This is Lohengrin’s first appearance in the Indy; he has had one puzzle published in the Independent on Sunday, which it also fell to me to blog.
I found this a bit clunky, with a few less than elegant surfaces. But there is some good stuff in here as well. And as I’ve said before, I’ve given up on the Monday puzzle being the ‘easy’ one. I found this hard.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[X] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1/26 Start to swiftly forget when heated romance breaks off? On the contrary
ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER
(S FORGET WHEN HEATED ROMANCE BREAKS)* with an extended definition.
9 Small car – one reserved by radio?
MINICAB
I think this is just a charade of MINI and CAB, with the hint that if you reserved one, it would be done over the radio from the taxi firm HQ to the driver.
10 Make illegal journey wanting society dinner with royalty?
BANQUET
A charade of BAN and QUE[S]T. I suppose that if you had dinner with Brenda it could be called a BANQUET, but it seems a bit of an odd definition to me.
11 Key to short game over ditches
DROPS
A charade of D for the ‘key’ with two sharps in it, and ROPS, a reversal of SPOR[T].
12 A country boy returning without adult religious leader
DALAI LAMA
This is getting a bit complicated. It’s a reversal of A MALI and LAD with A for ‘adult’ inserted.
13 Drama with one in fashion business
OPERATION
A charade of OPERA and an insertion of I in TON. TON for ‘fashion’ is only ever seen in crosswords these days, I fancy.
15 Pass on gold rings as valedictory offering
ADIEU
An insertion of DIE in AU for ‘gold’.
16 Attractive female cyclist winning races
HOTTY
In Another Place this would get slated for being sexist, and I can’t say I’m that keen on it in this place. An insertion of TT in Sir Chris HOY, the ‘cyclist’. ‘Winning’ as an insertion indicator? If I ever did use it, I’d spell it HOTTIE, and dictionaries seem to agree.
18 Observer odds against to react badly
SPECTATOR
A charade of SP for starting price or ‘odds’ followed by (TO REACT)* Not a great surface, imho.
20 Magazine article for Apple Watch?
TIMEPIECE
I think that this is a charade of TIME and PIECE, but ‘Apple’ is surely there just to improve the surface. It’s flopped, apparently (the Apple Watch, not the surface).
23 Copper arresting drunk in a flap
PANIC
Now here is a good surface. An insertion of (IN A)* in PC. The insertion indicator is ‘arresting’ and the anagrind is ‘drunk’.
24 Self-important person, say, first to back bars
EGOTIST
Again, the surface doesn’t enchant me, but I know others place less importance on that than me. It’s an insertion of TO reversed in EG and IST for ‘first’.
25 Strip of French land including left bank in Paris
DESPOIL
A charade of DE for the French word for ‘of’ and P for the first letter (‘left bank’) of ‘Paris’ in SOIL for ‘land’.
Down
1 Having many weapons, met death or explosive force
ARMED TO THE TEETH
(MET DEATH OR)* plus TEETH for ‘force’. The anagrind is ‘explosive’.
2 Band leader leaving instruments in southeast capital
SAN JOSE
An insertion of [B]ANJOS in SE. SAN JOSE is the capital of Costa Rica.
3 Make changes to scenery as required
NECESSARY
(SCENERY AS)*
4 Journalist penning military base’s exploits, initially
EMBED
An insertion of MBE for the first letters of ‘military base’s exploits’ in ED, and a kind of extended definition, I think. EMBED can be a noun in the sense of a journalist who is attached to a military unit and reports from inside it.
5 Emergency service doctors backing universal clean up
AMBULANCE
A charade of BMA reversed, U and LANCE. BMA for just ‘doctors’ is a bit of stretch. LANCE is ‘clean up’ in the sense of lancing a boil.
6 Independent carrying news during European Union malaise
ENNUI
Because it’s a down clue, it’s NN for ‘news’ in EU over I for ‘independent’. This solution also appeared in Lohengrin’s IoS offering (‘Weariness seen in pupil now and again’).
7 Wave off model – special single friend from France
TSUNAMI
It’s T for the Ford ‘model’, S for ‘special’ and UN AMI for ‘single friend’, but what the ‘off’ is doing in the cryptic grammar, I’m not sure. It surely can’t be part of the definition? ‘Off’ for ‘from’, I suppose: ‘I got it off/from Jane’.
