Independent 10,638 by Nitsy

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This is the first time I’ve blogged a Nitsy puzzle: an enjoyable experience that I hope to repeat.

Several clues here remind me of the recent US political impasse, though this may just be coincidental: 13a, 24a, 2d, 4d, 19d (especially its surface), and perhaps 6d (constitutional) might be relevant? But sadly the world has too many possible targets for 19d – take your pick.

There are lots of well-crafted surfaces, and a couple of ingenious long anagrams at 10a and 24a. Lots to smile at – thanks Nitsy for the fun.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 CAPE Perhaps stole a penny in church (4)
A + P (penny) in CE (Church of England).
Cape = stole = garment worn around the shoulders.
3 MEMBRANE European doctor managed to cut this writer’s skin (8)
E (European) + MB (doctor) + RAN (managed = was in charge of), all inserted into (cutting) ME (this writer).
10 INQUISITIVENESS Curiosity in queen’s visit is spreading (15)
Anagram (spreading) of IN QUEEN’S VISIT IS.
11 PRESCRIBE Specify page concerning writer (9)
P (page) + RE (concerning = on the subject of) + SCRIBE (writer).
12 DODO Be good enough to hold strange, tailless bird (4)
DO (be good enough, as in “that’ll do”) holding OD[d] (strange; tailless = last letter removed).
13 REMAINS Continues to be stiff? (7)
Double definition: the second is stiff = slang for dead body = remains (as a noun).
15 TENDER Kind nurse – the woman leaving hospital (6)
TEND (nurse, as a verb) + [h]ER (that woman) leaving out the H (hospital).
17 SHEILA Quiet beer knocked back entertaining one Australian woman (6)
SH (quiet! as a command), then ALE (beer) reversed (knocked back), containing I (one in Roman numerals).
Australian informal term for a woman.
19 REGATTA Meet with sailors, for example, at rear of port, welcomed by Rear Admiral (7)
EG (for example) + AT + last letter (rear) of [por]T, all inserted into RA (Rear Admiral).
Regatta = an event consisting of several boat races (rowing and/or sailing); meet = sports meeting.
20 ORCA Sailor carefully nets whale (4)
Hidden answer (. . . nets) in [sail]OR CA[refully].
21 MAGNOLIAS Animals go off trees (9)
Anagram (off) of ANIMALS GO.
24 UNSPORTSMANLIKE Dirty mask until person’s changed (15)
Anagram (changed) of MASK UNTIL PERSON.
Dirty as in “dirty tricks” = unfair.
25 SHIPYARD Craft I spy had first of repairs here? (8)
Anagram (craft, as a verb = make) I SPY HAD + first letter of R[epairs].
Extended definition: shipyard = place where ships (craft) are built or repaired.
26 SMUT Obscene stuff saint found in Greek letter? On the contrary (4)
MU (Greek letter M) within ST (saint). “On the contrary” reverses the sense of the wordplay, so we need to find MU in ST rather than ST in MU.
I think “smut” suggests something less than “obscene”, but they’re on the same spectrum.
DOWN
1 CLIPPERS Cutters – sailing vessels (8)
Double definition: cutting tools, or 19th-century sailing ships. (A cutter can also be a small fast boat, which might have sails, oars, or an engine.)
2 PIQUE Reported butcher’s offence (5)
Homophone (reported) of PEEK; butcher’s = butcher’s hook = Cockney rhyming slang for look.
Pique = annoyance, especially at the perception of being treated badly.
4 EVIDENT Clear I’ve got over depression (7)
I’VE reversed (got over = upside down, in a down clue) + DENT (depression).
5 BREEDING GROUND Go under bed and grin wickedly – it’s where mating takes place (8,6)
Anagram (wickedly) of GO UNDER BED + GRIN. Like many crossword setters, Nitsy appears to enjoy a bit of 26a.
6 AMENDMENT Change the last word daughter expressed, heartlessly (9)
AMEN (the last word) + D (daughter) + ME[a]NT (expressed; heartlessly = middle letter removed). I’m not sure that “meant” and “expressed” are quite the same; people don’t always manage to express (say) what they mean.
7 ERSE Gossiper seldom bites tongue (4)
Hidden answer (. . . bites) in [gossip]ER SE[ldom].
Tongue = language; Erse is an old name for Irish Gaelic or other related languages.
8 DISCRIMINATORY Prejudiced Conservative supporting Germany is almost deplorable (14)
D (abbreviation for Deutschland = Germany) + IS + CRIMINA[l] (deplorable; almost = last letter removed), with TORY (Conservative) at the end (at the bottom, in a down clue = “supporting” the rest of the word).
9 CITIES Nice Bordeaux? Mentions swallowing one (6)
CITES (mentions), containing I (one in Roman numerals).
The question-mark is there to indicate a definition by example; Nice and Bordeaux are both cities in France. Somewhat misleading without “and” between them, but that would spoil the wine-drinking imagery of the surface.
14 MAHARISHI Hindu instructor – mother cut his hair (9)
MA (mother) + anagram (cut) of HIS HAIR.
Sanskrit word for a spiritual teacher.
16 HARSHEST The lady’s surrounded by deer most savage (8)
SHE’S (the lady is), surrounded by HART (stag = male deer).
18 AMMETER It shows level of current temperature after girl turns up on English river (7)
EMMA (girl’s name) reversed (turns up), then T (temperature) + E (English) + R (river).
Measuring device for electrical current (short for ampere meter).
19 REGIME Government starts to regret electing good-for-nothing – time to remove leader (6)
Initial letters (starts) of R[egret] E[lecting] G[ood-for-nothing], then [t]IME without its leading letter.
22 IDIOM Dialect I’d picked up in Isle of Man (5)
I’D reversed (picked up = upwards in a down clue), inside IOM (Isle of Man).
Idiom = dialect = regional language variant.
23 BUNS Slight lifting for buttocks (4)
SNUB (slight = disrespect), reversed (lifting = upwards in a down clue).
Slang term for buttocks. Some solvers object to the construction “A reversal-indicator B” because it’s not clear which is the definition and which is the wordplay, but the crossing letters will sort it out sooner or later.

