Independent 10,628 / Klingsor

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[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here

It has been a while since it has fallen to me to blog a puzzle by Klingsor, who is a compiler whose work I am more used to encountering on a Thursday than a Wednesday.

I enjoyed solving what for me at least was a medium-difficulty puzzle on a grid that accommodated quite a few lengthier entries. I made steady progress through the puzzle and found no quadrant any easier or harder than any other. My last-one-in was 13, which was a new word for me.

My favourite clues today were 9, 11, 19 and 22, all for smoothness of surface reading; and 17, for being one of those quirky clues whose answer is a cryptic clue to part of the actual clue.

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

Across    
     
01 MOPED Short of a penny, cleaned bike

MOP<p>ED (=cleaned); “short of a penny (=P)” means one of the two letter “p”s are dropped
     
04 LOSE HEART What Sandra will do to make Sara abandon hope?

Cryptically, if SA<nd>RA loses heart, i.e. the middle two of six letters are dropped, then you are left with the name “Sara”
     
09 ELABORATE Cast are able to add more detail

*(ARE ABLE TO); “cast”, i.e. thrown, is anagram indicator
     
10 PECAN Exercise extremes of caution eating a nut

P.E. (=exercise, i.e. physical exercise) + [A in C<autio>N (“extremes of” means first and last letters only)]
     
11 TRIPOD Stand to succeed finally after lapse

TRIP (=lapse, slip) + <t>O <succee>D (“finally” means last letters only); a tripod is a stand for a camera, cauldron, etc
     
12 IMPRISON Lock up rogue, no gentleman on reflection

IMP (=rogue, knave) + RISON (NO + SIR (=gentleman); “on reflection” indicates reversal)
     
14 STUPEFACTION Lack of sense sets back European political group

STUP (PUTS=sets; “back” indicates reversal) + E (=European) + FACTION (=political group); stupefaction is being stunned, a sense of numbness, hence “lack of sense”
     
17 PARADE GROUND Place for soldiers that could provide a padre?

Cryptically, “parade ground”, i.e. broken up, anagrammed, could provide “a padre”
     
20 CLAPTRAP Cobblers give a hand with door

CLAP (=give a hand, applaud) + TRAP (=door, e.g. in a stage)
     
21 OCELOT Old fool grabs tail of Siamese cat

<siames>E (“tail of” means last letter only) in [O (=old) + CLOT (=fool)]
     
23 REACH Attain some rare achievements

Hidden (“some”) in “<ra>RE ACH<ievements”
     
24 QUASIMODO Bell-ringer, as it were, meeting terrible doom

QUASI (=as it were, as if) + *(DOOM); “terrible” is anagram indicator
     
25 BRASSIERE Comparatively loud English supporter

BRASSIER (=comparatively loud, brazen) + E (=English); a brassiere or bra is a “supporter” of, i.e. holds up, a woman’s breasts
     
26 NEEDS Calls for works to be heard

Homophone (“to be heard”) of “kneads (=works, e.g. a dough)”
     
Down    
     
01 MAESTOSO Conductor expressing Mahler’s Sixth well and with dignity

MAEST<r>O (=conductor; “expressing Mahler’s Sixth” means the sixth letter (=R) is dropped) + SO (=well); in music, maestoso means to be played with dignity or majesty
     
02 PLATINUM Metal from a can containing fruit? On the contrary

[A + TIN (=can)] in PLUM (=fruit)
     
03 DROP ONE’S AITCHES In play, one posh actor needs to speak like Cockney

*(I (=one) + POSH ACTOR NEEDS); “in play” is anagram indicator
     
04 LEAD Direct // current is supplied by it

Double definition: to direct is to “lead”, conduct AND electric current is supplied by a “lead”, flex
     
05 STEPMOTHER Set adrift, Papa married different person – her?

*(SET) + P (=papa, i.e. in radio telecommunications) + M (=married) + OTHER (=different person); “adrift” is anagram indicator
     
06 HYPERCORRECTION Error in the copy Charlie edited is “between you and I” perhaps

*(ERROR IN THE COPY + C (=Charlie, in radio telecommunications)); “edited” is anagram indicator; “between you and I (instead of me)” is a typical example of the linguistic phenomenon of hypercorrection
     
07 ACCOST Charge added to bill for buttonhole

AC (=charge, i.e. alternating current) + COST (=bill); to buttonhole is to detain in talk, e.g. at a function, hence “accost”
     
08 TENANT Officer has no place for resident

<lieu>TENANT (=officer); “has no place (=lieu)” means letters “lieu” are dropped
     
13 CATAFALQUE A fact worked equal shifts to make bier

*(A FACT) + *(EQUAL); “worked” and “shifts” are both anagram indicators; a catafalque is a temporary tomb-like structure used in funeral ceremonies, hence “bier”
     
