Everything has settled down again after the recent festivities and we are back into a normal week of Independent crosswords. Scorpion has given us a good offering today.
I managed to solve the gateway clue (9 across, part of 8/9) fairly quickly, so it was then a case of scribbling down my knowledge of Royal Houses and seeing whether any of them would relate to the word play of the thematic clues. I think Scorpion did well fitting so many Houses into the grid. We seem to have covered Monarchs of England and Great Britain from 1066 to the present day with the exception of the Houses of Blois, Anjou and Saxe Coburg Gotha. Also missing is the period of the two Cromwells, but that’s not too surprising as they were hardly representatives of a Royal House.
There was an interesting mix of entries with ACID HOUSE and the JEDI sitting side by side with the Royals.
The phrase IN SPIRITS is not one that I have come across before, but it makes sense. I note that Chambers offers the rather obscure verb ‘inspirit” meaning to encourage, but I guess Scorpion has made the entry more accessible by splitting it into two words.
Not content with filling the grid with a wealth of thematic material, Scorpion has also produced a completed grid that is a pangram.
|
Across |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay |
Entry |
|
8 / 9
|
Fashion occasionally constrained The Police to practise such music? No (4,5) |
(AHO [letters 2, 4 and 6 {occasionally} of FASHION] containing [constrained] CID [Criminal Investigation Department; police]) + USE (practise) A (CID) HO USE |
ACID HOUSE (a youth movement originating in the 1980s, involving large gatherings of people to dance under bright flashing lights to loud repetitive music featuring complex percussion patterns, and often associated with the use of certain drugs; not playing the kind of music played assoicated with the group The Police)
|
|
10
|
Classical 28 dress reflected (4)
|
ROBE (dress) reversed (reflected) EBOR< |
EBOR (classical, latin, name for YORK [28 across])
|
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11
|
Assess Olympian god, failing to finish in sample environment (4,2)
|
ZEUS (Olympian God, excluding the final letter [failing to finish] S) contained in (in) SIP (sample) SI (ZE U) P |
SIZE UP (assess)
|
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12
|
9‘s standard connector unknown (8)
|
NORM (standard) + AND (a connecting word; connector) + Y (letter frequently used to indicate an unknown value in mathematics)
|
NORMANDY (reference House [9 across] of NORMANDY; provided Monarchs of England from 1066 – 1153 or 1154)
|
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13
|
Legendary crimebusters repelling inside job somewhat (4)
|
JEDI (hidden word reversed in [repelling somewhat] INSIDE JOB) JEDI< |
JEDI (reference JEDI knights, guardians of the peace [crimebusters] in Star Wars)
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14
|
9 plant stays with family start to finish (9)
|
CLAN (family) with the first letter (start) C moved to the end [finish] + ASTER (plant) LANC ASTER |
LANCASTER (reference House [9 across] of LANCASTER; provided Monarchs of England from 1399 – 1461)
|
|
16
|
9 outline opinion about silver (11)
|
PLAN (Outline) + (TENET [opinion] containing [about] AG [chemical symbol for silver]) PLAN T (AG) ENET |
PLANTAGENET (reference House of [9 across] PLANTAGENET; provided Monarchs of England from 1216 – 1399. Wikipedia also states that the Houses of LANCASTER 14 across] and YORK 28 across] were cadet branches of the House of PLANTAGENET which would extend their influence from 1399 to 1485)
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21
|
Lively and cheerful place where ice soon melts? (2,7)
|
IN SPIRITS (lively and cheerful)
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IN SPIRITS (a place where ice soon melts [gin, whisky etc]) double definition
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24
|
Some of port used in game runs out (4)
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QUARRY (a hunted animal [game]; a hunter’s heap of dead game) excluding (out) R [run] twice (i.e. excluding runs)
|
QUAY (an important part of a port)
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25
|
Freak header burst empty net (8)
|
Anagram of (burst) HEADER + NT (first and last letters, omitting the central letter [empty] of NET) ADHERE* NT |
ADHERENT (enthusiast [freak, as in exercise freak for example])
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27
|
Higher education school provides support for photographer (6)
|
UNI (university; higher education) + POD (school [of whales])
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UNIPOD (a one legged support for a camera)
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28
|
9 yen given for women in employment (4)
|
WORK (employment) with Y (yen [Japanese currency]) replacing (for) W (women)
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YORK (reference House of [9 across] YORK; provided Monarchs of England from 1461 – 1470 and 1471 – 1485)
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29
|
9 study form, having no tips (5)
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STUDY FORM excluding [having no] the first and last letters [tips], SY and FM respectively, of each word)
|
TUDOR (reference House of [9 across] TUDOR; provided Monarchs of England from 1485 – 1603)
|
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30
|
Primarily enquire ‘how’s your father’ after knocking back old dates (4)
|
E (first letter of [primarily] ENQUIRE) + (SEX [How’s your father'{facetious term describing sex}] reversed [knocking back]) E XES< |
EXES (previous partners; old dates)
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| Down | |||
|
1
|
Wrote copy interrupting second newsman (7)
|
CRIB (copy) contained in (interrupting) (S [second] + ED [editor; newsman]) S (CRIB) ED |
SCRIBED (wrote)
