Independent 9971 / Serpent

by

Serpent fills the Thursday slot this week

 

 

 

I really enjoyed this puzzle as one I found that gradually unfolded rather than one where there were some early write-ins.  For me, each clue required a bit of thought.  The anagrams at 1 down and 27 across were excellent as both were in smooth surfaces.. neither immediately looked like anagram fodder ebon though ‘somehow’ and ‘out’ hinted at anagrams.  The BLAIR GOT FAR anagram at 9 across was also very clever in its use of ROCK as a reverse anagram indicator from entry to clue

All the perimeter entries spanning three separate lights all had proper words in each   I don’t how easy that makes grid construction.  I guess they were entered first and the rest of the grid constructed around them

My last one in was either SNIP or SNAP as ‘crop’ at the beginning of the clue means SNIP and shot at the end could be a photographic shot or SNAP.  In the end, SNIPER came to mind as a good shot.  It also had ER as a Head of State.

All in all, a very good challenge

Across
No Clue Wordplay Entry
1 / 4 / 6 Product I slipped into beautiful girls’ drinks (5,8)

(BRAND [product] + I) contained in (slipped into) PEACHES (beautiful girls)

PEACH (BRAND I) ES

PEACH BRANDIES (spirits distilled from the fermented juice of the PEACH; drinks)
9 Prominence of disputed territory indicates Blair got far (4,2,9)

BLAIR GOT FAR is an anagram of (ROCK) OF GIBRALTAR  This is a reverse clue where the entry indicates a phrase in the clue

ROCK OF GIBRALTAR*

 ROCK OF GIBRALTAR (a prominent feature located in a territory whose sovereignty is disputed between the United Kingdom and Spain)
11 Bluewater is nearer the Thames estuary than London? (10)

DOWN (blue) + STREAM (water)  Bluewater is a huge shopping mall in Stone, Kent near the Thames estuary.  It is situated DOWNSTREAM from London.

DOWN STREAM

 DOWNSTREAM (nearer the estuary of a river)
15 Outrage customer fleeced by substantial settlement (8)

PATRON (customer) excluding the outer letters (fleeced) P and N + CITY (substantial settlement)

ATRO CITY

 ATROCITY (appalling act; outrage)
16 Bury‘s within Patient Ombudsman’s remit (6)

ENTOMB (hidden word in [within … remit] PATIENT OMBUDSMAN’S)

ENTOMB

 ENTOMB (bury)
19 Refrain from Jerusalem essentially penned by non-atheist (6)

S (central letter of [essentially] JERUSALEM) contained in (penned) DEIST (person who believes in the existence of God, but not in a divinely revealed religion; non-atheist)

DE (S) IST

 DESIST (refrain from)
20 Religious education New College dons understand after priest’s attendance (8)

P (priest) + RE (Religious Education) + ([N {new} + C {college}] contained in [dons] SEE [understand]))

P RE SE (N C) E

 PRESENCE (attendance)
22 Writer’s getting hit first in a row (10)

SUCCESS (hit) + I’VE (Writer [I]  has; writer’s getting?)

SUCCESS IVE

 SUCCESSIVE (coming in order; in a row)
26 Wanting article on being unlikely to win (3,2,3,7)

OUT OF (lacking; wanting) + THE (definite article) + RUNNING (on)

OUT OF THE RUNNING

 OUT OF THE RUNNING (competing without a fair chance of success; being unlikely to win)
27 / 28 / 29 Somehow stop our press covering article in international papers (13)

Anagram of (somehow) STOP OUR PRESS containing (covering) A (indefinite article)

EUROP (A) SSPORTS*

EUROPASSPORTS (standard form of passport issued to all eligible citizens of the European Union)
Down
1 /12 / 22 Planned to sort out means of producing erection (8,5)

Anagram of (out) PLANNED TO SORT

PORTLAND STONE*

PORTLAND STONE (oolitic building material which is quarried in the Isle of PORTLAND; means of producing erection
2 Demonstration after head’s ousted principal (4)

MARCH (demonstration) excluding the first letter (after head’s ousted) M

ARCH

 ARCH (chief, principal)
3 Ring Christopher Robin’s friend up (4)

POOH (reference Winnie the POOH, Christopher Robin’s friend in the books by A A Milne) reversed (up; down clue)

HOOP<

 HOOP (ring)
4 Delta?  A character that speaks volumes (8)

BIG MOUTH (a river delta describes an area where the water covers a wide alluvial plain to create a BIG river MOUTH)

BIG MOUTH

BIGMOUTH (talkative and often boastful or indiscreet person; someone with a lot to say)

