Independent 10124 / Wire

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This is the second Wire crossword I have blogged.  The first one had a theme based on The Wind in the Willows;  Have we got a theme today?

 

 

 

I think today”s theme is fairly obvious with many references to space travel and associated items in both the grid and the clues.  In the grid I spotted BLAST-OFF, ROCKET, ALOFT, APOLLO MISSION, NEIL ARMSTRONG, ALIEN, TITAN [rocket], CYGNUS, COSMONAUT and MEGATON   Russia’s newest space launch centre is in SIBERIA although early space flights took place from Baikonur which is in Kazakhstan.  In the clues there were references to Countdown, Eagle [name of lunar module which transferred ARMSTRONG to the surface of the moon], re-enter, craft, zero gravity, distant moon, Space Traveller, NASA, radar and outer reaches of planet.  All in all, there was a good deal of thematic material packed into today’s puzzle.

I liked the clues for EDDIE and ALIEN, the first for it’s well hidden definition and the second for its quirkiness although the capital C on Clanger was a bit of a giveaway.  It took me a while to realise that the definition was ‘available men’ at 1 down.

I look forward to more puzzles from Wire.

Across
No Clue Wordplay Entry
1 Short outburst by posh type in Countdown finale (5-3)

BLAST (outburst) excluding the final letter (short) T + TOFF (person of the upper classes; posh type)

BLAS T OFF

BLAST-OFF (the [moment of] launching of a rocket-propelled missile or space rocket at the end of a countdown)
5 Leaves jewellery which has changed hands (6)

LOCKET (item of jewellery) with L (left) replaced by (changing) R (right), i.e. changing hands

R OCKET

 ROCKET (salad leaves)
10 Without doubt involved in chance RTA in Lyons (9)

CERTAINLY (hidden word in [involved in] CHANCE RTA IN LYONS)  RTA is an abbreviation for Road Traffic Accident

CERTAINLY

 CERTAINLY (without doubt)
11 Metal frequently used in the past at high altitude (5)

AL (aluminium; metal) + OFT (old-fashioned or poetic [used in the past] word for OFTEN [frequently])

AL OFT

 ALOFT (on high; at high altitude)
12 The Eagle perhaps finally landed in eastern pass (5)

D (last letter of [finally] LANDED) contained in (in) (E [eastern] +  [pass away])

E (D) DIE

EDDIE (reference EDDIE ‘the Eagle’ EDWARDS [born 1963], British Olympic ski jumper who achieved notoriety but not distance in the competition at Calgary in 1988 where he came last in both the 70 and 90 metre hills.  In subsequent years, the strengthened qualification rules made it impossible for Edwards to take part
13 Tiny bit of beach is place to have time out with good weather (4,5)

STAND (place) excluding (to have … out) T (time) + G (good) + RAIN (an example of weather)

SAND G RAIN

 SAND GRAIN (tiny bit of beach)
14 Work with old and extremely polite judge (7)

O (old) + PE (first and last letters of [extremely] POLITE) + RATE (judge)

O PE RATE

 OPERATE (work)
15 Unhealthy peeling flesh.  Get cutting implements! (7)

SICK (unhealthy) + LES (letters remaining in FLESH when the outer letters are removed [peeled])

SICK LES

SICKLES (implements with a curved blade and a short handle, for cutting crops, etc)
18 Arctic region‘s small peninsula (7)

S (small) + IBERIA (reference the peninsula comprising Spain and Portugal)

S IBERIA

 SIBERIA (region of Russia which includes territory within the Arctic Circle)
21 See 20 Down

See 20 Down

[APOLLO] MISSION

 [APOLLO] MISSION
23 Pioneer in storm rang off (9)

Anagram of (off) STORM RANG

ARMSTRONG*

 ARMSTRONG (reference Neil ARMSTRONG [1930 – 2012], American astronaut who was the first man to set foot on the moon; a pioneer)
25 Appearance possible in part of the film studio (5)

ON (in) + SET (part of the film studio)

ON SET

 ONSET (beginning or appearance of)
26 23 Across returned to track a Clanger? (5)

(NEIL [another reference to NEIL ARMSTRONG, whose surname was clued at 23 across] + A) all reversed (returned)