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2
|
Journalist that’s inclined to track extremely gruesome battle (4,4)
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ED (editor; journalist) + GE (first and last letters of [extremely] GRUESOME) + HILL (incline)
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EDGE HILL (reference the Battle of EDGE HILL October 1642, fought as the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War)
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3
|
Batman outfit attracts husband, left here to worship (6)
|
(CAPE [Batman’s outfit; CAPEd Crusader] containing [attracts] H [husband]) + L (left) C (H) APE L |
CHAPEL (place of worship; here to worship)
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4
|
Create hideous mug, finally placing by tea-making vessel (4)
|
G (last letter of [finally] PLACING) + URN (tea making vessel)
|
GURN (dialect version of GIRN [grimace; make faces; creating hideous mug])
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5
|
Weaken when in command (8)
|
AS (when) contained in DECREE (command) DECRE (AS) E |
DECREASE (weaken)
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6
|
Central depression brought about minimal temperature strong wind (6)
|
NAVEL (depression in the centre of the abdomen; central depression) reversed (brought about) + T (abbreviation for [minimal] TEMPERATURE) LEVAN< T |
LEVANT (a boisterous [strong] easterly wind in the Eastern Mediterranean)
|
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7
|
More rum in the middle of lindy hop makes you this? (7)
|
ODDER (more rum) contained in (in ) DY (central letters of [the middle of] LINDY HOP) D (ODDER) Y |
DODDERY (partaking of more rum whilst dancinmg the lindy hop may well make you DODDERY)
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15
|
Independent article features football people turning over eatery (5)
|
([I {independent} + AN {indefinite article}] containing [features] FA [Footbal Association; football people]) all reversed (turning over)) (NA (AF) I)< |
NAAFI (a canteen for service personnel; eatery)
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17
|
Sweet piece of meat (8)
|
NOISETTE ( small piece of meat, usually lamb, cut off the bone and rolled)
|
NOISETTE (a nut-like or nut flavoured sweet) double definition
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18
|
Undertook an examination paper in design (8)
|
QUIRE (24 or 25 sheets of paper) contained in (in) END (aim; design) EN (QUIRE) D |
ENQUIRED (undertook an examination)
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19
|
9 yellow snakes switched (7)
|
WINDS (snakes) + OR (yellow tincture) i.e. yellow snakes switched round
|
WINDSOR (reference House of [9 across] WINDSOR; provided Monarchs of Great Britain from 1910 to the present day)
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20
|
9 suffering from alcohol squandering a grand (7)
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HANGOVER (after effects of drinking [too much] from alcohol) excluding (squandering) G (grand)
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HANOVER (reference House of [9 across] HANOVER; provided Monarchs of Great Britain from 1714 – 1901)
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22
|
German lady arrested is grabbed by quiet chief (6)
|
HEIKE (German lady’s name) excluding the final letter (arrested) E contained in (is grabbed by) SH (quiet!) S (HEIK) H |
SHEIKH (Arab chief)
|
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23
|
9 sons and brothers painting (6)
|
S (sons) + TU (Trade Union; members of a Trade Union are often known asbrothers) + ART (painting)
|
STUART (reference House of [9 across] STUART; provided Monarchs of England from 1625 – 1649 and 1660-1707. There was then one STUART Monarch of Great Britain from 1707 – 1714)
|
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26
|
Performance closed with fiddle (2-2)
|
TO (closed) + DO (swindle; con; fiddle)
|
TO-DO (commotion; performance)
|
Thanks, Duncan, for a comprehensive blog.
I really liked this one. My kind of themed crossword: a gateway clue that was gettable, and then a theme that even the current Secretary of State for Education could get his pretty little head around.
With the minor niggle that ‘freak’ and ADHERENT are pretty remote synonyms, there was plenty to enjoy here. Bravo, Scorpion.
Thank you to setter and blogger. Nice wordplay for 6 which was my LOI. I thought IN SPIRITS was a bit iffy and could have done with some er… elevation to reflect common usage.
I thought that this was a typical “hard but fair” Scorpion puzzle. I solved STUART and TUDOR before I got the gateway clue, and then the rest of the themed answers went in pretty quickly. I finished off in the SE with EXES, ENQUIRED and QUAY. I hadn’t heard of IN SPIRITS on its own before, although it was an obvious enough construction from the wordplay once most of the checkers were in place. I didn’t have a problem with ADHERENT being defined as “freak”.
Not being well-informed about popular culture of the eighties (me too old, kids too young) I didn’t get the gateway clue at first. After getting 28a from the wordplay and having the U from 4d I realised what the theme was and I’m afraid then wrote in most of the houses without checking the wordplay.
For some reason (mental tiredness?) I just couldn’t complete the NE corner – 10a and 6d – and had to resort to the reveal button. But no complaints, the cluing was very fair as it was through the rest of the puzzle.
Thanks Duncan for the blog and Scorpion for a challenging puzzle.
Thanks for the blog Duncan – we’ve just finshed the puzzle reasonably quickly but completely missed the pangram.
Hanover was last one in – couldn’t come up with hangover until we’d guessed the House!
Thanks Scorpion for a well constructed puzzle.
I got Hanover easily, because I did the work on it in today’s Guardian (Nutmeg) first!