Independent 10,120 / Punk

Punk has provided today’s daily (over?)dose of cruciverbal entertainment.

I found this to be a real challenge, of a puzzle, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Punk won the battle between solver and setter in respect of yours truly, in that I needed to search Google to find the song at 9, which I was, of course, familiar with. One of the features of this puzzle that I most appreciated was the rather eclectic mix of entries: how often do we associate Stormy Daniels – doubtless making her first appearance in a daily cryptic – with Willy Brandt or King Louis XIII of France?! With Fellini at a pinch, yes, since he and Stormy have both dedicated their lives to film-making 😉

I think that I have solved the puzzle correctly and more or less succeeded in parsing it, although perhaps readers could check my parsing at 25 and 26, where Punk has used some less conventional devices. 1 was new to me but could be confidently worked out from the wordplay. My favourites today were 14, for sauciness around “member”; and 6 and, above all, 21/23, for sheer originality and, in the latter case, for the misdirection around Milton.

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

Across    
     
01 JOGGER’S NIPPLE One prompting criticism over plan, not an agonising result of friction, possibly?

JOGGER (=one prompting, i.e. someone’s memory) + [PL<an> (“not an” means letters “an” are dropped) in SNIPE (=criticism)]; jogger’s nipple refers to discomfort experienced by e.g. joggers when their nipples rub against their clothes

     
10 OTTER Carnivorous mammal more excessive, might you say?

Cryptically, “OTT (=over-the-top) –er” could mean “more excessive”!

     
11 MUM Woman who’s delivered mail originally: I don’t know

M<um> (“originally” means first letter only) + UM (=I don’t know, as an exclamation); mothers have delivered, i.e. given birth to, their babies

     
12 SAUDI Native of kingdom in small car

S (=small, of sizes) + AUDI (=car)

     
13 NEW YEAR Banking money finally, what might Van Gogh want for Christmas – or a little later?

<mone>Y (“finally” means last letter only) in (a) NEW EAR (=what might Van Gogh want for Christmas)

     
15 DEAD SEA Still character reportedly in lake

DEAD (=still, lifeless) + homophone (“reportedly”) of “c (=character, letter of alphabet)”

     
16 RELOADING Literature about duck on tail of bull charging again

[<bul>L (“tail of” means last letter only) + O (=duck, i.e. zero score)] in READING (=literature, i.e. reading material); to charge e.g. a rifle is to reload it

     
18 EYRIE Famous female lead embracing one point of observation

I (=one) in EYRE (=famous female lead, i.e. Jane Eyre)

     
19 STYLE Design series of steps in conversation

Homophone (“in conversation”) of “stile (=series of steps, i.e. over a fence)”

     
21/23 DEEP-FRIED MARS BAR Abstruse endless Milton prose, every second of it: stop producing sickly confection!

DEEP (=abstruse) + FRIEDMA<n> (=Milton, i.e. the US economist; “endless” means last letter is dropped) + <p>R<o>S<e> (“every second of it” means alternate letters only) + BAR (=stop, block)

     
25 RELIEVO Outstanding design flipped, it’s suggested: story wrapped up in it

LIE (=story) in REVO (“flipped, it’s suggested”, i.e. back over (=reversed)); relievo designs are embossed and stand out, hence “outstanding” cryptically

     
26 RENEW Once more begin to use (?) broadcast by Frenchman

RENÉ (=Frenchman, i.e. a male forename in France) + W (“to use (?) broadcast”, i.e. homophone of “u’s”, hence “double u”)

     
27 GAL Viewed from behind, cover girl

LAG (=cover, insulate, e.g. pipes); “viewed from behind” indicates reversal

     
28 INDIA Currently experiencing decline briefly, a nation

IN DI<p> (=currently experiencing decline; “briefly” means last letter dropped)

     
30 STORMY DANIELS Alleged source of personal gratification for Trump in deals, it’s implied?

The solution could be a cryptic clue for “in deals”, i.e. *(DANIELS), with “stormy” as the anagram indicator

     
Down    
     
02 OUT On strike, // what batsman doesn’t want to be

Double definition

     
03 GERBERA It’s a bloomer to live in sin in outskirts of Geneva

[BE (=to live) in ERR (=sin, as verb)] in G<enev>A (“the outskirts of” means first and last letters only)

     
04 REMARRIED Together again, rock group walked in, five having walked out

R.E.M. (=rock group, from US) + ARRI<v>ED (=walked in; “five (=V, in Roman numerals) having walked” means letter “v” is dropped)

     
05 NOMAD Hill to climb, is one unsettled?

DAMON (=Hill, i.e. former British racing driver); “to climb” indicates vertical reversal

     
06 PASSAGE You can rely on father for words of wisdom in transit

PA’S SAGE (=you can rely on father for words of wisdom)

     
07 LOUIS TREIZE Utilise zero works of art in seventeenth-century Europe

*(UTILISE ZERO); “works” is anagram indicator; Louis Treize art is that which is typical of the reign of French king Louis XIII (1610-43)

     
08 MOUNT RUSHMORE Where the leaders are stoned, what might slowish jockey cry?

Cryptically, a slowish jockey might cry to his steed: “Mount, rush more!”; four US presidents are carved into the stone of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota

     
09 ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH Song: tablet popped by American character, its name forgotten?

