Independent 8520 / Scorpion

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Scorpion is a regular monthly contributor to the weekday Independents and also an occasional contributor to the Saturday Prize Puzzle series.

 

 

 

With the word ‘capital’ appearing in every across clue I was expecting a mix of references to first letters, capital cities and currencies.  In the event, Scorpion only went down the road of currencies.  After many years of crossword solving, I think I have come across just about every currency known to man!.  The widespread use of the Euro tends to restrict the range of distinct western European currencies these days.  Also the Dollar, the Pound and the France are very common throughout the world..  Not surprisingly therefore Scorpion has ventured into the more obscure 3, 4 and 5 letter currencies beloved of Eastern Europe and Asia.  The only six letter currency used is the ROUBLE.  I note that the variant spelling RUBLE is gaining popularity in online references to the Russian currency.

The use of the currencies must have caused Scorpion some problems when filling the grid with Down words.  There are however eighteen Down entries which is quite a high number, but I’m pleased to say that I had come across all of them before and not just in crosswords.   I think though that the average length of the Down entries is less than you will find in most crosswords.  

 

Across
No. Clue Wordplay

Entry

7 / 32

 

Poet right to join course in Nepalese capital (6,6)

 

(RT [right] + BROOK [{water}course]) contained in (in) RUPEE (currency [capital] of Nepal)

RUPE (RT BROOK) E

RUPERT BROOKE (1887 – 1915, English poet)

 

8

 

Typical Conservative having no time to tour Algerian capital (8)

 

TORY [Conservative, excluding the first letter [having no] T [time]) containing (to tour) DINAR (currency [capital] of Algeria)

OR (DINAR) Y

ORDINARY (typical)

 

10

 

Instructed daughter tracks brothers heading for the Swedish capital (7)

TU (Trade Union; brothers]) + T (first letter of [heading for] THE) + ÖRE (technically the Swedish krona is subdivided into ÖRE, but nowadays all goods are priced to nearest krona and ÖRE are not minted anymore) + D (daughter)

 

TUTORED (instructed)

 

11

 

Nationalist, near Spanish capital, back in prison cell (6)

 

N (nationalist) + EURO (currency [capital] of Spain) + N (last letter of [back in] PRISON)

 

NEURON (a cell with the specialized function of transmitting nerve impulses, a nerve cell)

 

12

 

Dramatist twice repulsed by Cambodian capital (5)

 

BI– (twice) reversed (repulsed) + SEN (Collins has the SEN as a subdivision of the Cambodian RIEL [currency; capital])

IB< SEN

IBSEN (reference Henrik IBSEN [1828 – 1906] Norwegian playwright; dramatist)

 

14

 

Quietly departs Mexican capital after regulars in saloon very loud (6,3)

SLO (letters 1, 3 and 5 [regulars] in SALOON) + PESO (currency [capital] of Mexico) + FF (fortissimo; very loud)

 

SLOPES OFF (go away furtively; quietly depart)

 

18

 

European lord I’m surprised to see circling South African capital (7)

 

GEE (expression of surprise) containing (circling) RAND (South African currency [capital])

G (RAND) EE

GRANDEE (in Spain and Portugal from the 13th century, a noble of the most highly privileged class; European lord

 

19

 

Dope around Canadian capital rises (7)

 

ASS (fool; dope) containing (around) CENT (subdivision of the Canadian DOLLAR [currrency; capital])

AS (CENT) S

ASCENTS (rises)

 

22

 

Sailors chat drunkenly outside in snowstorm in Japanese capital (9)

 

(Anagram of [drunkenly] CHAT + SM (first and last letters of [outside in] SNOWSTORM) contained in (in) YEN (Japanese currency; capital)

Y (ACHT* SM) EN

YACHTSMEN (sailors)

 

24

 

Broadcaster returned silver found in South Korean capital (5)

 

AG (chemical symbol for silver) reversed (returned) contained in (found in) WON (currency [capital] of South Korea)

WO (GA)< N

WOGAN (reference Terry WOGAN, BBC broadcaster)

 

26

 

Playfulness attracted Italian and Yankee to Bulgarian capital (6)

 

LEV (currency [capital] of Bulgaria) + IT (Italian]) + Y (YANKEE is the international radio codeword for the letter Y)

 

LEVITY (frivolity; playfulness)

 

29

 

Scottish town institute occupies Church in Albanian capital (7)

 

(WI [Women’s Institute] contained in [occupies] RC [{Roman Catholic} Church]) contained in (in) LEK (Alabanian currency [capital])

LE (R (WI) C) K  [aside;  now there’s a real northern town!]

