Independent 8369/ Raich

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We hadn’t realised until we checked that it is over a year since we blogged a Raich puzzle.

This was good fun and when we started finding double and then treble instances of particular letters we began to wonder whether we were in for a double or even treble pangram! We couldn’t believe that it was possible but in the end we had a pangram, with some of the letters that seem to herald thoughts of a pangram occurring four times (B, F, J, Q, X and Z).

There were some lovely surface readings and we really liked 1ac. Thanks Raich.

We will be out most of the day so if there are any errors or omissions please can you sort it out amongst yourselves? We will make changes if necessary to the blog on our return.

Across
1   16 wheels
FOUR-BY-FOUR A play on the fact that 4 x 4 = 16
6   Music approved in Berlin zones
JAZZ JA (yes or ‘approved’ in German) + ZZ (zones)
9   At outset jalopies unlikely to reserve fuel
JUICE J U (first letters or ‘outset’ of jalopies and unlikely) + ICE (reserve)
10   Working to get re-interpretation of Iron Age accepted, he’s in a state!
OREGONIAN ON (working) around or ‘getting’ an anagram of  IRON AGE (anagrind is ‘re-interpretation’)
12   Turned away a Green party leader
AVERTED A + VERT (green) + ED (party leader as in Ed Miliband)
13   Zero fun, alas! Relaxed restrictions!
UNFROZE Anagram of ZERO FUN (anagrind is ‘alas’)
14   Like an Orange monarch when knight’s ignored nasty blaze. Small at first
SQUEEZABLE QUEEn with N (knight) missing or ‘ignored’ + anagram of BLAZE (anagrind is ‘nasty’) with S (small) at the beginning or ‘at first’
16   Delay leads to wearying argument in tribunal
WAIT First letters or ‘leads’ to Wearing Argument In Tribunal
19   Abruptly leave Japan with one lieutenant captivated
JILT J (Japan) + LT (lieutenant) around or ‘captivating’ I (one)
20   Unexpected introduction to careless city – bliss for us?
BICYCLISTS An anagram of C (first letter or ‘intoduction’ to Careless) + CITY BLISS (anagrind is ‘unexpected)
23   Need money when Romeo leaves, see this shark?
REQUIEM REQUIrE (need) with R (Romeo) leaving + M (money). The answer relates to THIS shark!
25   Bill covers a team caught for transport
TAXICAB TAB (bill) around or ‘covering’ A + XI (team) + C (caught)
26   Convention quite different in Paris and tolerable on vacation
ETIQUETTE Anagram of QUITE (anagrind is ‘different’) + ET (French for ‘and’) + TE (first and last letters of TolerablE or ‘on vacation’)
27   Runner Ray
SKATE Double definition
28   Just one swimmer
SOLE Double definition
29   Cheese rots, unfortunately: results seen here
SCORESHEET Anagram of CHEESE ROTS (anagrind is ‘unfortunately’)
Down
1   International judge is initially impressed by supporters (islanders)
FIJIANS I (International) + J (judge) + I (first letter of Is or ‘initially’) inside or ‘impressed by’ FANS (supporters)
2   Ex in usual struggles relating to male perhaps?
UNISEXUAL Anagram of EX IN USUAL (anagrind is ‘struggles’)
3   Water lover rings about break
BREATHER BATHER (water lover) around or ‘ringing’ RE (about). We’re not sure that all bathers are ‘water lovers’. We can remember times when our son when he was very young was a bather but he certainly didn’t always enjoy it!
4   DJ for broadcast in Northern location?
FJORD Anagram of DJ FOR (anagrind is ‘broadcast’)
5   Partner supporting a French Queen in unbalanced way
UNEQUALLY ALLY (partner) underneath or ‘supporting’ UNE (French for a) + QU (queen)
7   Comrade from Vietnam I googled
AMIGO Hidden within the clue – VietnAM I GOogled
8   Enthusiasm involving mania at heart ludicrous as can be
ZANIEST ZEST (enthusiasm) around or ‘involving’ mANIa (with last and letter removed or ‘at heart’)
11   Earthwork maker from Florida’s outside
OFFA OF (from) + FloridA (first and last letter or ‘outside’)
15   Self-evident coat (maxi) needs alteration, I gathered
AXIOMATIC Anagram of COAT MAXI (anagrind is ‘needs alteration’) around or ‘gathering’ I
17   Fool round on Channel Islands date when Director’s abandoned partner
ASSOCIATE ASS (fool) + O (round) + CI (Channel Islands) + dATE with D (Director) missing or ‘abandoned’
18   More to write about Roman law practice producing elaborate arrangements
PLEXUSES PS (more to write) about LEX (Roman law) + USE (practice)
19   They provide milk tops
JERSEYS Double definition – the cows and the sweaters!
21   Underlying theme of kinky sex but primarily tasteful
SUBTEXT Anagram of SEX BUT (anagrind is ‘kinky’) + T (first letter of Tasteful or ‘primarily’)
22   Place (Lake) that’s Superior
LIEU L (lake) + IE (that is) + U (superior)
24   Old writer’s bed cover changed finally
QUILL QUILT (bed cover) with a change of the last letter
25   Thailand, successor of them
THEIR T (Thailand) + HEIR (successor)

 

19 comments on “Independent 8369/ Raich”

  1. Thanks Raich and Bertandjoyce.

    There are also 4 Ys.

