Independent 10,164 by Whynot

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As far as we can tell, this is Whynot’s first puzzle to be published in the Indy – and an excellent introductory offering it is!

We really enjoyed this puzzle with several smiles along the way and some good clue construction, albeit with the surfaces occasionally turning out a little less smooth than they might be.

We had vague memories of 10ac from a previous crossword some time ago, and had to check it in Chambers, and we weren’t 100% happy with 24d as a five-letter word – should it have been enumerated as (1.4)?

Part-way through the solve, we began to think it might be a pangram, but we’re missing J and Z

Roll on the next one – Why ever not?

completed grid

Across

1 What a barrister does is obvious (6,2,6)
STANDS TO REASON
Double definition

10 Measurement of weight lost by jerk (5)
ANKER
wANKER (jerk) ‘losing’ w (weight) – an old liquid measure for wines and spirits

11 With stylish clue, pretty much doing nothing unnecessary (9)
INCLUDING
IN (stylish) + CLUe without the the last letter or ‘pretty much’ + DoING with the ‘o’ (nothing) omitted or ‘unnecessary’

12/16 Clients with training showing no signs of hesitation exposing former government agency (7,3,6)
CUSTOMS AND EXCISE
CUSTOMerS (clients) AND (with) EXerCISE (training) with two ‘er’s (‘signs of hesitation’) omitted

13 Call Latvian on the phone to provide hair styling (7)
RINGLET
RING (call) + a homophone (‘on the phone’) of LETT (Latvian)

14 Passenger added clause (5)
RIDER
Double definition

16 See 12

19 Incredibly, I see beggars throwing silver back — and they keep pestering! (9)
BESIEGERS
An anagram of I SEE BEGgaRS with a reversal (‘back’) of ‘ag’ (silver) omitted or ‘thrown’ – anagrind is ‘incredibly’

20 Ecumenical council takes part in heresy, no doubt (5)
SYNOD
Hidden (‘taking part’) in hereSY NO Doubt

22 Speak well of company men managing director retained (7)
COMMEND
CO (company) + MEN in or ‘retained by’ MD (managing director)

25 Intellectual being referred to in EastEnders a feature one might raise? (7)
EYEBROW
A homophone of how a Cockney (EastEnder) might say HIGH BROW (intellectual)

27 Sparks up joint, which attracts the attention of sailors (9)
LIGHTSHIP
LIGHTS (sparks up) HIP (joint)

28 Authentic section finally introduced by organ (5)
RENAL
REAL (authentic) round or ‘introducing’ N (last  or ‘final’ letter of ‘section’)

29 Unravel red flag, possibly leading to complaint (9,5)
GLANDULAR FEVER
An anagram of UNRAVEL RED FLAG – anagrind is ‘possibly’

Down

2 Prefer a party with a mix of steak and fish (4,5)
TAKE SIDES
An anagram of STEAK (anagrind is ‘a mix of’) + IDES (fish)

3 Drug trafficker, having returned, ran Charlie round (5)
NARCO
RAN reversed or ‘returned’ + C (Charlie in the phonetic alphabet) O (round)

4 Pointy at one end and blunt at the other? Neat! (9)
SHIPSHAPE
A SHIP’s SHAPE could be described as ‘pointy at one end and blunt at the other”

5 Commander and dog are found (5)
OCCUR
OC (Officer Commanding) CUR (dog)

6 Nothing wrong with horsey types coming round day and night just the same then? (9)
EQUINOXES
O (nothing) X (wrong, as in marking exams) with EQUINES (horsey types) outside or ‘coming round’

7 Essence of tasty butcher’s special ability (5)
SKILL
S (middle letter or ‘essence’ of ‘tasty’) KILL (butcher)

8 Close connection for late shift? (7)
NIGHTIE
NIGH (close) TIE (connection) – great definition!

9 Right cheek going up front flying, perhaps? (6)
SAUCER
R (right) with SAUCE (cheek) ‘going up front’

15 Back in, staggered about. Shocking! (9)
REELECTED
REELED (staggered) round ECT (Electroconvulsive therapy – ‘shocking’)

17 Little girl’s bad mood creates problem with dogs (9)
DISTEMPER
DI’S (‘little girl’s’) TEMPER (bad mood)

18 Ken lacking bliss, they say (9)
IGNORANCE
If someone is ‘lacking Ken’ (knowledge) they might display IGNORANCE

19 Endorse record that hasn’t had the attention it should (7)
BACKLOG
BACK (endorse) LOG (record)

21 I originally wanted surrealist painter to host festival (6)
DIWALI
I W (first or ‘original’ letter of ‘wanted’) in or ‘hosted by’ DALI (surrealist painter)

