Independent 10,112 by Vigo

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An enjoyable puzzle from Vigo today. We rattled through the top half extremely quickly but then slowed down.

When we first looked at the grid we thought there would be a NINA – it is Tuesday! However it was clear that there would be no message around the perimeter. We missed the Vigo theme when we blogged last time which was based on sharks so we were determined that we wouldn’t be beaten again. We noticed SLAYER and BUFF so wondered about Buffy the Vampire Slayer about which we knew nothing at all apart from the title.

Thankfully, a wiki search helped uncover the links. We found a number of characters or places connected with the theme. We hope we haven’t missed any.

completed grid

Across

8 Unhappily defer covering unending gap in property ownership (8)
FREEHOLD
An anagram of DEFER around HOLe (gap) missing last letter or ‘unending’ – anagrind is ‘unhappily’

9 Leave old Welsh wood (6)
WILLOW
WILL (leave) O (old) W (Welsh)

10 One not meeting required standards having no following (4)
UNIT
UNfIT (not meeting required standards) without F (following)

11 Watch as escapee covers trail (5)
CHASE
Hidden in (‘covered by’) watCH AS Escapee

12 Concoction knocked back during power breakfast (4)
BREW
Hidden and reversed or ‘knocked back’ within poWER Breakfast

13 Work unit advanced into turned over crypt for essential oil (8)
BERGAMOT
ERG (work unit) A (advanced) inside or ‘into’ TOMB (crypt) reversed or ‘turned over’

16 Serial about country (6)
ISRAEL
An anagram of SERIAL – anagrind is ‘about’

18 Imitate city house (4)
ECHO
EC (city) HO (house)

20 Trust Football Association uncovered City hooligan’s leader (5)
FAITH
FA (Fottball Association) cITy (middle letters only or ‘uncovered’) H (first letter or ‘leader’ of hooligan)

21 Not about to reject Polish (4)
BUFF
reBUFF (to reject) without RE (about)

22 Killer of small bird (6)
SLAYER
S (small) LAYER (bird)

23 Benevolence of head following class (8)
KINDNESS
NESS (head) following KIND (class)

26 Responsibility courtesy of you and me (4)
ONUS
ON US (courtesy of you and me)

28 Impale second fish (5)
SPIKE
S (second) PIKE (fish)

30 Sunrise sketched right away (4)
DAWN
DrAWN (sketched) without R (right)

31 Part of ship queen’s to get control over (6)
MASTER
MAST (part of ship) ER (Queen)

32 Warning about love oddly likely in legends (8)
FOLKLORE
FORE (warning) about O (love) and odd letters only of LiKeLy

Down

1 Third ball returned to New Zealand by England (6)
BRONZE
ORB (ball) reversed or ‘returned’ NZ (New Zealand) E (England)

2 Stay with a tango rhythm (4)
BEAT
BE (stay) A T (Tango as used in the phonetic alphabet)

3 Film featuring rapper in space (6)
ROMCOM
MC (rapper) in ROOM (space)

4 Middleman regularly revealing plan (4)
IDEA
Alternate or ‘regular’ letters of mIdDlEmAn

5 Inverted support with smart cover is kind of cute (8)
SWEETISH
TEE (support) reversed or ‘inverted’ inside or ‘covered’ by SWISH (smart)

6 Hunk starts to stretch lats and biceps (4)
SLAB
First letters or ‘starts’ to Stretch Lats And Biceps

7 Trim each bit of field as can’t discern pitch (4-4)
TONE-DEAF
TONED (trim) EA (each) F (first letter or ‘bit’ of field)

14 Line crossed by bloody celebrity (5)
GLORY
L (line) inside or ‘crossed by’ GORY (bloody)

15 Artifice of bloodsucker devouring Romeo (5)
TRICK
TICK (bloodsucker) around or ‘devouring’ R (Romeo as used in the phonetic alphabet)

17 Run over and discard bird (5)
ROBIN
R (run) O (over) BIN (discard)

19 Schedule American advance in vehicle (8)
CALENDAR
A (American) LEND (advance) inside CAR (vehicle)

20 In favour of attempt to hide middle of Tyneside in an expanse of trees (8)
FORESTRY
FOR (in favour of) TRY (attempt) around ES (middle letters of Tyneside)

