Another new setter in the Indy stable. The editor has introduced a few over the last number of years, and they have all proved to be reliable, entertaining and sometimes innovative. What will Italicus bring to the Monday slot?
A fine puzzle, in my opinion, with some thoughtful surface readings, and in the usual Monday style (ie, tractable and no obscurities). One I’ll be recommending to those who want a well-constructed crossword that’s not too stretching. I could handle some more of these. You?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
6 Main actor upset performing Much Ado about Nothing
STORM IN A TEACUP
(MAIN ACTOR UPSET)* Nice anagram and good surface reading to get us going.
9 Pure Charlie and speed
CHASTE
A charade of C and HASTE.
10 Fellow challenging no good official
MANDARIN
A charade of MAN and DARIN[G]. Most often used to refer to Civil Service Wallahs.
11 General put in doctored cards to make cut
SCRAG-END
An insertion of GEN in (CARDS)* gives you the ‘cut’ of meat from the neck of lamb: bit of a faff to prepare and cook, but thrifty if you’re on a budget.
13 Part of world sailor captured in song
ARABIA
An insertion of AB for the Able-Bodied ‘sailor’ in ARIA.
15 Harp on about Annie, say
ORPHAN
(HARP ON)*
17 European attorney clinches victory for girl
EDWINA
A charade of E and WIN inserted into DA for [district] ‘attorney’.
19 Degenerate English leader of Fascist party
EFFETE
A charade of E, F for the first letter of ‘Fascist’ and FETE. I’d more often use this word to mean ‘ineffectual’ or even ‘effeminate’, but this is another meaning, so Italicus is on firm ground.
20 Legal backing rascal hinted at
IMPLICIT
A charade of IMP and LICIT.
22 Difficult to follow part of film about fish
PILCHARD
A charade of CLIP reversed and HARD.
24 Love new range of products available via internet
ONLINE
A charade of O, N and LINE.
26 Hawaiians, for example, all dress in lewd pants
ISLAND DWELLERS
(ALL DRESS IN LEWD)* with ‘pants’ as the anagrind.
Down
1 Getting straight to the point in a murder, perhaps
AS THE CROW FLIES
A cd cum dd. The whimsical bit is referring to the collective noun for crows: a murder. Good attempt by our new setter to give me the chance for an obligatory Pierre bird link, but he/she needs to learn that the bird must be the answer, the whole answer and nothing but the answer.
2 Tornado gutted ship’s launch
TOSS
A charade of TO for the outside letters of ‘tornado’ and SS.
3 Block that is housing politician and journalist
IMPEDE
An insertion of MP and ED in IE for id est or ‘that is’.
4 Colours in evening paper
STANDARD
A dd, referencing the Evening Standard, sister paper of the Indy these days.
5 Information is somewhat twisted
DATA
A reversal of A TAD.
7 Vagrants turned on mother, daughter and son
NOMADS
A reversal of ON followed by MA, D and S.
8 Mauritian is confused about literature and philosophy
UTILITARIANISM
An insertion of LIT in (MAURITIAN IS)*
12 Peeled mottled fruit
APPLE
[D]APPLE[D]
14 Heavyweight boxer’s first international defence
ALIBI
Cassius is followed by B and I.
16 Queen’s adviser possibly supporting dodgy deal
ADELAIDE
A charade of (DEAL)* and AIDE. ‘Supporting’ works because it’s a down clue. Spouse of William IV. Not the most well-known Queen, but easy for me because we have a pub in the next village called The Queen Adelaide. Or used to have – like many village pubs, it’s closed down now.
18 Opportunity to take cash prize on the radio
WINDOW
A homophone (‘on the radio’) of WIN DOUGH, using a slang word for ‘cash’.
21 Dog died in seaside town
POODLE
I’m very sorry to hear that, even though I don’t care for dogs. An insertion of D in POOLE.
23 Stuff to study
CRAM
A dd.
25 Lascivious expression the French hear regularly
LEER
A charade of LE for one of the French words for ‘the’ and the even letters of ‘hear’.
Well done to Italicus on his/her debut puzzle, and I will see him or her down the road, I hope.
The right level, a very good anagram to start, then a hint of drugs and smooth surfaces all through. Just what we like. Welcome Italicus indeed, although 26a made me feel a bit queasy. Hawaiian shirts are bad enough, lewd pants as well – eek!
Thanks both, and no need for that crow link here, they clear our bird table in seconds.