8 Run crucial works around old city – right outside of course
EXTRA-CURRICULAR
A charade of EXTRA for a ‘run’ in cricket and UR in (CRUCIAL)* followed by R for ‘right’.
14 English court framed by corrupt prison officer
INSPECTOR
An insertion of E CT in (PRISON)*
15 Not keen on tagliatelle? Ultimately, there’s nothing for a starter
ANTIPASTO
A charade of ANTI and PAST[A] with the A replaced by O for ‘nothing’.
17 Lofted a shot to test draw
TOMBOLA
Since it’s a down clue, it’s A LOB MOT reversed (‘lofted’). Another surface I wasn’t mad about.
19 Much, much more to loveless embrace
TENFOLD
T[O]ENFOLD. Well, ‘much, much more’ could be a lot of ‘folds’. And yes, I know, I know … crossing letters.
21 Describe old man wearing shirt?
PAINT
PA IN T(shirt).
22 Finance seen regularly on familiar US index
ENDOW
The even letters of ‘seen’ plus DOW for the NY index. What ‘familiar’ is there for, I’m not sure, since I think most people will know that the DOW is the US index in the same way that the FOOTSIE is the London one.
Many thanks to Lohengrin for this one.
Thanks Pierre
I had a slightly different parsing for a couple of the clues.
9ac MINI (small car) A (one) in (reserved by) CB (radio) &lit
5dn BMA (doctors) reversed (backing) U (universal) plus an anagram (up) of CLEAN
Thanks, Gaufrid. You are right on both counts. Should have seen the (CLEAN)* bit, but I’d never have got the CB radio reference.
Thanks Pierre and Lohengrin.
Regarding 16 across, I have never come across either hotty or hottie. But one of my heroes, the late great Frank Randle used to describe an attractive female as “a bit of a hot ‘un”.
Maybe it’s just that Lohengrin is a new setter and his style takes a bit of getting used to, but I didn’t find this as satisfying as some puzzles. And I thought a gremlin had got in somewhere and omitted the definition in 4dn – I’d never come across EMBED as a noun.
Thanks, though, Lohengrin and Pierre.
I rather enjoyed this, the style being somewhat ‘different’ giving an extra challenge. HOTTY is not a spelling I’ve seen before, but hey ho. I was reminded of the cinematic opus, The Hottie and the Nottie, starring that siren of the silver screen, Paris Hilton. I’m not sure which part she played.
Thanks to setter and blogger. Good stuff.
According to dictionary.com, ’embed’, n., is not only an embedded journalist but also ‘a period of time during which a journalist is embedded’. However, I too have not come across such an use in my reading.
Several I couldn’t parse here – 24 & 25ac for example – so thanks for the explanations. I had one of those brain failure moments with 1ac. I could remember the saying but just couldn’t remember the first word and didn’t want to plough through the anagram to work it out.
22dn, surely the word familiar is there because the index is correctly called the Dow Jones index, the same as the footsie is the FTSE.
You are right, Dormouse, about DOW. Objection overruled.
Thanks for the blog, Pierre, and thanks to Gaufrid for the parsing assistance.
HOTTY: I didn’t even query the spelling, but it’s listed alongside the IE version in Chambers.
‘Off’ is indeed ‘from’ as per the blog, and ‘familiar’ is as per Dormouse.
EMBED is &lit.
Thanks for the other comments too. It’s often difficult to judge a puzzle’s difficulty having looked for so long at the same clues, but all feedback is taken on board.
Cheers
Lohengrin
Thanks for dropping in, Lohengrin.
Degree of difficulty is really subjective. I was a bit tired when I started solving this one, so that probably accounts for me finding it a bit tricky. And all solvers are different: one person’s tricky is another person’s write-in. This one was fine for a daily cryptic. Keep them coming.
Re difficulty: yes it is Pierre, thanks for persevering.
There’s one I missed out – Apple Watch is its name, as opposed to iWatch or Apple’s watch. DBE.
Cheers
Lohengrin
Good. All my doubts have been explained. Some excellent clues and it all hangs together well.
Yet another new setter in the Indy, I said to myself, and will he/she be good enough, but Lohengrin is a fine addition to the stable.
See chicken smile.
Amazingly, I sailed through this one! Is it common education, enculturation, or what? Thanks to both.