Independent 8688 / Radian

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Tuesday Independent puzzles are often a bit quirky.  Today’s puzzle from Radian fills the Tuesday role admirably

 

 

 

This puzzle was based on the difference between U and Non-U English words.  Wikipedia tells us that the concept was introduced by the British linguist Alan Ross in 1954 and was followed up by the English author Nancy Mitford in an essay in 1956 entitled "The English Aristocracy".

The 5 U words were not too difficult to deduce once I had solved the non-U equivalent.  There was one non-U red herring at 3 down (ISSUE FORTH) where non-U was simply an instruction to remove the letter U from part of the wordplay.

There is one clue where the word play has defeated me.  I refer to 5 across where I cannot make any sense of the phrase ‘not stray’  I have got the SKYE terrier but I can get no further. Afternote: Muffyword at comment 1 has sorted this one out. The terrier is a KERRY BLUE not the breed I was thinking about. Full parsing is now in the blog detail below

There were also a couple of clues where I can get the majority of the wordplay, but not necessarily all, these are AIR FRANCE at 10 across, which is probably right and YO-YOING at 27 down, which again is probably right but slightly strange.  I suppose if you say YO to someone, then YO-YOING can be defined as banter.  I think 13 down SALESGIRLS is an &Lit but the definition seems slightly odd to me.  Similarly, I think 24 down (OSSI) may be an &Lit but  again, for me, a slightly odd definition.  I am very happy to be told that I have missed something vital (and obvious) in every case.

I liked the definition ‘leaves stripper’ for AGENT ORANGE (18 down) and I liked the wordplay in RARING TO GO (22 across).

There were no reversals in the wordplay today and very few anagrams.

Across

No.

 Clue Wordplay

Entry

1

 

28 (U) (7)

 

PUDDING (the U form of DESSERT [28 across])

 

PUDDING

 

5

 

Shade small terrier, not stray (3-4)

 

There is a SKYE terrier which is a small terrier, but beyond this I am stumped.  ERR can mean ‘stray’ but taking ERR out of TERRIER doesn’t help me.   I suspect I need to step back and look at the make-up of SKY-BLUE in a completely different way.

Now sorted as S (small) + KERRY BLUE excluding (not) ERR (stray)

SKY-BLUE (colour; shade)

 

9

 

Ladder last pair of stockings climbing these? (5)

 

RUN (ladder) + GS (final two letters of [last pair of] STOCKINGS)

 

 

RUNGS (steps for climbing on a ladder)

 

10

 

Irish fellow met top pilot working here? (3-6)

 

(IR [Irish] + F [fellow] + RAN INTO)met]) contained in [INTO] ACE [top pilot)

A (IR F RAN) CE

AIR FRANCE (an airline where presumably top-class pilots work)

 

11

 

Too zealously employs powerless umpires? (10)

 

OVER EXPERTS (umpires in the game of cricket could be considered to be EXPERTS in OVERS) excluding (less) P (power)

 

OVEREXERTS (to zealously employs)

 

12

 

1 Down (U) (4)

 

WHAT (the U form of PARDON [1 Down])

 

WHAT

 

14

 

Travelling around complete with a book on board (3,3,5)

 

OUT AND OUT (complete) containing (on board) (A + B [book])

OUT AND (AB) OUT

OUT AND ABOUT (travelling around)

 

18

 

A man (old) called Eric initially leaves stripper (5,6)

 

A + GENT (man) + O (old) + RANG (called) + E (first letter of [initially] ERIC)

 

AGENT ORANGE (defoliant; leaves stripper)

 

21

 

State‘s mean, not mature (4)

 

AVERAGE (mean) excluding (not) AGE (mature)

 

AVER (state)

 

22

 

Gung-ho gunmen circle African country (6,2,2)

 

RA (Royal Artillery; gun men) + RING (circle) + TOGO (West African Country)

 

RARING TO GO (excessively eager; gung-ho)

 

25

 

Flood very nearly stops very big ball (9)

 

(VERY excluding the final letter [nearly] Y contained in [stops] OS [outsize;  very big]) + PILL (little ball)

O (VER) S PILL

OVERSPILL (flood)

 

26

 

Learn jigs on wee organs (5)

 

Anagram of (jigs) LEARN

 

RENAL (relating to the kidneys, organ that filter waste from the blood and produce urine [wee])

 

27

 

Bush’s banter with Blair on the end of a string? (2-5)

 

YO (reference the greeting by George W Bush to Tony Blair at the G8 summit in St Petersburg in 2006) + YOING (continuing the same reference)  to give a continuous use of the word YO as a form of banter.

