Independent 10,451 by Tyrus

by

I find I am repeating myself – this one was tough.

It took me at least three separate solving sessions and I gave up timing how long – it was well over 2 hours total in the end.

Which would be fine, except it does give the blogger cause for concern that they may never get to the end.
It is probably more to do with me than the puzzle – I work in the back office Tech department of a major supermarket and the last few weeks have been doing very long hours dealing (in part) with the changes wrought on us all by recent events.  Thus I was certainly mentally knackered to start with.
To be frank, if I had not had a very good reason to persevere (this blog) I might have given up at the half-way mark.
I’m glad I didn’t, there is a lot of good stuff here and pleasure to be gained – I particularly like the PDM of what was meant by A&E in 21D, one of the last clues to fall – and those last few answers are in the “why didn’t I get it earlier” category.
There were many clues where I was unsure of the wordplay, but writing up this blog most became clear.
There are  a couple outstanding:  8  and  11

There is a perimeter message referring to the scandal of the Smart Motorway “experiment” whereby drivers are allowed to use the hard shoulder to ease traffic congestion.
The hard shoulder is there for a reason.  This article explains:  Guardian 26-Jan-2020

SMART MOTORWAY STUPID CONCEPT

I didn’t spot the Nina until near the end of solving.  (I didn’t remember to look.)  But it did help get that 32D which I would have had great trouble with otherwise.

Across
8 ABOUT-FACE U-turn in Indianapolis on F1 (5-4)
F1 (F-ACE) I don’t understand how ‘in Indianapolis’ gives ABOUT
See comment #3
9 EXAM One’s sat by guitar when back with Motörhead (4)
AXE< (guitar, reversed (back)) then M[otörhead]. Last one in for no good reason
10 EARTHMAN Strange Martian? He’s not one (8)
(MARTIAN HE – I)* AInd: Strange.  and &Lit  First one in – the answer popped out at me from the anagram fodder.
11 IN TOTO Home town’s extremely welcoming – absolutely (2,4)
IN (home) TO TO ( TO[wn] TO[wn] from town’s as a plural rather than a possessive, and ‘extremely welcoming’ indicating to take the beginning of the word) at least that’s what I thought when I wrote it in, but now I’m not sure at all
See comment #1 : IN (home) then TOO (extremely) welcoming T[own]
13 COLDNESS Getting on to college head for being unfriendly (8)
C[ollege] OLD (getting on) NESS (head)
16 LAMENT Complaint by City people against United’s number 4 (6)
L.A. (city) MEN (people) T (from uniTed )
19 NEGATED Reversed with an edge restored? About time (7)
(AN EDGE)* AInd: restored, around T[ime]
20 AVOCADO Virginia rejected online supermarket fruit (7)
VA< (Virginia, rejected) OCADO (online supermarket)
23 OAKHAM Wooden actor in county town (6)
OAK (wooden) HAM (actor) Oakham is the county town of Rutland
26 ANTEATER He’ll get stuck into workers before subsequently dismissing leader (8)
ANTE (before) [l]ATER (subsequently, dismissing leader)
27 CARTEL Price-fixers getting hump felt unprotected (6)
CART (hump, as in carry) [f]EL[t]
30 DUMBSHOW Slander retracted by bishop who’s sorry – no words are necessary here (8)
MUD< (slander, retracted) B[ishop] (WHO’S)* AInd: sorry
33 DATA Recalled a little information (4)
(A TAD)<  a  little, recalled.  I was going to comment on the difference between data and information but there isn’t enough space here
34 BRAIN FADE Trouble and a brief time when you can’t think clearly (5,4)
(AND A BRIEF)* AInd: Trouble. 
Down
1 PAPA Photographer briefly a neighbour to Oscar (4)
PAPA[ratzi] PAP[arazzo] A
2 TOOT Benefit ultimately debatable with money wasted – drivers’ warning (4)
[benefi]T [m]OOT (M[oney] is wasted)
3 STAMPEDE Charge politician and sweetheart to enter Toulouse’s ground (8)
MP (politician) and E (from swEet heart) inside STADE (Toulouse’s ground)
4 MADNESS London band finish up in service (7)
END< (finish, up)  inside MASS (service)
5 AERIAL Receiver regularly takes money to Arabs (6)
tAkEs (takes, regularly) RIAL (currency of Yemen and other countries)
6 REST Stop working on highway (4)
RE (on) ST (highway, street).  Penultimate clue solved, for no good reason.
7 TART Pointless opening bitter (4)
[s]TART
12 OWE Ignoring banks, might have borrowed (3)
[p]OWE[r] (might – power – without (ignoring) edge letters (banks))
14 OPERA ‘Beware!’ Post section’s review for Carmen? (5)
Hidden reversed (reviewed) in ‘bewARE POst’
15/29 DEATH TRAP Hated change, bit upsetting – it’s very dangerous (9)
(HATED)* AInd: change, PART< (bit, upsetting)
17 MOCHA Little time to get tea or coffee (5)
MO (little time) CHA (tea)
18 NUDGE Reminder government’s totally exposed (5)
G[overnment] in the NUDE (totally exposed)
21 VITAMINS Writer’s picked up van – it’s broken down outside A&E? (8)
I’M< (Writer’s – the setter is – I am, reversed indicator:  picked up) inside (VAN IT’S)* AInd: broken down.
22 HARD HAT That’s a joke about road ‘improvement’ – ultimately it’s a safety issue (4,3)
HA HA (That’s a joke) around RD (road), then [improvemen]T
24 KIR Drink Church of Scotland finally banned (3)
KIR[k]
25 MALIBU City in African country’s less than half-built (6)
MALI (African country) BU[ilt]
28 ACAI Sloth circling around berry (4)
AI (sloth) around (circling) CA (around)
31 STAY Don’t go by road, I agree (4)
ST (road, street again) AY (I agree)
32 ODEA Mounting trouble besetting Spain’s old theatres (4)
(plural of Odeum) ADO< (trouble, mounting) around E (Spain)

