Independent 10056 by Dalibor

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Happy New year to one and all. Dalibor is today’s setter. A new setter for my 200th blog.

A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle and just the right level to awaken the sleepy brain cells following the Christmas break.

A symmetrical location-based theme 13ac, 3dn, 21ac and 15dn. All predominantly in their own quadrants of the grid.  Some high quality surface readings too – 26ac, 11ac and 2dn caught my eye bu there are many others.

Being from the North-east, I did chuckle at 13ac – someone who knows the area would be tempted to remove the question mark.

Many thanks Dalibor – a really enjoyable solve

Key: Rev. reverse; * anagram; DD double definition; underline definition.

Across
1 Boy moves around on Boxing Day heading for Santa (8)
Goes (moves) around on boxing d (day) + s (heading for Santa) = GOODNESS
5 Horse entering desolate Epsom Derby is a well-known one (6)
pony (horse) in Em (desolate epsom) = EPONYM
10 Key figure half dismissed third part of Forsyte Saga? (7)
ins (key) + figure – fig (have dismissed) + r (third part of Forsyte) = INSURER
11 Victory follows as a result of a set piece (5-2)
win (victory) after Thro’ (as a result of) = THROW IN
12 Romanian tennis star seen cycling, showing character (5)
Halep (Romanian tennis star) cycling = ALEPH
13 No special threats here? (9)
No + (threats)* = NORTHEAST (very true indeed!)
14 Big names running a race, display of great fun (7,5)
(big names)* + mile (a race) = BEAMING SMILE
18 Raging sea’s undertow having contrasting flavours, … (5-3-4)
(seas + undertow) = SWEET AND SOUR
21 … the first two characteristic for this area? (9)
first two of 18ac (SW) = SOUTHWEST
23 Barman is what may become of Timothy Dalton after losing voice (5)
hay (what may become of Timothy (grass)) + Dalton – alto (voice) = HAYDN
24 Citadel demolished by decree (7)
(citadel)* = EDICTAL
25 One used to cut tea breaks during test? Must be reversed! (4,3)
Rev. Exam (test) around (tea)* = MEAT AXE
26 Play with old army vehicle? (6)
Toy (play) + o (old) + TA (army) = TOYOTA
27 One drunk’s slightly unwell state, unvarying with direction (8)
i (one) + sot (drunk) + ropy(slightly unwell) = ISOTROPY

Down
1 Perhaps Spanish defender lacking depth when tackled by Italian (6)
Guard (defender) – d (depth) around it (italian) = GUITAR
2 Educational body expelled fellow for leaving university (6)
Ousted (expelled) swapping f (fel;low) for u (university) = OFSTED
3 I will leave 11 in disarray and set off for Lancashire? (9)
(Throw-in (11) – i)* + (set)* = NORTHWEST
4 Clever, gripping performance of Mr Eddington, full of determination (6-8)
sly (clever) around (Mr eddington)* = STRONG MINDEDLY
6 Dangerous creature blocking pub’s entrance (5)
PH (pub) around orc (dangerous creature) = PORCH
7 Language once briefly adopted by John Lennon (3,5)
Hidden abbreviation johN Lennon = NEW LATIN
8 At last, James Milner flourishes – about time one entertains (8)
(s + Milner)* around t (time) = MINSTREL
9 Spurs into mess, Tottenham initially shocked: take action! (4,4,6)
(spurs into mess + t(Tottenham initially))* = STIR ONES STUMPS
15 In this place female’s carrying out a simple task, to begin with (9)
she (female) around out + ast (a simple task, to begin with) = SOUTHEAST
16 In my opinion, unchanged relationship ending in divorce should be reviewed (2,1,3,2)
as is (unchanged) + Rev. e (ending in divorce) + tie (relationship) = AS I SEE IT
17 Being free from danger? In Canterbury, maybe, you are while texting (8)
SE city (canterbury maybe) around UR (you are while texting) = SECURITY
19 Manic Monday’s something electrifying (6)
(monday)* = DYNAMO
20 A French kiss: boring indeed, standing for “not stimulating libido” (6)
un (a french) + Rev. (yes(say)) around x = UNSEXY
22 Come to the right conclusion: start to have sex twice (3,2)
h (start to have) + it (sex) twice = HIT IT

15 comments on “Independent 10056 by Dalibor”

  1. Thanks for blog. Hasnt Dalibor been doing a few barred puzzles as this was pretty obscure in places.

    I dont have a key that says INS on my mac

    I guessed ALEPH never having heard of HALEP

    I did know Paul Eddington  but to no avail.

    So Timothy is grass.

    The above was all in contrast to the four directions which were straightforward.

    Or was all this a warm-up for the Inky?

