You might think I should be on Poins’ wavelength by now, having had many months drawing Poins every time I blogged an Independent on Sunday puzzle. Instead I found this quite a challenge, and there are still a couple that I don’t really understand.
There was a fair bit of general knowledge (Shakespeare, moons etc.) required, which isn’t really a complaint.
The two that beat me were 22 across and 6 down, and in the latter I can’t even identify a definition.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SPLIT HAIRS | Quibble about abandoning Paris Hilton’s broadcast (5,5) |
| Anagram of (PARIS HILT[on’]S). | ||
| 7 | GUTS | Tenacity shown by last of joggers after a hard struggle on the way back (4) |
| TUG< + [jogger]S. I initially questioned TUG being a “hard struggle”, but it’s right there in Chambers. | ||
| 9 | GOLF | Cliff oddly lacking energy before game (4) |
| GO + [c]L[i]F[f]. | ||
| 10 | DISTRIBUTE | Divide amongst several of girl’s close-knit group – mostly Native American people (10) |
| DI‘S + TRIB[e] + UTE. | ||
| 11 | SPARTA | Box, essentially intact, found in an ancient Greek site (6) |
| SPAR + [in]TA[ct]. | ||
| 12 | RECREANT | Cowardly soldiers interrupting to forswear a previously held belief (8) |
| RE in RECANT. | ||
| 13 | PROCLAIM | With support curtailed, right to publish abroad (8) |
| PRO[p] + CLAIM. I think that’s “abroad” in one of its rarer senses, such as “over a wide area”. | ||
| 15 | IRAN | Country retreat originally owned by a Scotsman (4) |
| R[etreat] in IAN. | ||
| 17 | TUBA | It’s played merely to turn 8’s heart (4) |
| BUT< + [tit]A[nia]. | ||
| 19 | NEOPHYTE | Dicky, 23, extremely earnest about becoming a novice (8) |
| PHONEY* + E[arnes]T<. | ||
| 22 | MACARENA | Influential choreographer’s opening ignored during her key dance (8) |
| No idea how this works, sorry. | ||
| 23 | PHONEY | Counterfeit currency Miles left behind pub (6) |
| PH + [m]ONEY. | ||
| 25 | MASTERMIND | Gain control by blocking doctor’s TV show (10) |
| MASTER + (IN in MD. | ||
| 26 | TOTE | Carry On Teacher at first shown in the centre of Cheltenham (4) |
| (O[n] T[eacher]) in [chelTE[nham]. A well-hidden definition there, and a (perhaps inadvertent) horse-racing connection between Tote and Cheltenham. | ||
| 27 | HEAR | Try to pay attention (4) |
| Two definitions: try in court/pay attention. | ||
| 28 | TO THE POINT | Against His Excellency accepting Brandt’s final argument as relevant (2,3,5) |
| ([brand]T in (TO + HE)) + POINT. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | PROSPER | Get on with Miranda’s dad for the most part (7) |
| PROSPER[o]. Prospero was Miranda’s father in The Tempest, I learn. | ||
| 3 | INFER | Deduce from a refusal to escape from Hell (5) |
| INFER[no]. | ||
| 4 | HIDEAWAY | Welsh town embracing plan to have women’s refuge (8) |
| (IDEA + W) in HAY. | ||
| 5 | INSTRUMENTALIST | Helpful to first violinist for example (15) |
| INSTRUMENTAL + 1ST. | ||
| 6 | STRUCK | Assumed by Potter about to support Socialist leader (6) |
| Nope, not a Scooby. | ||
| 7 | GIBBERISH | Rib with gibes about Henry’s bull (9) |
| (RIB with GIBES)* + H. | ||
| 8 | TITANIA | Herschel’s discovery of Hyperion for instance initially intrigued astronomers (7) |
| TITAN + I[ntrigued] + A[stronomers]. Titania is a moon of Uranus, discovered by William Herschel. Hyperion was a Greek Titan, but cunningly is also a moon, in this case of Saturn. I’ll admit I had to look all of that up. | ||
| 14 | CHARACTER | Rent bill included in letter (9) |
| AC in CHARTER. | ||
| 16 | COMPADRE | Liken to keeping death’s-head of a friend (8) |
| D[eath] in COMPARE. | ||
| 18 | UNAWARE | Oblivious Mogul deputy dropping book in river (7) |
| NAWA[b] in URE. | ||
| 20 | TRENTON | River running by state capital (7) |
| The River TRENT + ON. State capital of New Jersey, in fact. | ||
| 21 | SECRET | Unidentified witness hugging King Charles at start of trial (6) |
| (CR in SEE) + T[rial]. | ||
| 24 | OUTDO | Overcome being debarred by party (5) |
| OUT + DO. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition; Hover to expand abbreviations
Thanks Simon and Poins,
Toughest of the week for me.
STRUCK = assumed as in struck a pose. S (socialist leader) + truck – as a verb – (potter about).
I have no idea about MACARENA.
Well done for getting as far as you did, Simon. I had to give up with a third to go. I swear that Poins must have been on a high from too much coffee when he set this. Accessible Sindy crossword? I don’t think so.
I’m not going to analyse why I couldn’t solve the clues I didn’t get – this was just too hard for this solver and this slot. STRUCK is no doubt how Muffyword explained it, but TRUCK for ‘potter about’ is a step too far, I think.
I too have no idea about MACARENA. I didn’t even know the word, which didn’t help.
Thanks to S&B.
Gremlins at work in 22a I’m afraid. The solution should have been HABANERA = H[(l)ABAN]ER+A. With regard to 6d Chambers defines ‘truck’ as ‘to potter about’. Thanks for the blog Simon.
Well I solved the printed version, so had no trouble with habanera. On the other hand the clue to 28 stopped at the word ‘Brandt’s’ so I lost half of it as well as the enumeration. And I should have remembered truck because of Fats Waller. I actually have the sheet music upstairs. Win some, lose some. (what does that remind me of?) Thanks Poins and Simon.
I printed it off, too, so got HABANERA with no (well, hardly any) trouble. Didn’t know ‘potter about’ for ‘truck’ but decided 6dn could only be STRUCK with the definition being ‘assumed’ as explained by muffyword. My printout gave the full clue for 28, which I got though I didn’t initially equate ‘point’ with ‘argument’.
Thanks, Poins and Simon