Independent 10,078 by Klingsor

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We always look forward to the next Klingsor….and here it is!

This was a classic Klingsor puzzle, with lots to enjoy and plenty to keep the old grey matter busy.
We hadn’t come across the meaning of CONTINENT in 8d before, so that was our last one in.
We also have a minor quibble with the defintion at 3d being in the plural when, as far as we are aware, the solution is singular – but maybe some sea-faring types may be able to elucidate?
This didn’t stop our enjoyment of the puzzle, so thanks to Klingsor – roll on the next one!

completed grid

 

Across

1 Instrument cut a part of the eye (6)
CORNEA
CORNEt (instrument) without the last letter or ‘cut’ + A

5 Doctor at Bart’s called firstly for summary (8)
ABSTRACT
An anagram of AT BART’S and C (first letter of ‘called’) – anagrind is ‘doctor’

9 Conventional image of hi-fi enthusiast? (10)
STEREOTYPE
A hi-fi enthusiast might be referred to as a STEREO TYPE

10 Mark keeps wearing fur (4)
MINK
MK (mark) round or ‘keeping’ IN (wearing)

11 Group of women extremely eager to stop backing fossil fuels (8)
SERAGLIO
E and R (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of ‘eager’) in or ‘stopping’ OIL GAS (fossil fuels) reversed or ‘backing’

12 Titillating books penned by Blair? (6)
EROTIC
OT (Old Testament – ‘books’) in or ‘penned’ by ERIC (Eric Blair, better known as George Orwell)

13 Join a clumsy ship going to port? (4)
ABUT
A + TUB (‘clumsy ship’) reversed or ‘going to port’ (left)

15 They had three banks, note, blocking attempts involving mortgage initially (8)
TRIREMES
RE (note) in or ‘blocking’ TRIES (attempts) round or ‘involving’ M (first or ‘initial’ letter of ‘mortgage’)

18 Airport in New York, not LA, needs new curator (8)
GUARDIAN
La GUARDIA (airport in New York) without ‘LA’ + N (new)

19 Ideas that regularly ignored facts (4)
DATA
Alternate letters (‘regularly ignored’) of iDeAs ThAt

21 Among loves, count opera (6)
OTELLO
TELL (count) ‘among’ O and O (loves)

23 One sits in second row, ignoring a hoarder (8)
SQUIRREL
I (one) ‘sitting’ in S (second) QUaRREL (row) without ‘a’

25 American pilots retreating to a distance (4)
AFAR
A (Amercian) + RAF (Royal Air Force – ‘pilots’) reversed or ‘retreating’

26 A greengrocer’s uses one rightly, and wrongly too perhaps? (10)
APOSTROPHE
The incorrect use of the APOSTROPHE frequently seen relating to plurals on signs has become known as the ‘greengrocer’s apostrophe’

27 Pick fruit around English coast on vacation, right? (8)
PLECTRUM
PLUM (fruit) round E (English) CoasT (without the middle letters or ‘on vacation’)

28 Singer from California, not American (6)
CANARY
CA (California) NARY (American term for ‘not’)

Down

2 Unusual way in which leader gets demoted (5)
OUTRE
ROUTE (way) with the ‘r’ (first letter or ‘leader’) moved down or ‘demoted’

3 A snorter, close to hurricane winds? (3-6)
NOR-EASTER
A Clue-as-definition: an anagram of A SNORTER and E (last letter or ‘close’ of ‘hurricane’) – anagrind is ‘winds’.

4 Oscar supports a vote for handsome chap (6)
APOLLO
O (Oscar) after or ‘supporting’ A POLL (vote)

5 Pan Tory cryptically suggesting desperate measure? (3,4,2,1,5)
ANY PORT IN A STORM
ANY PORT is an anagram of ‘pan Tory’ – the anagrind is ‘IN A STORM’, which is ‘suggested cryptically’

6 Malicious woman from Slough turned up last (3-5)
SHE-DEVIL
SHED (slough) + LIVE (last, as in ‘survive’) reversed or ‘turned up’

7 First person embraced by Australian animal lover (5)
ROMEO
ME (first person) in or ’embraced by’ ROO (Australian animal)

8 Virtuous group saving Government (9)
CONTINENT
CONTINgENT (group) without or ‘saving’ ‘g’ (government) – a new meaning for us!!