  2. I find it hard to express how pleased I was to finish this without cheating. I did have to find the Romanian tennis player, though, having guessed ALEPH. Thought for sure I wasn’t going to finish the top left block but it all fell eventually with a lot of brain work.

    Got held up longer than I should on 4d thinking ‘clever’ would be ‘fly’ rather than ‘sly’. I was all the way down to 18a before I even got started. Loved untangling the HAYDN clue. 1d was my LOI. Thought I was going to fail at the last hurdle from not knowing some footie players. Nice misdirection!

    Many thanks to Dalibor for the excellent puzzle and to twencelas for the blog.

  3. Likewise, very pleased to finish as I found it pretty sticky going. Finally cracked the NW when I got GOODNESS, my favourite clue by a distance.  Also like HAYDN, but not wild about the four directions.

    Thanks Dalibor and twencelas

  4. Loved the Famous Names – Milner, Dalton, Eddington, Lennon – that just turned out to be cunning word-soup fodder. Less excited about the compass directions; once one was in, the others were easily spotted & made life a bit too easy, I thought. Still, Dalibor clearly an ingenious setter. Welcome. And Ta to twenc for the blog.

  5. Great puzzle, very hard in places (for me). Halep? Eh?

    Thanks to Dalibor and twencelas + happy new year to everyone

  6. Spent an age hoping 7d would be some form of NEWSPEAK, Speke being the former name of John Lennon International Airport. Most enjoyable all the same, with thanks to twencelas for a couple of parses that passed me by.

  7. Since my last two [or first two, if you like] Indy crosswords were both plain and seen as difficult, I thought “let’s add an extra, hopefully, nice touch”. Sorry if it didn’t work for some of you!

    And then there’s Halep – eh?  Well, she’s not just a ‘Romanian tennis star’, she is actually the Women’s World No 1 (since November 2017!). Last year she was voted Tennis Player of the Year. True, she didn’t win a Grand Slam thus far but calling such a foremost tennis player ‘obscure’ did surprise me more than a bit. That said, my initial idea for ALEPH was the same as Knut’s who, in October, came up with ALE + PH. Therefore, I had to think of something else.

    The INS (Insert) key may indeed not be on every single computer these days (as eimi made clear, too) but on the keyboard that I’m using this very moment (a Dell) it is there. If not convinced, just Google “keyboard insert key” (Images) and see what happens!

    Many thanks to those tried my puzzle and, in particular, to those who commented.

    Special thanks to twenceslas – not just for the blog but also for mentioning (some of) my surfaces as ‘high quality’. While cryptic precision comes first, I always try to write ‘meaningful’ surfaces. Did I ‘meaningful’? That is a rather ‘meaningless’ word nowadays, isn’t it?  One small thing, in 27ac ‘state’ is part of the definition and should ideally be underlined.

    Cheers.

     

  8. Very clever puzzle, much enjoyed. Thanks Dalibor! Would never have parsed NEW LATIN without help. Thanks for the blog Twencelas, and congrats on the big 200!

  9. And, twenceslas, I don’t want to be picky but the parsing of 9d should be (SPURS INTO MESS + T[ottenham])* with ‘shocked’ as the anagram indicator. I already apologised to eimi ….  🙂

  10. We struggled with this, particularly in the NW corner, where we had to enlist electronic help, and we failed to parse several answers elswhere in the grid.  I suppose our verdict is that the puzzle was 18, and not really resulting in a 14.  We did like ISOTROPY, though.

    But thanks, nevertheless, to Dalibor and twencelas.

  12. Terrific stuff – even for someone who knows nothing and cares even less about sport! Dalibor is a welcome recent inclusion to the Indy’s setters, and may we have many more puzzles from him.

  13. Had never come across ‘stir ones stumps’ or the Timothy grass, but blundered through, and I did like the Halep clue. Not New Latin though – no idea until I came here. Very clever but a bit of a stretch. Still, it’s Saturday. Thanks to Dalibor and Twencelas.

  14. Simona Halep is the current French Open (Grand Slam) champion but you are no one if you don’t win Wimbledon, I guess.

  15. My best effort yet at a Dalibor puzzle – I always find them a challenge, but well worth the effort.  I took my unfinished grid along with me yesterday to the pub thinking I’d enlist help from proper solvers, but actually managed to complete the fill on the train there, with only a little anagram help to get STIR ONES STUMPS.

    A couple of half-parsed ones: just didn’t quite sort out the INSURER (d’oh!), and NEW LATIN was all Greek to me.  Also wasn’t familiar with Timothy grass, even though Chambers tells me it’s cat’s-tail grass.

    I liked the directions: the added help was much appreciated, with so much cunning misdirection elsewhere (also enjoyed).

    Ditto Hovis@2 about the NORTHWEST corner, where GUITAR was my last in too for the same reasons.

    Thanks Dalibor and twencelas – congratulations, and happy 200th!

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