Independent 9767 / Scorpion

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We haven’t seen Scorpion in the Indy since last October – this was a welcome return.

 

Scorpion has kept up his reputation for enjoyable but tricky themed puzzles with 11 (or possibly 13?)  thematic entries, and has also (in line with many of his previous offerings) given us a pangram.

The theme involves capital cities of 11 American states – South Carolina (7ac), South Dakota (10ac), Arizona (16ac), Texas (25ac), Virginia (29ac), North Carolina (4d), Alabama (6d), Delaware (9d), West Virginia (13d), New Hampshire (19d), Colorado (22d) – entries in GREEN below.

There are also some American towns named 27ac (in Idaho, Arizona and Arkansas), but none are state capitals – according to Wikipedia, the town in Arkansas had a population of 39 in 2010!!!

There is also a ‘city’ (population 1765!) called 1d in New Mexico – is the theme wider than state capitals?

Across
7   Record company clipped part of newspaper article on AC/DC (8)
COLUMBIA COLUMn (part of newspaper) without the last letter or ‘clipped’ + A (article) after or ‘on’ BI (bisexual – ‘AC/DC’)
8   Tipster regularly circulating dated legendary princess (6)
ISOLDE tIpStEr (alternate or ‘regular’ letters) round or ‘circulating’ OLD (dated)
10   Frenchman‘s tart securing boob (6)
PIERRE PIE (tart) round or ‘securing’ ERR (boob) – good to get one of our esteemed bloggers into the puzzle too!
11   Low grade rugby training? This writer’s describing St Helens maybe (8)
ERUPTIVE E (low grade, as in exam grading) RU (rugby) PT (training) I’VE – a reference to the American volcano, not the Rugby team
12   Crew attacked by man on board causing devastation (8)
WRECKING An anagram of CREW (anagrind is ‘attacking’) + KING (man on board, as in chess)
14   Entrance contains parcels at the back – a delivery to nightwatchman? (6)
DOOSRA DOOR (entrance) round or ‘containing’ S (last letter or ‘back’ of ‘parcels’) + A – a new word for us, apparently a particular type of leg-break (‘delivery’) in cricket
15   Country’s right-wing blocking radio once – in such a regime? (7)
TYRANNY Y (last letter or ‘right wing’ of ‘country’) in or ‘blocking’ TRANNY (‘radio once’ – transistor radio)
16   Bird rejuvenated by new iPhone attached (7)
PHOENIX We first thought this could be parsed two ways, but decided that the correct one is: X (by, as in ‘times’) ‘attached’ to an anagram of IPHONE – anagrind being ‘new’. The alternative was: an anagram of IPHONE X – the newest version – with ‘rejuvenated’ being the anagrind – however this makes ‘attached’ redundant and we don’t think Scorpion would include redundant words – it’s a good anagram though!!
20   Worn-out US agent, upset inside (6)
FAILED FED (US agent) with AIL (upset) inside
23   How many spectators enter ground? Eleven perhaps (3,2,3)
ONE BY ONE The definition refers to spectators entering sports stadia ONE BY ONE through turnstiles – the figure 11 is a number ONE beside (BY) another number ONE
24   With lad in charge, coach returned at such speed? Definitely (8)
SUBSONIC SON (lad) IC (in charge) after BUS (coach) reversed or ‘returned’ – should this be a cryptic definition? The definition relies on the fact that a coach reversing would definitely travel at subsonic speed
25   Old car manufacturer‘s Sierra built with varying metal front and rear (6)
AUSTIN S (sierra in the phonetic alphabet) with AU (gold) in front and TIN behind
27   Author, first person in “L’Equipe to pen extra retrospective (6)
JEROME JE (first person in French, referenced by “L’Equipe”) round or ‘penning’ MORE (extra) reversed or ‘retrospective’
28   Loaded Lambretta rider, say, bypasses northern part of London (8)
RICHMOND RICH (loaded) MOD (Lambretta rider, say) rounds or ‘bypassing’ N (northern)
Down
1   After memory’s stirred up, one cultivated fictional villain (8)
MORIARTY ROM (Read-only memory) reversed or ‘stirred up’ + I (one) ARTY (cultivated)
2   Back problem the source of red swelling (4)
BURR RUB (problem) reversed or ‘back’ + R (first letter or ‘source’ of ‘red’)
3   Is it like a dramatist to work repeatedly in basement? Not half (8)
IBSENIAN An anagram of IN IN (‘repeatedly’) and BASEment (‘not half’) – anagrind is ‘to work’
4   Discussed navigating competition for explorer (7)
RALEIGH A homophone (‘discussed’) of RALLY (navigating competition)
5   Knocked back the Italian lolly, as it melted? (6)
LIQUID IL (‘the’ in Italian) reversed or ‘knocked back’ + QUID (lolly, as in money)
6   Army leader‘s gone with Tommy, moving around river (10)
MONTGOMERY An anagram of GONE and TOMMY (anagrind is ‘moving’) round R (river)
9   Port finally passed across (5)
DOVER D (last or ‘final’ letter of ‘passed’) OVER (across)
13   Dance daily on street during Christmas when retired (10)
CHARLESTON CHAR (daily, as in cleaner) + ST (street) in or ‘during’ NOEL (Christmas) reversed or ‘retired’
17   Welcome monarch and roguish chief priest (8)
HIERARCH HI (welcome) ER (monarch) ARCH (roguish)
18   Accepted free gins procured by Poles – they often hang around pubs (3,5)
INN SIGNS IN (accepted) + an anagram of GINS (anagrind is ‘free’) in or ‘procured by’ N S (north and south ‘poles’)
19   Agreement opposing fellow vacating number 28 (7)
CONCORD CON (opposing) CO (fellow as in co-worker) RichmonD (28ac) with the middle letters omitted or ‘vacated’
21   Blue street map you’re picking up (5)
AZURE AZ (street map) + a homophone (‘picked up’) of YOU’RE
22   Sudden verse reveals US male singer (6)
DENVER Hidden in (‘revealed’ by) suDEN VERse – reference to John Denver
26   All pee in local bog (4)
SUMP SUM (all) P (pee)

