Independent 9023 / Radian

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Radian occupies the Tuesday slot with a crossword that is mainly filled with well known words.

 

 

 

I have solved this in a bit of a sticks and string fashion given my current location in the South of France with flaky internet connections and only a computer file copy, no interactive entry and no printer.  Apologies therefore if I have got something wrong.

The two entries I am not 100% sure of are KRAY at 22 across and REMORA at 7 down although both seem OK.

I can’t see any message or theme but I may have missed one.

There was a good mix of clue types and, as is often the case these days, there was a call on one’s general knowledge.  Geography and makes of car were to the fore today.  It took a while to remember that ORINOCO was a Womble.

My favourite clues were those for GRANDNIECE (19 across) for it’s many well linked component parts and SILENCE IS GOLDEN (1 down) for the relevant anagram.

Blog number 400

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

9

 

Hot car, blue, not posh, can’t be caught (9)

 

IN (in fashion; hot) + AUDI (make of car) + (BLUE excluding [not] U [posh])

 

INAUDIBLE (not loud enough to be heard; can’t be caught)

 

10

 

Last lines, say, penned in bishop’s seat (5)

 

EG (for example; say) contained in (penned in) ELY (ELY is a diocese or seat of a bishop in England)

EL (EG) Y

ELEGY (song of mourning; last lines)

 

11

 

Writer in centre set off siren (7)

 

I (descriptive of the writer) contained in (in) an anagram of (set off) CENTRE

ENT (I) CER*

ENTICER (one who tempts or allures; siren)

 

12

 

 Big current resident in common (7)

ORINOCO (reference the name of one of the characters in Elizabeth Beresford’s books about the Wombles of Wimbledon Common)

 

ORINOCO (substantial river [big current] in South America)  double definition

 

13

 

Play game in Scotland using dog Latin (4)

 

CUR (worthless dog) + L (Latin)

 

CURL (to play the came of CURLing, a game akin to bowls but played on ice with large stones.  The game originated in Scotland)

 

14

 

A fellow in Paris rebuilt animal refuge – this one?

 

(A + F [fellow]) contained in [in] an anagram of [rebuilt] PARIS) + ARK (reference Noah’s ARK [animal refuge])

S (A F) ARI P* ARK

SAFARI PARK (an enclosed PARK where wild animals [mostly non-native] are kept uncaged on view to the public; a form of animal refuge)

 

16

 

Sexist’s wife here lives around New Cross, facing west (7)

 

IS (lives) containing (around) ([N {new} + ROOD {cross}] all reversed [facing west])

I (N DOOR)< S

INDOORS (reference the slang or sexist phrase ‘her INDOORS‘ used by a man describing his wife

 

17

 

Fur hats have been controversial up to now (4,3)

 

Anagram of (have been controversial) FUR HATS

THUS FAR*

THUS FAR (up to now)

 

19

 

Last king and his daughter originally cut kind relative (10)

 

GR (George Rex, descriptive of the most recent King of England, George VI) + AND + (E [first letter of [originally] ELIZABETH or ER [Elizabeth Regina, daughter of George VI] contained in [cut] NICE [kind])

GR AND NI (E) CE

GRANDNIECE (relative)

 

22

 

Brotherhood? (4)

 

KRAY – I don’t feel all that confident about this, but I think it is a reference to the KRAY twin brothers (Reggie and Ronnie) who were gangsters (hoods) in London in the 1950s and 1960s

 

KRAY (gangster brothers; brother hoods)

 

24

 

Bent coin coated in resin doesn’t reveal much (7)

 

Anagram of (bent) COIN contained in (coated in) LAC (dark red transparent resin)

LA (CONI*) C

LACONIC (expressing or expressed in a few words; doesn’t reveal much)

 

25

 

Model destroyer described by this journeyman? (7)

 

T (reference Model T Ford) + REKKER (sounds like [described by] WRECKER [destroyer])

 

TREKKER (one making a long journey; journeyman)

 

26

 

English houseman extremely thirsty and hungry (5)

 

E (English) + MP (Member of [the lower House of] Parliament; houseman) + TY (first and last letters of [extremely] THIRSTY)

 