Welcome to Italicus! Thanks Pierre
Good stuff. Enjoyed the 4 perimeter entries.
Welcome Italicus and thanks to Pierre
Congratulations to Italicus on becoming a nationally-published setter with this perfectly pitched for the Monday morning slot crossword
Thanks to Pierre
A superb debut. 6a is one of the best clues I’ve seen and 26a is pretty good too. Didn’t know ADELAIDE as a queen, so did a quite google on that. PILCHARD was my LOI. Thought the answer was going to mean ‘difficult to follow’ – a well disguised clue, I thought. Bravo!
A hearty welcome to Italicus. Thanks also to Pierre for the blog.
Welcome Italicus – lovely to see you here. Also a lovely puzzle, and as our mutual friend @4 says, perfectly pitched for the slot. Congratulations.
Thanks to Italicus for the puzzling entertainment and to Pierre for the usual entertaining review.
Yes, welcome to Italicus whom several of us have encountered elsewhere – for another Italicus puzzle click here.
A good sound puzzle in the Indy Monday tradition. We did wonder at one stage if there was a perimeter nina but obviously not. We liked STORM IN A TEACUP and AS THE CROW FLIES, but we took longer than we should with 8dn, thinking it had to start UNI…
Thanks, Italicus and Pierre.
Echo sentiments above. Excellent anagrams and everything well clued. Rather liked 22A as well.
City of Adelaide, capital of South Australia (founded 1836) and where this comment comes from, named after the spouse of King William IV.
Congratulations to Italicus and thanks to Pierre.
This is quite simply the best debut puzzle I’ve seen in years. Nothing too challenging about it, but the grammar is flawless throughout and the surfaces are strong too. Congratulations and welcome, Italicus – I’ll be looking out for you in future.
A distinguished debut indeed. I find myself repeating my comments on Falcon’s offering in the FT today, in that the puzzle was not difficult, but was thoroughly enjoyable, and a pleasure to solve.
Like Hovis @5, PILCHARD at 22a was my LOI, as I had convinced myself that the definition was “difficult to follow”. Excellent misdirection, and a very good clue, as were many others.
Welcome to Italicus, and thanks to Pierre.
I couldn’t resist having a go at this one following the glowing endorsements this morning on Big Dave’s site, and I’m very glad I did. Congratulations Italicus on your national newspaper debut and what a great start. It was not difficult (just right for a sweltering Monday) with humour, brief but accurate wordplay, lovely surfaces and some nice misdirections. Many thanks Italicus and I hope we see more of your puzzles soon.
My only hold up was failing to parse 9a. I was so transfixed that Charlie had to equal CHAS that I spent some time looking to see if TE could be a drug reference for speed. D’oh and thanks to Pierre for putting me out of my misery.
Well done indeed, Italicus, nice to see you spreading your wings.
Like Pierre, I did check on the definition in 19a and I also checked on ADELAIDE to discover who she was married to – doubtless should have known that one!
Big ticks here for 6a plus 1,7&18d.
Many thanks, Italicus – please keep them coming!
Oops – forgot to thank Pierre for the blog!
Many thanks to one and all for the kind comments, and to Pierre for his very generous review. Hope to be back here in the near Future!
A warm welcome to Italicus from me too.
Perhaps, it’s not very nice to say that I found this crossword almost a write-in [almost, because I struggled a bit with the letters of 8d]. But I can have an easy puzzle.
The thing that is far more important (to me, and surely others) has been put in writing by Richard @9. He’s spot on!
If Italicus could gear up a bit as to difficulty, he (I assume) could easily become a real favourite.
Many thanks to Pierre & Italicus.
Well done Italicus, I did enjoy that.
Excellent puzzle – well done Italicus! Thanks Pierre for the review, too.
It’s all been said, but we will say it again – an enjoyable and perfectly pitched start to the week. Welcome to the Indy stable.
Thanks Italicus and Pierre.
Smooth as silk, which is no surprise to me, having seen Italicus’ work elsewhere.
6a really was a beaut, though (happily) not hard. I screwed up on my LOI, 13a, with AGADIR (a ‘gad’ clearly being a word for a sailor in the argot of some group I know nothing about). Der!
I see ticks on the page for 15a, ORPHAN; 26a, ISLAND-DWELLERS (any Hawaiians offended? It’s worldwide); 4d,STANDARD; 5d, DATA; 18d, WINDOW and 23, CRAM. And “aaah!” by 21d.