR weddings, funerals, gaffes, affairs, alleged accidents, murders, financial problems, and who designed the new tank-top we’re wearing to the pub tonight. But they really don’t, do they. So it’s all a bit one-sided, um, just like a straight line that used to be a triangle, for instance.
Wouldn’t mind seeing the silly posh cow without the dress on though. Phwoar.
Nearly choked on my cornflakes when I saw that I had to turn to page 6 before there was any proper news-what on earth was the Indie doing with all the royal nonsense -got bits and pieces of the xword out but was not in right frame of mind.
I return with a little trepidation, last time I blogged I ended up in hospital. @Eimi#2 I agree absolutely, I felt ill blogging it but at least it was really just a nod to its happening. I don’t feel a need to bow to someone whose ancestor was the biggest thug around and then claimed god to have ordained it. Thanks Morph for the fun, sorry you had to work and cover the wedding. @GKD you and me mate!
@PB Umm I care so little I really haven’t checked out her form as it were, but if you have a URL to share 🙂
What I liked about this crossword was Morph referring to That Thing Today in his clues, so nót in the solutions.
Just like Gaff in the FT and unlike Paul today who had one great topical clue but didn’t make it clear why he wanted for once the (this!) Friday spot.
Well done Morph!
Don’t be too grumpy, eimi.
And Paul B, I fully understand what you mean.
A lot today was pathetic, including screaming girls as if it were the sixties (anachronistic?).
Well done flashling, too.
Luckily there wasn’t the obvious Spoonerism for Kate & Will today …
Or am I going too far now? 🙂 [I hope (referring to the smiley)]
@Sil #12 Kate&Will spoonerism. Marvellous! Well it worked with Diana. (allegedly ;-))
Well, I think Morph’s done at least as well any any of us who had a crack at something which through sheer force of mindless tabloid (and tabloid tv) coverage warranted a nod.
If I can remember as far back as is necessary, I tried to be rude about this yesterday by pinning the protagonists’ identities to those of characters in one of Snakespeare’s most deeply offensive and misogynistic plays, but no-one seemed to dig that route into it either.
It’s frigging well cursed, this gig, that’s what it is.
Well PB you did yesterday’s FT not here, so I missed it. Would like to be in on the joke(s) though.
There are those of us who, with tongue more-or-less firmly in cheek, claim to avoid partisan crowds (dressed in colours and flags, faces painted, chanting inarticulately, and corralled by a massive police presence) because they’re only off to watch the football or a pop-group…
@Phi #16 or do a certain crossword rather than another? Bed time now, painkillers calling. Night all.
Awful lot of talk about the events of the day. Can I raise a comparatively trivial point to do with one of the clues in this crossword, or would that be seen as off topic? At 27dn the wordplay is ‘almost half the country’ and it’s a reversal of the Urug of Uruguay. To me this seems like ‘more than half the country’.
And I thought 17dn was brilliant.
Thanks for the blog flashling and Morph for a reasonably difficult puzzle. Last two in required a night’s sleep thus the late comment.
Can understand the quandary Morph was in and imho he’s done a good job. Enjoyable as a crossword on its own merit on any other day. Studiously stayed away from the tube today avoiding anything to do with The Event, which was a Big Yawn to me, which even the BBC couldn’t stay away from. Seems that I was totally outnumbered in a pre-broadcast opinion poll.
Also seems that one of the prerequisites of being an Indy solver is to be a 31A! Or is that going too far? (smiley here)
scchua – “Enjoyable as a crossword on its own merit” – hear, hear!
Will at #18 don’t see why ‘almost half’ has to be less than half. Surely 5/8 and 3/8 are equally ‘almost a half’?
Personally I enjoyed the cleverness of fitting the clues into the theme but then I enjoyed the pageantry of the event too so you’ll all probably cast me as the ogre!
Very fine puzzle; thank God the Republic got a mention.
Re 27d Chambers has almost = nearly = approximately but rather less. Which is surely also how we all use the word. It would surely have been as easy as pie to switch ‘almost’ to ‘more than’.