23 Geochronological peak, within two degrees? That’s hot! (5)
MAGMA
G (first letter or ‘peak’ of ‘geochronological’) in MA MA (two degrees)

24 In brief, doctor died before he got to marry Liz (5)
DPHIL
D (died) PHIL (Prince Philip – married to the Queen – ‘Liz’)

26 Place where the chicks are all high? (5)
EYRIE
Clue-as-definition – an eyrie being the nest of a bird of prey, usually high up in a tree

13 comments on “Independent 10,164 by Whynot”

  1. A nice and fairly quick solve for me. Took me a little time to get SHIPSHAPE then INCLUDING (nicely disguised definition) as my last two. 24d had me scratching my head and the enumeration is a bit misleading. Also thought it may be a pangram but quickly saw it wasn’t.

    Thanks to Whynot and Bertandjoyce.

  2. Just in case those with influence are reading, those of us who actually subscribe to the Independent to get the crossword still can’t see who the setter is until we come here to check our parsing. Really annoying, and it’s been for several weeks now. Nice crossword, apart from the misleading numbering of D. Phil.

  3. Loved it, particularly the top half which I did second.  Congrats to Whynot, about time too.

    Thanks to BertandJoyce

  4. both chambers and collins appear to show DPhil as a single “word”.

    Thanks Whynot for a very nice puzzle and thanks B&J

  6. A well-crafted puzzle.  DPhil held me up for a moment, but as Dutch said it is written as a word.

    I particularly liked CUSTOMS AND EXCISE, SYNOD, EYEBROW, EQUINOXES, NIGHTIE and IGNORANCE.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  7. Excellent debut puzzle with lots of good clues.

    I particularly liked STANDS TO REASON, INCLUDING, CUSTOMS AND EXCISE, NIGHTIE and REELECTED.

    Thanks Whynot and BJ.

  8. Thanks Whynot and BnJ

    A very enjoyable puzzle, look forward to seeing more from this setter.

    1A was also clued by Imogen something under a year ago, but in a very different style. I’m not suggesting imitation or anything like that, just saying that there can be several ways to clue (especially) a phrase that might on the face of it seem tricky. Kudos to Whynot.

  9. Whynot has had puzzles published on Big Dave’s site but we too think this is his first for the Indy.  We made slow going of it at first then got most of the bottom half and worked back up.  Last ones in were 9dn (the ‘up’ misled us into looking for a reversal) followed by 10ac and finally 24dn (having failed to find a word to match D_H_L we decided it must be an abbreviation and it suddenly clicked – doh!)

    Favourites werE CUSTOMS AND EXCISE and EQUINOXES.

    Thanks, Whynot and B&J.

  10. Many thanks, Bertandjoyce, for an excellent blog and to all who commented.I’m ready to try and set more if the Editor wants them!

    @Simon S, good spot. A shame in a way that Imogen had more or less the same idea not so long ago (and, it seems, Falcon in the FT somewhat earlier), but it’s encouraging to know I’m thinking in roughly the same way as such an accomplished setter. For the record, I’ve had that double meaning in mind since some adventures in the High Court in the late nineties and in fact the fill was built round that clue plus ‘customers and excercise’, another piece of wordplay I’ve had in mind for a few years.

    Tony / Whynot

  12. Thanks to Whynot (Tony) for a puzzle which I liked a lot, and to Bertandjoyce for the comprehensive blog.

    I was pretty much in sync with Alan B@6 and Robi@7 in terms of my favourites – I ticked 1a STANDS TO REASON, 10a ANKER (which I had not seen before, so it raised a smile), 4d SHIPSHAPE, 8d NIGHTIE, 9d SAUCER and 24d DPHIL, the last of which took me ages to see but then received double ticks!

    I always appreciate it when the setter drops in to give some of the back story and connect with the solvers, so was glad to see the post by Tony@10.

    It was a very good puzzle for Whynot’s entry into the Indy stable and I do hope the Editor asks for more.

  13. Julie, thanks for your kind wishes. Another thing: the clue for SHIPSHAPE is dedicated to the memory of a late erstwhile travelling companion, a jocular fellow, who told me that as a rating in the merchant navy he was disciplined more than once after referring to the ‘blunt end’ or the ‘pointy end’ of the ship he was serving on. So glad you and others liked the clue.

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