Independent 9,886 / Dutch

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Dutch is occupying this week’s Wednesday slot, offering me a rare opportunity to blog one of his puzzles.

This appears to be something of a custom-made grid, certainly not one that I have come across very often, if at all. What is striking about it is the large number of short entries, i.e. 3-, 4- and 5-letter lights. Once one has completed the puzzle, the Nina spelt out down the left- and right-hand side of the perimeter explains the customised grid: I BECAME A GRANDDAD. Congratulations to Dutch on this new addition to the family! One also wonders how many of the other clues might have been inspired by Dutch’s recent experience of childbirth: 16, 22, 31.

Dutch had the last laugh on me today as I needed Chambers to find 7, a new word for me, and I have been unable to sort out the wordplay at 32. I look forward to being enlightened and will update the blog later – thanks for the help, blog now updated! That said, there was a lot of successful and highly entertaining solving along the way, with quite a lot of hidden answers in this one (11, 15, 29) and a good few self-referential clues (6, 15, 23D, 25). I enjoyed the prolonged gratification that having more than the average number of clues in a puzzle afforded me. My favourites overall would have to be the cryptic definition at 19/23; 16, for sauciness; and 17, for managing to incorporate Trump and Stormy (Daniels) into the same clue!

Let’s hope that grandfatherhood won’t entail too much lost sleep for Dutch and that we can look forward to more of his puzzles in the near future.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across  
   
01 ITEM Couple needing space after sex

IT (=sex, as in to do it) + EM (=space, in printing)
   
04 JOY Sailor repeatedly missing love’s foremost pleasure

JO<ll>Y (=sailor); “repeatedly missing love‘s foremost (=first letter)” means 2 x L<ove> are dropped
   
06 TOP DOG Perhaps the editor is the best setter?

TOP (=the best) + DOG (=setter, i.e. breed)
   
09 BYGONE Former playgirl’s heart goes to single bishop first

B (=bishop, i.e. in chess) + <pla>YG<irl> (“heart” means middle letters only) + ONE (=single)
   
10 MOTORCAR After second carrot pie, honk in this?

MO (=second, i.e. moment) + *(CARROT); “pie”, in the sense of mess, confusion; the “honk” of the definition refers to sounding a horn, not being sick!
   
11 ETCH Some budget changes make a deep impression

Hidden (“some”) in “budgET CHanges”
   
12 SAFER Comparatively cautious judge to retire after appeal

SA (=appeal, i.e. sex appeal) + FER (REF.=judge, i.e. referee; “to retire” indicates reversal)
   
14 IDEA Almost perfect vision

IDEA<l> (=perfect; “almost” means last letter is dropped)
   
15 CHAR Dutch arranges to keep cleaner

Hidden (“to keep”) in “DutCH ARranges”
   
17 PROTOHUMAN On no – Trump, a “Stormy” kind of guy

*(OH NO TRUMP A); “stormy” is anagram indicator; a protohuman is a prehistoric primate, a supposed ancestor of modern man
   
19/23 AS OLD AS THE HILLS Highly seasoned?

Cryptic definition: “seasoned” indicates maturity and experience, as in a seasoned performer, while “highly” could suggest “hills”!
   
21 AGED Getting on in prison without cocaine

<c>AGED (=in prison; “without cocaine (=C)” means letter “c” is dropped)
   
22 MILK Married type finds squeeze

M (=married) + ILK (=type, sort); to milk is to squeeze, extract fluid out of
   
25 CARD Dutch will join automobile club, maybe

CAR (=automobile) + D (=Dutch)
   
27 EARNINGS Wishes to squander year’s income

<y>EARNINGS (=wishes; “to squander year (=Y)” means letter “y” is dropped)
   
29 FIESTA Party justifies targets to some extent

Hidden (“to some extent”) in “justiFIES TArgets”
   
30 ASIDES Comments made to House while covering face

SIDE (=face, of cube) in AS (=while); the “house” of the definition refers to a theatre audience
   
31 BOY Young man‘s close to comprehending love

O (=love, i.e. zero score, in tennis) in BY (=close to, near)
   
32 TEND Mind being described as XXXL

TEN (=X, in Roman numerals) + D (=500, i.e. 10 (=X) x 50 (=L); to mind is to tend, look after e.g. children, flocks
   
Down  
   
02 TRYST Go and sweet talk leaders in private meeting

TRY (=go, attempt) + S<weet> T<alk> (“leaders” means first letters only)
   
03 MOOCHER Low singer shows bum

MOO (=low, of cattle) + CHER (=singer, of Sonny & Cher); a bum is a vagrant, tramp, sponger, hence “moocher”
   
04 JOEYS Travels without pot for bouncing babies?

JO<urn>EYS (=travels; “without pot (=urn)” mean letters “urn” are dropped); joeys are baby kangaroos, hence “bouncing babies”!
   
05 YAM PM raised Jamaican fare

MAY (=PM, i.e. Theresa May); “raised” indicates vertical reversal; a yam is a typical Jamaican food, hence “Jamaican fare”
   
06 TUTOR School of Rock admitting primarily undiscovered talent

U<ndiscovered> T<alent> (“primarily” means first letters only) in TOR (=rock, a rocky height)
   
07 PURLIEU Nearly perfect invention for all to see in favourite haunt

PUR<e> (=perfect; “nearly” means last letter dropped) + LIE (=invention, falsehood) + U (=for all to see, i.e. film classification)
   
08 ON AVERAGE Normally one covers a desecrated grave

[A + *(GRAVE)] in ONE; “desecrated” is anagram indicator
   
13 FRONTAL Lacking one flatiron for bashing of one’s forehead?

*(FLAT<i>RON); “lacking one (=I)” means letter “i” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “bashing”
   
16 HOSPITALS Getting healthier erections?

Cryptic definition: hospitals are building (“erections”) for getting healthier in!!
   
