Independent 8384 / Rorschach

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Rorschach’s first puzzle was published in the Indy just over a year ago on July 5th and since then there have only been four others. Some of his offerings have been devilish to say the least although we have enjoyed the challenges. After just three puzzles he was up there amongst some of the toughest setters in nmsindy’s review of 2012!

We’ve had to wait quite a while for our first blog and really enjoyed today’s solve and the compiling of the blog! There was a very topical theme that was apparent early on when we solved 10d. This speech by 9ac 12ac 20ac made 50 years ago today called for an end to racism (almost 22d) and took place on the steps of the 1ac 17d. There is a further thematic reference at 19d – the famous speaker became pastor at a Baptist Church there in 1954.

Across
1   Colin Powell ultimately troubled by new president
  LINCOLN Anagram of COLIN + powelL (last letter or ‘ultimately’) + N (new)
5   Ground rules? Expect the worst!
  SOD’S LAW A play on the fact that another word for ground is sod. The rules for which could be described as SOD’S LAW! This was one of our last in – we kept on looking at the clue expecting an anagram of RULES using ‘ground ‘ as the anagrind. It really finished the puzzle off with a smile when we parsed it! Thanks Rorschach!
9   Swallow having drained last of drink
  MARTIN MARTINi (drink) with last letter removed or ‘drained’
10   Listing names of latest dead before making sign of the cross?
  INDEXING We’re not sure about this one. Could it be IN (latest) + D (dead) + EXING (making the sign of the cross). There’s a ? at the end so a few liberties perhaps could be taken with the parsing but we think we may be missing something!
11   A quiet wood
  ASH A + SH (quiet)
12   Regularly loud – the leader of reform
  LUTHER LoUd (alternate letters of loud or ‘regularly) + THE + R (first letter or ‘leader’ of Reform). Luther refers to this reformist.
13   O’Malley catches the essence of this?
  ALLEY CAT Hidden within the clue o’mALLEY CATches. For those of you who don’t know the link between the clue and the answer you can follow THIS link!
14   Shock announcement in London – one’s to inherit the throne!
  HEIR This is a play on the way that someone in London who drops their Hs may pronounce HAIR (shock).
15   Spook finds fault hacking into dodgy site
  TERRORISE ERROR (fault) inside and anagram of SITE (anagrind is ‘dodgy’)
18   Doctor paced around relentlessly in island republic
  CAPE VERDE Anagram of PACED (anagrind is ‘doctor’) around EVER (relentlessly)
20   Piece of card
  KING Double definition – a piece on a chessboard as well as a playing card
23   Pet shop takes in a mongrel that’s forlorn
  PAST HOPE Anagram of PET SHOP around or ‘taking in’ A (anagrind is ‘mongrel’)
25   Gold rush for part of the year
  AUGUST AU (gold) + GUST (rush)
26   Car crashes round bend
  ARC Anagram of CAR (anagrind is ‘crashes’)
27   Cleaner is given introduction to major belief system
  FAIRYISM We looked at this one for quite some while – it was our last one in so we had all the crossing letters. Bert said FAIRYISM would fit in! Joyce laughed at his suggestion but she checked electronically for other matches. When we realised it was the only word that fitted we tried to parse it. When we realised how it worked we laughed out loud! FAIRY (as in this cleaner!) + IS + M (first letter or ‘introduction’ to Major).
28   European club wanting a new kind of signing
  ITALIC ITALIan missing or ‘wanting A + N (new) + C (club)
29   Can Pelé lob? Ultimately each shot produces speechless manager?
  CAPELLO CAn PELé LOb (all missing last letter or ‘each ultimately shot!). Rorschach obviously likes a crossword to include a football link! When Joyce was writing up the blog she wondered why Capello was described as ‘speechless’ – was it because he cannot speak English very well or because he only needs 100 words apparently to motivate his players?
30   Second person showing disapproval, s…say?
  STUTTER S (second) + TUTTER (person showing disapproval)
 
