Independent 9132 / Rorschach

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Rorschach seems to be one of rarer breed of Independent daily setters with not many appearances to his name in the past couple of years.

 

 

 

I think the entries were quite clear, but I struggled a bit with parsing the wordplay.  For the wordplay in 15 down (SWISS ROLL) I failed completely.  I will be interested to read how it should be parsed.  I’m also a bit confused by the wrodplay at 3 down, OVERGRAZED

I’m not sure that Bill GATES is the owner of Microsoft [clue at 21 across], unless you consider any shareholder is an owner. .  He was certainly one of the founders but Microsoft is now a listed company and Mr Gates owns less than 5% of the shares.  He is not even the largest single shareholder.  I’m a bit unsure of the definitions linking PSYCHO with GAGA at 19 down, but perhaps I’m just being pedantic.

Despite these quibbles, I found much to enjoy in the clueing today.  I liked the clues for ORATING (5 across), CHARGE CARD (11 across) where the definition was well hidden and the linkage between 26 and 27 across.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Some depart for Met to see this? (3,4)

 

ART FORM (hidden word in [some] DEPART FOR MET)

 

ART FORM (a set form or arrangement in poetry or music; an accepted medium of artistic expression There are METropolitan (MET) museums, theatres, opera houses, art galleries throughout the world where various ART FORMs can be seen or heard.

 

5

 

Giving speech terrible review? (7)

 

O (zero) + RATING (assessment; review) describing a terrible review

 

ORATING (giving speech)

 

9

 

Bat on continuously before this in US cover? (5)

 

If BAT and ON are put together (continuously) we get BATON which can be put in front of ROUGE to give BATON ROUGE, a city [State capital of Louisiana]  in America

 

ROUGE (cosmetic powder used to redden [cover] the face)

 

10

 

Days struggling over drink problem (9)

 

Anagram of (struggling) DAYS containing (over) PEPSI (soft drink)

DYS (PEPSI) A*

DYSPEPSIA (indigestion; [medical] problem)

 

11

 

Plastic explosive planted next to Queen, perhaps? (6,4)

 

CHARGE (fuel for a gun; explosive) + CARD (a QUEEN is an example of a playing CARD)

 

CHARGE CARD ( a plastic card issued by a store, shop, etc which authorizes a customer to obtain goods on credit)

 

12

 

Bemused after removing bed and finding these? (4)

 

EMUS (letters remaining in BEMUSED when the letters BED are removed [after removing])

 

EMUS (flightless, fast-running Australian birds, rather odd things to find behind a BED)

 

14

 

Behind initially in Goodwood race meeting (11)

 

ASS (North American term for arse; [buttocks; behind[ + IG (first letters of [initially] each of IN and GOODWOOD) + NATION (race)

 

ASSIGNATION (an appointment to meet, used chiefly of clandestine meetings between lovers)

 

18

 

These needing stir? (11)

 

Anagram of (needing stir) NEEDING STIR

INGREDIENTS*

INGREDIENTS (in cookery, components that are often NEEDING STIR) &Lit clue?

 

21

 

Owner of Microsoft Windows ultimately denied access (4)

 

GATES (reference Bill GATES, one of the founders of Microsoft) excluding (denied) S (last letter of [ultimately] WINDOWS)

 

GATE (means of access)

 

22

 

Following agreement, Surrey’s opening start half-heartedly didn’t score after end of tea (2,8)

A (last letter of [end of] TEA) + S (first letter of [opening] SURREY) + PRO (professional; star) + MISSED (didn’t score] excluding one of the middle letters [half-heartedly] S)

 

AS PROMISED (descriptive of an action  that follows an agreement)

 

25

 

Tory regulars upset with ‘Maoist’ individual’s followers (9)

 

Anagram of (upset) TR (letters 1 and 3 of [regulars] TORY) and MAOIST and I [one; individual]

IMITATORS*

IMITATORS (followers)

 

26

 

Director coming from Cal., US… (5)

 

Anagram of (coming from) CAL US

LUCAS*

LUCAS (reference film director George LUCAS [born 1944])

 

27

 

… with whom I’m collaborating in stage production (7)

 

Anagram of (collaborating) LUCAS (entry at 25, previous clue using the ellipsis) and I’M

MUSICAL*

MUSICAL (example of a stage production)

 

28

 

Locksmith primarily selected instrument to remove front (7)

 

S (first letter of [primarily] SELECTED) + BASSOON (musical instrument) excluding (to remove) the first letter (front) B

 

SASSOON (reference Vidal SASSOON [1928 -2012], British hairdresser, businessman, and philanthropist; locksmith where locks refer to hair)

 
Down
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

CIA tipped off and RAF scrambled over the continent (6)

 

Anagram of (scrambled) RAF + anagram of (tipped off) CIA  The use of over in this down clue instructs us to place the anagram of RAF on top of the anagram of CIA

AFR* ICA*

AFRICA (continent)

 

2

 

Can-can broadcast leaving one with large bill (6)

 

CAN-CAN uses the word CAN twice giving us TOU (sounds like [broadcast] TWO) + CAN

 

TOUCAN (bird with a large brightly coloured beak [bill])

 
3 Consumed to excess, finished and died with 8, say? (10)

OVER (finished) + GRAZE (sounds like [say] GRAYS [part of the entry at 8 down]) + D (died)

I’m not completely happy with this parsing.  Why do we ignore the INN bit of 8 down and why does the D (died) go to the end?  I’m probably missing something here.