 

20 comments on “Independent 10,451 by Tyrus”

  2. I couldn’t parse 8a and 11a either. For 8a, all I could come up with was that ‘U-turn in Indianapolis’ was the def, with ABOUT FACE being a characteristically American term (it isn’t as far as I know) and Indianapolis being an example of a place in the US, with ‘on’ = ABOUT and ‘FI’ = F-ACE as the wordplay.  No suggestions for 11a I’m afraid, except does ‘extremely’ = TOO, as suggested by Andrew @1? Still doesn’t work, as I’m not convinced by T for ‘town’.

    Overall I found this gentler than the usual Tyrus, maybe because of the number of short three and four-letter answers and the need to get the Nina in. I liked the appearance of our three-toed friend in 28d and the ‘A&E?’ def for VITAMINS.

    Thanks to beermagnet and Tyrus

  4. For 1d I think it’s PAP (short for paparazzo) plus A with just “neighbour to Oscar” as the definition.

  6. Really pleased to finish this without aids. I parsed IN TOTO as others did and was equally unsure about T for “town”. I parsed ABOUT FACE as WordPlodder did but didn’t bother checking its US background. I felt that we are more likely to say “about turn” in the UK but could be wrong.

    Lots of head-scratching as I expect from this setter, here and elsewhere. Always difficult but always fair (but I would like some confirmation on 11a). One of my favourite setters.

    Thanks to Tyrus and beermagnet. I, myself, have just got back from my weekly Sainsbury shop. Couldn’t believe the queue outside. Many gave up when they realised how far they’d have to walk just to get to the queue’s end. Fortunately, I had a book to read.

  7. T for ‘Town’ as in the names of sports clubs (like Huddersfield Town).

    However, only the ODE gives it (not Chambers or Collins).

    Also, ‘Town’ with a capital T – so, not sure ‘town’ is fair.

    As to the puzzle as a whole, very good but not as hard as Tyrus can be.

    I particularly liked the clever definition in 21d (VITAMINS).

    Thanks for the blog, beermagnet (and Tyrus for the crossword).

  8. I’m quite cross with myself for not finishing this. I put in a completely lazy FORE (drivers’ warning) at 2d and an even more lazy BRAIN FART at 34, which meant that although I saw SMART MOTOR in the perimeter, I couldn’t get the rest of it. Which is a shame, because it’s a great idea – and the person who came up with this hard shoulder idea should be re-assigned to the Falklands Ministry of Paper Clips soonest.

    Nice one Tyrus, and thanks to beermagnet for exercising more diligence than I did. Happy Easter everyone

  10. VITAMINS (brilliant) and DUMBSHOW took almost as long as all the rest.  Didn’t spot the message before finishing, always worth going back and rereading the clues afterwards. A surprising target for Tyrus’ wrath; at least, it surprised me that a crossword would be about that.  Can’t but agree though.

    Thanks Tyrus, beermagnet, Happy Easter

  11. A long but enjoyable struggle only completed (almost) once our blogger revealed the nina.
    Gave up on Vitamins which was very clever.
    Thanks all.
    PS Our garden has a Tube station platform at its end (thankfully it’s a long garden and the station is in a cutting so not very noisy) so at the moment we are hearing a lot of announcements which are a constant reminder of our current predicament.

    However, one exception is a lady with a gorgeous West Indian kilt whose closing message is a lovely paraphrase of Bob Marley:

    Stay Home
    Don’t travel
    Be Nice

  13. Great typo gsolphotog. James @9, ‘Why Indianapolis?”. Because of the surface. It is well known for F1 motor racing.

  15. In the end, there were a handful I just couldn’t get.  Even doing word searches.  Not helped by 28dn not in Chambers Word Wizard (although it is in Chambers).  And even though Word Wizard did return the answer to 21dn, I couldn’t see what it had to do with the clue and dismissed it.

  16. Quite a struggle doing this, after Maskarade and Julius earlier today. I did complete it correctly, but failed to parse EARTHMAN and INTOTO, and missed the nina.

  18. Thanks to beermagnet and Tyrus

    Very good, I always enjoy a Tyrus.

    I’m sure I’ve seen “town” = “t” in a crossword recently, and that it generated some discussion, but I can’t remember the detail.

    It is listed in Collins as American and also appears in OS maps as the “t” in “town hall”, but I’m not sure which, if either, usage is employed here.

    I don’t the use of words which have their own abbreviation to indicate others e.g. “road” = “st”, especially when it = “rd” four clues previously.

    All my dictionaries have “dumb show” as two words.

    Still loved it though.

  19. baerchen@8  I also had FORE until I realised something was amiss in the state of Tyrus.

    Finding the nina was crucial for finishing -I havent driven in UK for over 10 years much to their relief so this was educational.

    Great fun as usual

    Thanks JT

  20. Belated thanks to Tyrus for this, a lot of fun although I was defeated by pain’s old theatres and couldn’t explain Toto.

    Loved the A&E spin! – and the non-Martian, and ‘stuck into workers’. Great stuff.

     

     

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