(A LIEN)<

ALIEN (Clangers is a British stop-motion children’s television series, comprising short films about a race [or perhaps a family], of shrew-like creatures who live on, and inside, a small moon-like planet.  Each individual Clanger is therefore an ALIEN)
27 Smooth talkers in considerable number with hair so made-up (9)

LOT (considerable number) + an anagram of (made-up) HAIR SO

LOT HARIOS*

 LOTHARIOS (seducers; smooth talkers)
28 The Right Stuff that is within half of aviators (6)

IE (id est; that is) contained in (is within) TORS (the last four of the eight letters of [half of] AVIATORS)

TOR (IE) S

 TORIES (Conservatives, a political party to the right of the political spectrum)
29 Don’t need to re-enter in a continuous sequence (3-2-3)

Anagram of (to re-enter) DON’T NEED

END TO END*

END TO END (continuous sequence)
Down
1 Available men work on crash below without women (9)

Anagram of (work on) CRASH BELOW excluding (without) W (women)

BACHELORS*

BACHELORS (unmarried men; available men)
2 Remove sections of a craft’s control room (7)

A + BRIDGE (control room of a ship [craft] or spacecraft)

A BRIDGE

 ABRIDGE (shorten; remove sections from)
3 Irritated at dire RAF sales show (5,4)

Anagram of (irritated) AT DIRE RAF

TRADE FAIR*

 TRADE FAIR (sales show)
4 Tact shown when penalties pit on abandoned storehouse (7)

FINES (financial penalty) + SE (letters in STOREHOUSE that remain after the central letters are removed [abandoned])

FINES SE

FINESSE (tact)
6 Animal moved quickly in zero gravity at first (5)

RAN (moved quickly) contained in (O [zero] + G [initial letter {at first} of GRAVITY)

O (RAN) G

 ORANG (ORANG-utan; animal)
7 Distance not a barrier for clever clogs (4-3)

KNOW ALL (sounds like [at a distance] NO [not a] + WALL [barrier])

KNO  W ALL

 KNOW-ALL (clever clogs)
8 Flyer needs a bearing to find the distant moon (5)

TIT (bird; flier) + A + N (North; compass bearing)

TIT A N

 TITAN (the largest moon of Saturn; distant moon)
9 The Swan seen at night craftily evacuating onto cattle (6)

CY (letters remaining when the central letters RAFTIL are removed [evacuating] CRAFTILY) + GNUS (large African antelope (genus Connochaetes or Catoblepas), superficially like a horse or buffalo; cattle)

CY GNUS<

CYGNUS (large northern constellation, the Swan, lying between Pegasus and Draco; stars visible in the night sky)
16 Space Traveller magazine article kept by fan (9)

COSMO (COSMOpolitan magazine for fashion, beauty etc) + (A [indefinite article] contained in [kept by] NUT [fan])

COSMO N (A)

COSMONAUT (Russian astronaut; space traveller)
17 Unregulated Net is said to be thoroughly cleansed (9)

Anagram of (unregulated) NET IS SAID

SANITISED*

 SANITISED (thoroughly cleansed)
19 Sponge served on seaside structure is less smooth (7)

BUM (sponge) + PIER (mass of stone, ironwork, or woodwork projecting into the sea or other water, as a breakwater; seaside structure)

BUM PIER

 BUMPIER (less smooth)
20 / 21a A Voyage with a part of survey absent (6,7)

A + POLL (taking of public opinion by means of questioning; part of a survey) + OMISSION (something absent)

A POLL O MISSION

 APOLLO [MISSION] (a series of American manned space flights, culminating in Moon landings)
21 Ms Markle about to get rid of husband gaining weight (7)

MEGHAN (reference MEGHAN MARKLE [Duchess of Sussex] excluding (get rid of) H (husband) containing (about) TO

MEGA (TO) N

MEGATON (one millions tons [weight])
22 Motivate one attending NASA (paid regularly by engineers) (7)

I (Roman numeral for one) + NSPI (letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [regularly]  of NASA PAID ) + RE ([Royal] Engineers)

I NSPI RE

 INSPIRE (motivate)
23 Adjust coverage of radar missing outer reaches of planet (5)

