Independent 10,197 / Loglady

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This Wednesday has afforded me my first opportunity to blog a puzzle by Loglady, the second time in as many weeks that I have blogged a compiler’s work for the first time.

And what a pleasant experience it was too, with the puzzle having been pitched at a level that offers the solver enough, but not too much, of a challenge for a mid-week day.

I think that I have properly parsed everything but I would appreciate some reassurance regarding “pusher” in the clue at 2 and the “the brief” device in the clue at 17.

My favourite clues today were 22, for its cricket-themed surface reading and despite it relying on an obscure adjective in the wordplay; 25, also for surface; and 27, for ingenuity of construction. I hadn’t come across “is good for” before as a way of connecting definition and wordplay.

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

Across    
     
01 FROND Right-hind, in tender part of palm

R (=right-hand) in FOND (=tender, soft); the “palm” in the definition is the palm of the hand
     
04 TEST TUBES Nuts out of box – they may contain chemicals

TUB (=box, container) in TESTES (=nuts, i.e. male genitalia colloquially)
     
09 THROW-IN Unpaid extra // in set piece

Double definition: a THROW-IN is an extra item offered together with another at no extra cost AND a set piece in e.g. football
     
10 PELICAN Lithium in nut is good for bird

LI (=lithium, i.e. chemical formula) in PECAN; “is good for” is a synonym for “gives, provides”
     
11 LITIGATOR Drunk single reptilian lawyer

LIT (=drunk) + I (=one) + GATOR (=reptilian, short for alligator)
     
13 NOSER Punch // busybody

Double definition: a NOSER is a punch to the nose AND a prying, nosy person
     
14 SOLAR CALENDAR NASA corralled into schedule based on earth’s orbit

*(NASA CORRALLED); “(turning) into” is anagram indicator
     
17 PLACEBO EFFECT Order black percolated coffee, the brief psychological remedy

PLACE (=order, position) + B (=black, as in HB) + *(COFFEE) + T’ (=the brief, i.e. a short form of the); “percolated”, i.e. brewed, is anagram indicator
     
21 ODOUR Poetic exclamation on grim smell

O (=poetic exclamation, as in “O Zeus!”) + DOUR (=grim)
     
22 SURPRISED Jimmy with mute exterior when hit for six

PRISE (=jimmy, i.e. force open) in SURD (=mute, obsolete; cf French sourd)
     
24 CHICAGO City‘s fashionable past

CHIC (=fashionable) + AGO (=past)
     
25 SHAMPOO A politician blocking leave for cleaner

[A + MP (=politician, i.e. Member of Parliament)] in SHOO (=leave, go away)
     
27 WITLESSLY Act ultimately through craftiness and cunning, or through opposite qualities?

[<ac>T (“ultimately” means last letter only) in WILES (=craftiness)] + SLY (=cunning, as adjective); witlessness is the opposite of craftiness and cunning, hence “through opposite qualities”
     
28 MINUS Sign regularly found in addition’s reverse?

<s>I<g>N (“regularly” means alternate letters only) in MUS (SUM=addition; “reverse” indicates reversal); & lit., since a minus sign is the opposite of a plus sign
     
Down    
     
01 FATALIST Thick celebrity philosophical type

FAT (=thick) + A-LIST (=celebrity, used attributively)
     
02 OAR Pusher of uncut rock, say

Homophone (“say”) of “ore (=uncut rock)”; I suppose an oar helps one to propel a boat through water, hence “pushed”
     
03 DOWAGER Widow‘s money risked after swindle

DO (=swindle, cheat) + WAGER (=money risked, bet)
     
04 TENET Belief in aliens going back and forth from Neptune originally

TE (ET=alien, i.e. extraterrestrial; “going back” indicates reversal) + N<eptune> (“originally” means first letter only) + ET (=alien)
     
05 SUPERHERO Different pusher with same rock as 2 turned up – a comic character

*(PUSHER) + ERO (ORE=same rock as (in clue at) 2; “turned up” indicates reversal)
     
06 TALONED Nailed tenor solo by Domingo originally

T (=tenor) + ALONE (=solo) + D<omingo> (“originally” means first letter only)
     
07 BACKSTREETS Funds and free entertainments announced for poorer part of town

BACKS (=funds, sponsors) + homophone (“announced”) of “treats (=free entertainments)
     
08 SUNDRY Divers remove moisture outdoors

(to) SUN-DRY e.g. tomatoes is to remove moisture outdoors; the archaic term “divers” means sundry, miscellaneous
     
12 TELEPHONIST Crumbling hostel with inept operator

*(HOSTEL + INEPT); “crumbling” is anagram indicator
     
15 AVERSIONS Hates, but also kind inside at the same time

VERSION (=kind, type) in AS (=at the same time)
     
16 STUDIOUS Boss with debt receipts effectively possessing industry

STUD (=boss, e.g. on shield) + IOUs (=debt receipts)
     
18 ACREAGE Number of area measurements in cage are inaccurate

*(CAGE ARE); “inaccurate” is anagram indicator
     
19 FOREARM Before battle, take up weapon from what’s near to hand?

Double definition: (to) FOREARM is to arm beforehand AND, somewhat cryptically, one’s FOREARM is “near to (one’s) hand”
     
20 MOSCOW City sector unevenly bordered with cut grass

S<e>C<t>O<w> (“unevenly” means all even letters are dropped) in MOW (=(to) cut grass)
     
23 RISKY Treacherous in spirits, thus beheaded

<f>RISKY (=in spirits); “beheaded” means top letter is removed
     
26 PUN Mostly weak joke

PUN<y> (=weak); “mostly” means last letter is dropped
     

 

6 comments on “Independent 10,197 / Loglady”

  1. Think you mean ‘palm’ is the tree in 1a.

    I thought this was Loglady at his best. (In case you are wondering, Loglady is a male setter, just as Peter is female and Imogen is male – it’s all so confusing.)

    My favourite was MINUS with AVERSION, and its clever use of ‘kind’, as the runner up.

    Thanks to Loglady and RatkojaRiku.

  3. If memory serves us right we’ve only encountered Loglady in IoS puzzles before: we thought this was a bit harder than those and struggled somewhat in the SE quadrant, needing word finder help. And we couldn’t parse WITLESS LYING – we thought of ‘wit’ as ‘craftiness’ so didn’t understand the ‘lrs’ bit.
    But we liked PELICAN and PLACEBO EFFECT.
    Thanks, Loglady and RR.

  5. Like allan_c, I found this Loglady puzzle somewhat harder than his previous ones (but I can have that).

    I certainly liked this crossword but there were a couple of occasions that I thought “why do you do that?”. The use of ‘thus’ was wrongfooting (or perhaps even misleading) me as it didn’t play a role in the cryptic construction. Also, in 14ac I am not sure that ‘into’ is enough as an anagram indicator. Not that I had any problem to find the answer and to see that it was an anagram clue.
    The use of ‘is good for’ as just a link term is indeed original. Like our blogger I don’t think I’d ever seen that before. That said, it is also a risky one because ‘good’ is not a particular neutral word in Crosswordland.

    If I had to be picky (but I don’t have to, do I?), it would argue that the enumeration in 9ac should be (5-2) and not (5,2).

    Good fun.
    Many thanks to RR for the blog & Loglady for that fun.

  6. Thanks people and thanks RatkojaRiku – For a casual English cricket fan its definitely worth Jimmy Anderson having the odd bad day, just for his great moody faces

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