LERWICK (major town of the Shetland Islands, Scotland)

 

31

 

Anxious taxi drivers primarily covering Russian capital (8)

 

TD (first letters [primarily] of each of TAXI and DRIVERS) containing (covering) ROUBLE (Russian currency [capital])

T (ROUBLE) D

TROUBLED (anxious)

 
Down

1

 

Only place in Cornwall with no street (4)

 

ST JUST (town in Cornwall) excluding (with no) ST (street)

 

JUST (only)

 

2

 

Habitat of badger, half of Irish province, to become established (6,2)

 

SETT (badger’s burrow [habitat]) + LEINSTER (Irish province) excluding the last 4 letters STER leaving half the letters

 

SETTLE IN (become established)

 

3

 

Small jazz singer Mel curtailed outburst (5)

 

S (small) + TORME (reference American jazz singer Mel TORMÉ) [1925 – 1999]) excluding the final letter [curtailed] E

 

STORM (outburst)

 

4

 

Paddler’s essential in Lagoon to propel this (7)

 

Anagram of (D [middle letter of {essential} PADDLER] and LAGOON)

 

GONDOLA (a long, narrow boat used chiefly on the canals of Venice, usually powered by paddling.  The Venetian Lagoon is the enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea in which the city of Venice is situated)

 

5

 

Clip of rising screen idol who’s worshipped (4)

 

ODIN (hidden word [clip of] reversed [riing; down clue] in SCREEN IDOL)

ODIN<

ODIN (major God in Norse mythology; one who’s worshipped)

 

6

 

Golfer Palmer missed banks to land in river (4)

 

ARNOLD (Christian name of ARNOLD Palmer, golfer) excluding (missed) LD (first and letters of [banks to] LAND)

 

ARNO (river in Tuscany, Italy)

 

9

 

Common sense allows head to neglect parts of speech (5)

 

NOUS (common sense) containing (allows) N (first letter of [head to] NEGLECTS

NOU (N) S

NOUNS (parts of speech)

 

13

 

Polish upset by mother country (5)

 

RUB (polish) reversed (upset) + MA (mother)

BUR< MA

BURMA (officially the Republic of Myanmar, a country in South East Asia)

 

15

 

Chambers – second entry in Thesaurus for ‘opulent’ (4)

 

POS (chamberpots; chambers) + H (second letter in [second entry in] THESAURUS)

 

POSH (luxurious,opulent)

 

16

 

Rich women start to assert judgement

 

FAT (rich) + W (women) + A (first letter of [start to] ASSERT)

 

FATWA (a formal legal opinion or decision issued by a Muslim judicial authority)

 

17

 

Current casual wear (4)

 

TEES (river in North East England; current)

 

TEES (T-shirts; casual wear) double definition

 

20

 

Smiley characters come into ground (8)

 

Anagram of (ground) COME INTO

Afternote: Andy B at comment 1 below has come up with a better definiton and parsing where the definition is simply the singular ‘smiley’ and the anagram indicator is ‘characters … ground’

 

EMOTICON (a combination of characters used to express a personal feeling [such as pleasure or anger] in e-mail, etc; smiley characters)

 

21

 

Do detectives surround lounge when up against heroin? (7)(

 

(CID [Crininal Investigation Department; detectives] containing [surrounmding] [LIE {lounge} reversed {when up; down clue}]) + H (heroin)

C (EIL)< ID H

CEILIDH (in Scotland and Ireland, an informal evening with traditional music and dancing; party; do)

 

23

 

Classy car hoods initially raised, displaying Japanese lines (5)

 

(U [upper-class; classy] + KIA [brand of car] + H [first letter of [initially] HOODS) all reversed (raised; down clue)

(H AIK U)<

HAIKU (a Japanese poem in three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables, developed in the 17th century, often incorporating a word or phrase that symbolizes one of the seasons)

 

25

 

Diver rejected marine hazard when not in command (5)

 

(ICEBERG [marine hazard] excluding [not] IC [in charge]) reversed (rejected)

GREBE<

GREBE (freshwater diving bird; diver)

 

27

 

