Rather hard today, but I suppose it is Tuesday and we have to be prepared for this. Plenty of good clues here, which often didn’t yield initially but afterwards were obvious enough. From time to time Hieroglyph requires us to split one word into two, something that not everyone is happy with and not something one often sees in the Indy. I have no objection to it myself, but it would be nice to know that it either is or isn’t standard practice at the Indy.
Definitions underlined and in chocolate today. Which at the moment (before publication) looks like bright orange. I’ve never eaten chocolate of that colour.
I think the theme is very simple: chess (I’m far more comfortable here than with rock bands). the six pieces are clued (always with the definition ‘man’, which seems unimaginative but on the other hand was perhaps intended, and it certainly made it easier to see the theme). If anything else is going on I can’t see it.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BOHEMIAN | Unconventional piano discovered by old man during black mass (8) |
| B (o he) m {p}ian{o} — discovered = dis-covered, ie with the outer letters removed | ||
| 5 | KNIGHT | Man‘s 21A near Thailand (6) |
| k nigh T — since 21A is KING, its abbreviation is k — or, in chess but not necessarily so here, K — man = chess piece | ||
| 9 | SOCRATES | Philosopher‘s very good bangers (8) |
| so [= very good, very well, if you say so] crates [in the car sense] | ||
| 10 | DRUM UP | Party adopting unusual petition (4,2) |
| D(rum)UP | ||
| 12 | OBBLIGATO | Ordinary 1D got bail-out that must be used in performance (9) |
| (o B got bail)* — 1D is BISHOP, abbreviated to B | ||
| 13 | AGAIN | Australian silverback at home once more (5) |
| A (ag)rev. in — silverback must be read as silver back or silver reversed | ||
| 14 | See 26 Down | |
| 16 | KNITTED | 21A, 5, 1: Times editor used needles (7) |
| k n 1 t t ed — 21A is KING (= k) 5 is KNIGHT (=, in chess, N) | ||
| 19 | LINED UP | Queued for starter of devils on horseback next to range (5,2) |
| d{evils) up next to line — if AB, A is next to B and B is next to A | ||
| 21 | KING | Man from London area after leaving pub (4) |
| {Bar}king — man = chess piece — leaving is used in a transitive sense that I have only ever heard in crosswords | ||
| 24 | QUEEN | Tom’s mate, man and woman leading band (5) |
| Four definitions: Tom’s mate (in the cat sense); man (chess piece); woman leading (queen); band (Queen) | ||
| 25 | WISECRACK | One half of comedy duo prior to expert joke (9) |
| Wise [as in Morecambe and Wise] crack [= expert] | ||
| 27 | EUCLID | Cryptic clue, 1D: Alexandrian summer? (6) |
| (clue 1D)*, with summer in the definition being roughly equivalent to adder or mathematician — the anagram indicator ‘cryptic’ | ||
| 28 | IMPERIUM | One parent holding fairy’s power to command (8) |
| 1 m(peri)um | ||
| 29 | TATTOO | Touch up Ringo’s drumming (6) |
| tatt o o — tatt = touch up, I see but did not know — Ringo has to be read as ring + O | ||
| 30 | BROKENLY | Intermittently, relative left youth-leader outside disreputable house (8) |
| bro (ken) l y{outh} — another meaning that I had to look up: a ken is ‘a house, esp a disreputable one’ | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BISHOP | Man is hot, occupying branch office 20 (6) |
| (is h) in (BO P) — man = chess piece — BO = branch office — 20dn is PAWN [= P} | ||
| 2 | HECUBA | 24A vacated hostile country (6) |
| h{ostil}e Cuba — Hecuba was a queen in Greek mythology and 24A is QUEEN | ||
| 3 | MIAMI | Operatic heroine taking in American city (5) |
| Mi(A)mi — Mimi from La Bohème | ||
| 4 | AVERAGE | Norm greeting artist on the way up, say (7) |
| Ave RA (eg)rev. | ||
| 6 | NARRATION | DEA agent, having dumped cocaine, almost shares story (9) |
| Nar{c} ration{s} | ||
| 7 | GYMNASTS | Tumblers emptied, groggy men assess tequilas (8) |
| g{rogg}y m{e}n a{sses}s t{equila}s | ||
| 8 | TAPENADE | Demolish pâté and the last of the spread (8) |
| (pate and)* {th}e | ||
| 11 | ROOK | Man‘s run over – fine (4) |
| r o OK — Man = chess piece | ||
| 15 | ANDANTINO | Movement seen in Scotland – Antinomianism? (9) |
| Hidden in ScotlAND ANTINOmianism | ||
| 17 | ELOQUENT | Well-spoken lot 24A upset (8) |
| (lot queen)*, 24A being QUEEN | ||
| 18 | UNDERCUT | Offer at a lower price than tenderloin? (8) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 20 | PAWN | Man and wife look for gold boxes (4) |
| pa(w)n — man = chess piece — pan = look for gold, and this goes outside (ie boxes) w | ||
| 21 | KASHMIR | 5A remains on edge, climbing disputed region (7) |
| k ash (rim)rev. — 5A being KNIGHT, = k | ||
| 22 | MALIGN | Baleful sickness upset no-good individual (6) |
| mal [= sickness] (ng 1)rev. | ||
| 23 | SKIMPY | Mean runner married Penny, heartlessly (6) |
| ski m P{enn}y | ||
| 26/14 | CHECKMATE | Picked up 1A friend, perhaps – defeat for 21A? (9) |
| “Czech mate” — 21A being KING, this is the end of a chess game, although in fact few games actually end with checkmate | ||
*anagram
Very nice puzzle. I managed enough to feel vaguely competent. I am so distressed at the looming loss of the paper puzzles. How will we all cope? Thanks to both.
Thanks, John. (Have you never ‘left’ the lemon peel on the side of your plate?).
Liked this. The quadruple definition of QUEEN looks like a record set to be broken & 9 – with S•••A•E• in the grid and ‘sages’ for ‘philosopher’s’ & ‘bangers’ in the wordplay – just had to be SAUSAGES, didn’t it? Nope. Excellent misdirection. With QUEEN & BOHEMIAN, I think Hieroglyph was just teasing us again. Thanks to him, too.
A really odd way into this puzzle for me. Couldn’t make anything of 1ac; looked at 5ac, no joy there but what about 21ac? Nope, but can I get the first letter from 21d? Well, surely “disputed region” can only be KASHMIR, and it parses, which seems to mean that K must signify 5ac; wait a minute, K is the vehicle registration letter for Cambodia which isn’t a million miles from Thailand… but no way. Eventually I get 16ac and it’s the lightbulb moment. All downhill from then on. But a great puzzle with plenty of misdirection – was “near Thailand” intentional? And I too wondered about SAUSAGES for 9ac.
Thanks, Hieroglyph and John.
A slow start, but once ‘man’ declared itself, things fell into place more easily. Yes Grant Baynham @2, I was wondering about ‘sausages’ for 9a as well, despite the incongruity with ‘philosopher’s’! I liked KNITTED and the ‘qd’ at 24 was the icing on the cake.
Thanks to Hieroglyph and John.
Not a bad puzzle but wouldnt have fancied it stone cold sober.
a lovely puzzle as always from Hieroglyph; just the right amount of pencil sucking before light dawned.
many thanks to S&B
An enjoyable solve this evening. There were a number of cross-referenced clues and some which turned out to be NOT cross-referenced when you thought they were! Some other great misdirections along the way.
We’re quite happy with ‘lift and seperate’ clues – perfectly acceptable – we’re not sure why you feel there should be a convention about this John.
Thanks to S&B.