Independent 8975 / Crosophile

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Crosophile has given us a puzzle with a few entries that are not obscure, but neither are they in regular daily use, such as …

 

 

 

SEAMSTERS, UNSWADDLE, EMBRASURE and NAUTILUS.  A set of less common words make you think Nina but I can’t see an obvious one.  There are four colours in the grid (BLUE, GREEN, GREY and SILVER) that tend to make you think of the sea and NAUTILUS  and EDDYSTONE are also sea related.  Perhaps there is some kind of link to 20,000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne, but more likely I’m going up a blind alley.

There were also two rock bands in the grid – GENESIS and ELBOW

You will see from the detailed part of the blog that I have had difficulty parsing CLOCK RADIOS at 12 down.  No doubt someone will come up with a far better parsing than my two tentative offerings.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Maybe peacock‘s been eating mashed gruel (4-5)

 

BEEN containing (eating) (an anagram of [mashed] GRUEL])

B (LUE GR*) EEN

BLUE-GREEN (peacock is defined as a colour as ‘deep GREENish BLUE)

 

6

 

One who might curse with irritation (5)

 

W (witch) + ITCH (irritation)

 

WITCH (example of a person one who might curse)

 

9

 

Work out answer before new girl (5)

 

SUS (suspect; find out; work out) + A (before) + N (new)

 

SUSAN (girl’s name)

 

10

 

Sing about bread man out of bran for the daily grind (9)

 

TRILL (sing) containing (about) (BREAD MAN excluding [out of] BRAN)

TR (EADM) ILL

TREADMILL (routine drudgery; daily ground)

 

11

 

Traditional group of children with much formality (7)

 

CLASS (group of children [in school]) + ICE (formality) excluding the last letter (much of) E

 

CLASSIC (traditional)

 

13

 

Do pigs, eating scraps of dry leftovers? (7)

 

SWINE (pigs) containing (eating) (DL [first letters of {scraps of} each of DRY and LEFTOVERS)

SWIN (D L) E

SWINDLE (cheat; con; do)

 

14

 

How Merckx comes across a lighthouse in the SW? (9)

 

EDDY’S TONE (how EDDY Merckx [famous cyclist] may sound [come across])

 

EDDYSTONE (name of lighthouse of the South West coast of England)

 

15

 

Dismal year with not much work is over (4)

 

(Y [year] + ERG [a small unit of measurement of work; not much work]) all reversed (over)

(GRE Y)<

GREY (dismal)

 

18

 

House mice on the inside in house (4)

 

SEMI (hidden word in [on the inside] HOUSE MICE)

 

SEMI (SEMI-detached house)

 

20

 

One charmed by music maybe or backing that’s jazzy (4,5)

 

Anagram of (that’s jazzy) OR BACKING

KING COBRA*

KING COBRA (snake that presumably could be charmed by the music of a snake-charmer)

 

23

 

Resistance to change of speed and energy in one train that’s moving (7)

 

E (energy) contained in (in) (an anagram of [that’s moving] I [one] and TRAIN)

IN (E) RTIA*

INERTIA (resistance to motion; resistance to change of speed)

 

25

 

Brazilian city’s diplomacy as a means to stop insurrection (4,3)

 

RIO (port city of Brazil) + TACT (diplomacy)

 

RIOT ACT (a statute designed to prevent riotous assemblies; a form of words read as a warning to rioters to disperse)

 

26

 

Affected by waves, contest stopped short by born sailor (9)

 

VIE (contest [as a verb]) excluding the final letter (stopped short) E + B (born) + RATING (sailor of crew rank)

 

VIBRATING (affected by waves)

 

28

 

Fair question posed in second half of ordeal (5)

 

QU (question) contained in (posed in) EAL (second half of the letters of ORDEAL)

E (QU) AL

EQUAL (fair)

 

29

 

Men returned to whitish ash (5)

 

OR (other ranks; men) reversed (returned) + WAN (pale; whitish)

RO< WAN

ROWAN (mountain-ash tree)

 

30

 

Experts on water doing without advanced sewers? (9)

 

SEA (water) + MASTERS (experts) excluding (without) A (advanced)

