Independent 9981 / Knut

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Knut is a topical setter, whose puzzles clues and entries often contain references to people and incidents of recent weeks

 

 

 

Today the puzzle was themed around P45 which enabled a clever reference to Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States.  I would be interested to know which came first, the thought of creating a puzzle around the P45 form or the realisation the Donald Trump was P45?  Rees-Mogg is also a topical reference.

Knut has done well getting five different variations on a description of a dismissal / issue of P45 scenario.  For anyone not familiar with the role of a P45 in the British workplace, it is the form given to an employee changing jobs, carrying a statement of earnings to date in the current tax year, and deductions made from those earnings by the employer.  In some cases it is associated with dismissal or redundancy.

As ever with Knut there were some good surfaces.  I liked the clue for GLAMOUR that linked Bing [Crosby] and Dorothy [Lamour] given their association in the ‘Road to …’ series of films.  As a Scot, I also liked the Rangers / Celtic clue.

I was slightly surprised by the number of clues taking the first letters of a series of words in the clue or taking letters from else where in a set of clue words.  I counted five.

Overall though, good fun.

Across
No Clue Wordplay Entry
1 Desperate character, daughter (23) getting collared – it doesn’t look good (8)

DAN (reference Desperate DAN, a cartoon character in the Dandy comic until it ceased publication in 2012 or 2013)  + D (daughter) + RUFF (TRUMP, entry at 23 down, both are similar terms in card games)

DAN D RUFF

DANDRUFF ( scaly scurf on the skin under the hair, which often transfers to shirt collars and doesn’t look good there)
5 Pass by il Duomo regularly providing refuge (6)

ASYLUM (letters 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 [regularly] of PASS BY IL DUOMO)

ASYLUM

 ASYLUM (place of refuge)
10 Steals tops from Next, Intimissimi, Calvin Klein, Selfridge’s (5)

NICKS (first letters of [tops from] NEXT, INITIMISSI, CALVIN, KLEIN and SELFRIDGE’S)

NICKS

 NICKS (steals)
11 Swift retribution seen from Bath chicken farm getting exposed (1,5,3)

All letters except the outside ones (getting exposed) from each of BATH, CHICKEN and FARM

A T HICK E AR

A THICK EAR (swollen ear, usually a result of a blow administered as [swift] punishment or revenge)
12 Revolting Rees-Mogg (nit!) telephoned about issuing P45 (7,2)

LETTING GO (hidden word [about] reversed in [revolting] REES-MOGG (NIT) TELEPHONED)

LETTING GO<

 LETTING GO (scenario that could describe the issuing of a P45
13 First in a series: "beer, and where to find it" (5)

ALE (beer) + PH (public house, a place you will find beer)

ALE PH

ALEPH (the first letter of the Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets; first in a series)

 
14 Boring, soporific Anne Diamond given P45 (6)

Hidden word in (boring) SOPORIFIC ANNE DIAMOND

CANNED

 CANNED (American informal term for sacked or dismissed; given a P45
15 Lundgren, at home, is a fairly blubbery individual (7)

DOLPH (reference DOLPH Lundgren [born 1957], Swedish actor and director) + IN (at home)

DOLPH IN

DOLPHIN (any of a group of small toothed whales; fairly blubbery individual)
18 At last, Bing and Dorothy get together … va-va-voom! (7)

G (final letter of [at last] Bing) + LAMOUR (reference Dorothy LAMOUR [1914 – 1996], American actress who appeared in may "Road to …" films with Bing Crosby)

G LAMOUR

 GLAMOUR (allure; va-va-voom [the quality of being interesting, exciting or sexually appealing])
20 Ballyhoo in America as much-loved bear returns to Los Angeles (6)

POOH (reference Winnie the POOH, a much loved bear) reversed (returns) + LA (Los Angeles)

HOOP< LA

 HOOPLA (great activity; HOOPLA is American [US] slang for nonsense or ballyhoo)
22 Write off oil company (5)

TOTAL (destroy completely; write-off)

TOTAL

TOTAL (reference the TOTAL S.A., a French multinational integrated oil and gas company and one of the seven "Supermajor" oil companies in the world)  double definition
24 Switzerland: "Gold, francs, €; it’s what drives us (9)

