Independent 9,000 / Dac

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It has fallen to Dac to compile today’s landmark puzzle: the 9,000th Independent cryptic crossword!

I wonder if the entry at 1A was chosen to mark the occasion or whether this was pure coincidence. In any case, congrat(ulation)s to Eimi and the team on the first 9,000 puzzles, and I am sure that we are all looking forward to the next 9,000 grids.

I found this crossword to be towards the easy end of the Dac spectrum. Once I got a foothold on the puzzle, the solution fell into place without too much head-scratching being needed. That said, I needed Chambers for 8, as I was misled into thinking that “lout” led to “yob”. I also struggled to parse the wordplay in 17, although I think I got there in the end. I would be keen to hear if other solvers parsed 29 in the same way as I did, since I was unsure of t=town.

As for my favourite clues today, I liked 14, for affording me a cheeky smile; 18, for its clever device around three school subjects; 28 for its surface; and, above all, 25, for its surface and misdirection around PC.

(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across  
   
01 CONGRATS Finish off African river pests? Well done!

CONG<o> (=African river; “finish off” means last letter dropped) + RATS (=pests)
   
05 EIGHTY Octogenarian is this heavy, not wife

<w>EIGHTY (=heavy); “not wife (=W)” means letter “w” is dropped
   
10 AURICULAR Concerned with hearing one hundred will be housed in a posh rural development

[I (=one) + C (=hundred, in Roman numerals)] in [A + U (=posh) + *(RURAL)]; “development” is anagram indicator
   
11 KEITH Some Like It Hot Man

Hidden (“some”) in “liKE IT Hot”
   
12 ALAN FREEMAN Real fan excited by return of star DJ

*(REAL FAN) + EMAN (NAME=star; “return of” indicates reversal); the reference is to UK DJ Alan Freeman (1927-2006), best known for presenting Pick of the Pops
   
13 PRO Some minor player? The reverse

Reversed (“the reverse”) and hidden (“some”) in “minOR Player”; & lit.
   
14 TRAPEZE Swingers’ bar supplying gin and drugs, reportedly

TRAP (=gin) + homophone (“reportedly”) of E’s (=drugs, i.e. Ecstasy); cryptically, a trapeze is a bar for “swingers”, i.e. acrobats at a circus
   
16 ON-LINE Ultimately failing link stops one using Internet

LIN<k> (“ultimately failing” means last letter dropped) in ONE
   
19 BRIDGE New partner grasps good card game

G (=good) in BRIDE (=new partner, in marriage)
   
21 SIZABLE Fairly big business, lacking capital, is in the black

<b>IZ (=business; “lacking capital” means first letter is dropped) in SABLE (=black)
   
24 ADD Tot lauded, though oddly deficient

<l>A<u>D<e>D; “oddly deficient” means all odd letters are dropped; to tot (up) is to add (up)
   
25 SCREENSAVER PC’s image never scares criminal

*(NEVER SCARES); “criminal” is anagram indicator; the PC in the definition is a personal computer, not a police constable
   
27 STONY Penniless small boy

S (=small) + TONY (=boy, i.e. abbreviation of man’s name Anthony); stony is stony-broke
   
28 TREASURER Finance expert more confident after rate’s revised

*(RATE) + SURER (=more confident); “revised” is anagram indicator
   
29 MALTON Centre of small town – old North Yorkshire town

<s>MAL<l> (“centre of” means all but first and last letters) + T (=town) + O (=old) + N (=north)
   
30 STONE AGE Performing lead in Equus in theatre for a period

[ON (=performing) + E<quus> (“lead in” means first letter only)] in STAGE (=theatre, as in to be on the stage)
   
Down  
   
01 CHAPATTI Bread fellow has at half-time

CHAP (=bread) + AT + TI<me> (“half-“ means 2 of 4 letters only are used)
   
02 NIRVANA For old rock band // it’s heaven

Double definition: Nirvana is both the Buddhist heaven AND an American rock band active from 1987-94
   
03 RICE FIELD Paddy runs over large frozen expanse

R (=runs, in cricket) + ICEFIELD (=large frozen expanse)
   
04 TULLE Silky material: two lengths packed in a day

[L, L (=two lengths, i.e. 2 x L (=length)] in TUE (=a day, i.e. Tuesday)
   
06 INK IN Confirm arrangements among the family

IN (=among) + KIN (=the family)
   
