Another new setter in the Indy or an existing one using a new pseudonym? In view of the overall style, and some of the definitions/wordplay, I don’t think it is the latter. I could come up with a few minor quibbles but I’m not going to in view of this being a first appearance. The clue that stood out for me today was 24ac because it was smooth and brought back several (not necessarily wanted) memories.
A mini-theme centred around a toxophilite’s pastime was pointed out to us in the clue for 24dn, though it would probably have been obvious anyway. A pleasant enough solve but, to be honest, I would have preferred something a little more challenging. However, having said that, I do appreciate the need for varying levels of difficulty so that everyone is catered for.
Across
8 Flight attendant, loud lascivious type, shouting (8)
FLETCHER – F (loud) plus a homophone (shouting) of ‘lecher’ (lascivious type)
9 High – like walls in the Pennines (6)
STONED – double def.
10 Stag party stripped at the far end of Bournemouth (4)
HART – [bournemout]H (the far end of Bournmouth) [p]ART[y] (party stripped)
11 Underworld figure getting free time after prison (10)
STALAGMITE – STALAG (prison) plus an anagram (free) of TIME
12 Roof supports start to bow in high winds (6)
GABLES – B[ow] (start to bow) in GALES (high winds)
14 Fluid altering shape (8)
TRIANGLE – an anagram (fluid) of ALTERING
15 Modern communication founded by network (7)
WEBCAST – WEB (network) CAST (founded {as in iron in a foundry})
17 Type of light that woman shone initially on radio set (7)
ARCHERS – ARC (type of light) HER (that woman) S[hone] (shone initially)
20 Men in far distance at first home of cockerel (8)
FARMYARD – ARMY (men) in FAR D[istance] (distance at first)
22 Company measure ready for Russia in English (6)
COPECK – CO (company) PECK (measure) – peck: formerly, a measure of capacity for dry goods, 2 gallons, or one quarter of a bushel (Chambers)
23 Final customer of The Bull, for example, that was captured by Da Vinci (4,6)
LAST SUPPER – LAST (final) SUPPER (customer of The Bull, for example {pub})
24 Last bits of boring seminar are exceptionally dull (4)
GREY – [borin]G [semina]R [ar]E [exceptionall]Y (last bits of boring seminar are exceptionally)
25 Who in Strasbourg very nearly follows the case of 8? (6)
QUIVER – QUI (who in Strasbourg) VER[y] (very nearly)
26 Fine / money (8)
STERLING – double def.
Down
1 Bean leaf salad plant cultivated for pest control (8)
FLEABANE – an anagram (salad) of BEAN LEAF
2 Instruction to leave on departing street (4)
STET – ST[re]ET (on departing street)
3 Model filling musical coffers (6)
CHESTS – T (model) in (filling) CHESS (musical)
4 The Bard rewritten for example right to left on page (7)
BREADTH – an anagram (rewritten) of THE BARD
5 Trained climber with regard to one mistake on ascent (8)
ESPALIER – RE (with regard to) I (one) LAPSE (mistake) reversed (on ascent)
6 Chap sporting topknot on boat – a military craft (10)
BOWMANSHIP – MAN (chap) preceded by (sporting top) BOW (knot) SHIP (boat)
7 Description of car borrowed from parent, allegedly (6)
RENTAL – hidden in (borrowed from) ‘paRENT ALlegedly’
13 Mad incitement to act, moving from place to place (10)
LOCOMOTIVE – LOCO (mad) MOTIVE (incitement to act)
16 Terracotta Army, for example, mostly standing on a track (8)
STATUARY – STATU[re] (mostly standing) A RY (track)
18 Field soldier under spiritual guidance – miserable wretch (8)
RECREANT – REC (field {recreation ground}) RE (spiritual guidance {Religious Education}) ANT (soldier)
19 Bald Simpsons men staggered, carrying lard (7)
ADIPOSE – alternate letters (staggered) in [b]A[l]D [s]I[m]P[s]O[n]S [m]E[n]
21 A trucker’s place, erected on American frame of sorts (6)
ABACUS – A CAB (trucker’s place) reversed (erected) US (American)
22 Old master of The Hay Wain (6)
CARTER – cryptic def. – a wain being an old word meaning wagon or cart, particularly one that carried hay
24 Thematic alternative to The Bull (4)
GOLD – cryptic def. – bull and gold being alternative names for the middle of an archery target
Thanks for blogging, Gaufrid.