 

17 comments on “Independent 9767 / Scorpion”

  1. Thanks for the pointing out the theme which I missed despite having visited a few.

    Didnt spoil this lovely puzzle at all.

     

    And thanks Scorpion.

  2. Thanks Scorpion and bertandjoyce

    At a loose end, so I gave it a go. I’ll look out for more from Scorpion. I didn’t see the theme, of course.

    Another rather dodgy homophone though. Even if you ignore the fact the Sir Walter called himself “Rawleigh”, our current pronunciation “Rahleigh” isn’t the same as “rally”.

  4. Baerchen will be astounded for a second day to learn that I spotted the theme!

    Quite a tricky crossword and I’d agree with muffin about Sir Walter and the homophone

    Thanks to Scorpion and B&J

  5. We spotted that we were on course for a pangram fairly early on, which helped a bit, but not the theme.  DOOSRA was a new word for us, too, but worked out from the clue and checked in Chambers.  And it was Chambers to the rescue to confirm the specific meanings of BURR and SUMP.  We agree about the dodgy homophone for the explorer’s name, but having said that we think the cycle brand name is often pronounced more like ‘rally’.

    Several ingenious clues which we liked – ISOLDE (a change from the cliché ‘I sold E’), ONE BY ONE, JEROME and INN SIGNS.  Also PIERRE if you ignore the distinction between a pie and a tart.

    Thanks, Scorpion and B&J

  6. allan@5  in my youth I preferred a tart to a pie but how things change over the years.

    Once again-Scorpion is a top setter.

  7. Apologies for the late reply but we have been out enjoying the sunshine in the Lake District after 2 days of being ill.

    We live near Nottingham and would never think of pronouncing Raleigh any other way except rally. We weren’t that concerned about AZURE either I am afraid.

  8. allan@5, a 225 search reveals that the last 2 appearances by Isolde were both in Eccles Indy xwords, most recently yes, the chestnut ‘I sold E’, but prior to that the unforgettable ‘She had a drink, fell in love, and soiled pants’, last June. Hard as expected today for a Thursday. I missed the theme as usual but an enjoyable solve. Thanks to Scorpion and to B and/or J.

  9. Thanks for the blog, B&J, and glad that you are recuperated.

    Scorpion not too stingy today – the grid was odd and suggested a nina, but when the outside letters revealed nothing I thought no more about it and only found out what was going on when I came here.  Well done for spotting it.  Pangram?  Really?  Another nuance to pass me by.  Good puzzle as always from this setter, though.

    I too can’t see the problem with the homophones.  Muffin, you continue to enthrall us on this blog with your wide knowledge of so many things, but if you don’t think RALEIGH or AZURE are appropriate homophones, then I suggest you occupy yourself with your loose ends, because you are going to continue to be frustrated.  ‘Homophones’ in crosswordland means ‘sounds the same for some people’, not just those that have RP.  And no, I don’t want to go into one of your long exchanges about it – if you search the archives you’ll find it’s been done to death many times.

    Many thanks to the setter – it’s been a good week in the Indy so far, and Phi (I presume) to look forward to tomorrow.

  13. @muffin

    There’s quite a history of you banging on about the Rawley/Raleigh/rally Great Homophone Intrigue in the archive (a Vlad puzzle and one by Brummie was as far as I got before losing the will to live).

    Why don’t you and I come to an agreement: I’ll stop screaming about latte=coffee and you let this one go.

    Deal?

  15. muffin

    Ok sorry for the ambiguity. Latte, lait, leche, all mean milk and I don’t understand how anyone can accept it as a definition for coffee, but apparently it has become a part of the “evolution” of language thanks to Starbucks and Caffe Nero. Personally, I am surprised that people who enjoy crosswords, either as setters or solvers, think it’s Ok but there we are. Hell will freeze over before I ever use it in one of mine

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