17 PEA Speaker’s first to plant seed

Homophone (“speaker’s”) of “p”, the first letter of “plant”
   
18 ONE Person with unlimited cash

<m>ONE<y> (=cash; “unlimited” means first and last letters are dropped)
   
20 LIKENED Compared new Kindle with earliest of e-readers

*(KINDLE + E<-readers>); “earliest of” means first letter only; “new” is anagram indicator
   
21 ANCIENT Dated soldier, drinking nice bubbly

*(NICE) in ANT (=soldier); “bubbly” is anagram indicator
   
23 HINTS Successes penning new clues

N (=new, as in NT) in HITS (=successes)
   
24 SOFTY One who gets sentimental old fellow into messy place

[O (=old, as in OT) + F (=fellow)] in STY (=messy place)
   
26 RAT ON Artist not about to sell out
    RA (=artist, i.e. Royal Academician) + TON (NOT; “about” indicates reversal)
   
28 SOB Blubber smells revolting

BOs (=smells, i.e. body odours); “revolting” indicates vertical reversal
   

 

16 comments on “Independent 9,886 / Dutch”

  1. TEND is X (ten) X x L (D), which is ten times fifty.  Just about the best roman numeral clue I’ve seen.  16 and 19/23 also v good.

    Congratulations to aged softy Dutch, thanks to RR

  4. Congratulations, Dutch!

    Took two of us to sort out the Roman numerals from the multiplication sign and I did need to consult Chambers over both 17a & 7d.

    Think I was slightly surprised to see ‘almost perfect’ and ‘nearly perfect’ used in the same puzzle but there were plenty of goodies.   Tops for me were 22a plus the 19/23 combo and 20 plus 23d.

    Thanks to Dutch and to RR for the blog.

  5. Yes, congrats to Dutch. Quite a few of the answers related to the Nina also had similarities to yesterday’s (completely missed by me) theme. A good ‘Trump’ clue and the surface for HOSPITALS added to the enjoyment of an entertaining puzzle.

    I was defeated by the parsing for TEND which was a standout “Roman numeral” clue as James @1 points out.

    Thanks to Dutch and RR

  6. Got TEND as per James, many congrats or commiserations on all the baby sitting to Dutch. Quite a few entries seem to be related beyond the ones RR has indicated

  7. Congratulations Dutch.  On the nina (which I missed) of course, but also on another super puzzle.

    I did end up wordsearching my last in (thanks to RR for keeping me company there!) and ended up being lazy and asking a friend about the maths.  (Funny: I always say that the only type of maths I like is the stuff that is all letters and squiggles … but I didn’t factor in Roman arithmetic!)

    Unusually given my felinity I loved TOP DOG; predictably enough I liked all the smut.  Liked the Roman maths too, in case I didn’t make that clear.  Nobody likes HOSPITALS but a snorter of a clue.  Bouncing joyfulness all round.

    I’m not doing many puzzles at the moment, but ones like this remind me why I do cryptics.

    Many thanks Dutch and RatkojaRiku.

  8. Many thanks to James for explaining the Roman numerals – I just couldn’t fathom them out for myself, largely on account of not imagining that one “x” might mean “times, multiplied by”.

  10. Yesterday’s theme was completely wasted on me and I do not blame myself for that at all. The theme was just too British (and also too literary) for me, leaving me actually cold – I’m still shivering!

    Today’s nina was wasted on me too until ‘someone’ made clear there was one. Unlike yesterday, it is staring me right in the face. How could I miss that?

    That said, it wouldn’t have led to a faster solve of this (once more) very enjoyable crossword.

    Being unfamiliar with the expression at 19,26ac and because it was a kind of cryptic definition (not my forte), some squares stayed empty. Making it very difficult to find 16d (another cd) and 17d’s PEA.

    After I used a dictionary to find 19,26ac, the two others fell in place rather quickly – as you might guess, my last ones in.

    With hindsight, HOSPITALS (16d) turned out to be one the absolute highlights, while 17d scored high marks for its original device.

    Meanwhile, I did spot how 32ac worked without too many problems. Sort of Qaos++ clue.

    Lovely puzzle and, perhaps, the setter’s ‘hardest’ so far.

    Many thanks to RR & Granddad.

  13. Many thanks everyone for your kind comments and your congratulations.

    I did worry about the crossing cd’s but I’m glad they pleased. I find cd’s quite hard. The grid is a crossword compiler one, believe it or not, made slightly more friendly by fixing two trailing double unches. It was the fifth grid I tried!

    My daughter lives in Holland but I have had the JOY of seeing my grandson (BOY) twice already, and I look forward to another family get together in uk next month. But yes, it does make me feel ANCIENT, in a good way…

  14. Yes, congratulations, Dutch.  Make the most of your grandchild(ren?) while you can before you’re 19/23 – we’ve been grandparents now for nearly 10 years and it seems like only yesterday that the first one was born.

    In fact we had to tackle this crossword in two sessions, separated by meeting the grandchildren from school and taking them to singing lessons.  That probably helped in that several clues we couldn’t unravel in the first session seemed perfectly obvious on the second.  But we failed to parse TEND; we guessed it was to do with Roman numerals but couldn’t work out the sequence even allowing that one X was a multiplication sign.

    So thanks, Dutch, RatkojaRiku – and James.

     

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