Independent 9406 / Knut

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Knut’s forte is compiling topical puzzles.

 

 

 

For reasons that may not be immediately obvious, this puzzle must have been compiled and edited within the space of seven days and possibly less.

Fidel CASTRO died on 25th November.

There were plenty of nods towards Cuba in the clues, but my first hint about the theme came from the FIDEL bit of the entry at 10 across and was fully confirmed by THE BAY OF PIGS, COMMUNIST REVOLUTION and finally CASTRO.

I found this to be one of Knut’s easier puzzles with the NE corner falling very quickly.

I liked the images created by the clue for CUBA LIBRE.

Themed puzzles often require the setter to resort to obscure words.  I thought Knut did very well today.  For me, ENLIGHT was the least known word but fairly simple to deduce.  In that clue as well it was good to see 8 as the wordplay for the letters EIGHT and not as a cross reference for another entry in the puzzle.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Having stepped over line, the French posted offensive comment (7)

 

TROD (stepped) containing (over) L [line] + LE [one of the French forms of ‘the’])

TRO (L LE) D

TROLLED (made a conscious attempt to provoke controversy or disagreement on the Internet often by posting an offensive comment on Social media)

 

5

 

Official room in which to get the bullet? (7)

 

CHAMBER (place where an assembly meets; official room)

 

CHAMBER (compartment in a gun where the bullet or cartridge is placed prior to firing)  double definition

 

9

 

Train former journalists (7)

 

EX (former) + PRESS (journalists)

 

EXPRESS (example of a fast train)

 

10

 

A non-believer elected guerilla leader (7)

 

IN (elected) + FIDEL (first name of the thematic person)

 

INFIDEL (someone who rejects a religion,; non-believer)

 

11

 

Vessel regularly seen in bay region (4)

 

ARGO (letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 [regularly seen in]  BAY REGION)

 

ARGO (ship sailed in by Jason and the ARGOnauts when searching for the Golden Fleece; vessel)

 

12

 

Bruce getting sozzled downing a tropical island cocktail (4,5)

 

Anagram of (getting sozzled) BRUCE containing (downing) BALI (tropical island in Indonesia)

CU (BA LI) BRE*

CUBA LIBRE (long drink of rum and lime juice; cocktail)

 

14

 

Corrupt, leaderless regime at fault; it’s a sign of stress (5,7)

 

Anagram of (corrupt) REGIME AT FAULT excluding the first letter (leaderless) R

METAL FATIGUE*

METAL FATIGUE (failure caused in metal by continuous varied stresses on it)

 

18

 

Customised goal for downmarket German paper announced (7-5)

 

PURPOSE (goal) + BUILT (sounds like [announced] BILD [name of a downmarket German newspaper akin to the British tabloid the Sun)

 

PURPOSE BUILT (specially made or designed to meet particular requirements; customised)

 

21 / 13

 

20’s left turn (9,10)

 

COMMUNIST (politically on the far left)  + REVOLUTION (turn)  

 

COMMUNIST REVOLUTION  (Fidel CASTRO [20 down] led a COMMUNIST REVOLUTION in Cuba to depose previous dictator Fulgencio Batista in January 1959) cryptic definition

 

23

 

Bear trap; Russian leader in America (4)

 

USA ([United States] of America) containing (trap) R (first letter of [leader] RUSSIA)

U (R) SA

URSA (Latin for ‘bear’)

 

25

 

Making tea for British oilman (7)

 

BR (British) + EWING (reference J R EWING, oilman character in the TV series Dallas [1978 – 1991])

 

BREWING (making tea)

 

26

 

Back in the day, illuminate Northern Line in 8 (7)

 

(N [northern] + L [line]) contained in (in) EIGHT (8)

E (N L) IGHT

ENLIGHT (archaic [old’ back in the day] word for shed light on [illuminate])

 

27

 

Followers backing Che unite Republican contingent (7)

 

RETINUE (reversed [backing] hidden word in [contingent] CHE UNITE REPUBLICAN)

RETINUE<

RETINUE (body of people accompanying and often attending an important person; followers)

 

28

 

20’s favourite leaves firm following return of explorer (7)

 