 

SEAMSTERS (sewers; people who sew)

 
Down
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

With no new greenfly say in garden area this is halved (8)

 

(INSECT [a greenfly is an example of [say] an INSECT] excluding [no] N [new]) contained in (in) BED (area of a garden)

B (ISECT) ED

BISECTED (divided into two parts [halved])

 

2

 

Remove bandages and walk awkwardly following guns (good going) (9)

 

GUNS excluding (going) G (good) + WADDLE (walk awkwardly)

 

UNSWADDLE (remove bandages)

 

3

 

The first book group? (7)

 

GENESIS (first book of the Old Testament)

 

GENESIS (rock band)  double definition

 

4

 

Worry meal’s been recycled (3)

 

TEA (meal) with the letters cycled (recycled) such that the first letter T moves to the end

EAT

EAT (worry)

 

5

 

Wine and rest ordered when stopping in eccentric Eire inn (11)

 

Anagram of (ordered) REST contained in (when stopping in) (an anagram of EIRE INN)

NIE (RSTE*) INER*

NIERSTEINER (Rhine wine)

 

6

 

Stuff to include in side of building (7)

 

ADD (include) contained in (in) WING (part of a building projecting from the main body; side of building)

W (ADD) ING

WADDING (padding of loose material; stuff is defined as material)

 

7

 

Sleaze brought up about head of education and examined in court (5)

 

DIRT (sleaze) reversed (brought up; down clue) containing E (first letter of EDUCATION)

TRI (E) D<

TRIED (examined in court)

 

8

 

What Angel should wear or shortly his origin’s encountered? (6)

 

HELL (reference a member of HELL‘s Angels – gang of motorcyclists, originally notorious for violent or antisocial behaviour) excluding the final letter (shortly) L + MET (encountered)

 

HELMET (what a HELL’S ANGEL motorcyclist should wear when moving on the bike)

 
12

Hit and run?  Take care – they may have alarming news (5,6)

I’m not sure of the parsing here, but I suggest two possibilities.

CLOCK (hit) + R (run in cricket scoring notation) + ADIOS (goodbye, but I can’t really relate this to ‘take care’)

(CLOCK [hit] + ADIOS [goodbye; I’m off; I have to run]) containing (care) R (recipe; take) but this use of R is more common in barred crosswords and I don’t like care as a containment indicator.  

CLOCK (R) ADIOS

I’ll be interested to read how others parsed this.

 CLOCK RADIOS (devices that will wake you up [alarm you] and give you a news bulletin)

16

 

Amber cast’s OK in a window recess (9)

 

Anagram of (cast) AMBER + SURE (OK)

EMBRA* SURE

EMBRASURE (a recess of a door or window which splays out on the inside)

 

17

 

Sea creature‘s gold in sunlit surroundings on the rocks (8)

 

AU (chemical symbol for gold) contained in (in … surroundings) an anagram of (on the rocks) SUNLIT

N (AU) TILUS*

NAUTILUS (a tetrabranchiate cephalopod of the genus NAUTILUS (especially pearly nautilus) of southern seas, with a chambered external shell; sea creature)

 

19

 

Happening on board Orient Express perhaps? (2,5)

 

IN (on board) + TRAIN (The Orient Express is an example [perhaps] of a TRAIN)

 

IN TRAIN (happening)

 

21

 

They make barrels change leaking pressure for nothing (7)

 

COPPERS (coinage; change) excluding (leaking) P (pressure) and replacing it with (for) O (zero; nothing)

COOPERS

COOPERS (people who make barrels)

 

22

 

Metal splinter internally left one upset (6)

 

SLIVER (splinter) with the  (L [left] + I [one]) within [internally]) reversed (upset; down clue)

S IL< VER

SILVER (a metal)

 

24

 

An ‘army’ band? (5)

 

ELBOW (the ELBOW is part of the arm so could be described as army)

 

ELBOW (rock band)

 

27

 

An Indian state – regular visitor’s report (3)

 

GOA (sounds like [report] GOER [regular visitor])

 

GOA (a State of Western India)

 

12 comments on “Independent 8975 / Crosophile”

  1. Duncan, I have no problem with adios being ‘take care’. It’s a formulation I often use myself, and indeed goodbye, meaning God be with ye is arguably another way to say take care.

