Independent 10,051/eimi

The player-manager pulls on the shirt to take the field for the final game of the year. Will it be a puzzle of two halves? Will the solver be over the moon on completion or sick as a parrot with a DNF? Will we need VAR to sort out a questionable clue? Read on to find out.

 

Eimi has done a fine job this year as editor, bringing us some excellent Indy puzzles from a growing stable of talented setters. Here, he himself has compiled a fun crossword with more than a nod to the fact that today is the last day of the calendar year. As usual with an eimi offering, there’s plenty of GK to get your teeth into, and of course a bit of footie …

Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

Across

1 See 8 Down
OLD

3 Pug died when stuffed with nuts and stodgy food
SUET PUDDING
An unfortunate end for the poor beast. (PUG NUTS DIED )* with ‘stuffed’ as the anagrind.

9 With 1A, pre-decimal coin discovered in Lancaster
PENNY
With the solution to 1A, we have OLD PENNY. The definition as ‘discovered in Lancaster’ I am struggling to get, unless it refers to minor sleb Penny Lancaster, who’s married to the ageing rocker Rod Stewart and who has PUT ON TWO STONE SINCE SHE’S HAD KIDS!!! according to my sources. I’m hoping there’s another explanation.

10 More ghastly Russian spies getting the Queen to eat a certain amount
GRUESOMER
One of those comparative adjectives whose construction will be supported by a dictionary somewhere, but which I personally would never use because it’s as ugly as a bulldog’s arse. It’s an insertion (‘to eat’) of SOME in GRU and ER, Elizabeth Regina, Her Maj. GRU is the abbreviation for Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye, the Russian military intelligence service. No, I didn’t either.

11/4 A good time to be a Harry and score a full round?
TWENTY EIGHTEEN
A dd cum cd. TWENTY for ‘score’ and EIGHTEEN for a ‘full round’ in g**f. I think eimi is referring to the fact that the year to which we are bidding farewell, 2018, has been ‘a good time’ for the ginger one, who got hitched at a huge cost to the taxpayer to some American broad whose father is even more deranged than his. Or given his footie allegiance, the setter might just be referring to the other Harry, the striker for the historically under-achieving North London club who done good at the World Cup. Or Harry ‘I don’t mind a bung’ Redknapp, who apparently recently won I’m a sleb …  So many Harrys to choose from – your call.

13 Argument about limits of load in place Columbus set sail from with 1A
WORLD
A reversal of ROW and LD for the outside letters or ‘limits’ of ‘load’. Together with 1A, you get OLD WORLD, which is indeed where Columbus sailed from (although it wasn’t called that at the time, of course).

16 Time as defined by Einstein in a certain formulation
NINETIES
(EINSTEIN)*

19 With 1A, one who painted Mother Cradling Son
MASTER
An insertion of S in MATER. Together with 1A, you get OLD MASTER.

21 Frequently leaving Suffolk resort, most depressed
LOWEST
LOWEST[OFT]

22 Bandits regularly thrash around, which is a bit off
BAD TASTE
An insertion of ADT for the ‘regular’ letters of bAnDiTs with BASTE ‘around’. From Collins: baste³, to beat thoroughly, thrash. Collins also says it’s from 1A Norse beysta. I got to BASTE for ‘thrash’ from knowing bastinado, which is the foot-beating torture; but that is from a Latin root, so they can’t be related etymologically.

24 With 1A, one’s rather timid with Arabian state
OLD WOMAN
A charade of W and OMAN, so with 1A, you get OLD WOMAN. Again from Collins: a timid, cautious or fussy person.

25 Allude to snaffling cigarette end to make spliff
REEFER
An insertion of E for the last letter of ‘cigarette’ in REFER.

31 Cleared up as routine do got out of control
IRONED OUT
(ROUTINE DO)*

32 Statement showing company’s not in the red – quite the opposite
CREDO
It is indeed quite the opposite: it’s RED in CO.

33 Middlesex and Derbyshire openers stumped by cricket commentator’s complaint
MAD STAGGERS
A charade of M, A and D for the first letters of the first three words of the clue, ST for the cricketing ‘stumped’, and to continue the cricketing allusion, AGGERS for the BBC cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew. A bit unfair if you don’t follow cricket or don’t know the affectionate nicknames they all have on Test Match Special. A brain inflammation in horses, as far as I can discover.