 

16 comments on “Independent 10,638 by Nitsy”

  1. As Quirister said some very nice clues and anagrams. Unfortunately I didn’t get 9d – but it makes perfect sense now I’ve seen it parsed.
    3a and 18d were particular favourites and 23d made me smile.
    Thanks to Nitsy and Quirister.

  2. pleasant surprise – usually a struggle with new-to-me setters.. nice clarity in the constructions… 9dn was a nice mislead which had me reaching for my wine lists .. so it was my last one in… liked all the anagrams of which plenty.. favourite for me was REGATTA

    thanks Quirsiter and Nitsy

  3. I thought there might be a nautical theme building up, with tender, regatta, shipyard and clippers falling in quite early on, but like Quirister’s thoughts on US politics, this is probably just coincidence.  Very enjoyable, so thanks Nitsy and Quirister.

  4. Good confidence builder for the rest of the week with some enjoyable surfaces and defs. Yes, 26a was an indication of what was in store with the naughty BREEDING GROUND. The ‘Nice Bordeaux?’ was an excellent way to finish up.

    Thanks to Nitsy and Quirister

  5. Thanks for the blog, Quirister. I agree entirely with your preamble.

    Like undrell moore @2, I enjoyed all the anagrams, plus ERSE, RÉGIME and CITIES (my last one in, too). I didn’t know BUNS for buttocks – obviously one to remember. (I wouldn’t be surprised if someone said that it often appears in crosswords and I haven’t remembered!)

    Thanks to Nitsy for the fun.

  6. Thanks to Quirister for blogging, and to Nitsy for the entertainment.  We particularly liked SHIPYARD as a pleasing surface and an anagram of an unpromising set of letters.

  7. This was one of those where I rattled through more than half the clues then started struggling – kicked myself when resorting to the reveal button showed me 9d and I couldn’t get 7d at all, though I’ve now got a vague memory of seeing ERSE before. 24a wa my favourite.

  8. By coincidence, there’s a debate ongoing on the Guardian page as to whether ale and beer are the same which would affect SHEILA.  I did enjoy a number of the constructions here though the whole affair was over a little too quickly.  Looking back over the clues, I do think Nitsy could have challenged us more with some less obvious definitions: 10, 11, 15, 17 & 20 ac, for example.  Much of the wordplay is good but I barely got into it as the solutions leaped out from the page.  Which is a shame.  The wordplay elements of INQUISITIVENESS, BREEDING GROUND, UNSPORTSMANLIKE, REGATTA, DISCRIMINATORY, MAHARISHI were all good.  CITIES is a class above everything else imo.

  9. I’m pretty sure this must’ve been my quickest ever 100%er. Some nice clues, but like PostMark @8 i got quite a number of answers straight from the definitions which seemed more obvious to me today than other days.

     

    Thanks Nitsy, and thanks Quirister.

  10. A very nice Monday puzzle – easyish without being a doddle.

    We had to wait for crossing letters to get SHEILA as we think Australians often use the spelling ‘Shiela’; as for the validity of ‘beer’ to clue ‘ale’ our understanding is that beer is a generic term encompassing ale, porter, stout, lager and so on, so that is just about allowable, like using ‘paper’ for ‘FT’ – but a puzzle elsewhere today (not the Graun) uses a type of lager to clue ‘ale’ which is definitely a no-no.

    Plenty to like, though – such as BREEDING GROUND and the topical surface for REGIME.

    Thanks Nitsy and Quirister.

     

  11. I needed a word search to get 9dn.

    As to BUNS it’s common enough in US culture for me to be familiar with it.  I have an amusing memory of a chain of fast food places in Chicago when I was last there in 2012 which had the advertising slogan “Hot Asian Buns”.

  12. An enjoyable puzzle that had me smiling several times. My only quibble is 22d – a dialect is not an idiom. But perhaps it’s crosswordese and as a beginner I don’t know it.

  13. Boatlady@12 – Chambers has A DIALECT as one of the definitions for IDIOM.

    Our only gripe was the rather tasteless clue at 13ac.

    Otherwise a good start to the week.

    Thanks to S&B.

  14. Boatlady @12, Bertandjoyce@13: yes, I was about to mention the Chambers definition. I think you can say that an idiom is a language usage specific to a particular group of people, and if that’s a group defined by geography it might correspond to a dialect. In any case I think this falls into the general category of “close enough for crosswords” (if not quite good enough for a language expert).

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