Down
2   At speed, Liverpool footballing legend shift direction slightly
  IN A RUSH A play on the fact that if you make a slight alteration in the spelling of IAN RUSH (football legend who even Joyce had heard of) you get the answer
3   Get excited about author’s third chapter on Kindle
  CATCH FIRE CA (about) + T (third letter in auThor) + CH (chapter) + FIRE (kindle)
4   Disembark docked ship in Scottish town
  LANARK LANd (disembark) with last letter removed or ‘docked’ + ARK (ship)
6   Veteran general finally laid to rest in blood-stained flag
  OLD GLORY OLD (veteran) + generaL (last letter or ‘finally’) iniside or ‘laid to rest in’ GORY (bloody). Perhaps another thematic entry.
7   Score three times after team goes up through pen?
  SIXTY XI (team) reversed or ‘going up’ within STY (pen)
8   University archives accepted regular publications
  ANNUALS U (university) inside or ‘accepted ‘ by ANNALS (archives)
10   Ave Maria he’d transcribed into American idiom
  I HAVE A DREAM Anagram of AVE MARIA HE’D (anagrind is ‘transcribed’)
16   Farting about after class – make to join again
  REINGRAFT Anagram of FARTING (anagrind is ‘about’) after RE (class as in Religious Education). This took some checking. We had all the crossing letters but couldn’t find it in our Chambers app on the ipad for a quite some while. We eventually found INGRAFT as an obsolete spelling of ENGRAFT. We cursed Rorschach at the time but we forgave him after we solved our last two – 5ac and 27ac! Joyce unfortunately remembered the deliberate ‘farting about’ IN class of some of her Leisure and Tourism students!
17   Commemorative note (foreign currency)
  MEMORIAL MEMO (note) + RIAL (foreign currency)
19   In the manner of the president, dropping round in a state
  ALABAMA A LA (in the manner of) + oBAMA (president) dropping O (round)
21   Leaving out duck foie gras over source of heat
  GAS FIRE Anagram of FoIE GRAS without or ‘leaving out’ O (duck)  – the anagrind is ‘over’

 
22   A bit of Bergerac is terrific for proponent of B&W crime drama
  RACIST Hidden within the clue BergeRAC IS Terrific and a play on the fact that a racist crime can sometimes be a B&W issue.
24   Last to leave the entrance of rehab having taken two drugs or more?
  THREE THe (with last letter missing or ‘the last to leave’) + R (first letter or ‘entrance’ to Rehab)  + E + E (two drugs). If you have more than two drugs you may have three!
 

 

21 comments on “Independent 8384 / Rorschach”

  1. Thanks Rorschach, certainly a more gentle offering from him, did wonder why Dac or Crosophile hadn’t set it when I opened the paper today and thought it might be a date special.

    Got 27a right but it was entered more in hope than certainty. Nicely blogged B&J

  2. Nice puzzle, well apart from fairyism which can hardly be described as a ‘belief system’ unless there are some Fairy Gospels around.

    Thanks R and B&J.

  3. The boy done good (again). A thoughtful theme, which was a help with filling the not too friendly grid. Some ingenious stuff around the place, though: I liked in particular HEIR, FAIRYISM, SOD’S LAW and CAPELLO (and yes, it’s just to do with the fact that his English was never that great, although some England managers with English as their mother tongue have not been that great at expressing themselves either …)

    I parsed INDEXING like you: EXING could – with some indulgence – be taken as ‘crossing’. And making the sign of the cross will bring back to lapsed catholics the Spectacles, Testicles, Wallet, Watch routine.

    Fine puzzle; blog the same. Thanks to all.

  4. Thanks for the blog, B and J – you lucky things!

    I srarted solving this while listening to ‘I have a dream’ on Radio 4 and didn’t want either of them to come to an end. What a lovely puzzle! – for which we seem to have waited a long time.

    I have numerous ticks but 10dn was particularly satisfying. I liked SOD’S LAW, FAIRYISM – and lots more.

    I spotted AUGUST, SIXTY THREE but didn’t find ‘TWENTY EIGHTH anywhere. 🙂

    Many thanks, Rorschach, for a lovely tribute.

