Independent 10,614 by Shabbo

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I found this a mixture of quite easy and quite tough clues. There were a few more of the CD type, which I'm not normally a fan of. However, on this occasion, I felt they largely worked and were accessible enough that you could figure out the answers with a few crossing letters.

8 down gave me the most trouble, mainly because I convinced myself that the first word was time and that the whole thing was referring to something with a time-release mechanism. Of the other clues, I liked 13 and also 20.

ACROSS
1 FREUDIAN SLIP Painful rides might result in subconscious mistake (8,4)
 

(Painful rides)*
10 IDIOTIC Foolish for native mother to leave (7)
 

Idio[ma]tic
11 NIAGARA Falls back again with gunners (7)
 

Again< + RA(=Royal Artillery)
12 ELBOW Half-heartedly stagger round the bend (5)
 

Wob[b]le<
13 BRUNETTE Brown ale has no tax, reportedly? (8)
 

Hom of brew net
15 NEW ORLEANS Salerno may be the home of jazz (3,7)
 

Implied anagram of Salerno
16 IRON Do evening work for press club … (4)
 

Triple def, the first two both relating to the clothes iron sense and the last one to the golf sense.
18 UNDO … and in Berlin, nothing is free (4)
 

Und (=German for and) + o
20 SOMERSAULT Convoluted spring is two seasons, by the sound of it (10)
 

Hom of summer + salt (which would be a seasoning)
22 AUTOBAHN Oban and Utah combining to build fast transport link (8)
 

(Oban + Utah)*
24 ORCAS A danger to other remaining creatures at sea, initially? (5)
 

I assume this is an &lit (unless the def is "a danger") – initial letters of "other remaining creatures at sea".
26 COXCOMB Dandy joins apple hunt (7)
 

Cox(=type of apple) + comb(=comb an area i.e. hunt for something)
27 ROSSINI Tell the scorer (7)
 

CD. Rossini composed the William Tell Overture.
28 SOMNAMBULISM Walking out (12)
 

CD, referring to walking when out(=unconscious).
DOWN
2 RAINBOW East End artist produces colourful display? (7)
 

RA in Bow, a sort of East End artist.
3 UNTOWARD Where nurse may be heading is unfortunate (8)
 

Where nurse may be heading = unto ward
4 INCH Nick quietly leaves island (4)
 

[P]inch
5 NON DRINKER Teetotaller tattooist goes after unqualified practitioner? (3-7)
 

Inker after Non Dr
6 LEARN Grasp real change at noon (5)
 

Real* + n{oon}
7 PLASTER Cover render patch (7)
 

I think this is a triple def. The middle one is a term for a first application of plaster and the other two are possibly a sticking plaster and to patch something with plaster.
8 LIFE INSURANCE Provision for others to benefit on expiry date (4,9)
 

CD
9 PATERNITY SUIT Mistakenly state purity in case of parentage (9,4)
 

(State purity in)*
14 XENOPHOBIA Stranger anxiety, confusing iPhone with a box (10)
 

(iPhone + a box)*
17 ESPOUSAL Backing unsettled Poles to take America to heart (8)
 

Poles* around USA
19 DETOXES Sobers up and orders dextrose right away (7)
 

(Dext[r]ose)*
21 URCHINS Lurch inside restraining ragamuffins (7)
 

Hidden in lurch inside
23 BLOOM Mature sweeper changes sides (5)
 

Broom with R{ight} becoming L{eft}
25 ARAB Separable clothes horse (4)
 

Hidden in separable

20 comments on “Independent 10,614 by Shabbo”

  1. Always love an unexpected anagram. 1a fits the bill. Maybe more seasoned solvers have seen it before? Not a fan of the CD but 28a is an excellent example. In 20a (there was a similar clue not that long ago) I took “salt” to mean “season” as a verb. Thanks to Shabbo and Neal.

  2. Loved it, especially “Tell the scorer = Rossini”.  But I don’t understand what the ellipses are there for at 16 and 18 across.  Could someone explain please?  Thanks Shabbo and Neal.

  3. I liked the surfaces here and found the whole thing rather neat.I particularly liked BRUNETTE but there many more. RAINBOW very nice and INCH for brevity

    Thanks NealH and Harry

  5. This was great fun with lovely surface readings the icing on the cake.  My top clues were 1a, 13a, 27a & 2d.

    Many thanks to Shabbo and to Neal.

