Independent 9,239 / Quixote

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It is the last Wednesday of the month, so Dac is taking a well-earned break from compiling duties.

I think this puzzle was very much towards the easy end of the Quixote, and indeed Indy, spectrum. I solved it in one short sitting, and it is certainly good for my pride to have a quick solve like this from time to time – it partially compensates for those numerous occasions when no amount of head-scratching will yield a completed grid!

Quixote normally has a couple of more obscure items of vocabulary in his puzzles, and I suppose today’s were the ass at 18 and the tea at 2; as it happens, I knew the former but not the latter. The Hertfordshire town was also unfamiliar to me.

As for clues-of-the-day, I would propose 11 and 19, both for smoothness of surface.

(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 REMUNERATES Men treasure unusual rewards

*(MEN TREASURE); “unusual” is anagram indicator
     
07 NEMATODES Worms not harmful rolling around in knots

EMAT (TAME=not harmful; “rolling around” indicates reversal) in NODES (=knots)
     
08 PROOF Nothing hidden in short academic demonstration

O (=nothing) in PROF (=academic; “short” indicates abbreviation, here of “professor”)
     
10 GENT Spy bumping off a fellow

<a>GENT (=spy); “bumping off a” means letter “a” is dropped
     
11 METACARPAL Inside tin maybe there’s a fish bone

[A + CARP (=fish)] in METAL (=tin maybe)
     
13 TANGLE Come into conflict with viewpoint after a short time

T (=time; “short” indicates abbreviation) + ANGLE (=viewpoint)
     
14 A LA CARTE A material to protect paintings etc? It suggests lots of possibilities

ART (=paintings etc) in [A + LACE (=material)]; a person dining à la carte has many dishes to choose from
     
17 HASTIEST Atheists can become most inconsiderate

*(ATHEISTS); “can become” is anagram indicator; the hastiest decision is the one taken after least consideration, hence the “most inconsiderate”
     
18 ONAGER Ass seen to be giving false daughter love in retrospect

REGAN (=false daughter, i.e. of King Lear) + O (=love, i.e. zero score); “in retrospect” indicates reversal; the onager is the wild ass of Central Asia
     
20 DAWN CHORUS Girl about to meet Egyptian god renders song early on

DAWN (=girl, i.e. a girl’s name) + C (=about, i.e. circa) + HORUS (=Egyptian god, of the sun)
     
22 FLUE Pipe brings audible complaint

Homophone (“audible”) of “flu” (=complaint)
     
24 SCRAM Go away, son, and do some intensive work for exam

S (=son) + CRAM (=do some intensive work for exam)
     
25 INDICATED Charged, having stolen article, as shown

A (=article, i.e. in grammar) in INDICTED (=charged, i.e. with a crime)
     
26 SOUTHEASTER Shout when disturbed by holiday period wind

*(SHOUT) + EASTER (=holiday period); “when disturbed” is anagram indicator
     
Down    
     
01 RUMINANTS Certain animals mum houses at home, weak creatures going about

[IN (=at home) in MA (=mum)] in RUNTS (=weak creatures, in litter)
     
02 MATE A friend for // tea

Double definition; maté is Paraguay tea
     
03 NODDER One agrees // this person may be in need of sleep

Double definition: a person who nods his head indicates his agreement, while one nodding off is in need of sleep
     
04 RASCALLY Crashing cars, colleague is in mischievous mode

*(CARS) + ALLY (=colleague); “crashing” is anagram indicator
     
05 TAP-DANCING This could get Pat performing choreographically

Cryptically, “tap-dancing” is a clue for Pat, since it is an anagram thereof
     
06 SLOOP Vessel in pond’s capsizing

POOL’S (=pond’s); “capsizing” indicates vertical reversal
     
07 NIGHTSHADES Plants as things scattered around a shed randomly

*(A SHED) in *(THINGS); “scattered” and “randomly” are both anagram indicators; the plant belladonna is known as deadly nightshade
     
09 FALSE FRIEND Unreliable chum supply a word liable to misinterpretation

FALSE (=unreliable, disloyal) + FRIEND (=chum); “actuel” is a false friend/faux ami between French and English, in that it means “current, topical” in French and not “actual, real”, as it does in English
     
12 PLAID CYMRU Clam, I dry up, looking awkward in party

*(CLAM I DRY UP); “looking awkward” is anagram indicator
     
15 REGULATOR Overseer of rules soldier must keep to

TO in REGULAR (=soldier)
     
16 ASTONISH Surprise is admitted by university hospital

IS in [ASTON (=university, in Birmingham) + H (=hospital)]
     
19 TUNDRA Suffering aunt must be probed by doc, that’s plain

DR (=doc, i.e. short form of “doctor”) in *(AUNT); “suffering” is anagram indicator
     
21 WARES Herts town’s goods in the shops

WARE’S (=Herts town’s); Ware is a small town of 18,000 people in the English county of Hertfordshire
     
23 SCOT Course denied a person like N Sturgeon

<a>SCOT (=course, for racing); “denied a” means letter “a” is dropped; the reference is to SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon
   

6 comments on “Independent 9,239 / Quixote”

  2. This is my penultimate 15 by 15 Quixote (apart from recycled ones in the i). The final one will appear on 8 June.

  3. I found this pretty easy going, my only problem being with 9d. Can someone explain where “actuel” fits in?
    Thanks to s & b.

  4. Very nice – easy, sound and smooth, like a creamy bar of chocolate. Sorry to hear The Don is leaving town.

    Rully@3, ‘actuel’ was just RR’s clarifying the definition of ‘false friend’ with an example.

  5. I wondered that at first as well, then realised that it was RR’s example of a false friend in linguistic terms. 2 gentle ones in a row – but Thursday tomorrow…..
    Thanks to S&B, and to the Don for being kind to us over the years – in the Indy at least!

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