 OVERGRAZED (consumed to excess [by animals], although nowadays [people are said to GRAZE the fridge or the fruit or the nibbles if they are hungry)

4

 

Part-time Dickens student? (5)

 

MEDIC (hidden word in (part) TIME DICKENS

 

MEDIC (informal term for a MEDICal student)

 

5

 

1Direction recorded Right Now’s intro after 17 – sexy stuff (9)

 

OEST (sounds like [recorded] EAST [a {1} direction]) + R + an anagram of (trips) EGO [the entry at 17 down is EGO TRIPS] + N (first letter of [intro] NOW)

OEST R OGE* N

OESTROGEN (any one of the female sex-hormones; sexy stuff)

 

6

 

Essentially James Naughtie fronting Last Word (4)

 

AME (central letters [essentially] of JAMES) + N (first letter of [fronting] NAUGHTIE)

 

AMEN (the last word)

 

7

 

Minions – a DESPICABLE ME feature (8)

 

Anagram of (despicable) MINIONS + A

INSOMNI* A

INSOMNIA (sleeplessness; a feature of chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis [ME])

8

 

Not quite white lie perhaps to name lawyers’ whereabouts (5,3)

 

GRAY (not quite white) + SIN (for example, a lie) + N (name)

 

GRAYS INN (an INN of Court where lawyers may be found)

 

13

 

Organisation of football show in US quite a bit after Dead Ringers (10)

 

FA (Football Association, the entity responsible for the organisation of football in England) + CSI (Crime Scene Investigation;  American TV show) + MILES (quite a bit)

 

FACSIMILES (exact copies; dead ringers)

 
15 Jammed finger in fridge perhaps (5,4)

SWISS ROLL  I can’t see the word play in this clue at all.  A small SWISS ROLL could be defined as a finger of cake with jam in it, but that’s as far as I get.  I don’t see where ‘FRIDGE‘ comes in to play.  I can see that IN FRIDGE is an anagram of FINGER and ID but that doesn’t seem to help.  

I look forward to someone explaining what is going on here.

SWISS ROLL (a thin cake of sponge rolled up with jam, cream, etc; jammed finger [of cake])

16

 

 Jim’s going – heading off to war because of this? (8)

Anagram of (war [?]) JIM’S and GOING excluding the first letter (heading off) G

JINGOISM*

JINGOISM (sabre-rattling chauvinism [fanatical pride in one’s country], something that might encourage one to go war)

 

17

 

They give boost, for example to rising rents(3,5)

 

E.G. (for example) + TO reversed (rising; down clue) + RIPS (tears; rents)

EG O T< RIPS

EGO TRIPS (action or experience which inflates one’s good opinion of oneself; an action that gives you a boost)

 
19

Gaga‘s sampling from Gypsy chords (6)

 

PSYCHO (hidden word in (sampling from) GYPSY CHORDS)

 

PSYCHO (emotionally unstable; GAGA means something vaguely similar, but I’m not convinced the two words are synonyms)

20

 

Creative individual’s played onside (6)

 

Anagram of (played) ONSIDE

EDISON*

EDISON (reference Thomas EDISON [1847 – 1931], American inventor – an example of a creative individual)

 

23

 

Central character in Friends embraced by another giving flowers (5)

 

E (middle letter of [central character of] FRIENDS) contained in (embraced by) ROSS (reference ROSS Geller, one of the central characters of the Friends television comedy series)

ROS (E) S

ROSES (flowers)

 

24

 

Ones cut out of type of soft material (4)

 

ITALIC (form of sloping typescript) excluding (cut out of) both the Is (ones)

 

TALC (a very soft, pliable, greasy, silvery-white, foliated, granular or compact mineral,)

 

17 comments on “Independent 9132 / Rorschach”

  1. thanks to Rorschach and to Duncan.
    I parsed OVERGRAZED as over(finished) +d(died) with graze (in)serted (sounds like GRAY’S INN). I think of a Swiss Roll as a biggish cake, but I have seen mini versions for sale, which could be described as fingers, I guess.
    I wondered about Bill Gates; he’s certainly not the owner of MS but he might very well be of MS WIndows.
    There’s a touching loyalty about the central political Nina!