14 Billion offered originally to housing fund – not half generous! (9)
BOUNTIFUL
B (billion) O (first letter or ‘origin’ of ‘offered’) UNTIL (to) round or ‘housing’ FUnd (‘not half’)

16 Bedcover that is returned could be red and blue (9)
EIDERDOWN
IE (that is) reversed or ‘returned’ + an anagram of RED (anagrind is ‘could be’) + DOWN (blue)

17 Jockey is around? He’s an old-fashioned sort (8)
DINOSAUR
An anagram of IS AROUND – anagrind is ‘jockey’

20 Sport gets endless criticism, that’s plain (6)
RUSTIC
RU (Rugby Union – ‘sport’) STICk (criticism) without the last letter or ‘endless’

22 Song of some heavenly riches (5)
LYRIC
Hidden in (‘some’) heavenLY RIChes

24 Subtract a quarter from lower number (5)
ETHER
nETHER (lower) without the ‘n’ (north – ‘a quarter’)

16 comments on “Independent 10,078 by Klingsor”

  1. This was good fun but finished rather quickly. Thought the clues for SERAGLIO & APOSTROPHE were superb.

    Don’t have an issue with 3d. “A snorter” is singular and could just about describe a nor-easter. Comparing it to winds in the plural seems fine to me.

    Thanks to Klingsor and Bertandjoyce.

  2. I think that in 3d the all-in-one definition can be read as “a snorter (singular) which is almost like hurricanes”?

    Thanks Klingsor and B&J.

  4. Thanks both – have just checked SNORTER in Chambers which does mention ‘gale’. It makes more sense now.

  5. Thanks, B and J.

    I loved this puzzle and had lots of ticks, which I narrowed down to EROTIC, ANY PORT IN A STORM, SHE-DEVIL and APOSTROPHE.

    But pick of the bunch for me, as one of a small group of women [and one man] who toured our city-centre banks, handing in letters urging them to stop financing fossil fuels, was SERAGLIO – special thanks for that, Klingsor!

    [Incidentally, I remember several other great clues for SERAGLIO, e.g. Picaroon: Al Gore is amazing for wives and girlfriends; Crucible: Is Elgar distracted by love in rooms for wags?; Rorschach: How’s your father’s place in ruins of old Algiers? ]

  6. I missed the subtleIties of NOR-EASTER discussed above but enjoyed working out the the rest. I liked APOSTROPHE too, but my favourite was EROTICA for its originality in linking George Orwell with ‘Titillating books’. Not the ones I remember.

    Thanks to Klingsor and B&J.

  7. Well, Thursdays are usually difficult but we romped through this about a quickly as we did with yesterday’s Silvanus.  A momentary hesitation over 4dn which from the definition might have been ‘Adonis’ but it wouldn’t parse and the crossing 11ac soon settled the issue.

    Favourite was APOSTROPHE, having been out this morning and bought plum’s, orange’s and carrot’s 🙂

    Thanks, Klingsor and B&J.

  8. Thanks to Bertandjoyce and Klingsor

    Very nice stuff – NOR- EASTER and SHE-DEVIL especially

    Elieen @5

    0 lager is served in this sorority!

  9. Thanks Klingsor; nice tight cluing, as expected.

    Thanks BJ; APOSTROPHE is, of course, an anagram of too perhaps. Nary is given in Chambers as American but in Collins and Oxford it seems to be just dialect.

    I particularly liked SERAGLIO, SQUIRREL and BOUNTIFUL.

  12. Didn’t even spot it was missing in the blog. Wouldn’t have put it as one of my favourites without the anagram.

  13. I’ve never done a Klingsor puzzle before and can see why you look forward to them B&J. Lots of great clues. I’d never heard of SERAGLIO before and didn’t get it before word-searching, but see it as a perfectly fair clue. I’d add STEREOTYPE to those already mentioned. 3d was ok to me and just to be contrary I thought APOSTROPHE was the weakest clue in the puzzle. Not quite as tough as Vlad in the G but every bit as enjoyable – thanks to Klingsor and B&J.

  15. I’m astounded by the consistent quality of Klingsor puzzles.  Not even going to try to pick out highlights, but will just say thanks to Klingsor and Bertandjoyce.

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