    Well done for all the grouped answers you spotted. Must be something going on.

    Nice one, Crosophile!

  2. At 12D, ‘Adios’ seemed odd to me to. “Take care” is active, “please do take care of yourself.” “God be with you” is akin to “May God take care of you.” They seem very different to me. However, I still wrote the answer in.

    It’s 24D Elbow that has me upset. I saw that the answer could be “elbow”, by a very great leap of faith, but I couldn’t believe that the setter would include such an obscure act (I might, maybe, once, have heard of some musicians called this) with such a strange clue. I didn’t have faith in my answer, and gave up there with 26A and 22D unfinished. This left me so disgruntled that I went and did the crossword in Another Place instead. Sorry, Crosophile! Thanks, duncanshiell!

  3. I too had no problem with equating “take care” with “adios” but was unable to parse 24D. I could see it had to be ELBOW from the cross-checkers and, in the end, wondered if the clue had a misprint. To my mind it works far better with “band” replaced by “bend”.

    Thanks to Crosophile and Duncanshiell.

  4. Emrys@2

    I’m by no means an Elbow fan, but if a band that’s sold millions of albums, had #1 albums in UK and US, won multiple music prizes, headlined Glastonbury and played the Olympics Closing Ceremony is ‘obscure’ …. what would it take to be ‘well known’

    🙂

  5. I thought this was a good challenge and I eventually finished with SEAMSTERS after CLOCK RADIOS.

    Count me as another who sometimes uses “take care” as a parting expression so I have no problem equating it to “adios”, although it took me a while to see. I thought the clue for ELBOW was quite clever, and even though I’m not a huge fan of the band I certainly wouldn’t class them as obscure.

  6. We started off quickly and then had difficulty finishing. Our end-game was the same as AndyB @ 5. We also had similar thoughts about ADIOS and ELBOW – the latter raised a smile when the penny dropped re the parsing.

    Thanks Duncan and Crosophile.

  7. I thought ‘adios’ for ‘take care’ a bit tenuous but quite acceptable particularly as the answer was fairly obvious from the definition and crossing letters. Can’t say I know much about Elbow, but I had heard of them.

    Incidentally, this year marks the 300th anniversary of the RIOT ACT coming into force (1/8/1715). It was eventually repealed in England & Wales in 1967 and the rest of the UK in 1973.

    Thanks, Crosophile and Duncan

  8. I may be ill-informed, but my wife has an excellent grasp of current popular culture, and she tells me that she has never heard of a band called Elbow, so I don’t feel too bad.

  9. I should have thought that,by now, anyone who hopes to stand a chance with the Independent crossword should have realised that they need to be au fait with MOR rock bands. I first learnt about Elbow a couple of years ago in (I think) a Phi crossword that was devoted entirely to their works. I discovered that, far from being an ephemeral group, they have been popular for 25 years. I listened to their music and found I rather liked it. This, presumably was what Phi (if it was he) had in mind when he set the crossword.

  11. Thanks Flashling. I did try a search but the keyword Elbow produced loads of hits and I did not go back far enough. Apologies to Phi and Eimi for the misattribution. And a belated thank you to Eimi for bringing Elbow to my attention.

  12. I entirely forgot the publication day of this one so doubt anyone ill ever read this, but thanks anyway, Duncan and other commentators.
    Re Elbow, I am surprised they are not universally known and thank Geebs at #4 for explaining this. Incidentally, The Beatles are also a popular beat combo, m’lud. 🙂 [And “The Seldom Seen Kid” is an awesome album from start to finish.]
    NMaybe unsurprising that nobody spotted the Nina, which was that Susan Cooper’s [see 9A 21D]five volume fantasy sequence is fully referenced via (blue)”GREEN WITCH”, “the DARK is rising” [clocKRADios], “the GREY KING”(cobra), “over SEA(msters), under (eddy)STONE” and “SILVER on the tree” (ie ROWAN).
    Take care, now! 🙂

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