  7. I enjoyed the Martin Luther King “I Have a Dream” theme.

    I particularly liked 20a, 7d, 30a and my favourites were 19d ALABAMA & 3d CATCH FIRE.

    I couldn’t parse 2d, 29a – I got the CA PEL LO bit but did not know why Capello is speechless. Obviously I am no good at football clues.

    New for me was FAIRY brand of cleaning products, and Fabio CAPELLO. And after reading the blog, footballer Ian Rush.

    Thanks Rorschach and Bertandjoyce. I parsed 10a as you did and was also not sure if I was correct!

  10. Nicely themed puzzle. I thought FAIRYISM was my LOI after much headscratching, but I didn’t get the “congratulations” message. It was only when I clicked the “check” button that I realised I had carelessly entered “terrorist” at 15ac without checking the anagram part of the clue properly. It isn’t the first time I’ve done that and it won’t be the last ……………

    Flashling@5 – thanks.

  13. Thanks for all the comments. We’d also found August and sixty three but forgot to mention that in the preamble. We didn’t spot 28 though – thanks flashling for that!

    We like flashling@1 felt this was a gentler offering from Rorschach than previously, but no less enjoyable. He had said that he would work on being more accessible in 2013 in nmsindy’s review!

  14. Bertandjoyce! What an honour to have them reviewing my puzzle!

    And a great job they did too – not sure I’d like to have parse some of the clues and I think they’re pretty much spot on with everything. Thanks to you both.

    Congrats with anyone who got FAIRYISM – not the nicest word but I wanted to get ALABAMA in. I think you’ve spotted all the theme words.

    Aug 28 1963 – A memorable day in the history of humankind’s development but much still to be done. Have a look at this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge7i60GuNRg – if you don’t believe me.

    Thanks for the nice words!

  17. Thanks Rorshach for this nice puzzle. The drea m, yes, it is a pity it has not passed into reality! The good do not last….

  18. Excellent crossword from a striker who wasn’t on the score sheet in recent months – which I thought was a bit of a pity.

    First, I have to admit a couple of things.

    For example, that I saw the theme [couldn’t be missed] but that I didn’t look any further than the strategically placed 10d and MHL himself (also rather nicely positioned). Shame on me.

    Also that I got stuck in the SW.
    No THREE for me but, yes, that was a great clue. In my opinion, one of at least ten absolute fabbies (like eg HAIR, AUGUST, CAPELLO, IN A RUSH or ALABAMA).
    I’m another one that couldn’t make the right thing of ?A???ISM.
    I came as far as PACIFISM, CIF being the cleaner [well, I was on the right track, wasn’t I?] embedded in PAM which I had hoped would have been something for ‘major’. Nope!

    Most of it has already been said about this fine puzzle.
    However, I had another take on ARC (26ac). I saw it as a hidden solution and why not? ‘Car crashes’ goes round it, doesn’t it?
    In 17d I would probably not have chosen ‘commemorative’ because it has too much in common with the solution (MEMORIAL).
    But who cares.

    There are a lot of new setters around these days – all good – but, in my opinion, Rorschach is often one level up compared to most of them.
    A bit more adventurous – there’s just a tad more going on.

    As a solver I lost gracefully today (as they often say (and sometimes of setters)) but I was happy to do so!

    High quality.

  20. I thought this was a great return from Rorschach! Lots of clever thematic stuff going on, quality gridding. 18a, 2d, 17d my favourites.

    Lovely stuff.

  21. I’ll have to admit I read the ARC clue as Sil did at #18 but the bloggers’ interpretation is clearly right as the setter has confirmed at #14. Maybe it’s one of those cases where both interpretations work. As the nmsindy survey of 2012 has been mentioned, I’ll say the solving time for this for the 2013 survey was 30 mins (shorter than the overall 2013 average). But I’d say to Rorschach not to worry too much about that. The only important question to be asked about any puzzle IMHO is “Did you enjoy it?”. Tks, B&J.

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