Unlike you, I struggled to finish this, with unusual (for me) words like BOWMANSHIP and RECREANT. I wasn’t too keen on the definition of ‘carrying lard’ for ADIPOSE, but I did like LOCOMOTIVE.
I’m sure you’re just being coy in not revealing it, but there’s a bit more to it than just toxophily. There are multiple references to the long-running BBC Radio 4 series The Archers. Characters include Neil CARTER, Oliver STERLING; then you’ve got GREY GABLES, the hotel; THE BULL is the village pub; and there are FARMYARDS all over Ambridge.
There may be more references, but I’ve only been listening (off and on, I must add) for around 30 years, so I’m a mere beginner.
Thanks to our new setter.
Not quite sure that 11 clues (by my reckoning) counts as a ‘mini’-theme.
But I agree: a promising debut, if that’s not too presumptuous. My CoD was QUIVER, for surface and the geographical misdirection of ‘Strasbourg’.
Thanks to Gaufrid, and welcome to Spark.
More challenging? I normally finish the puzzle and couldn’t do more than about half of this unaided, so our experiences differ on that point. (I still don’t really understand ‘customer of the Bull’ in 23ac – it seems very tenuous.)
Part of the reason for the difficulty was the overhangs on all sides and consequent lack of checked first letters. It’s a matter of taste but in my view that kind of thing should be reserved for special purposes like spelling out hidden messages.
In 16d I think the word for ‘standing’ that’s been truncated is STATU[S].
I’m no great fan of bare cryptic defs but one might note that in 22dn the surface alludes to The Hay Wain by Constable, whom one could consider one of the Old Masters.
Where did you find the setter’s name? The web version doesn’t display any name for today’s puzzle for some reason.
… Ah, if I had known of the reference mentioned by K’sD@1 (posted after I saw the page) perhaps 23ac would have seemed only a little tenuous.
Welcome to Spark, who is indeed a new setter and an alumnus of my (excellent value, book now for June!) masterclasses. He’s also far too modest about his abilities, which is why you haven’t heard of him before. You should hear more now …
To Writinghawk, mostly (some of this may cross in the post…)
1. I agree about STATUs.
2. The ‘Old master’ thing is, I think, just a pleasant misdirection away from what is indeed a straight cryptic definition. The odd one of those serves to keep us on our toes (he rhymed, deliberately).
3. It’s a sort of convention that one should be able to solve themed puzzles without a knowledge of the theme. Thus, The Bull is an exemplar of a pub, be it in Ambridge or no, and the last one to sup there is indeed its Last Supper.
4. But ‘general knowledge’ themes are exempt. Thus The Bull in 24d is soluble as part of the ‘archers’ theme but not necessarily ‘The Archers’ theme, if you see what I mean.
(Hope I’m not attempting to educate my granny in egg-evacuation. Apologies if so.)
If it’s any consolation to you, Mr A, I only discovered after searching online that Da Vinci in fact never painted a picture called LAST ARCHER.
K’s D @1
Thanks for pointing out the theme. I was not being coy, I’ve not listened to even part of an episode of that radio serial so was completely unaware of the thematic material.
Mr A W @3
I agree that STATU[s] is a better parsing in 16dn. One word leapt into my mind whilst solving and I didn’t stop to see if there was an alternative (my bad – if you will excuse the US slang).
As Grant B says @6 the allusion in 22dn is an intended misdirection. I thought it was so obvious that it didn’t need further comment from me. As for the setter’s name, I have my sources.
Just a comment to say that the choice of pseudonym is odd, since Monk already sets Telegraph Toughies as Sparks.
I found the setter’s name via the print button on the website version, though it appears there as “S.park”.
So, welcome, S.park or Spark. A nice puzzle which caused some headscratching but which all came out in the end. And thanks too to Gaufrid.