EMPTY (with nothing inside; hungry)

 

27

 

Old traveller‘s damage to company car (5,4)

 

MAR (damage) + CO (company) + POLO (model of car made by Volkswagen)

 

MARCO POLO (explorer who lived from 1254 to 1324; old traveller)

 
Down
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Design cell with noise baffled, to prove this? (7,2,6)

 

Anagram of (baffled) DESIGN CELL and NOISE

SILENCE IS GOLDEN*

SILENCE IS GOLDEN ( a common phrase that could be interpreted as proving that one has designed a cell with noise removed [baffled])

 

2

 

Seized and roughly put out radical (8)

 

CA (circa; about) + an anagram of (roughly) PUT + RED (revolutionary; radical)

CA PTU* RED

CAPTURED (seized)

 

3

 

Bull perhaps is unpredictable after hedges are trimmed  (5)

 

EDICT (letters remaining when the other letters UNPR and ABLE forming the borders [hedges] of UNPREDICTABLE are removed [trimmed])

 

EDICT (reference a Papal bull which is an EDICT of the Pope with his seal affixed)

 

4

 

Son avoids people in Omsk for those in Madrid (8)

 

SIBERIANS (natives of Omsk, a city in Western SIBERIA) excluding (avoids) the letter S (son)

 

IBERIANS (Madrid is situated on the IBERIAN peninsula)

 

5

 

Crown protector almost wild about reception (6)

 

FERAL (wild) excluding the final letter (almost) L containing (about) DO (party; reception)

FE (DO) RA

FEDORA (a brimmed felt hat dented lengthways; something that protects the head [crown])

 

6

 

 Yummy food outlet pledges to pay under 100 (9)

DELI (DELIcatessen; food outlet) + C (Roman numeral) + IOUS (I owe yous; pledges to pay)  This is a down entry, so the letters IOUS lie under the letter C

 

DELICIOUS (yummy)

 

7

 

Catch more flounders in Argentina (6)

 

An anagram of (flounders) MORE contained in (in) RA (Republic of Argentina)

R (EMOR*) A

REMORA (sucker fish; something that a fisherman may catch)

 

8

 

Purchase one of two farm tools, say, no matter how (2,4,2,2,5)

 

BY (sounds like [say] BUY [purchase]) + HOOK (example of a farm tool) + OR + BY (sounds like [say] BUY [purchase]) + CROOK (another example of a farm tool)

 

BY HOOK OR BY CROOK (using any method or another; no matter how)

 

15

 

Try lake hideout to watch duck (9)

 

GO (try, as in give it a GO) + L (lake) + DEN (hideout) + EYE (watch)

 

GOLDEN-EYE (sea duck)

 

17

 

Go over account with computer department tight-lipped (8)

 

TURN (go; as in it’s your TURN [go]) containing (over) (AC [account] + IT (information technology [computer] department)

T (AC IT) URN

TACITURN (reticent; uncommunicative; tight-lipped)

 

18

 

Keep pounds for auditors in US depository (4,4)

 

FORT (stronghold; keep) + KNOX (sounds like [for auditors] KNOCKS [strikes hard or heavily; pounds])

 

FORT KNOX (Location of United States Bullion Depository)

 

20

 

Swallow a  mushroom in court (6)

 

A + (CEP [variety of edible mushroom] contained in (in) CT [court])

A C (CEP) T

ACCEPT (believe; swallow)

 

21

 

Pay one new business more or less? (6)

 

I (one) + N (new) + CO (company; business) + ME (less than the all the letters in MORE; note this construct doesn’t unambiguously indicate which letters of MORE to use, but I think that the definition and crossing letters tie it down properly)

 

INCOME (salary; pay)

 

23

 

Criminal hides large ring in bog (5)

 

FEN (bog) containing (hides) (L [large] + O [letter in the shape of a ring])

FE (L O) N

FELON (criminal)

 

 

 

15 comments on “Independent 9023 / Radian”

  1. Thanks for the blog. I enjoyed this, but not wholly convinced by KRAY either.

    Re 21d, more or less is ‘more’ without the ‘or’.