RADAR excluding (missing) the outer letters (coverage of) R and R + PT (first and last letters of [outer reaches of] PLANET)

ADA PT (adjust)

 ADAPT (adjust)
24 Can bring up example to demonstrate colour (5)

TIN (can) + EG (for example) reversed (bring up; down clue)

TIN GE<

 TINGE (colour)

 

13 comments on “Independent 10124 / Wire”

  2. Good theme. I think there’ll be more like this come July.

    I liked the reminder of EDDIE ‘The Eagle’, the ‘Available men’ def for 1d and ‘The Right Stuff’ for TORIES, although I wonder if ‘up’ has been accidentally omitted as the last word of the def.

    Thanks to Wire (#5 I think) and to Duncan

  3. I parsed 7d as K + NO WALL. Personally, I don’t like K for Km (distance). I know we talk of 5K races and I might say I bench pressed 95K using K for Kg but feel such abbreviations should only be used when it is clear what you are referring to. K for kilometre (but not kilogram) is in Chambers though and I guess the clue does make it clear, so can’t really complain.

    Thanks to Wire and Duncan.

  5. We actually spotted the theme (helped by knowing that Tuesday is usually a theme day) in time for it to help with one or two clues.  Of the non-themed clues we liked BACHELORS and CERTAINLY.  In 28ac we agree with Duncan’s parsing, but think it should indicate that ‘Stuff’ (with a false capital) is a verb – an instruction to stuff ‘ie’ into ‘tors’; at least that’s how we saw it.

    Thanks, Wire and Duncan

  6. Yes, difficult to miss the theme; some good clues and an entertaining solve.

    I thought CERTAINLY was well-hidden and particularly enjoyed TORIES.

    I parsed KNOW-ALL as Hovis @3 as there didn’t seem to be a homophone indicator.

  7. Thinking further about our comment@5, ‘stuff’ is definitely needed as the insertion indicator since the ‘is’ goes with ‘that’ and not with ‘within’.  One has to lift and separate ‘Right Stuff’.

  8. Made my life hard by not counting anagram letters and bunging in SANITATED for 17d. Enjoyed this puzzle, especially the not-too-difficult clues and theme.

    Haven’t seen “re-enter” as an anagram indicator before

    Thanks wire and thanks duncan

  9. Many thanks to Duncan for his thorough blog. And thanks to everyone for their comments on this puzzle.

    @allan_c : yes, Stuff as the imperative

    I try to put as much theme material in as possible so that it is fairly obvious fairly quickly what the theme is, rather than expecting solvers to have to ‘find’ it. I wonder if anyone has a view on this? Should I perhaps be a little less ‘overt’?

  10. Wire @ 9

    My view, which may not count for much:

    An overt theme should be easily visible, and aid solvers to solve the trickier clues

    With a covert (ghost) theme, the clues should be solvable in and of themselves [with or without crossers], and the theme should only become apparent during (for those perceptive enough) or after (for those who go back and look) the solve.

    Thanks for dropping in.

  11. Thanks to duncanshiell and Wire

    I would be grateful to anyone who might explain:

    13a I have always assumed that entries should be words or recognised phrases – whence SAND GRAIN?

    25a CLEAR BLOGGER MISTAKE (mistranslation of POSSIBLY/POSSIBLE, and subsequent misattribution of ON = IN). This is not to meant to have a dig at the blogger – nearly all blogs incorporate mistakes, but is to emphasise my final point.

    26a It’s a reverse of NEIL tracking (following) A

    28a see above

    29a RE-ENTER is an anagrind how?

    4d PUT ON, not PIT ON

    7d Blogger error

    9d CATTLE = GNUS, how?

    20d/21a ABSENT = OMISSION, how?

    My final point is my dislike of the practice of setters coming to this site and thanking “insert name” for their “thorough” blog having clearly not read it. Read it and, if necessary, elucidate or stay away!

     

     

  13. Very late now and this probably won’t be read, but for Tatrasman to dismiss Dansar in the way he does @12 doesn’t answer Dansar’s perfectly good points: SAND GRAIN seems decidedly dodgy to me; ‘re-enter’ as an anagrind also; and ‘absent’ = ‘omission’ also seems to me to be no good at all.

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