CH (International Vehicle Registration for Switzerland) + AU (chemical symbol for gold) + FF (francs) + EUR (currency code for Euros for which € is the symbol)

CH AU FF EUR

 CHAUFFEUR (a male who drives)  Not sure why ‘it’ is used rather than ‘he’; chauffeuse is the female for)
25 So much tea brewed for Fu Manchu? (9)

Anagram of (brewed) SO MUCH TEA

MOUSTACHE*

MOUSTACHE (A Fu Manchu full, straight
MOUSTACHE that originates on the corners of the mouth and grows downward past the
clean-shaven lips and chin in two tapered "tendrils", often extending
past the jawline)
26 Slipknot shortly retiring, heading east (5)

SOON (shortly) reversed (retiring) + E (East; a direction, bearing or heading)  I suppose E could also be the first letter or heading of EAST)

NOOS< E

 NOOSE (a form of slipknot)
27 I heard one covering hip-hop artist (6)

RAPPER (sounds like [I heard] WRAPPER [something that covers])

RAPPER

 RAPPER (hip-hop artist)
28 Sleeping rough, hovels give me accommodation for a shilling (8)

(HOLES [miserable or contemptible places; hovels] containing [give … accommodation] ME) + S (shilling)

HO (ME) LES S

 HOMELESS (without a permanent place of residence, sleeping rough)
Down
1 / 23 P45 (6,5)

DONALD TRUMP (45th President of the United States)  I can’t find P as an abbreviation for President in Chambers, Collins or the Oxford Dictionary of English.  However, PP for Past President is in all three, so I suppose the second P is an abbreviation for President

DONALD TRUMP

 DONALD TRUMP (45th President of the United States)
2 In action, rolled American tobacco (9)

Anagram of (rolled) IN ACTION + A (American)

NICOTIAN* A

NICOTIANA (any plant of the tobacco genus NICOTIANA)
3 In which, when it’s your round, you’ll be under the table (7,8)

RUSSIAN ROULETTE (an act of bravado, specifically that of loading a revolver with one bullet, spinning the cylinder, and firing at one’s own head; if it’s a round ‘with your name’ on it, you will be killed and possibly lying under the table)

RUSSIAN ROULETTE

RUSSIAN ROULETTE (the clue is a cryptic definition as described in the word play)
4 Female fell behind, tired (7)

F (female) + LAGGED (fell behind)

F LAGGED

FLAGGED (tired)

 
6 Black coffee Sean spilled at work could mean P45 (8,7)

Anagram of (spilled) BLACK COFFEE SEAN

SACKABLE OFFENCE*

 SACKABLE OFFENCE (an action at work that could lead to instant dismissal and the issue of a P45)
7 "Vassal state" falsely, say taken over? (5)

LIE (state falsely) + E.G. (for example; say) reversed (taken over)

LIE GE<

 LIEGE (vassal)
8 / 21 St David’s Day: new government demands P45 (8,6)

MARCH I (1st March – St David’s Day) + N (new) + G (government) + ORDERS (demands)

MARCH I N G ORDERS

 MARCHING ORDERS (dismissal from employment which results in the issue of a P45)
9 / 20 Senior citizens retch, initially horrified over P45 (3,3,5-2)

THE OLD (senior citizens) + HEAVE (retch) + HO (first letters [initially] of HORRIFIED and OVER)

THE OLD HEAVE H O

 THE OLD HEAVE-HO (dismissal [from a job] resulting in the issue of a P45)
16 Beautiful girl head over heels enthralled by revolutionary hero, one bearing flowers (9)

BELLE (beautiful girl) reversed (head over heels ; down clue) contained in (overwhelmed by) an anagram of (revolutionary) HERO

H (ELLEB<) ORE*

HELLEBORE (any plant of the genus Helleborus, of the buttercup family; one bearing flowers)
17 Encourage to send up one in the kitchen cabinet? (3,5)

EGG (encourage) + REMIT (send) reversed (up; down clue)

EGG TIMER<

 EGG TIMER (kitchen gadget which may be stored in a cupboard)
18 Rangers overwhelm Celtic from the off, starting "Old Firm" in flamboyant style (6)

ROC (first letters of [from the off] each of RANGERS, OVERWHELM and CELTIC) + O (first letter of [starting] OLD) + CO (company; firm)

R O C O CO

ROCOCO (style of architecture, decoration and furniture-making prevailing in Louis XV’s time, marked by endless multiplication of ornamental details unrelated to structure; flamboyant style)
20 See 9    
21 See 8    
23 See 1    

   

13 comments on “Independent 9981 / Knut”

  1. Thanks Knut and DS

    Nice puzzle.

