Independent 8549/Rorschach

Has Rorschach blotted his copybook with this one?

In my opinion, not at all.  I really liked this one, although those expecting the usual fairly gentle introduction to the Indy week might have been slightly startled.  I did find it tricky: there is some devious clueing and maybe some stretching of the cryptic ‘rules’ (whatever they are) in places.  There are several where I am not entirely sure if I’ve got the parsing right, so any clarification or correction welcome.

Plenty of homophones and some cds and dds, but not many full anagrams or charades, which is maybe why I found it a bit on the hard side.

The blog is a bit long, partly because I know that the Monday puzzle attracts improving solvers and lurkers and they appreciate full explanations; partly because some clues take a bit of explaining; and partly because I have wittered on a bit when I found something of interest.

Abbreviations

cd  cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)*  anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) missing

definitions are underlined

Across

1  Frantically using articles to identify animals
IGUANAS
(USING AA)*  AA are your ‘articles’, two in this case.  The anagrind is ‘frantically’.

5  F***!  Summer in Paris is decadent!
EFFETE
I somehow doubt that this would have got into many other daily papers as a clue.  ‘F***!’ is suggesting EFF, as in EFF OFF, and summer in Paris is été.  Stick the two together and you’ve got your answer.  ‘Decadent’ might not be my first choice of synonym for EFFETE.

9  Line delay in phone call to foreign country
KUWAIT
A homophone clue: of QUEUE WAIT.  The homophone indicator is ‘in phone call’.

10  ‘Sweet!’  Munch Topic heard saying this?
ICE CREAM
No chocolate required here: the ‘topic’ is the figure in the very well-known painting(s) The Scream by Edvard Munch.  It’s a homophone clue: I SCREAM sounds the same as ICE CREAM.  And I think, but only think, that the setter is saying that the figure in the painting is saying I SCREAM.  But you might have a better idea.

11  This Roman‘s drunken ejaculation
HIC
I don’t think we want to dwell on the surface too long here.  HIC is one of the Latin words for ‘this’ and it can be what you ejaculate when you’ve had one too many.

12  Trinity’s 1st and 3rd boat last in Cambridge University admitted paper
TISSUE
The first and third letters of TrInity are followed by SS and E for the last letter of CambridgE.  Stick a U in and you’ve got the stuff you blow your nose with.

13  Hire mobile toilet before beginning of May for part of estate
HEIRLOOM
(HIRE)* LOO and M

14  Mist over river into which one hops?
FROG
Maybe stretching the definition a bit if I’ve understood it correctly.  It’s R in FOG.

15  10 man’s address given to wife with love handles?
MR WHIPPY
The famous ice-cream is MR, which is how you ‘address’ a man, W for ‘wife’ and HIPPY, which is an extremely whimsical way of describing ‘love handles’, the rolls of fat around the waistline and hips.  They are called love handles because they may be used to grab onto, in a handle-like way, during coitus in certain positions.  I couldn’t possibly comment.

18  Diplomat ran domestic sector without any organisation
AT RANDOM
Hidden (‘sector’) in dipolmAT RAN DOMestic.

19  Max Ernst initially announced for award
EMMY
M and E are the intials of Max Ernst and if you ‘announce’ them, you’ve got EMMY, the television equivalent of an Oscar.

22  United supporter standing by as Maradona scored
MANUALLY
I teased in my last blog about there being too much football in the Indy, but this will not amuse those who really don’t like it, because you do have to know stuff about the beautiful game to parse it, if not to solve it.  ‘United’ is MANU and ALLY is ‘supporter’.  Diego Maradona scored a controversial goal in the quarter-final of the 1986 World Cup against England, when he illegally fisted the ball into the net with his hand during an aerial challenge with Peter Shilton, the England keeper, and claimed that it was the ‘Hand of God’ that had scored.  So he could be said to have scored MANUALLY.  Yer, I knew some of you wouldn’t like it.  Anyway, at the time he was considered to be the greatest player of his generation; but he later turned into a fat knacker and a drug addict.

24  Tough-guy actor seen in Duchamp’s fountain perhaps?
BOGART
My felicitations if you knew what ‘Duchamp’s fountain’ was, ‘cos I certainly didn’t.  Turns out it’s a 1917 work of art by Marcel Duchamp which consisted of a porcelain urinal.  So it would be BOG ART – geddit?

