Independent 8,983 by Donk

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[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here

This was extraordinarily hard. In several places I’m not really sure what is happening and it seems to me that Donk has been less than accurate, but he has in the past produced quite excellent crosswords; perhaps he has done so this time: it may just be going over my head.

Some of Donk’s Ninas have been very impressive, but in this case I can see nothing. Is there something clever going on here? Goodness knows.

Definitions in italics.

Across
1,7 CHAMPAGNE SOCIALIST
Hypocrite chose capital gains to reform, pocketing money (9,9)

(chose capital gains)* round m — I’m not sure that this is quite what a champagne socialist is: it might be said that Roy Jenkins, for example, was a champagne socialist in that he espoused some socialist views and yet he enjoyed the fine things of life; did that make him a hypocrite? Possibly, but I think that if you are going to say that he was, then your own political views are to some extent colouring the issue, and this is something the setter of a crossword should be avoiding.
6 RASH
Spots bump, having bumped head (4)

{c}rash
8 STREAKER
One making pitch, showing bits off (8)

I think this is a CD and the pitch is the sports pitch and a streaker’s bits are his or her clothes — but is a streaker confined to sports arenas?
9 SMOOCH
French school bags sound out of stock? (6)

s(moo)ch — a moo is a sound out of stock? in that it is possibly made by cattle — but is to French the same thing as to smooch? Not if to French is to indulge in the rather strong action described by Chambers, not what I think of as a polite smooch
10 EDITOR
My boss tried mobile, welcoming ring (6)

(tried)* round o — Donk’s boss is the editor, either of the paper or of the crossword
11 TEETOTAL
Briefly, it makes beer better (why can’t you drink it?) (8)

I’m a bit lost here: ‘Briefly, it’ is apparently ‘t’ and this makes ‘beer’ into ‘better’ by adding two of them, although why two I can’t see, and what exactly is the definition? That given here is surely not the same thing as ‘teetotal’ [TT is teetotaller and this is in ‘beer’ to make ‘better’ — Thanks Kettledrum@1]
12 GOTCHA
I understand you forgot chasing squirrels away (6)

Hidden in forGOT CHAsing — squirrels away is the containment indicator
15 DYNASTIC
Rubbish DIY can’t lead to salvation of house (8)

(DIY can’t s{alvation})*
16 STRIKE UP
Start playing down tools, needing raise (6,2)

strike [= down tools] up
19 RIGHTO
Sure seaside resort requires stripping (6)

{B}righto{n}
21 GERONIMO
Worried no more gin (nearly) – I’m going for it! (8)

(no more gi{n})*
22 SHINES
Woman’s nursing home is doing well (6)

sh(in)e’s
24 OPTIMA
They’re the best work a college recalled (6)

op (a MIT)rev. — there seems to be some dispute over whether MIT is a college or a university, and I can’t remember which is the correct one
25 HEREFORD
Now cross, finding where burgers come from? (8)

here [= now] ford [= cross] — referring to the type of cow
26 STAG
Does fancier silver sit empty for starters? (4)

ag with s{i}t at the start — does is the plural of doe
27 AUTOPILOT
Part-time flyer in perfect place, with a leading band (9)

utopia with the a at the start, lot [= band]
Down
1 CITED
Brought up set of speakers (5)

“sited” — if something is sited then it is set in position
2 ASEPTIC
Clean space it messed up (7)

(space it)*
4 GYRATED
Wiggled bum shyly, at last in cheesy style? (7)

{shyl}y in grated [= cheesy style, a style of serving cheese] — but to gyrate is just to wiggle, not necessarily to wiggle the bum
5 EASTERNER
Meal, short of wings, served by increasingly strict Oriental? (9)

{M}ea{l} sterner
6 RIOTOUS
Reckless Brazilian’s route north? (7)

Rio to US — A Brazilian’s route north may be from Rio to the US — does reckless = riotous?
13 ON THE SPOT
In a sticky situation now (2,3,4)

2 defs
14 AMERICANA
Screamer I can ask to cover US songs (9)

Hidden in ScreAMER I CAN Ask
17 IRONING
Carrying on, I call meeting with press (7)

I r(on)ing
18 PROPHET
Job description is to make money, you hear (7)

“profit” — Job, the Old Testament character
20 GAINFUL
Fungal infection’s beginning to spread, becoming lucrative (7)

(Fungal i{nfection})*
22,3 STRIP POKER
Hands discovery to partner (5,5)

I’m not at all sure of my parsing here, but it sems to be a CD, where hands = the hands you get in poker and these hands are the cause of revealing oneself to one’s partner — but I’m rather vague about all this and no doubt someone will come up with a better explanation
23 EGRET
It flies, say, on time (5)

eg re t — ‘on’ is not a statement of position but a word that is equivalent to ‘re’
*anagram

23 comments on “Independent 8,983 by Donk”

  2. 22,3d. Like you, I’m unsure about exactly how strip poker is played, but I think – instead of losing money – one loses an article of clothing, thereby eventually uncovering (dis-cover-y?) oneself.

  3. John, I’m very glad you make the point at 1A. Making “Champagne Socialist” equivalent with “Hypocrite” is definitely a trope of the right, and not something I recognise at all. I was quite shocked to see the answer.

    8A Streaker I only saw after I had all the crossing letters. That’s a very cryptic CD, well beyond my guesswork.

    9A Smooch was the only answer I didn’t have correct after a very long struggle. I went through all the S…ch words mentally and did not think of it. I don’t think I’d have linked it to “French” if it had come to mind. I like “moo” being the sound from stock, but, French?

