Independent 8973 by Rorschach (Saturday Prize Puzzle 18 July 2015)

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So, how did you get on with this particular Rorschach test? Did you see a beautiful pattern; was there some deep psychological revelation; or was it a ‘blot’ on your week?!

I found this a tough puzzle to get going on, and then tough to move on … and tough to finish! There weren’t many ‘easier’ entry points – even the two hidden-word answers didn’t jump out at me, initially; there were no nice short 3s or 4s; and even the longer 15s didn’t yield too quickly, apart from maybe SPECTATOR SPORTS.

Maybe I just wasn’t on Rorschach’s wavelength this week, but after an enjoyable mental tussle over a couple of days, with several return visits, I got there in the end – and felt the better for it!

One of my earliest in was AGRESTIAL – an obscure word, but one I knew for some reason, and got quickly from the anagram. IVAN THE TERRIBLE had to be that from the enumeration and definition, but took a while to justify. Favourite clue – of many contenders – was probably for MULLET, with Barnet being at the end of the (tube) line. Other contenders – KIMONO, with Mr Kipling’s product’s ‘wrapper’; NAIL BITER for ‘butterfly producer’; etc. LOI was ICENI – short but sweet!

 

Indy8973

 

Nice one, thanks Rorschach – easily tough enough for a Saturday prize puzzle, IMHO…

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue Definition (with occasional embellishments) /
Logic/parsing
1A OVERSEAS Discovers EasyJet packages abroad (8) abroad /
hidden word in (i.e. packaged by) ‘discOVERS EASyjet’
5A EPONYM Taken name of horse amongst outsiders in Epsom (6) taken name /
E_P (outside letters in EpsoM) around PONY (horse)
10A BATHE Cover hit man (5) cover (as in bathe in…) /
BAT (hit) + HE (man)
11A AGRESTIAL It’s a large redevelopment in the countryside (9) in the countryside /
anag, .e. redevelopment, of ITS A LARGE
12A IVAN THE TERRIBLE I’ve killed a lot of people, haven’t I? (4,3,8) &lit-ish/cryptic definition (?) / I’ve killed a lot of people /
IVAN THE anag (i.e. queston mark/reverse-implied TERRIBLE’) of HAVENT I
13A GRIFTER Scammer finally deleted virus to secure breach (7) Scammer /
G_ER(M) (virus, final letter deleted) around (securing) RIFT (breach)
15A EFFETE Spent season in France with blind companion (6) Spent /
EFF (companion of blind, as in ‘eff and blind’) + ETE (summer, or season, in French)
17A ANORAK Ready for Sweden having gone back and picked up a jacket (6) jacket /
ANOR_K (Krona, or ready – money – in Sweden, going back) around (picking up) A
19A MORDRED Former Lord Chancellor took title of ‘doctor’ and finally ‘knight’ (7) knight (of the round table) /
MOR_E (Thomas More, former Lord Chancellor) around (taking) DR (title of doctor) + D (final letter of anD)
21A ESCAPE MECHANISM In a specimen case, failing hospital initially missed psychological condition (6,9) psychological mechanism /
anag, i.e. failing, of A SPECIMEN CASE + H (hospital) + M (initial letter of missed)
23A RIO GRANDE Ring road travelling east arrives at river (3,6) river /
anag, i.e. travelling, of RING ROAD, plus E east)
24A IRENE She’s the original Cartesian subject? (5) she (womans name) /
Rene Descartes – I think therefore I (RENE) am…(the subject and object of the sentence)
25A SADISM Enjoying humiliation, Iraqi leader is cancelling Russian agreement (6) enjoying humiliation (of others, i.e. as a crossword setter?!)) /
SAD(DA)M – Iraqi leader – with ‘IS’ cancelling out DA (Russian for yes, agreement)
26A MEANTIME The average age in the interim (8) in the interim /
MEAN (the average) + TIME (age)
Down
Clue No Solution Clue Definition (with occasional embellishments) /
Logic/parsing
1D OXBRIDGE Where you might learn a set of moves for tic-tac-toe game (8) Where (some of) you might learn (,although other establishments of higher education are available) /
O & X (a set of moves for tic-tac-toe, or ‘noughts and crosses’ – interestingly (?), the sub-theme-ette of last week’s prize puzzle…), plus BRIDGE (game)
2D EXTRA Over-increased by this? (5) cryptic definition (?) /
an over (of six balls, in cricket) might be increased to seven, eight, etc. by an EXTRA requiring the ball to be re-bowled (wide or no-ball, any others?)
3A SPECTATOR SPORTS Exciting prospects to star in events at Olympics? (9,6) events at the Olympics /
anag, i.e. exciting, of PROSPECTS TO STAR
4D AMATEUR Members of D:Ream at Eurovision playing for free (7) playing for free /
hidden word in (i.e. members of) ‘d:reAM AT EURovision’
6D POST-REFORMATION Period in which the Royal Mail was overhauled? (4-11) &lit-ish – period (of history) /
if the POST (Royal Mail, before it was privatised) was overhauled, i.e. went through REFORMATION, then this could be a period of 16th century history.
7A NAIL-BITER One engaging in manual work for butterfly producer? (4-5) double defn /
a NAIL BITER engages in ‘manual work’, by chewing the ends of their hands; and a NAIL-BITER is a close run thing (sporting event or otherwise) which might produce butterflies in the stomach (nervousness)
8A MULLET What’s at the end of the line? Barnet? (6) &lit-ish double-defn? /
a MULLET might be on the end of a fishing line; and might also be a hairstyle – barnet = Cockney rhyming slang – Barnet Fair = hair. And (High) Barnet is at the end of one of the branches of the London Underground Northern line – nice touch!
9D BREEZE Wind speed (6) double defn. /
a BREEZE can be a wind; and to BREEZE through something is to speed through it
14D IONIC BOND A particularly attractive relationship? (5,4) &lit-ish/CD? /
the BOND (attraction) between two IONS can be particularly magnetic (attractive)?
16D ADAM BEDE A badly made bed as an artistic work (4,4) artistic work (novel by George Eliot) /
A + anag (i.e. badly) of MADE BED
18D KIMONO Wrapper from Mr Kipling’s product in that range (6) wrapper (item of clothing) /
KIM (book by, product of, Rudyard Kipling) + ONO (‘or nearest offer’, selling term, ‘in that range’)
19D MACHETE Board move finally to stifle revolutionary arm (7) arm (weapon) /
MA_TE (chess board move) around (stifling) CHE (Che Guevara, revolutionary)
20D FERRIS Endless irony ultimately as he reinvented the wheel (6) he (George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr) reinvented the wheel /
FERRI(C) (made of iron, or ‘irony’, endless) + S (ultimate letter in iS)
22D ICENI Back in the year we began dating first, these people rioted in London (5) these people rioted in London (in AD61-ish) /
I CE (1, one, CE, common era, the year ‘we’ began dating) before (first before) NI (in, back)