24 Take ship from unnecessary pinnacle of rock (6)
NEEDLE
NEEDLEss (unnecessary) without SS (ship)

25 Augurs keeping women in drains (6)
SEWERS
SEERS (augurs) around or ‘keeping’ W (women)

27 Boy put on horse (4)
SETH
SET (put) H (horse as in heroin)

29 Short time without justice is risky (4)
IFFY
jIFFY (short time) without J (justice)

30 Valley boy going back to village finally (4)
DALE
LAD (boy) reversed or ‘going back’ E (last or ‘final letter of ‘village’)

14 comments on “Independent 10,112 by Vigo”

  1. I thought this was light but a lot of fun.

    My only query is Horse = H in 27d.  I thought of B&J’s explanation but rejected it on the basis that this requires the use of an indirect abbreviation, or are these considered OK in the world of cryptic crosswords unlike indirect anagrams?

    Many thanks to Vigo and to B&J.

  2. My knowledge of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” is close to zero (I don’t think it’s a 3d is it?), but at least I saw 21 and 22a and wondered if the theme might be related. Thanks for your sterling work in identifying all the references.

    Enjoyable anyway, without too much to cause frustration. BERGAMOT was new though and only went in from the wordplay. Maybe not too exciting but I still liked the ‘semi-hidden’ def for UNIT.

    Thanks to Vigo and B&J

  3. Enjoyable as ever from this setter but just as well for me that it wasn’t necessary to know anything about the theme!

    Thank you, Vigo and thanks to B&J for the blog.

  4. Unlike others here, I was a mega fan of BTVS. Unfortunately, I failed to get MASTER & SETH so a DNF. I so wanted 31a to be XANDER.

    Don’t know if it was Vigo’s intention or not but Eliza Dushku, who played FAITH, also played ECHO in ‘Dollhouse’, another Joss Whedon production.

    Thanks to Vigo and Bertandjoyce.

  5. Enjoyable with smooth clues, as ever. I noticed BUFF and SLAYER and knew the programme although not much about it. As others have said knowledge of the programme wasn’t necessary for the solve.

    My favourite was TONE-DEAF.

    Thanks Vigo and BJ.

  6. @1Rabbit Dave and others.

    Abbreviations for horses – I’ll try listing these again.  In thoroughbred horse racing the abbreviations are:  c = colt; f = filly; g = gelding; H = HORSE (ie a stallion or entire, {4-y-o or over} still has balls, ie not gelded); m = mare; r = rig (rare).

    Theme was over my head.  Pretty gentle, but enjoyable.

    Thanks to Vigo and Bertandjoyce.

  7. Another big Buffy fan here, so I loved this.

    In the highlighted theme entries, you could add TRICK.  Mr Trick was a vampire working for the mayor in season 3, as I recall.

  8. Thank you BertandJoyce and everyone who took the time to leave a comment.

    @hovis
    If it would make you happy feel free to mentally change 31a to

    Boy is cross with queen (6)

    And 27d becomes

    Obnoxious person with a fizzy drink (4)

    I had really wanted to get Harmony in there too but failed.

    And, yes I have seen Dollhouse but had forgotten the character names – maybe it was a subconcious thing.

    @Dormouse you are quite correct Trick was the mayors minion who Faith replaced agter he got staked.

    Thanks everyone.

    Victoria

  9. Lovely puzzle, completed without knowing anything about the theme. Thanks to our bloggers but Big Thanks To Vigo, a) for dropping in and b) for accommodating Hovis’s wishes ?

  11. I think you’ll find that sewers(25d) play a part in Buffy, as that is how Spike and Angel, the two main vampires move around in daylight. Excellent programme and excellent puzzle. Oh and blog.
    Thanks to S&B.

  14. We have absolutely no knowledge of or interest in the theme – but found this a pleasing and not too difficult puzzle nevertheless.  LOI was ROMCOM after spending ages convinced the ‘space’ was ’em’.  Favourite was BERGAMOT.  Thanks, Vigo and B&J.

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