CABOT (reference John CABOT [c 1450 – 1500] Genoese navigator; explorer)  reversed (return of) + CO (company)

TOBAC< CO

TOBACCO (Fidel CASTRO [20 down] was known for his enjoyment of cigars [tobacco])

 
Down

1 / 2

 

Train robber’s income, according to Spooner, "a national humiliation" (3,3,2,4)

 

THE BAY OF PIGS (a Spoonerism of THE PAY OF BIGGS, a reference to the monetary gains enjoyed by Great Train Robber, Ronnie BIGGS)

 

THE BAY OF PIGS (reference the ill-fated military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 on 17 April 1961; the invasion was a humiliation for the United States)

 

3

 

Sequestration order upset Armstrong (4)

 

NEIL (reference NEIL Armstrong [1930 – 2012], US astronaut and the first man to walk on the moon) reversed (upset)

LIEN<

LIEN (right to retain possession of another’s property until the owner pays a debt or fulfils a contract; effectively a sequestration order)

 

4

 

Profane to remove heart from heavy chest (9)

 

DENSE (heavy) excluding (remove) the central letter [heart) N + CRATE (chest)

 

DESECRATE (profane)

 

5

 

For starters, Christmas lunch puts up body mass index scale (5)

 

CL (first letters of [for starters] each of CHRISTMAS and LUNCH) + BMI (Body Mass Index) reversed (puts up)

CL IMB<

CLIMB (scale)

 

6

 

Flat out (like Rocinante?) (2,4,4)

 

AT FULL TILT (Rocinante is Don Quixote’s horse in the novel by Cervantes.  There is a fair amount of TILTing at windmills in the novel)

 

AT FULL TILT (at full speed; flat out)

 

7

 

They’re reserved for those who have paid the highest price (4,4)

 

BODY BAGS (death is the full price in many instances, resulting in bodies)

 

BODY BAGS (BAGS made of heavy material in which a dead body [especially that of a war casualty or accident victim] is transported)

 

8

 

Stripped Oliver Reed, drunk, replaced (8)

 

Anagram of ([OLIVER excluding the outermost letters {stripped} O and R] and REED)

RELIEVED*

RELIEVED (released from duty by being replaced)

 

15

 

Out in Rotterdam, chips all round, a hint of Tabasco – most saucy! (9)

 

(FRIES [chips] containing [all round] UIT (Dutch [Rotterdam] for ‘out’) + T (first letter of [hint of] TABASCO)

FR (UIT) IES T

FRUITIEST (most saucy)

 

16

 

Key reviews upcoming involving British Airways (5,3)

 

RECAPS (reviews) reversed (upcoming; down clue) containing (involving) BA (British Airways)

SPACE (BA) R<

SPACE BAR (key on a typewriter or keyboard)

 

17

 

A bit of island rum, Beatrice?  That’ll get you dancing! (8)

 

DRUMBEAT (hidden word in)[a bit of] ISLAND RUM BEATRICE)

 

DRUMBEAT (a rhythm that may get you dancing)

 

19

 

Sad ending of 21 with exploding cigar (6)

 

T (last letter of [ending of] COMMUNIST) + an anagram of (exploding) CIGAR

T RAGIC*

TRAGIC (sad)

 

20

 

He’s late for the start of Royal Ascot, unfortunately (6)

 

Anagram of (unfortunately) (R [first letter of {start of} ROYAL] and ASCOT)

CASTRO*

CASTRO (reference Fidel CASTRO [1926 -2016], died just over a week ago, November 25; he’s late)

 

22

 

Fire doctor, struck off for having mixed socially (5)

 

MINGLED (mixed socially) excluding (struck off) MD (Doctor of Medicine)

 

INGLE (a fire in a room)

 

24

 

Left in Cuba without a weapon (4)

 

L (left) contained in (in) CUBA excluding [without] A

C (L) UB

CLUB (heavy tapering stick; weapon)

 

15 comments on “Independent 9406 / Knut”

  1. Thanks, Duncan, for blogging. Indeed, very topical, and the theme – even for me – became apparent quite quickly.

    Bit of foreign language stuff too – URSA (Latin), LE (French), ARGO (Greek), ROCINANTE (Spanish), BILD (German) and UIT (Dutch – where are you, Sil van den Hoek?)