13 comments on “Independent 8973 by Rorschach (Saturday Prize Puzzle 18 July 2015)”

  1. I gave up very early on this, entering only about 10 answers. Very hard. Congratulations for all your hard work, mc_rapper67!

  2. A worthy prize puzzle – an excellent challenge with some inventive clues – KIMONO being just one of them.

    The only clue we were a bit ‘iffy’ about was BATHE as a synonym for COVER.

    Hope to see more Rorschach puzzles in the future now that the PhD is complete!

    Thanks to both S & B.

  4. Very tricky indeed, and I was surprised I was able to finish it without recourse to aids. Having said that, I biffed KIMONO and IVAN THE TERRIBLE, AGRESTIAL only went in once I’d twigged MULLET, and BATHE was my LOI after OXBRIDGE. I need a lie down.

  5. I only got about 8 answers, but enjoyed going through the parsing above. The hidden-word answers were very good (by the way, YALE is in column 14, but I see no other Ivy League universities).

    Thanks Rorschach and mc_rapper67.

  6. I didn’t find this too difficult. AGRESTIAL was new to me but fell into place from the anagram fodder and checking letters. So was GRIFTER but that came with the help of a word finder.

    Re 8dn, every cryptic solver should know that ‘Barnet’ in a clue almost always signals something to do with hair, and that a MULLET is both a fish and a hairstyle. So when I saw that the first letter was M (from 5ac) I just wrote the answer in without appreciating the neatness of the clue.

    Some other great clues to savour, though, e.g. ANORAK, KIMONO and ADAM BEDE (the latter with its misdirection towards Ms Emin).

    Thanks, Rorschach and mc_rapper67

  7. Thanks guys.

    It seems as some enjoyment was had.

    Bert and Joyce – how about ‘bathed in light’ and ‘covered in light’?

    Thanks for the parsing mcrapper!

  8. Rorschach – thanks for dropping in. Yes, that’s how I saw “bathe” once I had the final checker. I was always sure it was going to end in “he” but associating “bat” with “hit” didn’t exactly jump out at me.

  9. Thanks Jon really enjoyed this last week. Much harder than you usually manage to produce. A cracker

  10. Some really brilliant and amusing ones here, IVAN THE TERRIBLE, MORDRED, OXBRIDGE, MACHETE etc.

    Wonderful stuff Rorschach, look forward to the next one.

    Thanks to mc_rapper 67.

  11. In 21A I think there is a minor typo. The italicised phrase should be ‘psychological condition’ rather than mechanism.

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