    Thanks to Radian

  2. Thanks, Duncan. Hope you’re enjoying the South of France.

    Way too hard for me today; gave up with quite a few to go. My only contribution will be to say that in INCOME at 21dn the ME bit comes from ‘more or less’ because if you take OR out of MORE, you’re left with ME.

    Thanks to Radian. You win some, you lose some …

  4. I really enjoyed this one, with 9a my favourite and second to last in.

    It feels like there’s a Tuesday theme buried in there somewhere, perhaps built on the long answers. We’ve got a few silent types (TACITURN, LACONIC, INAUDIBLE); a couple of crooks (KRAY, FELON); and a few potential hooks (CURL, ENTICE, CAPTURE). I suspect I’m missing something more clever though.

  5. The online version confirms KRAY and REMORA. KRAY was my LOI, my first thought for 22ac was ‘cowl’ (a hood as worn by a brother, i.e. monk) till crossing letters proved otherwise. Misled for a while at 14ac, thinking the ‘fellow in Paris’ was ‘homme’ and the anagram would give ‘home’ as the second word of the answer. And a facepalm moment when I twigged ORINOCO was a DD (I was trying to make something of I for ‘current’ and R for ‘resident’ but couldn’t see how ONOCO fitted the rest of the clue).

    Thanks, Radian and Duncan

  6. I think the parsing for 5d is CA (circa; roughly – not sure where Duncan gets “about” from) + an anagram of (out) PUT + RED (radical).

    My iPad app (CRUX) has not been able to download the puzzle for the last two days. This probably echoes the comment by allan_c yesterday regarding Crossword Solver, and it would be nice to know if this is just a temporary blip or a permanent change. The CRUX app is much nicer to use than the Indy’s own solver.

    Thanks to Radian and Duncan

  7. Howard L @ 6

    Chambers defines ‘circa’ as about or around. I missed out an intermediate step and I should have put ‘;roughly’ after ‘about’. Sorry!

    CA (circa; about; roughly)

    Liam @ 1 and Kathryn’s Dad @ 2

    Thanks for the clearly correct parsing of ME at 21 down as MORE excluding [less] OR

  8. I really enjoyed this – especially the d’oh moments when I ‘saw’ the Womble and the sexist’s wife

    Thanks to Radian and Duncan too.

  9. Ok got 22 wrong thought army would fit in a Rufus like way. Still think kray is not much better, a bit duff and would expect a better clue. Anyway thanks Radian and Duncan.

  10. No further ideas on the theme? I was hoping someone could tie things together for me. I see now we’ve also got some potential GOLDENs (GOLDENEYE, FORT KNOX, DELICIOUS), and it seems unlikely that they can all be coincidental.

  11. But I think what @Howard L is saying is that the parsing of 2D is CA (roughly) + PUT* for which “out” is the anagrind + RED (radical); and I agree.

    Thanks to Radian and duncanshiell.

  13. 9ac and 15dn I only got after a word search and I couldn’t for the life of me parse 19ac so thanks for the explanation.

    7dn, I knew REMORA as a type of fish but Chambers goes on to say that it was believed the remora was able to stop a ship by its sucker and therefore figuratively means an obstacle, which I take is what is meant by “catch” in the clue.

  14. I’m afraid I didn’t finish this: I’d used almost all my allotted solving time before going out in blogging the excellent Vlad [Tyrus to you folk] puzzle in the Guardian – and I found them both quite difficult – but I just wanted to say that, like allan_c @5, I had COWL for 22ac, until it proved impossible [that may have been the point at which I gave up] but that I see nothing at all wrong with the correct answer, KRAY – in fact, I think it’s a fine clue!

  15. I thoroughly enjoyed this and had no problems (save REMORA – unknown to me) possibly because it followed a Vlad (Tyrus) solve. I thought KRAY was a superb clue (I had a few ‘maybe’ options in mind but once Kray popped into my brain I knew it was correct – and smiled). Also thought SILENCE IS GOLDEN was nice.
    Many thanks, Radian.
    And another intricate – and, no doubt, most helpful for those starting out – and exemplary blog from one who deserves to hear the following sincerely meant words:
    CONGRATULATIONS, DUNCAN, ON YOUR QUADRICENTENNIAL!

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