Independent 10,302 by Dalibor (Sat 19-October)

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Dalibor first came to my attention from the crosswords produced for crossword meets over the last few years – many of them thankfully available from links from this site
(hopefully some appearing in the next week or so – hint, hint).

This was typical of Dalibor’s setting: Some clues that can be solved quickly to let you get stuck in, then a middle range of more challenging fare, and the last few that can sometimes defeat me – or – as in this case, remain baffled as to how the clue works.

So, I should not have been surprised that I got 1A and 1D from the off.  But I was.
This delivered a large number of juicy first letters some of which I capitalised on – such as 3D Annie and 9A Tyson – but not as many as promised and before long I found myself trying to cold solve mid-grid blanks.  The 20A and 20D combo of Dua Lipa and Donegal began the fight back from the opposite corner, but by the end of the “first pass” there were about half the lights in, all over the grid – and, it turned out, not all of them correct.
Some poetic and entomological correction was required before the rest of the answers could fit properly.

Help required with at least 10A and 16D where the wordplay eludes me.

I have looked for a theme here but cannot spot anything.
There’s a wide array of figures from popular culture of the last few decades but I cannot forge any link between the likes of Mike Tyson, Dua Lipa, Eminem, Little Orphan Annie and La Dolce Vita.

Sorry if I don’t reply soon.  For most of the day I will probably be somewhere between Park Lane and Parliament Square.

 

Across
1 GOD PARTICLE Old price tag renewed a tiny bit (3,8)
(OLD PRICE TAG)* AInd: renewed. aka the Higg’s boson
9 TYSON Some publicity so negative for a heavyweight (5)
Hidden in publiciTY SO Negative
10 AUTOPILOT George: “More work should finish early? Many will welcome that” (9)
I got this from the Def. and the crossing letters when I remembered an autopilot is often referred to as George (plus, the first computer operating system I used when I worked for ICL straight after college was George II), but I am flummoxed as to the wordplay here – help required please.
11 SUSPENSER Thrilling work from old poet keeping us entertained (9)
US in SPENSER (old poet) I toyed with Suspender thinking of the poet Spender, and influenced by “thrilling”, but he’s not such an old poet
12 OUNCE As soon as fully naked Trump comes in, a predator is what you’ll get (5)
[tr]U[mp] inside ONCE (as soon as)  Our favourite crossword cat
13 EYESPOT Plant disease caused by recreational drug (indeed, cannabis) (7)
E (recreational drug) YES (indeed) POT (cannabis)
15 HOBO Old bugger originally found in house? Not anymore! (4)
O[ld] B[ugger] inside HO[use] &Lit by the look of it
18 IAMB Dalibor initially ascended mountain by foot (4)
I (Dalibor) A[scended] M[ountain] B[y]
20 DUA LIPA Pop singer showing first signs of diarrhoea after eating rice dish from the East (3,4)
PILAU (rice dish) inside D[iarrhoea] A[fter] All reversed (from the East).  If you don’t know Dua Lipa you now have the opportunity to get this video up to 2 Billion views (ind you, I’m not a fan of autotuned vocals)
24 GINGER ALE General Galtieri’s gutted, struggling to get a drink (6,3)
(GENERAL G[altier]I)* AInd: struggling
26 NATIVE DOG Dingo a vet treated? (6,3)
(DINGO A VET)* AInd: treated.  Another &Lit
27 SEOUL Capital generated by The Sound Of Music? (5)
Homophone of “Soul”
28/7 MARTEN Trading centre with little space for fur (6)
MART (trading centre) EN (little space).  I’m not sure “fur” is sufficient to define marten
29 LA DOLCE VITA Fantastic idea! Local TV presenting a 1960s film (2,5,4)
(IDEA LOCAL TV)* AInd: fantastic
Down
1 GO TO SEED Visit Germany and deteriorate (2,2,4)
GO TO SEE (visit) D[eutscheland]
2/23 DISASTER MOVIE Dante’s Peak is one, relaxing time’s over (8,5)
D[ante] IS A (one) (TIMES OVER)* AInd: relaxing.  semi-&Lit.  and my favourite clue of the puzzle (and not a terrible thriller)
3 ANNIE Girl without parents hiding in bicycle bag (5)
[p]ANNIE[r] (bicycle bag, without pr (parents)) Def. invokes Little Orphan Annie (now Little Famous Orphan Annie, especially since the musical) so parents are doing double duty (which is their usual role I guess).  I had some brilliant cavernous panniers hanging either side of the back wheel of my bike for some years until some bastard nicked them.
4 THAT’S IT Enough bowlers available in Bristol? (5,2)
HATS (bowlers) in TIT (Bristol)
5 CATARRH Cold country, some say (7)
Homophone “Qatar”
6 EUPHORBIA What many in the UK suffer from is housing close to nuclear plant (9)
EU PHOBIA (first 7 words of the clue) with [nuclea]R inside
7 TALENT Sexually attractive people went topless after short discussion (6)
TAL[k] (discussion, short)  [w]ENT (went, topless)
8 NUTTER National Express making one mad (6)
N[ational] UTTER (express)
14 PEA WEEVIL You and I taking part in gym: a bad thing, a pest (3,6)
WE (You and I) inside PE (gym) A EVIL (a bad thing)  I had Bol Weevil pencilled in for ages. It was the only weevil I knew – I had no idea what a Bol is – and now I find the critter is a Boll Weevil with two Ls and a taste for cotton plants, completely different from the Pea Weevil.
(Entomology lesson over)
16 RIGATONI In the US, it’s OK to leave husband for one primarily interested in Italian food (8)
Here is another which I BIFD’d in – I have no idea on the wordplay and as a result was my Last One In
17 CAMELLIA Trouble arising after one in a caravan makes a bloomer (8)
AIL< (trouble, reversed) after CAMEL (one in a caravan) Made me think of Margaret Beckett before finding the other kind of caravan
19 BAGHDAD Islamic stronghold‘s appropriate introduction to Holy Father (7)
BAG (appropriate) H[oly] DAD (father)
20 DONEGAL Finished with girl in Irish town (7)
DONE (finished) GAL (girl)
21 EMINEM US artist‘s former record label upset members of staff (6)
EMI (former record label) MEN< (members of staff, upset)
22 AVATAR 23 people fighting alcohol must accept tax on rum, to start with (6)
AA (people fighting alcohol) around VAT (tax), R[um].  The Def is the reference to the answer in 23: MOVIE
25 ENSUE Brussels protecting Poles with, ultimately, positive result (5)
EU around N and S, then [positiv]E

