Independent 9734 by Tees (Sat 23-Dec 2017)

by

The Independent doing their very best to ignore Christmas.  Quite right

I look forward to puzzles from Tees – he always sets puzzles on my kind of wavelength.

I particularly enjoyed this choice of grid which has a higher then average number of crossing letters.  Plus, the use of the scattered 4-letter words as two 4 word answer/phrases meant there were connections to be had all over the grid.
The most trouble was had in the top right quadrant where I was convinced 11A was some kind of Indian dish, and 15A was some reference to Neon as an element.
This puzzle isn’t on the tough end of the spectrum, but then the Saturday puzzle isn’t a Prize puzzle anymore.

(Takes deep breath before committing self… )    No theme that I can see.    (Sits back and waits to be proved wrong… Hope it’s not a Xmas theme)

 

Across
1 STEPLADDER Run on stage — scenery hands could use this (10)
LADDER (run) on STEP (stage)
10 GLAMORISES Same girl, so revitalised, presents as attractive (10) 
(SAME GIRL SO)* AInd: revitalised.  First one in.
11 SHUFTI Butcher’s fine cuts secure starter for Indian (6)
F[ine] in SHUT (secure), then I[ndian].  Definition is “look” from Cockney Rhyming Slang “Butcher’s hook” and Shufti is itself slang for a (quick) look, from the Arabic
12 BASEMAN Major League player‘s rude fellow (7)
BASE (rude) MAN (fellow)
15 GLASGOW Maybe neon light moving left across Dear Green Place (7)
L[eft] moving in GAS GLOW (neon light).  I had real trouble getting this as I didn’t know Glasgow means “Dear Green Place”. This link explains https://peoplemakeglasgow.com/dear-green-place.  After having only the crossing L, I spent stupid amounts of time trying to make ELEMENT fit the clue (from def. “Maybe neon”)
16 MAPLE Mass with fruit cored in wood (5)
M[ass] AP[p]LE
18/5/2/25 FROM DUSK TILL DAWN Drum kit falls down when bashed in bloody film (4,4,4,4)
(DRUM KIT FALLS DOWN)* AInd: bashed.  It took having more then half of the crossing letters before getting this vaguely remembered film.  Now I’ve read the synopsis I think I’ll give it a miss.  [Wiki Link]  Early on I was trying to make WILD fit e.g. FUND MOST WILD LARK, when the Xmas party at the Bank of England got out of hand
19 PITON Mine working for Spike useful in upward mobility? (5)
PIT (mine) ON (working)
21 DOWAGER Rich old girl to make bet? (7)
DO WAGER
22 MACEDON Expert on marks to assume kingdom (7)
M[arks] ACE (expert) DON (to assume / wear)
24 RANCID Managed detective division that’s going bad (6)
RAN (Managed) CID (detective division)
27 LEADING MAN Wickedly maligned bankers in Auburn Star (7,3)
(MALIGNED)* AInd: wickedly, then A[ubur]N
29 DENIGRATED Disparaged, rejected, finally King Rat enters (10)
[kin]G RAT inside DENIED (rejected)
Down
3 POMADE Insane writer’s swallowed hair treatment (6)
MAD (insane) in POE (writer)
4 ABRAHAM Patriarch no expert in support for women! (7)
BRA (yes) inside A HAM (no expert)
6 RISSOLE Food only provided after risk reduced (7)
RIS[k] SOLE (only)
7 CONFIGURED Swindle appeared organised (10)
CON (swindle) FIGURED (appeared)
8 CHAIRWOMAN Leading lady‘s one appearing in daily (10)
I in CHARWOMAN
12 BREADCRUMB In Birmingham to study about bishop’s dressing (10)
READ C (study, about) inside BRUM then B[ishop].  I needed all crossing letters for this.  I don’t think of breadcrumbs as a dressing, while I grant that they can be.
13 SIDEWINDER Snake one’s upset maybe does about turn (10)
I’S< then DEER (does) about WIND.  This was the Last One In but I cannot explain why I had so much trouble with it – I refuse to accept I was misled by the (female) DEER / DOES ruse yet again after all these years.  There must be some other reason
14 NADIR Deepest point in Mahanadi river (5)
Hidden in mahaNADI River.  This word definitely appears as a crossword answer more often then average
15 GLOOM Bottom of cooling tower is dark (5)
[coolin]G LOOM (tower)
19 PEDDLED Theologian after training was first flogged (7)
P.E. (training) DD (theologian) LED (was first)
20 NANKING Bread head gets past capital (7)
NAN (bread) KING (head)
23 ENIGMA Poser in game that’s fixed (6)
(IN GAME)* AInd: fixed
26/9/17/28 MAKE BOTH ENDS MEET Chunnel consortium had to stay solvent (4,4,4,4)
Double Def.

