History will perhaps record that the first Independent cryptic of the paper’s digital-only age was set by Punk and blogged by Pierre. I just hope that I’ve done it justice, because it was a most enjoyable solve; and I also hope that there are still people out there who are going to be doing the crossword online and commenting here.
I spy, with my little eye … four spies. Even I saw this one coming, and in fact it helped with completion. Around the perimeter, starting with the first letter of 17ac, we have BURGESS, MACLEAN, PHILBY AND BLUNT. Guy BURGESS, Donald MACLEAN, Kim PHILBY and Anthony BLUNT were Cambridge students recruited by the KGB to spy for Russia during World War II and during the subsequent Cold War. Can’t find any particular reason why Punk would have chosen this theme for today, and the rest of the clues don’t seem related, but I may be missing something.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
8 Penning first in trilogy, author needing a drink
GREEN TEA
An insertion of T for the first letter of ‘trilogy’ in Graham GREENE, followed by A. Punk has sent the teenager to his bedroom and told him to stay there, Deo gratias.
9 Something to draw on right-hand side of page, so it could be?
STOGIE
([PA]GE SO IT)* A STOGIE is an American English word for a cheap cigar.
10 Search close to over, with licence to kill time
ROOT
A charade of R for the last letter of ‘over’, OO, and T. OO was the prefix for agents ‘licensed to kill’ like James Bond.
12 Exercise beyond Shakespearean lieutenant, one with a vain queen
CASSIOPEIA
CASSIO is Othello’s lieutenant, then you need PE, I and A to give you the Queen in Greek mythology who was too fond of looking at herself in the mirror. And also the constellation, of course.
13 Scientific body in fluid ounces
UNESCO
(OUNCES)*
16 So scratching head with task – forgotten something?
OMISSION
[S]O plus MISSION. The definition has to be interpreted as ‘something that has been forgotten’.
17 Less familiar tunes including Beethoven’s Second, moreover
BESIDES
An insertion of E for the second letter of ‘Beethoven’ in B-SIDES, for those of us old enough to remember them. Vinyl is making a comeback, apparently.
19 Ultimately, race won with burst, in journey of self love
EGO TRIP
A charade of E for the last letter of ‘race’, GOT for ‘won’ and RIP for ‘burst’. What setters are on when they submit puzzles for publication. Only joking.
22 Bear hugs real hairy bear!
TOLERATE
An insertion of (REAL)* in TOTE for ‘bear’.
24 Notes, perhaps, written about bachelor in African citadel
CASBAH
An insertion of BA for ‘bachelor’ (of arts) in CASH.
26 Model as concise embodying fifty of David’s paintings?
NEOCLASSIC
(AS CONCISE)* with L inserted.
27 Fungal sacs, somewhat fascinatingly
ASCI
Hidden in fASCInatingly. No, I hadn’t heard of them either.
29 To capacity, lid off, time for the remaining liquid
ULLAGE
[F]ULL plus AGE. A strange word, I’ve always thought.
30 Thoroughly unfortunate end, back on newspaper
IN DETAIL
(END)* and TAIL, preceded by I, (or i) which is the only version of this newspaper you’ll be able to buy in the newsagents from today.
Down
1 I’m not sure try’s given as a result
ERGO
A charade of ER, loosely for ‘I’m not sure’ or hesitation, and GO. Cogito, ergo sum and all that.
2 Main bottom in butt, behind
SEAT
A charade of SEA and T for the last letter of ‘butt’. Wouldn’t be a Punk puzzle without bums appearing somewhere, would it?
3 Plaster coming off initially after upping of austerity measures
STUCCO
CUTS reversed followed by C and O for the first letters of ‘coming’ and ‘austerity’.
4 Pile I fed to males
MANSION
An insertion of I in MAN and SON for two ‘males’. ‘Pile’ is an informal word for a large house. In the countryside, mainly.
5 Ambitious foursome you’ll find on the periphery from 17, did you say?
ASPIRING
I regret to say that I have absolutely no idea what is going on here.
6 Blends dispensed from some optics
COMPOSITES
(SOME OPTICS)*
7 Drive two into the water
LIBIDO
An insertion of BI in LIDO. BI for ‘two’ in a prefix sense, I suppose: BISEXUAL, BIPEDAL, BILINGUAL, etc.
11 Number going into two neatly
ONE
Hidden in twO NEatly.
14 Born in the jungle, only fundamental characters?
NÉE
The feminine version of the past participle of the French verb naître, which you really only see in obituaries of women, is formed from the last letters of iN thE junglE. ‘Only fundamental’ is telling you to take the bottom letters.