    Is this a kind of doubled-up Noah’s Ark for rare letters, indicated by the answer to 1 Across?

  2. Yes, comment #1 reflects what was intended – exactly four appearances by the four least frequent letters in English JQXZ. Tks, B&J for the blog and the kind remarks.

  4. Thanks, both. Hope you enjoyed your day out.

    I was seriously puzzled by this. When my first few answers went in I was on the alert for some kind of pangram, then when the Zs, Xs, Qs and so on kept flying in, I knew there was something up. But where were the Ks? Anyway, all explained now that Raich has dropped in. To whom thanks, because there were some super clues in this one. I liked in particular ETIQUETTE, FJORD and JAZZ, but there was plenty of good stuff elsewhere.

    There was a bit of French required this morning – VERT, ET and LIEU, but REQUIEM was one where a little bit of knowledge was a dangerous thing. I knew that REQUIN was ‘shark’ in French, and got fixated on trying to fit that into the clue.

    Anyway, thank you to our Irish Setter for a fine puzzle.

  5. Erm, K’s D,it is a little learning which is a dangerous thing, not a little knowledge. Proof available if required.

    Thanks Raich for a tour de force.

  6. Thanks Raich and Bertandjoyce.

    I liked 21d, 26a, 22d, 8d, 13a, 27a & 16a (last in) and my favourites were 17d ASSOCIATE, 25a TAXICAB.

    New words for me were OFFA’s dyke, PLEXUSES (which I forgot to parse), and REQUIEM shark.

  7. I was also surprised by how many of the less frequently seen letters there in the puzzle, so thanks to Raich for dropping in with the explanation.

    PLEXUSES and the REQUIEM shark were unknown but gettable from the wordplay, and BREATHER was my LOI.

  8. Learning, knowledge, Conrad … they’ll be in a Thesaurus cuddling up with one another somewhere. You are right, of course. A little bit of ageing is a dangerous thing too.

    No footie clues today, though. Only disappointment in an otherwise excellent puzzle.

  9. Raicjh is kind to these lonesome letters! A beautifully written puzzle too, which I like very mucjh.

    Cheers
    Rowly.

  11. Good to have Raich back giving us a nice little 4×4 run out, I did wonder if a multi pangram was in the offering early doors.

    Very nice NMS thank you, and to B&J for the write up.

  12. Oh, it’s a pangram! I really thought I’d accidentally wandered into some surreal Scrabble championship. When the light dawned (smile, chuckle) I stopped totting up the points – I was running out of fingers anyway – and just enjoyed myself. It may delight K’sD@4 to know that Wikipaedia suggests Raquin as a possible etymology for the REQUIEM shark. Otherwise my favourites were JAZZ and the really lovely anagram for FJORD.

  13. The next pangram challenge is the x4. That will be an evil one, if ever someone manages it in a blocked 15 squared.

    Thanks Raich for your excellent offering today. Nary a wacky word, nor was the grid a four-in-one! Very good indeed.

    PB

  14. Nice one, Raich! Was there an intentional SUBTEXT of fish – SKATE, SOLE and REQUIEM shark?

    And thanks, B&J, for the blog.

  15. I too loved 1a which was also one of my first in. However, I didn’t spot the theme despite noticing the higher than usual occurrences of those least frequent letters.

    For a long time I was obsessed with the idea in 20a that “carless city” was indicating that the string DIFF was in the answer (i.e. CARDIFF without the CAR) and it was only when I had most of the cross-checking letters that I finally thought to look elsewhere.

    Another puzzle where appreciation is enhanced by the responses above – thanks everyone.

  16. Howard I did the same with cardiff. @paul b after your triple I blogged you proved ish it really could not be done for a quad. Mind you triples were supposed to be impossible…

  17. Hmm. I wonder though. There’s a few of us who’d enjoy the challenge, I suspect. Grid might have to be a bit wonky …

  19. Many thanks to all for the comments which are much appreciated and thanks once again to B&J for their excellent blog. Picking up on some points that were made, I tried pretty hard to ensure that the constraints of the theme did not lead to obscure words appearing in the grid. As someone mentioned Scrabble, I’d note that the latest addition of Chambers Dictionary has a section that lists words which have one or other of those four letters JQXZ. Not that much of a help in setting as it only shows words of four letters or fewer.
    The pangram was a late addition – having used those rare letters, I found just two others were missing so I thought I might as well put them in.

    Sorry about the football omission, K’s D, but in conclusion I’ll mention cricket in which Ireland came tantalising close to beating England today (a match Raich attended), the only consolation being that one of the pair who took it away from us with a world record fifth wicket partnership in an ODI of over 200 runs is himself originally from the Emerald Isle (Eoin Morgan).

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