[iPAD (=tablet) in ZEE (=American character, i.e. the US version of zed)] + DOODAH (=its name forgotten, thingamyjig); the reference is to the song sung by James Baskett in the 1946 musical film Song of the South

     
14 WILLY BRANDT Old European statesman identifying mark of a member ending in parliament

WILLY (=(male) member!) + BRAND (=identifying mark, as on cattle) + <parliamen>T (“ending in” means last letter only); the reference is to former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt (1913-92)

     
17 GUERRILLA Irregular interval extremely regular, paradoxically

*(I<nterva>L + REGULAR); “extremely” means first and last letters only are used in the anagram, indicated by “paradoxically”; a guerrilla army is an irregular, unofficial army

     
20 EMBOWER Introduce to the Hollies perhaps, revolutionary Punk and violinist?

EM (ME=Punk, i.e. today’s setter; “revolutionary” indicates reversal) + “BOWER” (=violinist, cryptically, since to “bow” is to play an instrument with a bow); to embower is to surround with shrubs, such as e.g. hollies!

     
22 FELLINI Shooting Italian, one hit the water first

FELL IN (=hit the water) + I (=one); the reference is to Italian film-maker (“shooting” films) Federico Fellini (1920-93)

     
24 RUGBY Base of curling stone’s round for game

<curlin>G (“base of” means last letter only) in RUBY (=stone)

     
29 DAL Served in Hyderabad, a lentil dish

Hidden (“served”) in “HyderabaD A Lentil”); & lit.

     
     

 

11 comments on “Independent 10,120 / Punk”

  1. Both this and the other ‘dose of entertainment’ were enjoyable but I think this one just edged ahead, even if it has left me with an awful ear worm

    I liked the simple 11a and the Two Ronnies-ish double Use in 26a

    Thanks to Punk and RR

     

  2. Struggled but got there in the end, except for that dratted song at 9d. Thought American character was likely to be zee but assumed tablet would be E as it usually tends to be. Given all the crossers, I assumed it was going to be some Italian or Spanish song. Drat it!

    My Chambers has Louis-Treize as hyphenated but I’m not going to quibble over that.

    Thought the “two U’s” homonym was inspirational.

    Many thanks to Punk and RatkojaRiku.

  3. Great fun, especially the ‘Milton’ in DEEP-FRIED MARS BAR, STORMY DANIELS and the MOUNT RUSHMORE def. Beaten by the parsing of a few, including 9d and the ‘to use’ in 26a. I must have spent about half an hour at the end on the previously unheard of (and never experienced personally) JOGGERS NIPPLE.

    My, oh my, what a wonderful day

    Thanks to Punk and RR

  4. Is someone said ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH to me, I would immediately check my flies.

    I’ll get my coat.

     

  5. Punk on top form, I thought – MOUNT RUSHMORE, STORMY DANIELS, WILLY BRANDT etc.

    I didn’t try to parse DEEP-FRIED MARS BAR as I thought there must be some reference to an arcane part of a Milton poem, doh!

    Thanks Punk and RR.

  6. Didn’t know Relievo or Embower, but gettable, unlike the Mars Bar, for which the clue on the iPhone app I use petered out after ‘producing’, so no definition and no letter split. Long clues do that, sadly. A fun puzzle though, as usual with Harry’s uncle, and yes the 2 U’s was inspired. Thanks to Punk and RR.

  7. Too much of a struggle to be fun for me.  I think about half the entries I only got after doing word searches, which is not satisfying.  Not sure if I knew Punk was also Paul, but I usually can’t manage his puzzles there, either.

  8. Particularly enjoyable, brilliant clues at 1, 13, 21/23, 30A and 7, 8, 9, 14D.

     

    Thanks to Punk and RatkojaRiku.

  9. The “flipped it’s suggested” @25a I saw as a 2 stage device i.e FLIPPING = turned OVER = REVO.

    Punk/Paul used a similar (i.e. 2 stage) device in the Guardian on 16th March “pronouncement of Scilly” = silly (anagrind).

    Inventive and welcome, I’m sure we’ll see more soon.

     

     

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