 

11 comments on “Independent 10,302 by Dalibor (Sat 19-October)”

  3. a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle as always from Dalibor – perhaps not his hardest due to a largely solver-friendly grid but so many great clues (DUA LIPA prob my favourite). Thanks to D & beermagnet – I hope your trip to London makes a difference

  4. Parsed 10a and 16d as trenodia. Not sure if this is the first time I’ve finished a Dalibor all fully parsed. Very pleased to get some of the more difficult parsings. There were a few solutions that I got from the clueing but didn’t know the words so had to check them afterwards. Namely, EYESPOT, PEA WEEVIL & DUA LIPA. I was also surprised that SUSPENSER was a word but it’s in my Chambers. Took a while to drag EUPHORBIA out of the old grey matter and SEOUL took some teasing out. Seen “More work” for “Utopia” several times before but it still held me up a little.

    Many thanks to Dalibor and beermagnet.

  5. Thanks for crossword and blog. Generally enjoyed but getting annoyed that both yesterday and today one had to know or care who the setter was to get one of the clues.

  6. Maybe not Dalibor’s hardest, but the expected challenge nonetheless. Managed to eventually get everything in and more or less parsed. I’d never heard of the ‘Pop singer’ or the ‘Plant disease’ but wordplay was helpful in both. I also didn’t know there was such a word as SUSPENSER for a ‘Thrilling work’ and again entered this from the wordplay.

    Sucked in – not for the first time – by the ‘More work’ until the def. became clear. Favourite was the NATIVE DOG &lit.

    Thanks to Dalibor and beermagnet

  7. Excellent puzzle with fresh and witty clueing. Especially liked EU phobia and the fully naked Trump though won’t dwell too long on the latter.

    Thanks to Dalibor and beermagnet.

     

  8. Thanks to beermagnet and Dalibor

    Not the toughest but very nice. Only one objection really – dislike of a corrupt, protectionist white boy’s club is hardly irrational.

  9. Apart from DUA LIPA which we worked out was the only possible answer to 20ac, it all went fairly smoothly, though in 6dn we’re not sure why folk in the UK are afraid of good news (definition in Chambers of ‘euphobia’).

    Thanks, Dalibor and bermagnet.

  10. Many thanks to those who, on this turbulent Super Saturday, took the time to solve (and/or comment on) my puzzle.

    A special Thank You to beermagnet for explaining it all (or most of it ….  🙂 ).
    ANNIE in 3d was just meant to be the famous orphan ‘hiding’ in [p]annie[r]. Sort of a hidden.
    No double duty (because I don’t so double duty).
    As to “hint, hint” in the preamble: well, just wait and see.

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