Independent 10,415 by Eimi

23 comments on “Independent 10,415 by Eimi”

1. This was light and good fun.

   My only hmm was for “junior manager” = CI in 26a.  This is not given as an abbreviation in Chambers so I assume it must be something we have to thank the Americans for, although even then it never arose as management speak in my many years of working for a US company.

   DOMINICAN was my favoruite.  twencelas, “single” needs to be underlined as part of the definition.

   Thanks to Eimi and to twencelas.

2. Another one who doesn’t get CI in 26a. I did trawl through an online list and the best I could find was the somewhat unlikely “confidential intermediary”. Hopefully, someone will clear this up.

3. Rabbit Dave & Hovis

   Try looking up C1 in Chambers 😉

4. PS or, better still, Collins which includes the relevant term.

5. Thanks Gaufrid. Didn’t know that one.

6. Gaufrid @3.  Thanks for the clarification, but the wordplay requires CI not C1.   That’s as a bad as an indirect anagram IMHO.  The editor should really take the setter to task about that.  😉

7. Very enjoyable, and themed,  as we expect from Eimi.   I did work for someone who worked in the UK but for an American company and was aware of a C1 (RD – cant the I be a Roman numeral? 😉 )

   Thanks to Eimi and twencelas

    

8. me@7  – Oh dear – now I’m going to be in trouble with RD as I’ve left out the apostrophe in can’t!

9. Rabbit Dave @ 6: I may be wrong, but I think Eimi is the crossword editor for the Independent

10. Indeed Eimi is the crossword editor, hence the intended (I assume) irony in Rabbit Dave’s comment at 6.  Excellent stuff so thanks Eimi and Twencelas.

11. CS@7. Yes, I agree that “I” can equal “1” but “CI” doesn’t equal “C1” without the extra (indirect) step.

    Goujeers@9.  Tatrasman’s assumption @10 is correct.

12. Can anyone one explain 2A?  It is too cryptic for me to see any connection between the words of the clue and the solution.  I can imagine people playing in (with?) jumpers, but what do goalposts have to do with anything?

    For the benefit of those who do not wish to undertake the same frustrating searches that I did, Collins defines “C1” as “a person whose job is supervisory or clerical, or who works in junior management,” with no indication of its derivation.  It does not seem to be listed among the lengthy list of other equally obscure meanings at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C1

13. Ian @ 12

    Back in the days when kids used to kick a football around in the local park, a couple of piles of jumpers (or coats) were used to indicate the goalmouth.

14. Ian SW3 @12

    JUMPERS is the title of a play written by Tom Stoppard and, when I was a lad, children used to use their jumpers as the goalposts when having a kick-around on the local rec.

15. Jumpers For Goalposts is such a common expression in UK that I wasn’t immediately aware of the clue being a cryptic. I’m unfamiliar with the play so I didn’t spot the CD until the post-solve google. As others have said, any piece of grass will do for a game of football. Just throw down some jumpers for goalposts and crack on.

    A nice enjoyable workout. Thanks all.

16. Ah.  Where I grew up, we didn’t have makeshift “football” pitches but baseball diamonds, and a jumper was a pinny.  If the girls (who were the only ones to play soccer) had piled their jumpers on the filed, we boys might have taken more interest in the sport.

17. Sorry — meant to say thanks to all who replied.

18. I have yet to receive any proposals, indecent or otherwise, today so good to come here for some love. Thanks, twencelas and all commenters. I’ll try to be slightly more prolific. I struggled to find time to finish clueing this, but didn’t want to hang onto it for another four years.

    Certainly C1 was a little obscure, but I’m not convinced that it’s indirect. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen V1 for bomb used in a similar way and the combination with boss appealed to me.

19. A pleasant coffee-time solve.  Our only problems were with EGREGIOUS (we forgot about Elton’s real name, and weren’t sure about the meaning – the nearest Chambers gets to ‘very bad’ is ‘notorious’) and PROBOSCIS (where we didn’t know the CI bit, not that we ever cavil about I for 1)

    Difficult to nominate a CoD but we’ll go for DOMINICAN.

    Thanks, Eimi and twencelas.

20. I see nothing wrong in principle with C1 = CI, by analogy with M1 (motorway) and A1 (very good), which have been used in crosswords without complaints of indirectness for as long as I can remember. Given that C1 is rather more obscure, further indication would have been helpful but isn’t mandatory.

    Nice puzzle.

21. Jumpers for goalposts was the catchphrase of Ron Manager on The Fast Show and was even the title of a spin-off series.

    Ian@16:  I thought jumper was the US for a pinafore dress, not a pinafore, and a pinny is a pinafore, a type of apron.  Apparently, most dress patterns are printed in the US, so dressmakers are well aware that jumper means pinafore dress.  (I remember an American telling me once that she was confused reading in a British book that a woman put on a skirt and a jumper.)

22. I can’t see any problem with C1. It’s a bit of an obscure term, but a small and discrete portion of the solution that fell easily into place.
    Thanks to Eimi and Twenceslas

23. Dormouse @21, thanks.  I don’t recall ever having to use the term, and I was misled by Collins and Wikipedia, the latter of which claims “A jumper or jumper dress (in American English), pinafore dress or informally pinafore or pinny (British English) is a sleeveless, collarless dress intended to be worn over a blouse, shirt, T-shirt or sweater.”

    I thought I had absorbed every nuance of the Fast Show, but I missed jumpers there.  I’ll have to watch it all again.

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