15 BULLDOZE Male wants females, we’re told, to intimidate

BULL (=male) + homophone (“we’re told”) of “does (=females, e.g. deer)”
     
16 EDITIONS First to last, rabble-rousing publications

SEDITION (=rabble-rousing); “first to last” means first letter moves to the end of the word
     
18 SCARAB Jack is after small vehicle – a Beetle

S (=small, of size) + CAR (=vehicle) + AB (=jack, i.e. able-bodied seaman)
     
19 PANAMA Every year, a chap flips lid

P.A. (=every year, i.e. per annum) + NAMA (A + MAN (=chap; “flips” indicates vertical reversal); “lid” is a colloquial word for hat
     
22 CANE Stick around the centre of Geneva

CA (=around, i.e. circa) + <ge>NE<va> (“the centre of” means middle two letters only are used)
     
     

 

16 comments on “Independent 10,628 / Klingsor”

  1. Very neat and appreciated as its the only puzzle available when i wake up

    Thanks for the parsing of 1d”expressing”. Excellent clue

    Indeed thanks to RR and Klingsor

  2. I found HYPERCORRECTION very hard, from working out what went up to make the anagram and indicator (easy now of course) to identifying the def and finally the word itself, which I’d never heard of. Anyway, it helped with NEEDS, my last in, which I also thought was harder than it first appeared.

    My picks were CATAFALQUE as an interesting, not very common word, the parsing of MAESTOSO and the surface for STUPEFACTION.

    Thanks to Klingsor and RR

  3. Brilliant puzzle!

    I often say I had too many favourites to mention but today I’m going to list all of them – for their wit / construction / surface or all three. I had ticks for 4ac LOSE HEART, 17ac PARADE GROUND, 21ac OCELOT, 24ac QUASIMODO, 1dn MAESTOSO, 3dn DROP ONE’S AITCHES, 5dn STEPMOTHER, 8dn TENANT, 18dn SCARAB…

    …and double ticks and three rousing cheers for 8dn HYPERCORRECTION, with its wonderful surface (&lit, says she, tentatively?). Just last week, in my blog of Paul’s Guardian puzzle, I said I could not  forgive the solecism in the surface of the clue ‘ A beauty has boss and I overwhelmed with lust (9)’ and was more than a little disappointed when several commenters suggested there was nothing wrong with a grammatical error in a crossword clue.

    Many thanks to Klingsor for a most enjoyable puzzle and to RR for an excellent blog.

  4. found this one tough perhaps due to host of words I’d never heard of! ignorance may be bliss in case of hypercorrection  but didn’t help the solving! but, apart from that and 1dn, I’d go with Eileen’s faves..

    thanks to blogger n setter

  5. After a fairly unsatisfying experience with another puzzle this morning, it was a real pleasure to turn to this offering from a setter I haven’t encountered before.  I’m with those who precede me in really enjoying a tough but fair and well clued challenge.  Several favourites already mentioned – HYPERCORRECTION, CATAFALQUE, STUPEFACTION, LOSE HEART, PARADE GROUND, QUASIMODO..  In fact, like undrell moore @4, it’s easier to simply echo Eileen (though MAESTOSO was a dnk).  The schoolboy in me has to add BRASSIERE and COBBLERS which were delightful and I could probably add BULLDOZE, ACCOST and PLATINUM…  Are there any left??

    One minor tweak re the blog; I understood, and the Web seems to agree, that a catafalque is more a platform supporting a coffin – a direct synonym for bier – than a ‘tomb-like structure’ which implies containment.  Notables lie in state on a catafalque before being removed to a final resting place be it tomb or something else.

    Thanks to Klingsor and RR

  6. PostMark @5 – have you come across Klingsor’s alter ego Alberich in the FT?

    As well as admiring the construction and surface of  MAESTOSO, I love the word itself. We’re not singing at the moment, of course, but I always enjoy the MAESTOSO passages in our choir pieces.

    I remember being fascinated when I was at school by the unusual-sounding CATAFALQUE (in reports of  George VI’s  lying-in-state in Westminster Hall), which I hadn’t heard before.

  7. A well-constructed puzzle that was satisfying to solve.  We did require a wee bit of help for 6dn; from crossing letters it had to begin HYPER… and a quick look under that heading in Chambers gave us that very example (between you and I) for HYPERCORRECTION.  And we guessed correctly that “expressing Mahler’s sixth” in 1dn meant an R had to be removed from something but it was a while before we realised it was ‘maestro’ and not a name that we were after.

    So many good clues we can’t pick a favourite, but QUASIMODO, MAESTOSO and CATAFALQUE would be among the contenders.