  6. Lovely puzzle – I agree with all the favourites and would add 11ac NIAGARA, 15ac NEW ORLEANS and 19dn DETOXES.

    Tatrasman @2 – I think, as often as not, ellipses are not meaningful / necessary. Here, the clue had to begin with ‘and’, so …

    Many thanks to Shabbo for the fun and NealH for a good blog.

  7. And I’m agreeing with all the favourites including Eileen’s.  I’m sure the AGAIN reversal in NIAGARA can’t be new but first time I’ve seen it – how neat.  RAINBOW certainly deserves praise.  I also enjoyed the economy of ROSSINI, IDIOMATIC, INCH and PLASTER (NealH – completely agree it’s a triple def).  PATERNITY SUIT combined a clever anagram with a relevant surface, ARAB hid for longer than it should have done and I thought the cryptic definition for SOMNAMBULISM was outrageously good.  And no complaints about the homophones in SOMERSAULT.

    I feel I’ve seen IRON clued alongside press and club rather often in recent times but it’s barely a quibble.  And this is my second tattooist of the day but that’s just commenting on coincidence.

    Thanks Shabbo and NealH – especially for parsing ELBOW which it had to be but for no reason I could fathom.  How you spotted that, I do not know.

  8. That was a pleasure. I was slightly daunted to see a clutch of very short clues, but they were just so clever and right. Agree with all the appreciation above and really love the verb to woble, to stagger half-heartedly. I’m going to use it.

  9. very nice..plenty of favourites, but did struggle with SE corner.. not sure why.. i thought iron might also refer to gym work.. benchpress etc .. just to add to the melee of defs..

    thanks all

  10. Don’t think I’ve tackled a Shabbo before, but will look forward to the next one after this.  Endorse all comments above, particularly praise for SOMNAMBULISM, LIFE INSURANCE, SOMERSAULT (LOI).  Excellent stuff.

    Thanks to Shabbo and NealH.

  11. A  very pleasant solve, and we agree with all those complimentary comments.  Our only complaint was that it was over a bit too quickly.

    Thanks, Shabbo and NealH.

  12. Well done indeed, Shabbo, it’s great to see you progressing so well.

    Top of my pile was ROSSINI but there were many other ticks on my sheet.

    Thank you for the fun and thanks to Neal for the review.

  13. Many thanks to you all or your very kind comments.  It is really encouraging to have such positive feedback.

    Thanks also to NealH for the blog.  7d is indeed a triple definition and 24a is intended to be an &lit.

     

  14. Lots of good clues, but like some other commenters I dislike CDs — how much better the Rossini clue would have been if only it had started with ‘Tell the scorer’ and then had some wordplay. There were at least three of them, and the somnambulism one I’m sure I’ve seen before.

  15. I think the ellipses (16, 18) are just to add “surface” to the second clue. I believe a real sentence shouldn’t start with “and”.

  16. All went in fairly smoothly, apart from forgetting how to spell SOMNAMBULISM.

    Incidentally, Rossini wrote the rest of the opera William Tell, not just the overture. 🙂

  17. Shabbo has produced great crosswords right from the start and I much enjoyed this one too.

    24a can’t be a full &lit as not all of the clue is used in the wordplay.  ADTORCAS wouldn’t fit in the grid, plus it isn’t in the dictionary.  (Ok, I admit I haven’t checked. 🙂 )

    My favourites were ELBOW, NEW ORLEANS and RAINBOW.

    Cryptic definitions do divide opinion.  These days I like them, but only when done very well.  I’d lean towards supplementary wordplay if possible, but some standalone CDs are too good to mess with.  (I remember there was one which I absolutely loved and banged on about for ages.  Can I remember it now?  Can I @&”#!)

    Thanks Shabbo and NealH.

  18. I think there’s a difference between the sort of CD I don’t like, where it is basically just a misleading definition and would be better off in a regular clue with wordplay, and the sort of wacky clue I once saw in a Times Jumbo for RECIPROCAL; ‘One is one of one’; or a clue that Michael Macdonald-Cooper rightly passed as OK: ‘400’ (leading to CD, answer COMPACT DISC). Such clues are worth a place in my opinion.

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