Poins in the pulpit this Sunday, with a pleasing puzzle that took a bit of teasing out.
It took me a while to pin this one down (and there’s one where I haven’t quite). On writing up the blog I realised that the surface readings are exceptional. All carefully crafted and story-telling offerings, which for me are a really important part of the pleasure of solving a cryptic. Bravo, Poins.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Discerning of poet to stand by earliest of comments quoted on the radio
CLEAR-SIGHTED
The poet is Edward LEAR: you need to put C for the first letter of ‘comments’ before that and follow that construction with SIGHTED for a homophone (‘on the radio’) of CITED for ‘quoted’.
8 It’s Dean playing as a substitute
INSTEAD
(ITS DEAN)*
9 Happen to miss bit of practice before batting in county game
CASSINO
An insertion of [P]ASS and IN in CO gives you a card game that I for one had never heard of. IN for ‘batting’ is cricket terminology: the side that is ‘in’ is the one having a go with the wooden stick.
11 Points to a ring around sink resembling fat
ADIPOSE
The ‘points’ are S and E, points of the compass. You need to put DIP in A and O before that.
12 Intend to put on torn clothing
RAIMENT
An insertion of AIM in RENT. The insertion indicator is ‘to put on’.
13 Vulnerable at the outset before crossing German border
VERGE
A charade of V for the first letter of ‘vulnerable’ and G inserted into ERE.
14 Constituent initially ignored by Independent politician’s agent
IMPLEMENT
A charade of I, MP and [E]LEMENT.
16 False allegations the French dismissed as homesickness
NOSTALGIA
(AL[LE]GATIONS)* The anagrind is ‘false’ and the removal indicator is ‘dismissed’.
19 Quiet for a gun they say
PEACE
A homophone (‘they say’) of PIECE, slang for ‘a gun’.
21 Pioneering advocate for a permanent military establishment near the centre of Hartlepool
APOSTLE
A charade of A, POST and LE for the middle letters of HartLEpool. An apostle in Hartlepool might usefully proselytise an end to cruelty to monkeys.
23 Senseless to get beginners in immunology doing investigations of the ear
IDIOTIC
The first letters of the sixth, seventh and eighth words of the clue are followed by OTIC.
24 Not usual in America to leave additional space at end of page
EXTREME
A charade of EXTR[A], EM for the printers’ ‘space’ and E for the last letter of ‘page’.
25 Resentment evident in letter about the source of Brexit madness
UMBRAGE
A charade of the Greek ‘letter’ MU reversed, B for the first letter of ‘Brexit’ and RAGE. Brexit madness? Check.
26 Unworthy of goddess left in race when disregarding the rules
BELOW THE BELT
I can’t quite get this to parse. I see LOW, THEBE and L in BET, but how we get to BET from ‘race’ I don’t see. Perhaps I’m barking up the wrong tree.
Down
1 Dismiss more reserved account put up earlier
CASHIER
Another new one for me, and my LOI. Collins has: ‘to dismiss with dishonour, esp. from the armed forces.’ It’s ultimately cognate with modern French casser, to break, and with ‘quash’. A reversal of AC for ‘account’ followed by SHIER for ‘more reserved’. I’d more likely write SHYER, but dictionaries give both.
2 Hurt after I said something very ugly
EYESORE
A charade of EYE for a homophone (‘said’) of I and SORE.
3 Showing signs of anger old soul singer describes being regularly disregarded
REDDENING
An insertion of EN for the even letters (‘regularly discarded’) of bEiNg in [Otis] REDDING.
4 Run into dog close to home
INCUR
A charade of IN and CUR.
5 Opposed by those resolved to protect the borders of Israel
HOSTILE
An insertion (‘to protect’) of IL in (THOSE)* The anagrind is ‘resolved’.
6 Survive on the way up by the ability to recognise a harmful glance
EVIL EYE
A charade of LIVE reversed and EYE. The reversal indicator is ‘on the way up’ because it’s a down clue.
7 Dead against new nurses beginning to vouch for an unfavourable state of affairs
DISADVANTAGE
An insertion of V for the first letter of ‘vouch’ in (DEAD AGAINST)*
10 Extended period of imprisonment received by debarred journalist
OUTSTRETCHED
An insertion (‘received’) of STRETCH in OUT and ED.
15 Freedom from restraint shown by Penny’s trite remark
PLATITUDE
A charade of P and LATITUDE.
17 Kind of dog bed found in street on the outskirts of Ilfracombe
SCOTTIE
An insertion of COT in ST followed by IE for the outside letters of ‘Ilfracombe’.
18 Vehicle originally departing from Parisian company’s design style
ART DECO
A charade of [C]ART, DE for one of the French words for ‘from’ and CO.
19 Head of planning apt to be easily influenced
PLIABLE
A charade of P for the first letter of ‘planning’ and LIABLE.
20 Draw close to elephant in the heart of uncharted territory
ATTRACT
An insertion of T for the last letter of ‘elephant’ in A for the middle letter of ‘unchArted’ and TRACT.
22 Just before time of incident
EVENT
A charade of EVEN and T.
Many thanks to the Shakespearean one for this Sunday’s puzzle.
In 26a Hebe is the goddess. Unworthy is below.
Good way to spend an early Sunday afternoon. I couldn’t parse EXTREME for the life of me, so thanks for the explanation. Also didn’t know the double S spelling of CASSINO.
BELOW THE BELT is ‘Unworthy’ = BELOW + ‘of goddess’ = HEBE + ‘left’ = L + ‘in race’ = contained in TT (TT = “Tourist Trophy).
I liked 8a, presumably a reference to one of the Indy’s other esteemed setters, the surface for 23a and the ‘Quiet for a gun…’ in 19a.
Thank you to Poins and Pierre.
Mostly straightforward but some where hard to tease out. Wasn’t keen on the use of ‘near’ in 21a and ‘close to’ in 4d. Don’t remember seeing this sort of construction for attachments before but I guess it’s ok.
Thanks to Poins and Pierre.
My first Independent crossword for 20 years or so.
I struugled
Thanks for the explanation of BELOW THE BELT. Got my goddesses in a mix.
Welcome, Simon – first for two decades is a bit of a gap, so perhaps a struggle isn’t too unexpected. The IoS is usually considered to be an ‘easy’ puzzle, so it’s a good one to stick with. In the daily Indy, the Monday cryptic is often accessible without being a write-in – you might want to have a go at that one as well if you have the time. Hope we hear from you (and peter2) again.
Another pleasant Sunday offering from the ‘irregular humourist’ – not too difficult but no write-ins either. We took a while to get 8ac because we initially thought of ‘stand-in’ even though we knew the anagram fodder and enumeration were wrong for that. And we had to check the double-s spelling of 9ac in Chambers.
No real CoD but we liked APOSTLE, REDDENING and OUTSTRETCHED.
Thanks, Poins and Pierre.