    Ref P = President, the President is also often referred to as POTUS (the current one is also often referred to as lots of other things, of course.

  2. Interesting coincidence that NOOSE appears in the exact same position in the grid as in yesterday’s Vigo puzzle, with a very similar clue.

  3. Surely the Trump clue came first – it reminds me of Nick Park (4,2).  It must have been a lovely moment when it clicked.

    The three long ones at 6, 8, 9 also very good.

    Thanks Knut, Duncan

  4. @Duncan

    Many thanks for the blog. I was a bit taken aback by your comment about P=President not being in Chambers and you’re absolutely right. My latest edition (12th; about to get replaced) doesn’t have it, although my much-loved 7th ed. (which has the abbrs. listed separately at the back) does. Rum. I’d always assumed it was a given.

     

  5. Thanks Knut! didn’t see DONALD TRUMP till the end, though I might have had a clue from DANDRUFF. One of those puzzle that looks a little intimidating at first but turns out to be accessible and a lot of fun. I like all the P45 clues. Had to look up the flowering plant.

    Many thanks Duncan

  6. Lovely crossword in which I got DONALD TRUMP very late. It also meant that DANDRUFF (1ac) went in without fully understanding what was going on. Not sure whether 23d would have helped me as I am not very well up with card games.

    I think 1/23d was a stunning clue with the rest of the P45s nicely scattered around it.

    Many thanks to Duncan, and to Knut for the fun.

  7. It seems that Jose Mourinho has temporarily dodged a P45 so thats OK

    Great use of theme and a hoot to solve.

  8. Great crossword. I didn’t realise until I came here that I hadn’t parsed 1a correctly. I had taken “it doesn’t look good” as the definition and ‘ruff’ to be ‘collared’ (provide with a ruff). Inadvertently, I had ignored the (23) in the clue.

    Although I take your point, Duncan, on 24a – putting ‘he’ in place of ‘it’ would ruin the surface reading.

    Thanks to Knut and Duncan. Now, if only we could give p45 his p45 (or the US equivalent). P for ‘president’ does seem to crop up a lot, so I was equally surprised that I couldn’t find it. (As has often been pointed out, its use in combinations such as POTUS cannot count.)

  9. V. enjoyable. I was fooled by the ‘P45’ in 1/23 until the very end and 1a – loved the def – wasn’t helped by not knowing the card game meaning of RUFF.

    Interesting to see Dorothy LAMOUR making her second cruciverbal appearance in the last couple of weeks.

    Thanks to Knut and Duncan

  10. Found this one a little tough to get started, but as always with Knut the clueing was fair and the puzzle entertaining.

    Thanks to Knut and Duncan

  11. Super fun.  I didn’t see 1/23d until right at the end, and what a joke to finish on.

    I had half-parsed DANDRUFF as Hovis @8 and was left scratching my head as to the (23), not a meaning of ruff I knew.

    Many thanks Knut and Duncan.

  12. Too busy with grandchildren yesterday to even look at this crossword, but I’m a great fan of a topical Knut cryptic so made time to solve it today, and I’m really glad I did so

    Thanks to Knut for the entertainment and Duncan for the blog

  13. I also couldn’t do it yesterday. My mobile doesn’t cope with the Indy web-site. Got it printed out via my ancient pc which uses Windows 7 Home Edition.

    I found this surprisingly easy, getting all but 4 of the across solutions before looking at any of the downs. And with lots of crossers in place the downs just fell into place. So, although it proved to be very easy, I must admit to finding it very enjoyable. Thanks, Knut.

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