Weird couple of electronic tracks (4)

 

(E [electronic] + E [electronic] giving ‘couple of electronic’) + RY ([railway] lines)

 

EERY (wired)

 

28

 

See about securing a university (4)

 

(ELY [reference the bishopric {see} of ELY in Cambridgeshire]) reversed (about) containing (securing) A

Y (A) LE<

YALE (reference YALE University in the United States)

 

30

 

Brazilian footballer finding grand pre-match dance hard going (4)

 

K (1000; grand) + HAKA (a Maori ceremonial war dance; a similar dance performed by New Zealanders, eg by rugby players before a match; pre-match dance) excluding (going) H (hard, when describinbg pencils)

 

KAKA (Brazilian footballer, currently playing for AC Milan)

 

12 comments on “Independent 8520 / Scorpion”

  1. A clever puzzle that I found on the tricky side. I confess that some of the answers went in unparsed once I had sufficient checkers, such as RUPERT BROOKE, GONDOLA (how did I miss the anagram fodder?) and TUTORED. LERWICK was my LOI after CEILIDH.

    Duncan – at 20dn I had “smiley” as the definition rather than “smiley characters” because as far as I can tell EMOTICON is singular and “emoticons” is the plural. I thought “characters” was in the wordplay to improve the surface reading and to provide an additional reference to the characters of the anagram fodder.

  2. Thanks Duncan. This was an entertaining and ingenious puzzle from Scorpion. I was not thrilled when I realised what the theme was, my knowledge of world currencies not being as encyclopedic as Duncan’s. However, I managed it all quite quickly. The only two currencies I did not know were the won and the lek but that did not hold me up unduly. Also, I am not fond of footballers’ names as answers but I was surprised to realise that I had heard of Kaka. Last in was Ceilidh where I finally trusted the wordplay and accepted that the answer had to end with an H.

    I went for Tees at 17 with the unhelpful checkers but I fully expected my answer to be wrong. A post-solve check of the 179 possibilities reveals Keks as the only other casual wear. Not a river, as far as I know.

  6. Very enjoyable thank you Scorpion and Duncan. I did say to Mr CS ‘I wonder how many people will remember Mel Torme’ who I don’t think I have ever met in a crossword before.

  7. I wasn’t mad keen on this, and had to give up at the end with TEES. Too many possibilities with ?E?S and not good enough to solve it. The theme struck me as odd (a bit like a round in a pub quiz), and the less obvious currencies I didn’t know. The grid wasn’t a help with nearly a third of the solutions having less than 50% checking.

    That’s enough whining. Thank you to Scorpion and Duncan.

  8. An ingenious set of across clues, even more so than I first imagined – I thought ‘capital’ might well cover a mix of currency names, capital cities and initial letters of country names. So extremely well done to stick solely to currencies. My only minor quibble would be with öre and cent being subdivisions of the unit of currency rather than the unit itself, but hey, who’s gonna worry about that in such a tour de force?

    An alternative (and imho better) clue for 1dn could be ‘Only place in Cornwall with only one street’. To digress, I’ve always been slightly amused by the alternative construction that can be put on names such as ‘St Just in Roseland’ and ‘St Just in Penwith’ to imply that they’re on the fringes of their respective areas. 🙂

    Thanks, Scorpion and Duncan

  9. re Herb at 5 emoticons are tricky ’cause you type multiple characters which sometimes (as you’ve found) get translated to a single ‘mini picture’ but at other times are left as the individual characters, hence an emoticon can be one mini picture or (usually) 3 characters.
    I guess that means the clue works either way!

  10. I had to resort to looking up some of the currencies to finish this, as it was just getting a bit too general knowledge-heavy with names of poets, jazz singers, footballers and currencies all in one set of clues. I’m still a bit unclear where the anagram indicator in 4 down lies (I suppose it must be “propel”). But overall it was a fairly enjoyable puzzle that wasn’t too hard to get most of the way through, even if there were one or two at the end that were tricky to finish.

  11. We enjoyed the puzzle despite being tested by the various currencies. Our LOI was 30d but we’d never heard of the footballer so had to check it.

    A very ingenious puzzle – thanks Scorpion.

    Thanks for the blog Duncan.

  12. Duncan –

    Nice blog; but, do you not like our Terry (Wogan)? I understand that he is knighted yet you omitted his title….?

    Poor Sir Terry.

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