 

YO-YOING (to operate a YO-YO toy involving a wheel and string; on the end of a string)

 

28

 

Fool perhaps first to swim into strand (7)

 

S (first letter of [first to] SWIM) contained in (into) DESERT (abandon; strand; could probably also be used be considered in another sense of sand or beach)

DES (S) ERT

DESSERT ([e.g. gooseberry] fool is an example of DESSERT)

 
Down

1

 

Average reader’s excuse (6)

 

PAR (average) + DON (a reader is a senior university lecturer, as is a DON)

 

PARDON (excuse)

 

2

 

The German guzzles pub grub (6)

 

DER (one of the German forms of the word ‘the’) containing (guzzles) INN (public house)

D (INN) ER

DINNER (meal; grub)

 

3

 

Send out edition No 4 (non-U) (5,5)

 

ISSUE (edition) + (FOURTH [No 4] excluding [non] the letter U)  This one is nothing to do with the U/Non-U terminology.

 

ISSUE FORTH (send out)

 

4 / 6

 

17 (U)

 

GRAVEYARD (the U form of CEMETERY [17 down])

 

GRAVEYARD

 

5

 

Transmitter set in or on ground (9)

 

Anagram of (ground) SET IN OR ON

 

SEROTONIN (a compound that occurs throughout body tissue, esp in the brain, intestinal tissue and blood platelets, acting as a neurotransmitter and powerful vasoconstrictor)

 

7

 

2 (U)

 

LUNCHEON (the U form of DINNER [2 down])

 

LUNCHEON

 

8

 

Gallery supported old PM’s sloth, say

 

EDEN  (reference Sir Anthony EDEN, UK Prime Minister [1955 – 1957]) + TATE (reference TATE Gallery)  As this is a down clue the word TATE is holding up [supporting] the word EDEN

 

EDENTATE ( member of the Edentata, a New World order of mammals having no front teeth or no teeth at all, such as sloths, anteaters, armadillos, and formerly certain Old World edentate animals such as the pangolins)

 

13

 

Lasses trained to bring in golf to Ireland? (10)

 

Anagram of (trained) LASSES containing (to bring in) (G [GOLF is the international radio communications codeword for the letter G] + IRL [Ireland])

SALES (G IRL) S*

SALESGIRLS (lasses trained to ‘sell’ [bring in] golf vacations in Ireland for example)

 

15

 

Ruler used in drawing rows of fans (9)

 

ER (Elizabeth Regina; Queen; ruler) contained in (in) TRACING (drawing)

T (ER) RACING

TERRACING (row of fans, particularly at a football match)

 

16

 

20 (U) (8)

 

LAVATORY (the U form of TOILET [20 down])

 

LAVATORY

 

17

 

Anglicans gathered exceptionally early in potter’s field (8)

CE (Church of England; Anglicans) + MET (gathered) + ERY (letters 1, 3 and 5 [omitting 2 and 4, exceptionally] of EARLY)

 

CEMETERY (‘Potters Field’ is defined as a burial ground for strangers and paupers [from that bought with the money Judas received for betraying Jesus])

 

19

 

Lie about yen and euro banking union (6)

 

(LONG [desire; yen] + E [euro]) containing (banking) U (union)

LO (U) NG E

LOUNGE (lie about)

 

20

 

Can one put in notice about empty flat? (6)

 

I (one) contained in (put in) (TO LET [notice about empty flat])

TO (I) LET

TOILET (can is a slang term for TOILET)

 

23

 

Python director ran out of gear (5)

 

IDLE (reference Monty Python actor Eric IDLE) + D (director)

 

IDLED (ran out of gear)

 

24

 

One crossing, ignoring guards? (4)

 

OSSI (middle letters of [ignoring guards represented by the first two and last two letters] of CROSSING)

 

OSSI (a citizen of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) before reunification with the Federal Republic in 1990; one crossing for East Germany to Germany without worry about guards?)