  2. baerchen@1 Thats how I parsed overgrazed- but still dont see a nina- mind you after half an hour looking for one in Yesterday’s Monk……

  4. Well, we came here looking for the parsing of SWISS ROLL …….

    Anyway, we enjoyed the misdirections which you mentioned Duncan but missed the nina. We’ve had some cracking puzzles this week in the Indy and we’re looking forward to Donk’s alter ego puzzle in Another Place later today.

    Thanks Rorschach – we need more puzzles from you!

    Thanks Duncan and whoever parses SWISS ROLL.

  7. Yes, a few quibbles with some of the clues such as GATE, but I thought this was excellent with a good mix of the fairly easy and quite hard. The stand outs for me were ASSIGNATION, SASSOON, OESTROGEN, FACSIMILES and ROUGE which was my COD. I thought SWISS ROLL was just an example of something which may be kept in the fridge – a bit unconvincing I agree.

    Many thanks to Rorschach and to Duncan.

  8. Quite liked the puzzle- a mixture of very easy and more obscure clues.
    But I dont think any shade of gray(Am or poet)/grey is almost white.
    How about “Creams Inn”?
    But I did like locksmith.

  10. Thanks Rorschach & Duncan & I agree the fridge thing’s a bit thin. Enjoyed it but I was really hoping that 5d (clue starting ‘1Direction…) was going to give us an art form, resulting in possibly the shortest definition ever…

  11. btw, (you can ignore this if you like) but does anyone else do this…? Each morning, I do the first clues of the Concise Xword in my head – no entries or written workings allowed – until I get the pun. Sad man that I am, I do not allow myself to begin the Cryptic until I’ve solved that and sometimes it’ll take half a dozen clues before I can write the solution, always in Italic script, above the grid on that left-hand page. I get cross if the pun contains the the same word as the solution. You’re right, I need to get out more.

  12. Thanks, Duncan, for the blog.

    You get what you wish for, as they say. After theme-heavy Indy puzzles on Monday and Tuesday (Star Wars and Bowie were never top of my cultural lists), it turns out to be Rorschach, and it’s Thursday, so it’s going to be a sob-squared puzzle which will be light years beyond my ken.

    Hmm … the first dozen or so go in without much head-scratching. Perhaps the blotty one is being kind to me this morning. It turns out not. The last few took more time than I really had today, but hey-ho, I finished it. So I’m with others who found it easy to start, but tricky to finish.

    JINGOISM was good; DYSPEPSIA likewise. Couldn’t understand (and still can’t understand) SWISS ROLL. But of course the original Rorschach was SWISS, so I’m sure there is some hidden message there. It’s good to see a Rorschach puzzle after a long absence, and looking forward to the next one.

    JEZ WE CAN? I’d love to think so, but I’m consigning myself to another two decades of government by Caring Sharing We’re All in it Together Dave and his bunch of Etonian friends. What is the name of that Swiss clinic?

    Thank you to Rorschach for the puzzle.

  13. Found this pretty tough in places but got there in the end and enjoyed the challenge. FACSIMILES was last in after SASSOON.

    Thanks to Rorschach and Duncan

  14. Thanks for the comments guys. Always appreciated.

    SWISS ROLL just a cryptic definition. I thought it was fun enough but hey – obviously not. Think we’re being picky about Gates but that’s what we do.

    Thanks Duncan for the blog. Stellar as always.

  15. Another really good puzzle by my fellow citizen.
    12ac (EMUS) is a bit weird though quite funny.
    BTW, I first entered ‘muse’ but that’s not plural.

    I liked 18ac (INGREDIENTS) a lot but I’m not sure whether it fully works cryptically (for me).
    Something’s doing double duty here and it’s surely not an &lit (as ‘These’ is not part of the wordplay).

    I failed to parse 24d (TALC) as I overlooked that ‘Ones’ didn’t have an apostrophe.
    Not sure why 8ac didn’t start with ‘One Direction’.
    The parsing of 15d was way beyond me – the ugly duck in an otherwise exciting puzzle.
    Well, that’s what I think.
    Perhaps, one should leave cryptic definitions to Rufus.

    Thanks Duncan, for a good blog.
    And to Jon for the entertainment.

  16. Thanks for the blog, Duncan.

    I couldn’t believe my / our luck first thing this morning, to get both Likely Lads, Rorschach and Screw, on one day – with Redshank in the FT to boot.

    It turned out to be just a bit disappointing – no fault of any of these favourite setters. It just happened to be a busy day for me, with a theatre trip in the evening. Rorschach was the last of the trio that I came to and turned out to be, for me anyway, the hardest, so I had to reluctantly abandon it – thank goodness for 15²! I really wish it had been a Prize puzzle, so that there would have been more time to do justice to it.

    Anyway, I loved what I did of it. Many thanks, Rorschach – please come back soon!

  17. I really liked this. I thought the clue for SWISS ROLL was great: an improved version of the famous “Jammed cylinder”. Well done, Jon.

    Thanks to Duncan and Rorschach.

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