15 Marine animal saw a vehicle, say, flooded with last of water
SPIDER CRAB
I think Punk is pointing us to R inserted in SPIDER CAB, which sounds like (‘say’) SPIED A CAB, which would be ‘saw a vehicle’.
18 Label written up, amended date issued
EMANATED
NAME reversed followed by (DATE)*
20 Princess sounding like a duck
IDA
Princess IDA is from the Gilbert and Sullivan work; it also sounds like EIDER, which is indeed a duck. And no, you can’t have the obligatory Pierre bird link, because the bird is not the answer. However, I can tell you that there is a famous colony of Eiders on the beautiful Farne Islands in Northumberland; that they are locally called ‘Cuddy’s Duck’ after Saint Cuthbert, who is the patron saint of the county; and that you might not have realised their link to EIDERDOWN.
21 Style of delivery from member with political bias
LEG SPIN
A charade of LEG and SPIN. Warney, a legend.
23 American playwright, a person flat on his back?
O’NEILL
A whimsical suggestion that ONE ILL would be laid low, or ‘flat on his back’. Eugene O’NEILL (1888-1953).
24 Insect starts to chirp: “I’m cricket, and drummer also!”
CICADA
The first letters of the last six words of the clue.
25 Almost ruined, public transport
BUS
BUS[T]
27 Pretentious litigant doffing cap
ARTY
I’ll have a stab at this by saying that it’s [P]ARTY, since a litigant in court would be one of the PARTIES involved. That could be balls, so any other suggestions welcomed.
28 Card game, cheat
CRIB
A dd. The second definition is mostly used to suggest cheating in exams, or plagiarism, I fancy.
Many thanks to Punk for the Bank Holiday puzzle.
I missed quite a few clues and the theme (as usual!) but still found this enjoyable. I’m probably barking up the wrong tree completely, but is ASPIRING anything to do with Burgess, Philby et al (‘foursome you’ll find on the periphery’) having come from Cambridge rather than the spires of Oxford?
Thanks to Pierre and Punk.
Thanks Punk and Pierre
5dn: Homophone of A SPY RING, the Nina starting at the square numbered 17.
One of the few from Halpern to beat me lately but then I NEVER see ninas in hid puzzles so wasnt looking for one.I think I may have stood a better chance if I’d spotted it.
Thanks Pierre and Punk.
Thanks WordPlodder and Pelham for explaining ASPIRING. It’s obvious when somebody (in this case, not me) explains it, isn’t it?
Didn’t get the nina, which was beautiful, & hence couldn’t parse ASPIRING: the IV for ‘foursome’ in the possible STRIVING for ‘ambitious’ was my nemesis today. Thanks to Punk, et rebonjour à Pierre.
BTW, the compiler’s name still doesn’t appear in the online Daily Edition, which was infuriating on Saturday when two clues in the Monk puzzle depended on knowing setters’ names. I have emailed customerservices@independent.co.uk. Does anyone have any pull down there?
The setter’s name appears on the free puzzle at http://puzzles.independent.co.uk/category/crosswords
Well, I got some of the more obscure words easily but struggled with some of the more obvious ones. Spotted the nina at almost the last minute, which enabled me to get SEAT as my last one in. But I didn’t get the parsing of 5dn; I thought the ‘foursome’ might be a reference to Wagner’s Ring cycle but (naturally) couldn’t derive ‘aspi’ from 17ac.
Thanks, Punk and Pierre
@Richard
Thanks, I’d worked that out, but it’s awkward to have the two apps open & anyway I’ve just paid £150 for a year’s supply of the Indy online & they might get the Xword right at that price. (Not that I wasn’t grateful for the free iPad mini).
[Exits GrumpyOldMan mode]
I’m not sure but I don’t think I can recall a Halpern crossword with a Nina around the perimeter.
True, he has written so many puzzles that there must be one somewhere.
Anyway, normally I do not comment anymore to his crosswords.
They hardly ever cause a reason for discomfort or big discussions.
Today, I liked the way Punk indicated the Nina very much.
Starting with 17 following ‘a spy ring’ round the perimeter.
Round? I know, strictly speaking it’s a rectangle.
I liked it!
Thanks Pierre for the blog. As Joyce went on line Bert asked what you had for 5d and then suddenly the penny dropped even before the page loaded.
A very neat nina which also helped us complete the solve.
Good to see that the standard is still there – but we hope Grant Baynham makes some headway with the setter’s name.
Thanks Punk.
B&J@10: “the penny dropped even before the page loaded” – funny how that happens sometimes; you reach for a dictionary or start to load a word finder or anagram solver and the ‘aha!’ moment occurs before you get there.
[I would have posted this earlier but for 15^2 crashing.]