    11A Teetotal I only guessed with all the crossing letters.

    22D Strip Poker I can’t really see what the CD is getting at. I wrote it in because it fitted the other letters, and it had something to do with hands. Turned out to be right.

    I agree with John that this was very hard, a four-DAC problem. I found many of the clues left me wondering if I had found the right answer, even after I had. And I really don’t like 1A. Sorry Donk! And Congratulations John on blogging such a challenge.

  4. Gosh this was hard. Majestic trickery by a star setter. Thought 15a might be an admission of cack handedness by donk. Don’t really get the poker clue but see where its going. Thanks John, that must have been a struggle.

  6. Very difficult, but I enjoyed going through the parsing. Thanks John and Donk.

    STRIP POKER, Hands discover (archaic = make known, exhibit) y (unknown) to partner?

  7. I didn’t find this as difficult as some of you seen to have done, and I thought it was a lot of fun. I agree with Kettledrum’s comments @1 and @2, and I thought the “dis-covery” cryptic definition of undressing was a clever one. I also have no problem with defining a CHAMPAGNE SOCIALIST as a hypocrite for crossword purposes. Just because it is mainly used pejoratively by the right doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. PROPHET was my LOI after HEREFORD.

  8. Thanks Donk and John. I also found this very hard, and was a bit dissatisfied with STRIP POKER. On the other hand, I thought 8a was a very good cryptic definition once it dropped. I’m fairly sure “bits” is a shortened version of “naughty bits”, as in “Oo-er, look at him parading around with his bits out”. Much to my surprise, it doesn’t seem to be supported by any of the major dictionaries.

  9. I feel that the missing apostrophe in 26a (Does’ fancier) made the clue a bit ‘mean’! Otherwise comments above agreed. But then, I always find Donk testing.

  11. I concur with quite a few of the opinions expressed above, particularly about the setter being less than accurate. And another one… Job is an Old Testament character but was not a prophet.

  12. Having struggled with Tramp earlier, John’s introduction caught my eye so I picked up an Indie on my way home. This was tough but very entertaining – I’m starting to get a feel for Donk/Screw’s wavelength, but I have to admit that a couple of these went in unparsed. Last in was TEETOTAL, liked that, GERONIMO, GYRATED and RIOTOUS.

    Thanks to Donk and John

  13. Don’t feel so bad about my DNF now. Stalled on three. I thought Strip Poker and Cited but couldn’t parse, so thanks to John for those. Failed completely on Streaker. Found this hard going.

  15. I thought this was an excellent puzzle overall.

    But I did think a couple of clues were insufficiently precise. 18d – as per @11allan_c Job is not a prophet, just an OT character. 22/3 – I was fine with “hands” = card game = poker & with “discovery” to suggest strip, but poker is not a card game that involves partners, only opponents – so I find the whole cryptic-definition to be too imprecise.

    I didn’t think twice about “hypocrite” for champagne socialist when I solved it (perhaps out of relief at getting the long anagram to give me quite a few letters in the grid) – but the comments here made me look it up in Chambers – “(derog) a person whose comfortable or extravagant standard of living belies his or her professed socialist politics” – I tend to agree with commenters above that this is a right wing slur – this definition does suggest that it is in the mind of the person using the epithet that it is an accusation of being a class traitor or maybe a hypocrite – for me the “hypocrite” needs a “?” or “perhaps” or some other equivocation indicator.

  16. Hi all,

    Thanks to John for pushing through the pain and completing the blog, and apologies to everyone that found it particularly tricky!

    I think this might be the last time I rely on Wikipedia – Job’s described as a prophet in the very first line…

    As for STRIP POKER, you need to look at “partner” as a verb and “discover” as dis-cover (a bit of cryptic freedom). The clue can then be read as “Hands [that] discovery [is] to partner” i.e. Hands, that stripping goes with.

    Hope that helps!

    All the best,
    Donk

  17. We had similar concerns about STRIP POKER and have to admit that like skikasta, we just wrote in CHAMPAGNE SOCIALIST once we’d worked out the anagram.

    However there were good smiley moments throughout the solve and lots of “DONKY” clues which we love. More please!

    Thanks to John and Donk.

  18. This one defeated me. Even after several e-searches I had about a third left to do and no way could I see myself completing this.

    I, too, like Cyborg@8, read “bits” as naughty bits.

  20. I initially found this tricky so put aside for later enjoyment. Somehow it ended up in my ‘prize crosswords’ for deferred 225 viewing (don’t always get round to these – I often find my visits to fifteensquared can take up more time than the relevant crossword).
    Hence my very late contribution. But having read others’ views, I felt obliged to comment in case Donk should see this since….. in my opinion, this was a delight. Maybe not perfect in every respect (I quailed a little at the “French” definition but, given the QM and knowing our Gallic friends’ adventuressness in such areas, it still brought some joy) but indeed, a wonderful puzzle – and I await the next Donk with lip-smacking anticipation!
    (Belated thanks to John also)

  21. I wish somebody from the i 2019 would give an explanation why they print these type of ultra difficult puzzles.
    I know they have probably already paid for this puzzle 5 years ago, what advantage to the i readership in 2019.
    Complete rubbish.

  22. Oh tortoise!  I am REALLY enjoying these i cryptic puzzles & can usually manage most with relish.  Strangely it was 1d I couldn’t parse in this; t’others came after a while’s thought.  Many thanks Donk.

  23. An exceptionally tricky puzzle with some liberties taken with solutions in the interests of clever surfaces. Having said that, 11ac is perfect. I just wish I’d seen it!

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