    Thanks, Klingsor and RatkojaRiku.

  8. [Eileen @6: apologies for not responding.  I’ve been away from the site for a bit.  I don’t do as many FT’s as I should.  The simple issue of having to print out hard copy introduces a minor obstacle that often sees me ending up doing other things.  I’ve enjoyed those I’ve done and one was, indeed an Alberich.  I recall the unusual name.

    I have occasionally observed on here (and probably should raise it on the Guardian blog at some point) that the Comments – for sure, the Blogs – probably, and possibly the crosswords themselves on the non-Guardian pages of fifteensquared get less attention than they deserve.  I’ve encountered new setters and alternative versions of those I know, I’ve read and enjoyed different bloggers and I’ve been saddened to see, on the whole, relatively few comments.  (It’s 4pm, this is the eighth comment on the Indy today and you and I account for half of them between us).  Not only is the work of bloggers unappreciated and the commenting a relatively lonely experience, the setters get little in the way of acknowledgment, praise and/or constructive criticism or feedback.  Which must be dispiriting.  I know fifteensquared is the only blog out there for the Indy.  I’m not sure if the same applies to the FT.  So they publish their work into a relative void.  And that’s without getting into some of the more specialist or esoteric puzzles.  Anyway, mild rant over…]

  9. Thanks to Klingsor for the entertainment, and to RatkojaRiku for blogging.

    Luckily, my co-solver knew the word MAESTOSO, because music is definitely not my specialist subject.  Spent too long trying to make ACTINIUM work for 2d, and wondered whether 18d was clueing the non-existent ACARAJ beetle….

  10. My 3rd puzzle of the day, and the most difficult one, mainly due to not knowing 1d, 6d, and 13d.
    Succumbed to a word wizard, and managed to parse everything.

  11. [PostMark @8

    I’m in total agreement with your second paragraph. I’ve been doing the Guardian crossword for over half a century (it’s my paper) and it was  only when I discovered 15², twelve years ago that I was introduced to the Indy and the FT. I don’t do all three puzzles every day, unless they’re all Guardian favourites – a rare treat – but I wouldn’t miss a Klingsor or Alberich (both Wagnerian villains) or Julius if I could help it and there are several Indy setters who have become firm favourites – I won’t list them, for fear of leaving any out. You may have noticed that from time to time I do direct Guardian commenters to one of the other crosswords because, like you, I’m sad that they don’t get more attention.

  12. I didn’t get much further than the SW corner today. Reading the blog this evening reveals everything is logical and, other than maestoso and hypercorrection, words that I know.

    Ah well, maybe I was too distracted by real life.

    I’ve been doing the Indy crossword since the early days of the paper (I should be better by now!) and it has always seemed a shame that such a good crossword was seen by too few people because of the relatively poor circulation of the paper. I’m not sure how it could be better publicised – it took me a long time to realise it was available on line after the paper went digital only.

    As for the paucity of comments I can’t criticise. Rather like David O (I think) I’ve been spurred into delurking following a thread a couple of weeks ago. Purely because I hadn’t thought about the effect on setters and bloggers of the often minimal responses (compared with the Guardian.)

    I’m not sure I am in a position to offer constructive criticism but I can offer my thanks and appreciation to Klingsor and RatkojaRiku

     

  13. Having recently had the covid virus (fairly mildly, thanks) I spent yesterday sorting a computer hack virus, lucky me. So I’m late doing this crossword but, in view of the comments above, I wanted to add mine, in case anyone’s still counting. It was a lovely and entertaining solve, so big thanks to Klingsor. And I for one always appreciate the blog and blogger, for ‘inspiration’ when needed and explanation when finished. So big thanks to RatkojaRiku

  14. Followed PostMark’s suggestion of doing the Independent, and after doing today’s Serpent I’ve now done yesterday’s Klingsor. I found this considerably harder (though in fact I completed this whereas I had to reveal one answer in today’s) and it took me quite a while to convince myself that NEEDS must be right, to add CA to the centre of GeNEva and to remember MAESTOSO (though I struggled to realise that I was supposed to take out the sixth letter of Mahler due to a brain fade on expressing). An enjoyable but tough struggle that was ultimately successful. Enjoyed a lot of the devices and misdirection, so many thanks to Klingsor for the entertaining challenge.

  15. I don’t normally find time for the dailies during the week, but today I thought I’d see what’s been up recently and did this one, knowing that I will always enjoy a Klingsor puzzle. And so it was.

    For reasons the setter will appreciate, I was delighted to see that the clue for 8dn was (quite unintentionally, no doubt) a riff on 23dn in this one (pdf):

    http://alberichcrosswords.com/pages/crosswords/whynot.pdf

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