Punk sets the first Tuesday Independent of 2018
The theme is defined by the gateway entry at 22 across – UNDERGROUND. There were nine London UNDERGROUND stations in the grid.
I solved HIGH BARNET and COCKFOSTERS before I solved the gateway clue but those two obviously helped with 22 across.
For a time I thought all the theme clues were going to be termini, but as the solve went on it became clear that they weren’t
I suspect most solvers are aware of stations in London, but if you have never been to London this puzzle would be quite hard.
A little bit of sports knowledge was useful too. The fairly common LEG / ON side in cricket came up as well as having to know that the hooker in Rugby Union normally wears the number two shirt.
Overall. a good but fair challenge for a Tuesday.
Recently I seem to be blogging the same word in different crosswords close together. Today’s recent word was CATARRH. It’s always interesting to see the different ways the same word can be clued.
My last one in was 24 down, LION, as it took me a while to see the parsing.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Middle Eastern city is cooler to tour I see! (7)
|
IS + (FAN [cooler] containing [to tour] AH [I see]) IS F (AH) AN |
ISFAHAN (city in Iran; Middle Eastern city)
|
|
5
|
Very little to eat – gosh! (6)
|
CRUMBS (small bits or morsels of dry food; very little to eat) CRUMBS |
CRUMBS (gosh!) double definition
|
|
9 / 28
|
One on the 22, beehive? (4,6)
|
A BEEHIVE is a term for a dome shaped and HIGH hairstyle (BARNET) HIGH BARNET |
HIGH [BARNET] (Station on the London UNDERGROUND [22 across] network)
|
|
10
|
Noble joining miserable TV show (9)
|
COUNT (title of a nobleman) + DOWN (miserable) COUNT DOWN |
COUNTDOWN (TV game show)
|
|
11
|
Male with beer, one on the 22 (11)
|
COCK (male) + FOSTERS (brand of beer) COCK FOSTERS |
COCKFOSTERS (Station on the London UNDERGROUND [22 across] network)
|
|
16
|
European houses unknown for one on the 22 (7)
|
BRITON (an example of a European) containing (houses) X (a letter frequently used to represent an unknown value in mathematics) BRI (X) TON |
BRIXTON (Station on the London UNDERGROUND [22 across] network)
|
|
17
|
Pipe number 2, did you say? (6)
|
HOOKAH (sounds like [did you say] HOOKER (a player in Rugby Union who normally wears the No 2 jersey) HOOKAH |
HOOKAH (the tobacco pipe of Arabs, Turks, etc with which smoke is inhaled through water)
|
|
18
|
Again send most of the remainder with it (6)
|
REST (remained) excluding the final letter (most of) T + HIP (knowing; informed about; with it) RES HIP |
RESHIP (send again)
|
|
20
|
One on the 22 in general confined to memory (4,3)
|
LEE (reference General Robert E LEE [1807 – 1870] Commander of the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War) contained in (confined to) MIND (memory) MI (LE E) ND |
MILE END (Station on the London UNDERGROUND [22 across] network)
|
|
22
|
Secret not fine enough? (11)
|
UNDER (not enough) + GROUND (reduced to powder), so taken together too coarse, not fine enough) UNDER GROUND |
UNDERGROUND (subway system) and also the name of the London
|
|
25
|
One on the 22 with beer in it, we hear? (5,4)
|
MAIDA VALE (sounds like [we hear] MADE OF ALE [something with beer in it]) MAIDA VALE |
MAIDA VALE (Station on the London UNDERGROUND [22 across] network)
|
| 27 |
Welcomed by mafioso, a thoughtful word (4) |
OATH (hidden word in [welcomed by] MAFIOSO A THOUGHTFUL) OATH |
OATH (vow; pledge; word) |
|
28
|
See 9
|
See wordplay at 9 above
|
[HIGH] BARNET
|
|
29
|
Loco, one on the 22 (7)
|
BARKING (mad; loco) BARKING |
BARKING (Station on the London UNDERGROUND [22 across] network)
|
| Down | |||
|
2
|
Fishy fishbone fine, though not in joint of meat (4,2,4)
|
Anagram of (fishy) FISHBONE FINE excluding (though not) IN SHIN OF BEEF* |
SHIN OF BEEF (joint of meat)
|
|
3
|
Wood equally hard (3)
|
AS (equally) + H (hard, when describing pencil lead) AS H |
ASH (tree; wood)
|
|
4
|
A papal line (3)
|
A + RC (Roman Catholic; papal) A RC |
ARC (part of the circumference of a circle or other curve;(line)
|
|
5
|
