Independent 10,011 / Radian

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Radian is once again occupying the Tuesday slot, which is where I am most used to encountering his work.

Last time I blogged a Radian crossword, I missed an obvious ghost theme, so I have looked carefully for a theme this time, all to no avail. I found this to be quite a tricky puzzle, towards the harder end of the difficulty spectrum for Radian. There were no very long entries or phrases providing a lot of crossing letters, so I had to chip away at this bit by bit. In the end, I was stuck with the intersecting entries at 7 and 13; once I solved 13, I came up with an answer that I confirmed in Chambers. I also struggled to parse 15, while 19D was a new word for me.

My favourite clues today were 16, for its original definition; and 11, for smoothness of surface.

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

Across    
     
01 STOLID It’s old, dilapidated, and not easily moved

*(IT’S OLD); “dilapidated” is anagram indicator
     
04 ASSENTER He agrees to board a ship at the front

A + SS (=ship, i.e. steamship) + ENTER (=to board, i.e. a vehicle)
     
09 PACIFY Placate company head providing wage controls

[C<ompany> (“head” means first letter only) + IF (=providing)] in PAY (=wage)
     
10 EXPOSING Revealing former model’s status?

EX- (=former) + POSING (=model’s status)
     
12 INSURERS They cover working submariners medical body ignored

*(SU<bma>RINERS); “medical body (=BMA, i.e. British Medical Association) ignored” means letters “bma” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “working”; insurers cover risks
     
13 MARKET Demand box in opera house

ARK (=box, as in Ark of the Covenant) in MET (=opera house, in New York); cf. there is a huge demand/market for that product
     
15 GOOD Fine French composer wants one of his own

GO<un>OD (=French composer Charles Gounod), “wants one of his own (=un, i.e. a French word for one)” means letters “un” are dropped
     
16 CAPABILITY Ground-breaking Brown‘s top skill

CAP (=top) + ABILITY (=skill); the reference is to landscape gardener Capability Brown (1716-83), hence (literally) “ground (=soil)”-breaking!!
     
19 ISSUE FORTH Formally discharge kids, last of 4 lacking uniform

ISSUE (=kids, offspring) + FO<u>RTH (=last of 4, i.e. the fourth of 4; “lacking uniform (=U, in radio telecommunications)” means last letter is dropped
     
20 EVER English minister’s retiring at any time

E (=English) + VER (REV=minister, i.e. reverend; “retiring” indicates reversal)
     
23 DANGER Hamlet, for example, clasping Gertrude at first, runs risk

[G<ertrude> (“at first” means first letter dropped) in DANE (=Hamlet, for example)] + R (=runs, on cricket scorecard)
     
25 ESPOUSAL European’s mate holds over American championship

[O (=over, on cricket scorecard) + US (=American)] in [E (=European)’S + PAL (=mate)]; to champion a cause is to espouse it
     
27 THOUGHTS Hard Times tackles hard ideas

H (=hard, as in HB pencils) in [TOUGH (=hard) + TS (T=time, x2)]
     
28 STABLE Firm rejects the Spanish bananas

EL (=the Spanish, i.e. a Spanish word for the) + BATS (=bananas, mad); “rejects” indicates reversal
     
29 DRESSERS Theatre assistants take notice from speakers

<ad>DRESSERS (=speakers, i.e. those addressing an audience); ‘take notice (=ad(vert)) from” means letters “ad” are dropped
     
30 ALLEGE Claim drink limits cricket side

LEG (=cricket side) in ALE (=drink)
     
Down    
     
01 SAPLING Tender youth, shy when guarding a prince

[A + P (=prince)] in SLING (=shy, hurl)
     
02 OCCASIONS Old volume, one a lad’s binding, shows events

O (=old) + CC (=volume, capacity) + {I (=one) in [A + SON’S (=lad’s)]}
     
03 INFORM Brief independent fellow during convention

I (=independent) + [F (=form) in NORM (=convention, standard)]
     
05 SEXY Desirable Home Counties axes

SE (=Home Counties) + X Y (=axes, i.e. plural of axis on a graph)
     
06 EGOMANIA For one Arab, a self-service display?

E.G. (=for one, i.e. for example) + OMANI (=Arab) + A
     
07 TRICK Start to turn wrench client picked up on street

T<urn> (“start to” means first letter only) + RICK (=wrench, sprain); a trick is a prostitute’s client
     
08 RIGHTLY With good reason, furnish hotel at intervals with yen

RIG (=furnish, equip) + H<o>T<e>L (“at intervals” means alternate letters only) + Y (=yen, i.e. currency)
     
11 TREASON He deserts the cause, revealing state secrets?

T<he> (“he” deserts means letters “he” are dropped) + REASON (=cause)
     