07 HAIRPIN Move quickly, say, and hurry around bend

Homophone (“say”) of “hare” (=move quickly) + PIN (NIP=(to) hurry; “around” indicates reversal)
   
08 YAH-BOO Lout suppresses b— expression of contempt

B in YAHOO (=lout)
   
09 CRAMPONS They help climbers on top of Snowdon after muscular pain

CRAMP (=muscular pain) + ON + S<nowdon> (“top of” means first letter only)
   
15 EXECRATE Curse old European car

EX (=old) + E (=European) + CRATE (=car, in poor condition)
   
17 LAZY SUSAN Revolver lost by zany characters crossing South America

L (=lost, on pools coupon) + {[S (=South) + USA (=America)] in *(ZANY)}; “characters” is anagram indicator in that it suggests the word is to be broken down into individual letters; a lazy Susan is a revolving dish for serving different types of food on a table
   
18 PEAR TREE Energy needed after three lessons in school? I’ll supply fruit

[P.E. + ART + R.E. (=three lessons in school)] + E (=energy)
   
20 REDPOLL Communist’s election flyer

RED (=communist) + POLL (=election); a redpoll is a bird related to the linnet, hence “flyer”
   
22 BAVARIA Bass introduces a very long solo in place of Strauss?

B (=bass) + A + V (=very) + ARIA (=long solo); German composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949) was born in Munich, Bavaria
   
23 BALSAM Plant maiden found under wood

BALSA (=wood) + M (=maiden, in cricket)
   
25 SAY-SO Authority remains silent, apparently

If someone SAYS O (=nothing), he “remains silent”
   
26 EVENT Competition // result

Double definition: an event is an e.g. sport’s competition AND an outcome, conclusion, upshot
   

 

9 comments on “Independent 9,000 / Dac”

  1. I think you must be right about 29ac, though neither Chambers (1998) nor Collins (2006) have ‘t’ as an abbreviation for ‘town’. I originally thought it was MALT + O + N till I realised that no way do the central letters of ‘small town’ give the combination ‘malt’.

    I did wonder, too, if CONGRATS referred to the puzzle number, or maybe to somebody reaching EIGHTY.

    Thanks, Dac and RatkojaRiku

  2. 29ac – T is used in connection with football teams, e.g. Ipswich T(own)

    The usual smoothness of a Dac – 11ac a model of simplicity, and very funny as it’s my dad’s name

  3. Thanks to both and congratulations to the Indy on reaching the 9000 mark.

    I had fully expected the crossword to be based around that event and specially went and bought a paper copy. Have looked in vain for a NINA.

  4. Well done to the team of setters. An enjoyable puzzle, though I couldn’t parse CIABATTA at 1D for the life of me, which now makes sense given that it is wrong. Had to look up REDPOLL as I hadn’t heard of it. Agree that 25 and 28 across and 18d were beautifully done. No surprise there, of course.

  5. Congrats to all setters over the last 9,000, and to any ever-present solvers.
    I had a similar experience to PJ, except I entered BAGUETTE before I got 1A. Funnily enough it didn’t make any sense. Also TULLE is not spelled TUILE , and equally didn’t work too well.
    The usual easy in retrospect puzzle from Dac, and good to see old Fluff Freeman mentioned in despatches.
    One minor quibble. My paper gives 23D as a five letter answer, but of course there are six spaces. Good to see that I’m not the only one making mistakes.
    Thanks to Dac and to RR for the excellent blog.

  6. Thanks for blogging, RR, and thanks to Dac for the usual well-constructed and pleasing puzzle.

    My first in was EIGHTY, so I was immediately looking for the theme, given the number of the crossword. Doesn’t seem to be one, so I’ll just say thank you to all the setters over the years. (I’ve only been doing the crosswords for about the last three thousand or so, although I’ve read the Indy since edition number one.)

  7. I’m sitting in the Spokane Convention Center waiting for the World Science Fiction Convention to get fully started, and this went in quite smoothly. 14ac made me laugh. In retrospect, I realise I couldn’t parse 18dn – I was trying to get the three Rs in it – and I wasn’t entirely sure how 17dn worked, so thanks for the explanations.

    I wonder if Dac knows someone called Keith who is eighty today.

  8. Thanks RR and Dac. Good fun. How nice it is to be able once more to solve the Indy crossword on the day itself. I was late to it today but I look forward to many more pleasurable “engagements”. My only gripe with the new format is that the numbers in the grid are very small – I need a pretty strong light to read them with confidence.

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