12 comments on “Independent 9734 by Tees (Sat 23-Dec 2017)”

  3. Closest I’ve been to completing a Tees puzzle without cheating, but used a word fit to get GLASGOW (annoyingly since I had GL-W) and then googled to find out why. Learn something every day. Got everything else. A couple of inclusions seem, at first reading, to be the wrong way around, 3d and 4d. For 3d, I guess you read ‘insane writer’s swallowed’ as ‘writer’s swallowed insane’. Not keen on this construction. Somebody will probably put me right. For 4d, I read the whole phrase ‘expert in support for women’ to be ‘a bra ham’. Don’t recall having met MACEDON as opposed to MACEDONIA, but checked it was OK. My Collins says NANKING is still a capital. Is it out of date, or is ‘past’ just there to emphasise that KING comes after NAN?

    Saw the Tarantino film fairly recently, which helped, and have also seen season 2 of the spinoff TV series. Ok, but not recommended.

  5. The grid is a Daily Telegraph one I grew up with in the 1950s and which ( while not ideal) I may use from time to time as a Telegraph setter

  6. Thanks Tees and beermagnet

    I found this a puzzle of very variable quality, the lowpoint possibly being 4D, where the wordplay, to me at least, leads to BRAHAMA or BAHAMRA, but not ABRAHAM.

    Oh well, back to Maskarade!

  8. Yes, that’s how I parsed it @3, but still not fully convinced by 3d. Writer is swallowed suggests the writer is inside not outside. Reading it as ‘insane’ (pause) ‘writer has swallowed’ sort of works.

  9. I’m happy with insane writer’s swallowed, using HAS for the ‘s. I also read ABRAHAM as using the full wordplay as a description.

    I enjoyed this, thanks Tees. I was trying to gets WARS into the bloody film so big penny drop when I had the T&L checkers in the 3rd word. A classic film, loved it, though my wife walked in when the lovely vampire ladies were dancing naked on table tops and asked me what on earth was i watching. also a penny drop when it became obvious the chunnel consortium needed BOTH, i was just thinking make ends meet.

    Lots of fun clues, though they were a little tricky to navigate in the printed version

    Is Nanking called Nanjing now? And it is no longer a capital but was historically? – so plenty of reasons for ‘past’. I confess to wanting to get PEKING in there somehow.

    thanks also beermagnet

  10. Quite a challenge as one expects from Tees, but some easy clues (e.g. APPLE, PITON) to get started.  The linked clues proved a bit tricky, though the chunnel one was less so than the film which we didn’t know.

    NANKING has been the capital of China, though today it is just the capital of Jiangsu province, as explained here – so ‘past’ could have either function suggested by Hovis@3.

    We didn’t have a problem with 3dn, parsing it much as Hovis@8, but had the same objection to 4dn as Simon@6, so thanks to baerchen@7 for the explanation.

    The Indy hasn’t quite ignored Christmas.  The ‘Rat King’ (29ac) appears in ‘The Nutcracker’.

    Thanks, Tees and beermagnet.  And, in case we don’t get round to solving and commenting over the next two days, Best Wishes to all for Christmas!

  11. Just to be clear, I’m not really unhappy with ‘s for HAS, it is just the “yoda speak” that unsettles me a bit. You might say “the man has swallowed a fly”, but you wouldn’t say “fly the man has swallowed”. It does seem to be a common device used by setters, so I guess I should get used to it.

  12. 19A I think “Spike” is part of the definition, otherwise it has no purpose in the wordplay.

    The multiple four-letter clues were trickiest for me, Chunnel clue went in before the film, which I guessed from the enumeration after all available crossers entered.

    Very enjoyable.  Thanks to Tees and beermagnet.

    Happy Christmas to all at Fifteensquared from Adelaide, forecast for Christmas Day sunny,29C, up to 39C by Wednesday.

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