    Good puzzle – the theme was interwoven into the clues rather than requiring specialist knowledge. The jury is still out on Castro, I fancy. He didn’t take prisoners, that’s for certain.

  2. Thanks for the blog, Duncan.

    Another admirably prompt tour de force from Knut. Lots of great clues, with witty story-telling surfaces – I enjoyed the sozzled Bruce, too – along with drunken Oliver Reed – and thought the anagram for METAL FATIGUE was very clever. [I even liked the Spoonerism. 😉 ]

    Duncan, I think ‘leaves’ is part of the definition in 28ac.

    Many thanks to Knut for another super puzzle.

  4. I thought this was a delight. Clever and amusing, with too many great clues to list. 7d was a bit sobering though.

    And I learnt two new things – the name of a downmarket German newspaper and the fact that it’s not pronounced “build”.

    Thanks Knut and Duncan

  6. Thanks to Duncan for the blog and to those who have commented.
    I wrote this on the day of Castro’s death; Eimi wrote back with an embarrassingly long list of edits later that evening, which I re-wrote before bedtime.
    The clue for CUBA LIBRE was originally submitted with “Jack Bruce”(he of Cream fame) as the anagrind & fodder “downing” Bali but (understandably) “Jack” wasn’t given the thumbs-up.
    @K’s dad and Louise
    I don’t quite know what to say about BODY BAGS; when I was filling the grid, it didn’t really strike me at the time- goodness knows why. My intention generally is to write light-hearted and entertaining puzzles and I’ll make doubly sure not to use incongruous grid entries like this in future.
    warmest regards,
    Rob/Knut

  7. Excellent stuff, loved FRUITIEST, CUBA LIBRE, METAL FATIGUE.

    Has there been a better Spooner?

    Thanks to Knut and duncanshiell.

  8. It’s a rare gift to be able to produce such topical and witty puzzles. The Spoonerism is wonderful. Thanks to both Baerchen and Duncan

  9. Very enjoyable. 7d took me a while, I was thinking of Radley, etc at first. By the way, I like the grey rather than the black from other web-sites in the blank squares in the print-out. It uses up less ink.

  10. Lovely topical puzzle. Knut has even brought in the exploding cigar that wasn’t an ending for 20 and was more akin to a cartoon film than the serious business of a world power.

    Some great clues. CUBA LIBRE, AT FULL TILT and FRUITIEST were my favourites.

    I’ll forgive the incongruity of 7dn.

    Thanks, Knut and Duncan

  11. Not much to add to what has already been said – entertaining, very topical and not too taxing

    Thanks to Knut and Duncan

  12. Kathryn’s Dad @1, where I was?
    At 8:04am I was in bed!

    The UIT bit of FRUITIEST was indeed an easy header after Knut’s precise cross.
    There’s not much else to associate with Rotterdam, I fear.
    Well, perhaps some past its sell-by date football team that still might annoy the Special One.

    Nice crossword but not too taxing this time.
    I am not exactly clear what Louise @4 was saying about the homophone in 18ac.
    Germans pronounce ‘Bild’ actually the same way as they would pronounce ‘built’.
    Whether it is a proper English homophone, far from sure.

    Many thanks to Duncan and Knut.

  13. Sil @12
    I was simply saying that I didn’t realise German softened a final voiced consonant – I wasn’t criticising Knut’s clue by any means, just admitting my own ignorance.

  14. A good topical puzzle once again from Knut.

    We were doubtful about 7d – it seemed somewhat macabre but that is life (and death) so to speak.

    Thanks to Duncan and Knut.

  15. Louise @13, got it now.
    The problem (if it is) of this homophone is that one word is English and the other is German.
    Knut lives in Germany so I won’t argue with him about it.
    But my point is this:
    As I said before, a German would pronounce ‘Bild’ as (s)he would pronounce ‘built’ [which is different from the English pronunciation].
    An English person would probably pronounce ‘Bild’ [which is different from how a German would pronounce it] as ‘built’.
    For me, an interesting homophone.
    Phew.

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