Dude arrives hot – it’s a respiratory condition (7)
|
CAT (man; chap; dude) + ARR (arrives) + H (hot) CAT ARR H |
CATARRH (discharge of fluid resulting from the inflammation of a mucous membrane,; respiratory condition)
|
|
6
|
In casino punter’s raised – it’s over (4)
|
UPON (hidden word in [in] reversed [raised; down clue] CASINO PUNTER) UPON< |
UPON (on; over)
|
|
7
|
Side, one on the 22 (4)
|
BANK (side, as in the definition of BANK as the side of a river) BANK |
BANK (Station on the London UNDERGROUND [22 across] network)
|
|
8
|
Working after Tuesday shifts, though day off for one on the 22 (6)
|
Anagram of TUESDAY excluding (though … off) DAY + ON (working) EUST* ON |
EUSTON (Station on the London UNDERGROUND [22 across] network)
|
|
12
|
Judge standing to incarcerate good man (6)
|
THINK (judge) reversed (standing; down clue) containing (to incarcerate) G KNI (G) HT< |
KNIGHT (man in chess)
|
|
13
|
On strike, bowled perhaps? (3)
|
OUT (on strike) OUT |
OUT (one form of being out at cricket is to be bowled) double definition
|
|
14
|
Oxygen required after a quickie, say, wife taken out for a dance (6)
|
BOWLER (in this case, in cricket, a fast BOWLER, also known as a quickie) excluding (taken out) W (wife) + O (chemical symbol for Oxygen) BOLER O |
BOLERO (Spanish dance)
|
|
15
|
Filler, huge quantity for one on the 22 (10)
|
PADDING (filler) + TON (a great amount; huge quantity) PADDING TON |
PADDINGTON (Station on the London UNDERGROUND [22 across] network)
|
|
19
|
Gasp grabbing tip in sparkler, perhaps? (7)
|
PANT (gasp) containing (grabbing) END (tip) P (END) ANT |
PENDANT ( a hanging ornament especially one worn on a chain, etc around the neck, possibly involving a sparkling stone)
|
|
20
|
European, a male standing up drunken woman (6)
|
(DANE [example of a European] + A + M [male]) all reversed (standing up; down clue) (M A ENAD)< |
MAENAD (female follower of Bacchus, God of wine; drunken woman)
|
|
21
|
On stage (3)
|
LEG (in cricket, the LEG side is also known as the ON side) LEG |
LEG (stage of a competition such as the Tour de France) double definition
|
|
23
|
Book of Jerusalem, maybe (4)
|
EMMA (hidden word in [of] JERUSALEM MAYBE) EMMA |
EMMA (novel by Jane Austen)
|
|
24
|
Topless in painting, rampant beast(4)
|
(IN excluding the first letter [topless] I + OIL [reference an OIL painting]) all reversed (rampant; down clue) (LIO N)< |
LION (beast)
|
|
26
|
Letter from Greece – when is it expected (3)
|
ETA (letter of the Greek alphabet) ETA |
ETA (abbreviation for estimated time of arrival) double definition
|
|
27
|
Nothing special hugging a tree (3) |
OK (okay; nothing special) containing (hugging) A O (A) K |
OAK (tree) |
Thanks Punk and Duncan.
EUSTON gave away the answer to 22, then it was reasonably straightforward, though I couldn’t parse HIGH BARNET. Apparently High Hairdo isn’t a tube stop.
Faves were HOOKAH, MAIDA VALE and LEG.
Normally, I like Punk and his crosswords elsewhere but I thought this was quite poor. A poor choice of theme imo. If you are familiar with the London Underground, a lot of this was easy – if not, it becomes a bit of a chore. I did know MAIDA VALE but, for me, this was the worst clue. Surely, if something is ‘made of ale’ it doesn’t just have ‘beer in it’. LION and MAENAD were my favourite clues.
Mr Halpern rarely appears on the Punk label but its normally worth waiting for. Hats off to non-Brits who managed this.FOSTERS was nasty as i dont consider it as beer but a fine clue.
Parsing of LION eluded me but fair.
Great start to 2018 what with Maizzze’s tour de force yesterday.
And thanks to Duncanshiell
Did I just see Punk on The Chase? Missed much of it, but he had the right first name and there was a reference to ‘your crosswords’ and it looked like my memory of him.
You did, Wil.
Took me ages to get into this. 16ac eventually led me to the gateway clue, but in the end I couldn’t get 25ac and gave in a found a list of underground stations on Wikipedia. Also needed a word search to get 1ac which I don’t think I’d heard of. And there were several I couldn’t parse. Never knew about the No. 2 shirt, for example.