Perhaps it’s just that the change of format to online-only no longer lends itself favourably to the quiet luxury of tackling a challenging puzzle over a leisurely pot of coffee or perhaps a pint in one’s favourite boozer, but recent Saturday Independents have been absolutely beyond me.
I found this—and many recent ones—very difficult indeed, so can’t promise a vintage blog post. In many cases the definitions simply didn’t click for me, and much of the wordplay, in the cases where I have been able to describe it, was gleaned from inspection of the Crossword Solver data file.
Not the most enjoyable way to approach a crossword, but I very much hope it’s just me, and that other solvers had a much better time of it.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PATERNOSTERS | They lift dancing partner’s toes (12) |
| Anagram of (PARTNERS TOES). “A lift consisting of a series of linked compartments moving continuously on an endless belt.” | ||
| 9 | STAIR | A captive in prison means to go down (5) |
| A in STIR. | ||
| 10 | PRESBYTER | Elder making best perry (9) |
| Anagram of (BEST PERRY). | ||
| 11 | RETINUE | Bond turning in on train (7) |
| UNITE< in RE. | ||
| 12 | BARROWS | They’re found in gardens‘ decomposing mounds (7) |
| Two definitions. | ||
| 13 | MACEDONIAN | European Spice Boys (10) |
| MACE + DON + IAN. | ||
| 15 | ZIPS | Shutters‘ speeds (4) |
| Two definitions. | ||
| 18 | CASK | Measure the contents of sack perhaps (4) |
| Anagram of SACK. | ||
| 19 | WINDBREAKS | Makes terrible faux pas in cycling shelters (10) |
| From “breaks wind” with the bits swapped. | ||
| 22 | UMBRAGE | Kit wearing runner recalled injury (7) |
| (GARB in EMU)<. | ||
| 24 | DECAGON | Figure last month’s gone by on the 1st of November (7) |
| DEC + AGO + N[ovember]. | ||
| 25 | INCOGNITO | Cognition misinterpreted as something else (9) |
| Anagram of COGNITION. | ||
| 26 | OGRES | Beasts regularly dispatching Conger eels (5) |
| Alternate letters of [c]O[n]G[e]R [e]E[l]S. | ||
| 27 | INTERSTITIAL | Tail part of rocket long ago among first in space (12) |
| ([rocke]T + ERST) in INITIAL. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PRACTICES | Collections of doctors‘ costs on fitting internal band? (9) |
| ACT in PRICES. | ||
| 2 | THRENODY | Drone playing amid your old lament (8) |
| DRONE* in THY. | ||
| 3 | RUPEE | Game based on soft drugs making money (5) |
| RU + P + E + E. | ||
| 4 | OVERBOARD | Where food may be displayed to excess (9) |
| Not sure, perhaps two definitions? Certain kinds of food can come on a board, I suppose. | ||
| 5 | TABARD | Yorkshire flat cap up top (6) |
| (DRAB ‘AT) all reversed. | ||
| 6 | RATIO | One to one – maybe in moderation (5) |
| Hidden in [mode]RATIO[n]. | ||
| 7 | ASHRAM | State personnel in for second retreat (6) |
| From ASSAM, with HR replacing S. | ||
| 8 | WRESTS | Takes pronounced breathers (6) |
| Sounds like “rests”. | ||
| 14 | NAIVETIES | One in church body matches shows of greenery (9) |
| (I in NAVE) + TIES. | ||
| 16 | INAUGURAL | First in divine anatomical limits (9) |
| IN + AUGUR + A[natomica]L. | ||
| 17 | BROCCOLI | Food Mr Forte left in British Island (8) |
| (ROCCO Forte + L in (BR + I). | ||
| 18 | COUSIN | Half-Berber dish, trendy one in my family (6) |
| COUS[cous] + IN. | ||
| 20 | SANEST | Most reasonable hospital east of Dunkirk (6) |
| SAN + EST. | ||
| 21 | MANGLE | Ruin rollers? (6) |
| Two definitions. | ||
| 23 | BACON | Artist working again after losing end of chalk (5) |
| Francis BAC[k] ON. | ||
| 24 | DHOTI | Detective cross-dressing; hot pants in Goa? (5) |
| HOT in DI. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition; Hover to expand abbreviations
Thanks for blog- I normally print these out. But this was pretty tough and needed a bit of parsing sorted out.I did like COUSIN and WINDBREAK.MACEDONIAN too.
TheBERBER was a superb misdirect.Toughest of the day.
My favourites just about match copmus’s. I laughed out loud at the spice boys and grinned at several others.
Failed on TABARD due to my lack of knowledge of Yorkshire-speak plus inability to spot the definition. INTERSTITIAL was a new word for me.
I really enjoyed this, and found it reasonably tough but worth the effort.
Thanks S.park and Simon.
Thanks for the puzzle – it was quite challenging but that’s what I like and adds to the satisfaction of contemplating the completed grid! 19 across made me laugh out loud. The Independent seems to be providing a lot of entertainment and innovation in cluing these days – has going online only given the setters more freedom to show what they can do?
Gave up on this as several clues were too abstruse for me – though now they seem obvious. But of those I did get my favourites were THRENODY and BROCCOLI.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Also found this very difficult, particularly INTERSTITIAL, though have encountered it in interstitial lung disease. MACEDONIAN excellent.
As for TABARD, Cockneys have long been characterised as incorrigible “h” droppers in cryptic clues; now it’s Yorkshire as well. What about Cornwall? Can setters provide a list of English counties where the initial “h” is not dropped?
Thanks for this. There’s always one where the answer is so obvious to the blogger that you don’t explaining, so I’m forced to admit ignorance and ask why “ru” is a game.
Eric@6
RU = rugby union
Well….. what can we say? We eventually finished this with a lot of electronic help. Thank goodness we have a searchable version of Chambers on the ipad.
WRESTS was our last one in and really very obvious but we were struggling so much that we weren’t seeing the obvious. TABARD was our penultimate solve and we failed to sort out the parsing and kicked ourselves when we came here.
19ac raised a smile though so thanks for that S.Park.
Overall we felt it was a ‘curate’s egg’ of a puzzle. Some great moments and some obscure definitions.
Thanks to S&B.