Independent on Sunday 1130: Hypnos

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Quite a mixture of difficulty levels in this puzzle, I thought. Some very straightforward clues, some that took some serious unravelling.

I am trying to include links in this blog, but the WiFi connection in this pub (where we are convened in our customary Saturday get-together) is a touch erratic and it is a laborious process. Giving up as a bad job is on the agenda. So I do hope that at least my explanations are OK.

Across
1 ROONEY A lot of opportunity with foreign money going backward and forward
Tricky clue — definition is ‘forward’, referring to Wayne of that ilk. ROO[m] = a lot of opportunity; NEY = foreign money (Yen) going backward
5 CHOOSY Fastidious sailor wearing cape in front of island
Another one I found tricky. OS = Ordinary Seaman (sailor); C = cape; HOY = island (Hoy)
10 EVENTER Uniform name largely for riding competitor
EVEN = uniform; TER[m] = name largely. Someone who takes part in equestrian three-day events
11 NASTASE Old court favourite squandering an asset
*(an asset). Ilie Nastase, born July 19, 1946, in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian former professional tennis player, one of the world’s top players of the 1970s.
12 ENTRAP Catch retired business associate right away
PARTNE[r] reversed (‘right away’ indicating you take the R off)
13 BEGRUDGE Envy say encapsulated by equivalent of D Copperfield?
EG = say (for example); in B[arnaby] RUDGE
15 IN THE LAST RESORT On the final leg of a holiday as an expedient?
Where you might be towards the end of a holiday
18 ANTHONY TROLLOPE Novelist totally prone in review to include term of endearment
*(totally prone hon), ‘hon’ being an abbreviation of ‘honey’, a term of endearment
24 IROQUOIS Queen in glasses entertained by woman in tribe
Yet another that takes a bit of parsing — QU = queen; in OO = glasses (a pair of spectacles); in (entertained by) IRIS. Definition: tribe
25 SCRAPE Play fiddle in corner
Double definition — what you might do to the strings of a fiddle; an awkward situation
27 TIPPETT Advice given by largely unimportant composer
TIP = advice; PETT[y]. Michael Tippett
28 PORTICO Columns in report I condensed
Hidden in ‘rePORT I COndensed’
29 CRATER Depression in President once shifting right near start
CARTER, with the first R (right) moving nearer to the start.
30 TOERAG Rascal in time in short garment of old
ERA = time; in TOG[a]
Down
2 OVEN TIT Opening I found among set of books for bird
VENT = opening ; I; in OT = Old Testament. Not one of the tits I had previously heard of
3 NUTCASE One out to lunch in cycling helmet?
Double definition — crazy person; something that might enclose and protect your head
4 YARN Northern fish arising in sailor’s story
N RAY reversed
5 CONJECTURE Guess what Paul Daniels might do without therapy
Paul Daniels might CONJURE; ECT is electroconvulsive therapy
6 OBSERVE Notice disorder in Dover possibly covering front of docks
Another clue that took a bit of working out. BSE = bovine spongiform encephalitis, a disorder; in an anagram of [D]OVER.
7 SO-AND-SO Leaderless group beset by indifferent and unpleasant sort
[b]AND = leaderless group; in SO-SO = indifferent
8 YEMENI ME native and submissive chaps lacking sun on island
YE[s]MEN = and submissive chaps lacking sun; I = island. A person from the Middle East.
9 DECEIT Fraud in Dutch city before rise in competition
D = Dutch; EC = city; TIE reversed = rise in competition
14 BAY-SITTER One minding small charges?
Someone charged with the care of small people
16 NAN Exotic bread among Italian antipasti
Hidden in ‘ItaliaN ANtipasti’
17 RAP Criticise type of music
Double definition
18 AVIATE Volunteers coming up in a capital (not half) to fly
TA (Territorial Army) reversed; in A VIE[nna]. Definition: fly
19 TROOPER (or TROUPER) By the sound of it, actor is proverbial swearer
Just a homophone. But, though the preferred answer is probably TROOPER, I think you’d be justified in putting TROUPER.
20 OPULENT Round unionist tucking into a lot endlessly and full of fat?
O = round; U = unionist; in PLENT[y]
21 LE CARRE Chapter penned by poet about spy writer
C = Chapter; in LEAR = poet; RE = about
22 OCARINA Old music-maker on foot maybe in America
[with] 0 (no) CAR = on foot maybe; IN A = in America
23 ELEVON It might be seen in raising of new plane’s wing?
NOVEL = new, reversed; E = plane’s wing (outside letter). An &lit clue — ‘wing’ is part of the wordplay, and an elevon is a wing flap on delta wing or tailless aircraft acting both as an elevator and as an aileron.
26 SPOT Identify place on TV programme?
Double definition

6 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1130: Hypnos”

  1. 13. Begrudge
    Please explain how B(arnaby)Rudge is the equivalent of
    D(avid)Copperfield. Because they are both Dickensian characters doesn’t make them equivalent.

  2. I take your point, Barbara, but I had no problem with this clue. They are equivalent in that they are both eponymous Dickensian characters with their first names abbreviated to initial letters only. My immediate response to seeing ‘D Copperfield’ in the clue was to look for another character/title that I could use in a similar way.

  3. Thanks jetdoc and Hypnos.

    As you say, some difficult ones amongst easy ones.

    I note that 18D solution is missing. Assuming it’s still vacant: AVIATE: Reversal of TA(territorial army,volunteers) in A VIEnna(not half of capital). Defn: to fly in an aircraft. Complement to 23D?

  4. Oops, thanks for pointing out the omission, scchua! I did solve it without any problems, but was blogging in a slightly distracting environment.

  5. Thanks, Hypnos, and Jetdoc. Mixture of easy and tough for me too. I think TROOPER is unambiguous tho with the homophone indicator preceding ‘actor’ so I think the def has to be the proverbial swearer.

  6. Seems to me that the IOS is getting harder, failed to get elevon – never heard of that one. It’s got to be trooper though in this case, but some reversal/homonym clues are impossible without the checking letters. Cheers JD and good luck to the Listeners

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