25  Ingredient of pavlovas?
OVA
Rorschach really is getting all whimsical this morning.  Good surface, though.  To make the meringue for the pavlova, you’d need eggs.  Which are OVA, an ingredient of pavlOVAs.

26  Recluse goes around on underground finally arriving at 3?
LONDONER
An insertion of ON and D for the final letter of ‘underground’ in LONER.  Suralan is indeed a LONDONER, but this wasn’t my favourite clue this morning.

27  That’s made by chef, that is
COOKIE
A charade of COOK and IE.  I’d call this &lit.  Cue animated discussion with another Indy setter.

28  Setter Rorschach’s filled with panic
TERROR
Hidden in setTER RORschach.

29  Spies backtracked taking a month free from corrupt activity
ASEPTIC
An insertion of SEPT in CIA reversed.  It’s referring to a lack of infection, or ‘corruption’ in a wound, say.

Down

2  More tacky than a pierced ear, say?
GAUDIER
A homophone (‘say’) of ‘gored ear’.

3  Lord Raglan warred with Russia regularly
ALAN SUGAR
An anagram (‘warred’) of RAGLAN and the even letters of ‘Russia’.  And for those familiar with the 1854 Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War against the Russians, the surface will have some meaning.  Crimea 1854; Crimea 2014.  Plus ça change?  Let’s hope not.

4  Country air
ANTHEM
A cd.

5  Browser’s functioning in apple.com according to helpline?
EYESIGHT
Again, I just can’t quite pin this down.  It’s more whimsy: suggesting that I-SIGHT might be an Apple product that sounds like (‘according to helpline’) EYESIGHT.  Perhaps that’s it, but over to you if not.

6  Will actor broadcast in wild?
FERAL
Another homophone: of the actor Will FERRELL.  I’m not massively into cinema, but even I’d heard of him.

7  East coast criminal acquiring unknown pot user’s paraphernalia
TEA COSY
‘Criminal’ and ‘pot’ in the same clue?  Got to be drugs.  But that’s cryptic misdirection for you.  ‘Criminal’ is the anagrind for (E COAST Y)*  Y is one of the mathematical ‘unknowns’.  And the stuff you put in the ‘pot’ is much less damaging to your health, even if you didn’t inhale.

8  A king who’s slightly on the spectrum
RICHARD OF YORK
Clever, clever … it’s referring to the mnemonic which teaches little ones the colours of the rainbow (‘spectrum’). RICHARD OF YORK GAVE BATTLE IN VAIN for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.  And the soon to be Leicester-based monarch is only part of, or ‘slightly on’ that phrase.  Not everybody’s tasse de thé, but I liked it (when I finally got it).

16  Contemporaries who are normally found around Duchamp’s fountain?
PEER GROUP
Quite a lot of bodily function in this puzzle.  Refer to 24ac.  If the lads all go to the urinal together during half-time at the match, we’d be a PEER GROUP, wouldn’t we?

17  Gag Queen Elizabeth?
ONE-LINER
A dd.

18  The latest Bowie hit here finally – David Bowie
À LA MODE
He knows some stuff, this setter.  Two different Bowies: the first refers to James Bowie, a defender who was killed at the Battle of the ALAMO; the second is David Bowie, where the final letters of his first and second names give you DE to form your answer.  Ground Control to Major Tom.

20  Perhaps Luther King’s second drink
MARTINI
This is going to start sounding like a love-in between the slogger and the better, but I thought this was really inventive too: it’s MARTIN plus I for the second letter of kIng.

21  UCAS in mix-up over exam results in summer
ABACUS
An ABACUS does ‘sums’, so it’s A and B for ‘exam results’ followed by (ACUS)* with ‘mix-up’ as the anagrind.  Normally, ‘over’ in a down clue would indicate that the AB would come below ACUS.  Can it be an instruction to put the AB first?  You tell me.

23  Drinks dispenser required Duracells – back up and running essentially
UDDER
Hidden reversed in requiRED DUracells.  Since this is a down clue, then ‘back up and running essentially’ is the rather long-winded reversal and hidden indicator, I think.  If that’s complete and udder nonsense, you’ll tell me, no doubt.

I enjoyed this and could handle some more of this setter in the Indy.  Thank you to him for today’s puzzle.