Thanks, Gaufrid – and K’s D for alerting me – a fellow devotee – to a puzzle I ‘might like’.
I have to admit that the suspected theme lurked tantalisingly out of sight, after I’d spotted GREY GABLES, but gradually revealed itself. I was totally bamboozled by 24dn because there isn’t another pub in Ambridge any more! [I hadn’t been following the alternative theme.]
Re 6dn: linking the two themes – is anyone else old enough to remember [I’ve been listening, on and off, to The Archers since it began!!] Tony Hancock’s skit, ‘The Bowmans’? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go0s13G332g
Thanks to Spark for the fun.
To Eileen, re Hancock & The Bowmans.
Oh, yes. Or rather, “Oo Arrh…”
(Apologies to those who arrived too late in Our Island History to remember Walter Gabriel but it’s clearly that sort of day).
Of “Our Tone”, as we Brummies remember him, I would add that my teenage son believes ‘The Blood Donor’ to be the greatest TV sitcom episode in history. It’s the only thing on which we unquestioningly agree.
Thanks for the blog. Pretty decent puzzle, I thought, even for another one who has never listened to more than a minute of the Archers. I actually thought it was themed on English footballers, even though I only found three.
Thanks S.park and Gaufrid.
This was plenty challenging enough for me; I only solved one in my first pass through. Good debut puzzle with interesting clues. My LOI was CARTER where the Old Master had me totally fooled.
I liked the ‘flight attendant’ and QUIVER, among others.
warmest congratulations to S.Park on his debut in the Indy. I like very much the “Last Supper” idea and there was much else to admire. I haven’t listened to The Archers since leaving England but Grey Gables set off some old memory.
Based on the assumption that servile, Hollywood-kiss platitudes about a mate’s puzzle are pointless, I didn’t like the three separate uses of “for example” to avoid DBE.
Thanks to Gaufrid and S.Park
Warm welcome to Spark on Indy debut. Very interested in the comments here esp Gaufrid’s as, in contrast to him, I found this extremely challenging esp the SE quadrant. I’ll have to admit I know nothing at all about The Archers (well, except what its setting is called which did not feature here) and had no idea that was the theme until I came here even though the puzzle told us in one clue that there was a theme.
Since there only seem to be three Archers Addicts here today, I’ll resist the temptation to start a debate about the village bicycle and her numerous conquests (usually involving money). The Archers is essentially about sex in the countryside. Got to love it.
Made so hard by poor clueing. So like Boatman himself in that respect.
Excellent first outing. I agree (#9) above – it’s a strange choice of nom-de since the setter previously known as Monk uses Sparks on the DT Toughie series – where they all pull their punches – just a little – even Enigmatist/Elgar – despite the series having been launched claiming to be what it says on the tin.
So many clues I got on second (or later) look, the recurring thought being: “Why didn’t I see that earlier.”
Never having once listened to The Archers (the theme music goes just long enough for you to get to the radio and turn it off) I did know about The Bull – maybe common knowledge – maybe Kenneth Horne’s take-offs – but I didn’t know the darts terminology in 24D – so strictly a DNF – although if pressed I would have bunged the right answer in as a guess. Otherwise my LOI was 18d – which was also a word I wasn’t familiar with.
I didn’t do the ticking thing so can’t identify faves – but there were plenty of niftyisms – especially amongst the archer/Archers related ones.
I can’t imagine what the unstated niggles might have been – I didn’t have any – and I enjoyed the style – not sure what it was but it made me work just a little harder than I might otherwise have expected.
Hope to see more.
Thanks both.
Thanks for the comments folks.
S.park is a contraction of the place where I live. I was aware of the existing usage of Sparks by someone else.
Hope to see you again.
Well done S.park
very smooth surfaces throughout which must have taken some work, and a ghost theme to boot add up to make this a very impressive debut puzzle.
S.park made me think of South Park
Thanks Gaufrid and S.park. I enjoyed this and thought it showed a nice range of clue types.
Thanks S.Park and Gaufrid. Hats off to you if you found this too easy!
Thanks Gaufrid. A fine debut by S.park. Challenging and fun with some ingenious surfaces. Missed some of the themers which reassures me that I am not a complete anorak.