14 FANTASY Dream team, say, regularly backing supporter

FAN (=supporter) + T<e>A<m> S<a>Y (“regularly” means alternate letters only)
     
17 INVISIBLE Inseparable detective leaves unseen

IN<di>VISIBLE (=inseparable); “detective (=DI, i.e. Detective Inspector) leaves” means letters “di” are dropped
     
18 REVENGES Return matches make income good for university

REVENUES (=income); “good (=G) for university (=U)” means letter “u” is replaced by “g”
     
19 INDITED What scribe did pointed to missing current account

INDI<ca>TED (=pointed to); “missing current account (=CA)” means letters “ca” are dropped; to indite is an archaic word meaning to compose, write, hence “scribe” as a writer of yesteryear
     
21 RELIEVE Free speaker’s on holiday

Homophone (“speaker’s”) of “re (=on, concerning) + LEAVE (=holiday, from work)”; to relieve is to free someone from duty, as in My colleague will relieve me at 6 o’clock
     
22 MORTAL Being virtuous, inwardly tense

T (=tense, in grammar) in MORAL (=virtuous); a (human) being is a mortal
     
24 NO ONE Midday, end of June, and not a soul

NOON (=midday) + <jun>E (“end of” means last letter only)
     
26 STIR Spur teacher to accept first of trainees

T<rainees> (“first of” means first letter only) in SIR (=teacher)
     
     

 

11 comments on “Independent 10,011 / Radian”

  1. Lovely setting as usual from this chap. MARKET was last in with  use of check. Cleverly worded withy demand looking like ASK but i saw ME and checked a thesaurus had BOX and ARK on the same page.

    Thanks Radian and RR

  3. Thanks for the blog, RR.

    Radian doesn’t cease to amaze. He’s already done three of Hamlet’s soliloquies and here’s another [see 19ac – does he mean it?]. Brilliant! [I may have missed some – I didn’t learn this one so thoroughly as the rather more famous ones, 😉

    How all occasions do inform against me,
    And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
    If his chief good and market of his time
    Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
    Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not
    That capability and god-like reason
    To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
    Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
    Of thinking too precisely on the event,
    A thought which, quarter’d, hath but one part wisdom
    And ever three parts coward, I do not know
    Why yet I live to say ‘This thing’s to do;’
    Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
    To do’t. Examples gross as earth exhort me:
    Witness this army of such mass and charge
    Led by a delicate and tender prince, [nice one!]
    Whose spirit with divine ambition puff’d
    Makes mouths at the invisible event,
    Exposing what is mortal and unsure
    To all that fortune, death and danger dare,
    Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
    Is not to stir without great argument,
    But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
    When honour’s at the stake. How stand I then,
    That have a father kill’d, a mother stain’d,
    Excitements of my reason and my blood,
    And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
    The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
    That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
    Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
    Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
    Which is not tomb enough and continent
    To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
    My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!

    Many thanks, as ever, to Radian.

  5. And EXPOSING and TRICK [and I had ‘thought’ rather than THOUGHTS, further down]. Apologies to Radian.]

    [I’ll get my coat now, to go and see ‘Peterloo’.]

  6. Pretty ingenious and challenging, needing more than one visit.  Will have to read some Hamlet before tackling the next Radian.  Particularly liked CAPABILITY, EGOMANIA, FANTASY.

    1D sling means shy in the sense of throwing (cf coconut shy).

    Thanks to Radian and RatkojaRiku.

  7. Thanks for explaining the theme, Eileen. I didn’t have a clue, though suspected there must be one.

    Enjoyable puzzle with several highlights including the ‘Ground-breaking Brown’, ‘self-service display’ and ‘client picked up on street’ defs and the unusual sense of ‘championship’.

    Note to self: Brush up your Shakespeare.

    Thanks to Radian and RR

  8. Wow!  This was a real pleasure.  Quite tricky in places, and several clues that took me quite a while to parse, but well worth the effort.  I didn’t spot the theme, and am grateful to Eileen for pointing it out.

  9. Managed to pick my way through this, struggling in NW at the end but I got there. No chance of seeing the theme, I’m afraid. Favourites were 11d n 14d.

    Many thanks radian, and thanks RR for spelling out THOUGHTS, which I had sort of but it was confusing me, and thank you Eileen for spotting a theme that I would never have spotted.

  10. In the end I got stuck on 7dn and 13ac.  I was convinced the former must be TWIST and finally resorted to the check button.  And even when I found out what it actually was, it took me several minutes to work out what it had to do with the clue.

  11. It’s Tuesday which is traditionally ‘theme day’ but we would never have spotted this one. Thanks to Eileen for spotting it, Radian for the puzzle and RR for the blog.

    An amazing grid fill with so many thematic entries.

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