Independent 8214 by Punk

by

Monday and it’s Punk to start our week.

Punk and his alter egos can be quite rude but not so today.

We have a theme of the various Miller’s Tales

Don’t really get 14a so suggestions welcome.

Across
1 MACADAM Surface from which mistress catches a cold (7)
  Road surface, (A & C) in MADAM
5 BERATES Unpleasant type among workers, perhaps, is a scold (7)
  RAT in (worker) BEES, def “IS A SCOLD”
9 DWEEB Nerd observing partners between the sheets, lying back (5)
  East and West in BED reversed
10 TWO-BY-FOUR Brace alongside square piece of wood (3-2-4)
  Brace (2) alongside (by) square(4 – 2 squared)
12 FINN Sibelius, perhaps, finding bit of fluff in navel (4)
  Hidden in (fluf)F IN N(avel)
14 OFF THE RECORD Present line of newspaper previews not for publication (3,3,6)
  Cryptic double def, I guess, can’t really get what Punk means in the first bit of this -[Edit see Gaufrid and NeilW comments]
18 AWE-INSPIRING Spectacular drawers so? (3-9)
  Cryptic def, drawing breath
21 EATS Food – ork, eef and hicken? (4)
  (m)EATS – (p)ORK (b)EEF and (c)HICKEN
22 LOCKSMITH England cricketers Tony and Robin, the opener (9)
  Tony LOCK and Robin SMITH
25,8 MOONLIGHT SERENADE 19’s night air (9,8)
  Cryptic def, Miller’s Tale
26 ATLAS Giant finally becoming shorter (5)
  AT LAS(t)
27 NEAREST Relations are up a tree being fed worms? (7)
  ARE in NEST where I guess worms are fed to the young
28 ENLARGE Expand range, line less fashionable, out (7)
  [RANGE L(in)E]* In – fashionable removed from anagram
11   See 7 down
  See 7 down
Down
8   See 25 across
  See 25 across
1 MEDICO Sea sickness’s second business for doctor (6)
  MED sea & (s)I(ckness) (2nd letter) & CO
2 CREEPY Brave ploy, extremely sinister (6)
  CREE (Native Americans) & P(lo)Y
3 DEBRIEFING Doctor being fired for asking questions in the military (10)
  [being fired]* Anagrind Doctor
4 METRO Underground ring supporting police officer in the end (5)
  MET & (office)R & O (ring)
5 BROWN BEAR Top of the hill and round the corner to catch black animal of North America (5,4)
  B(lack) in BROW & NEAR
6 RAYS Some light, flat receptacles, defaced (4)
  (t)RAYS, defaced, with fron taken off
7,11 TROPIC OF CAPRICORN 19’s right old hat photo inside hat (6,2,9)
  O(ld) PIC OF HAT in TRICORN Miller’s Tale
13 TENNIS BALL Participant in rally unlikely to welcome British Olympic success, beginning to boo (6,4)
  Jessica ENNIS in TALL (tale) with B(oo) inserted
15 TOP-FLIGHT First-class, Stairway to Heaven , possibly? (3-6)
  Cryptic double def
17,16 DEATH OF A SALESMAN 19’s demon fatal, as he’s a phoney (5,2,1,8)
  [DEMON FATAL AS HE’S A]* Miller’s Tale
16   See 17 down
  See 17 down
19 MILLER Runner penning line for one in tale (6)
  L(ine) in MILER, in the Canterbury Tales
20 CHASTE Dave’s partner Lawrence, virgin (6)
  CHAS & DAVE and T.E. (Lawrence)
23 CUTIE Powerful header struck in knockout fixture, a beauty (5)
  P(owerful) removed from CUP TIE
24 BLUE Low as the sky, perhaps (4)
  Double Def

*anagram

17 comments on “Independent 8214 by Punk”

  2. Thanks, flashling.

    re OFF THE RECORD: HERE (Present) CORD (line) OF FT (newspaper) coming first (previews) not for publication (which is the def.)

  5. Thanks, flashling.

    As you say, quite a prim and proper crossword from Punk today. MILLER was straightforward (thank you, setter) and then it was a question of which one. I was thinking Jonathan to begin with, but it was three others. MOONLIGHT SERENADE is Glenn MILLER; Death of a Salesman is Arthur MILLER; and TROPIC OF CAPRICORN is Henry MILLER. Nice touch by Punk.

    I swear we’ve had DWEEB loads recently in puzzles here and in the Grauniad.

    Can’t help with 14ac, I’m afraid.

  6. Is it just me that has yesterday’s IOS Poins 1198 appearing in the online version??? Thought I’d check before I start getting into techy stuff.

  8. re 5

    Yes DWEEB was in The Observer, Everyman yesterday – “Insignificant student, weed, possibly British” – have to say I prefer Punk’s clue today

  10. Thanks Punk for a crossword with much to enjoy and flashling for the blog.

    18ac: I took this as an “inverse” clue, the word “drawers” containing (INSPIRING) the word AWE.

  11. I second PB’s thanks @10.

    Only one minor quibble re 10ac; I would describe timber sizes with the greater dimension first, so it would be four-by-two – but no doubt usage varies.

  12. I was going to make the same point allan_c, this setter does seem to be overly fond of Americanisms as answers and in clues.

  13. The crossword might not have been rude, but I seem to recall that the Miller’s tale was.

    Got 25/7 which gave me the theme, and then got Henry Miller with no problem but than had to look at a list of famous people called Miller as a reminder to find Arthur.

  14. Some slightly clumsy cluing (eg 27 ac) where the worms bit seems unnecessary and confusing, but some nice clues too such as 23 dn cutie and 26 ac atlas.
    Last in surprisingly was eats after death of a salesman went in; I was locked into the No of nosh.
    I don’t think Tony Lock and Robin Smith are really fair as they are not household names on a par with Truman, Greig, Botham , Boycott etc. and are too specialist particularly for the non cricket fan. I am keen on cricket but their names only came to me after I had the L and C at the beginning

  15. Bert thought that 18ac was as flashling’s parsing and doesn’t think there’s a particular preference for 10ac (being in the trade so to speak!).

    Good puzzle, we got Moonlight Serenade but couldn’t remember who it was by. Liked the three 19ds.

    Fun for a Monday – thanks to Punk and flashling for the new style coloured blog!

  16. I think that 27A is supposed to be read as ARE in NEST, with “in NEST” being clued by “up a tree being fed worms?”.

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