 

 

14 comments on “Independent 8688 / Radian”

  1. Thanks Duncan and Radian,

    The terrier in 5ac is the Kerry Blue.

    I wondered if YO-YOING was YO + YO + IN (on) strinG, but I think it is probably as you suggest above – a double definition &lit would be odd.

    I parsed SALESGIRLS as you did (golf might refer to cars, though).

    I parsed AIR FRANCE as you did, and OSSI too (but with some puzzlement).

    I think I must be non-U, looking at the examples above.

  2. Muffyword @ 1

    Thanks for the info about the KERRY BLUE That’s not a breed I have come across before but it is obviously the right one as it also bring the S (small) into play.

  3. I saw the wordplay for SKY-BLUE the same way Muffyword@1 did (S plus K(err)Y BLUE).

    I couldn’t see the wordplay for AIR FRANCE and entered it from checkers and the vague definition alone.

    OSSI was a guess based on the inclusion of it within “crossing” but I didn’t have a clue what the definition was.

    SALESGIRLS, which was my LOI, went in from checkers and another vague definition, although I saw the wordplay after I entered it.

  5. Like Paul A, couldn’t get into this at all. Just found it impenetrable for a daily cryptic, where I only have a limited amount of time (and enthusiasm) to have a go at solving it. Not quite crypticsue’s ‘three goes and you’re in the recycling bin’, because it was in there after one go. Sorry, Radian; and thank you to Duncan for blogging.

  7. Thanks to Radian for the puzzle. It was a struggle, but I finally got all but one – SALESGIRLS – I thought it should be that from the crosses, but left it blank as I just couldn’t parse it.

    Also needed help to parse the tentatively entered AIR FRANCE and OSSI – am glad to see from duncanshiell’s introduction that I wasn’t alone in being uncertain about what was happening there! Thanks for the blog.

  8. Thanks, Radian and Duncan. I guessed at OSSI and Googled to confirm. I came across many definitions, including the relevant one, but failed to twig the wordplay, which seemed a trifle obscure. Thanks for explaining.

  9. Thanks for the blog, Duncan.

    I counted myself lucky to see the U thing pretty early on, so most of the pairs went in without too much trouble. I liked the sting in the tail of the non-U in 3dn.

    Like others, I didn’t know OSSI but I did get AIR FRANCE [I liked the ‘met = ran into’ device.]

    Another one I didn’t know was AGENT ORANGE – as Duncan says, the surface is lovely.

    Many thanks to Radian – I thought it was fun.

  10. Yes, I saw the U and non-U device in 1dn/12ac fairly early which made the rest of the pairs write-ins. But 3dn had me puzzled; the answer was obvious but I was looking for a homophone indicator. There were some other parsings I didn’t quite get, so thanks to Duncan for explaining some of the subtleties. And thanks to Radian too, of course.

  11. Actually in 15dn you haven’t quite corrected it Duncan, since there is still ‘traces’ in the middle box.

    Too hard for me today. I wasn’t in the usual place while I was trying to solve this and after quite a long time said what the hell. But my own incompetence, not Radian’s.

  13. Forgot to comment on this last night. Maybe it was something to do with just having got home from a tiring long weekend, but I did abysmally at this. Just five answers by midnight when I went to bed. (I actually put it to one side mid-evening to finish Sunday’s Beelzebub, which I found considerably easier.)

  14. Great fun. A jolly good Tuesday (with the puckish offering à l’autre côté). I was unable to discern definition for “ossi” (wordplay clear) with no mention in my Chambers. So thanks Duncan (your blogs are nicely comprehensive).
    I couldn’t help thinking Radian had planned “19 (U)” also, lounge being a non-U version of sitting-room for example?

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