34 See 8 Down
MAN

Down

1 Senior citizens love an afterthought
OAPS
A charade of O, A and PS.

2 Cook bean, which would be a treat for Homer Simpson
DONUT
A charade of DO and NUT. ‘I’m going to do/cook spag bol tonight’, and another slang word for ‘head’. Simpsons fans will know that the three loves of Homer’s life are Marge, Duff Beer and Donuts (not always in that order).

3 With 1A, type that’s used in nasty letters
STYLE
Hidden in naSTY LEtters, and with 1A, you get OLD STYLE.

5 One of the Beatles is to become less appealing on the radio
PAUL
There are only four to choose from, so a homophone of PALL gives you the left-handed Beatle.

6 Harry possibly supported by Dec’s presenting partner, which is incongruous
DISSONANT
The ginger one makes another appearance. He’s DI’S SON (although allegedly not Charles’) and if you put ANT for the other half of DEC underneath, you’ve got your answer. Plenty of popular culture from the ed this morning.

7 Kills time essentially with distance runner on evening shifts
IMMOLATES
A charade of IM for the middle letters (‘essentially’) of tIMe, MO and LATES for an informal term for ‘evening shifts’. To kill by burning, usually as a sacrifice.

8/1A/34 Star playing Lady Morgan
GARY OLDMAN
(LADY MORGAN)* giving us GARY, OLD for all the 1A answers, and MAN for 34A. The film ‘star’.

12 Minute number one
WEE
A dd. For overseas solvers, ‘number one’ is kiddy-speak for a WEE (and of course Scottish dialect for small, or ‘minute’).

14 Fish in the corner
ANGLE
A dd.

15 With 1A, Ancien Régime giving command
ORDER
If you take the OLD out of OLD ORDER, or Ancien Régime, you’re left with a word meaning ‘command’.

17 68-reg Kuga, for example, with stripped gold interior, that’s exchanged at midnight
NEW FOR OLD
Again for the benefit of non-UK solvers, a ’68-reg’ car wouldn’t be from the year that Martin Luther King was assassinated, but one that would be registered after 1 September 2018. Kuga is a make of Ford car, so the first part of the clue would be NEW FORD. Insert OL for ‘stripped gold’ or [G]OL[D] in that and you’ve got your answer, which is the theme of the puzzle: we’ll be exchanging the OLD YEAR for the NEW YEAR at midnight tonight.

18 Mates larking around under canvas in books, with 1A
TESTAMENT
An insertion of (MATES)* in TENT. With 1A you get OLD TESTAMENT, or ‘books’. The anagrind is ‘larking around’ and the insertion indicator is ‘under’.

20 One has certain rights to cover such a shelter with water
PATENTEE
Urination and tents are busy this morning, bringing to mind LBJ’s famous quote. It’s A TENT in PEE. I can only think that the inclusion of ‘such’ is a reference to the previous clue, since it’s not needed otherwise.

23 Time had by 1D with 1A
AGE
With 1A you get OLD AGE, which is OAPS’ time. I’m counting it as middle age, myself.

26 Confronts what you’d expect to see in a regular haunt with 1A
FACES
With 1A you get OLD FACES, which is ‘what you’d expect to see in a regular haunt’.

27 Watery fluid in said space
RHEUM
A homophone (‘said’) of ROOM.

28 Constant rivals in Glasgow, with 1A
FIRM
With 1A you get OLD FIRM, which refers to the Glasgow football teams Celtic and Rangers, who are certainly ‘rivals’. There’s far too much footie in the Indy.

29 Something recorded by 26, for example, is a mere trifle with 1A
SONG
With 1A you get OLD SONG, which online dictionaries do define as ‘a mere trifle; nothing of value’. A SONG would have been recorded by FACES back in the sixties, with Rod Stewart probably singing it, so I’m definitely now going with Penny Lancaster for 9A.

30 Won’t dance in more established area with 1A
TOWN
With 1A you get OLD TOWN, which would by its nature be the ‘more established area’ of a conurbation. (WONT)* with ‘dance’ as the anagrind.

Many thanks to eimi for a fun puzzle to end the year, and all best wishes for 2019 to him and to all Indy sloggers, betters and contributors.