 
5 White Britain’s going backwards (6)

ALBION (ancient names for the island of Great Britain, now used poetically for Britain) with ON (going) reversed (backwards)

ALBI NO<

ALBINO (person or other animal with abnormally white skin and hair)
7 International champion and German taking all things into consideration (2,3,5)

INT (international) + HERO (champion) + UND (German for ‘and’)

IN T HE RO UND

 IN THE ROUND (taking all things into consideration)
8 / 17 / 25 Ordered to take off immediately with bombs and set course ? (9,4)

SCRAMBLED ([pilots] ordered to take off immediately) + EGGS (bombs)

SCRAMBLED EGGS

SCRAMBLED EGGS (a [set] course at many breakfasts)

 
10 Weight is borne by wood floor (8)

(TON [weight] + IS) contained in (borne by) ASH (type of wood)

AS (TON IS) H

ASTONISH (confound; floor)

 
12 See 1    
13 In favour of region employing university’s legal representative (10)

PRO (in favour of) + (SECTOR [region] containing [employing] U [university])

PRO SEC (U) TOR

 PROSECUTOR (a legal official)
14 Display area for Tiffany’s frozen spit? (3,5)

ICE (diamonds; Tiffany’s is a luxury jeweller) + SHELF (where diamonds may be displayed in Tiffany’s)

ICE SHELF

ICE SHELF (floating sheet of ice permanently attached to a land mass and projecting into the sea; frozen spit)

 
17 See 8    
18 Shows written about leading characters in Ray Bradbury book (8)

PROVES (demonstrates; shows) containing (about) RB (first letters of [leading characters of] each of RAY and BRADBURY)

PROVE (R B) S

 PROVERBS (book of the Bible)
21 Resolve a maths problem with laboured breathing (6)

Anagram of (resolve) A MATHS

ASTHMA*

ASTHMA (chronic disorder of the organs of respiration, characterized by difficulty of breathing, wheezing, and a tightness in the chest)
22 See 1    
23 Crop head of state out of good shot (4)

SNIPER (skilled rifleman; good shot) excluding (out of) ER (Elizabeth Regina; Head of State of the United Kingdom)

SNIP

 SNIP (crop)
24 Unfamiliarity’s helping creator of fiction (4)

LIAR (hidden word in [helping] UNFAMILIARITY)

LIAR

 LIAR (speaker of untruths; creator of fiction)
25 See 8    

     22

10 comments on “Independent 9971 / Serpent”

  3. SNAP with SNIP.  (Plumped in the end for the right answer just based on the more likely definition, but had to come here for the explanation.  I even remember at one point thinking “ersnip … no, that’s not a word.”  I can be impressively stupid sometimes!)

    I’m very selective about which puzzles I do at the moment, but very glad I did this one.  Somehow Serpent manages, without being gimmicky, to continue to find little extras to add interest.  But there was more to this puzzle than the perimeter.  Impeccably fair clues which were fun to solve.  What more could a solver ask for?

    Thanks Serpent and Duncan.

  4. Very enjoyable – it did require two separate goes and a teensy bit of Tippex but I got there in the end

    Thanks to Serpent and Duncan

  5. Very much what others have said.  Our LOI was SNIP – originally parsed as S (head of state) outside (well, not inside) NIP (a shot, as of whisky but why good?) until we suddenly realised it was SNIP[er].  No help needed apart from recourse to a thesaurus for a synonym of ‘outrage’.  We liked the linked clues round the perimeter (except that it was a devil of a job getting a decent printout thanks to the rubbish software the Indy uses).

    Too many contenders to nominate a CoD – it was all good.

    Thanks, Serpent and Duncan.

  6. Thanks to Serpent and Duncan. Really enjoyed the mental stretch. Added bonus – bigmouth was the only answer that came anywhere near a slang term. A crossword in another place last weekend seemed stuffed with slang. Robert Fisk has written a very interesting article in today’s Indie lamenting “ the destruction of the English language “.

  7. Really great puzzle; thanks to S&D.

    I loved the clue for DOWNSTREAM but I don’t think the QM served a particularly useful purpose!

  8. Looked at this, noticed the perimeter and I was hooked. Managed to complete unaided, which i like to think compliments the setter. Great stuff, many thanks Serpent, and many thanks duncan for the usual excellent blog

  10. Thanks for the blog. I can’t resist being a bit nerdy because I am a glaciologist and, whatever may appear in one dictionary, an ice shelf is not a frozen spit. In fact that sounds like a definition of another feature, an ice tongue. But the answer was obvious so no harm done.

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