Raich is a fairly prolific, and long-standing, Indy and IOS setter, but this is the first of his Indys I have blogged – although I did cover a couple of his Enigmatic Variations barred/thematic puzzles, way back in 2011 and beyond!
I started this at a fair canter – the top half seemed relatively gentle – but the bottom half proved a little chewier…
In one of those early blogs (EV 935) I commented that “…A couple of recent Raich thematic/barred puzzles have been of a politico/historical nature…”, and so it was no surprise to see a few Eastern European/Cold War references here – GAGARIN, BERLIN WALL, KENNEDY. I’m not sure if there is enough to constitute a theme, or a Nina(?), but it wouldn’t be a Raich without them!
My solving notes have a nod of appreciation at 14D ESPY, and I also enjoyed the description of Yuri Gagarin as a ‘long-distance’ traveller.
My thanks to Raich – nice to cross cruciverbal swords with you again after so long! And a happy, safe, and hopefully vaccinated, New Year to you all…
I trust all is clear below…please feel free to comment with any corrections or your own observations.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | PRIVATE EYE | Detective type I’ve associated with era mistakenly (7,3) | detective / anag, i.e. mistakenly, of TYPE IVE + ERA |
|
| 6A | DONE | Cooked in London eatery (4) | cooked / hidden word in ‘lonDON Eatery’ |
|
| 10A | AUTOGRAPH | Car chart that’s personally signed (9) | (something) that’s personally signed / AUTO (car) + GRAPH (chart) |
|
| 11A | SPURS | Encourages short bursts of activity, taking time out (5) | encourages / SPUR( |
|
| 12A | DOUBLE | Replica drink (6) | ‘double’ defn! / a replica can be a DOUBLE; and so can some drinks! |
|
| 13A | NOTA BENE | Important to be never beaten off (4,4) | important / NO (never) + TA BENE (anag, i.e. off, of beaten) |
|
| 15A | THIRSTS | Cravings revealed by this, crossing entrance to Regent Street (7) | cravings / THI_S around (crossing) R (first letter, or entrance, of Regent) + ST (street) |
|
| 17A | GAGARIN | Long-distance traveller’s advantage – importing paper on return (7) | long-distance (mostly upwards and downwards!) traveller / GA_IN (advantage) around (importing) GAR (rag, newspaper, returned) |
|
| 19A | KENNEDY | Important to welcome news editor portraying President (7) | President / KE_Y (important) around (welcoming) NN (new, twice = news) + ED (editor) |
|
| 20A | DUTIFUL | Doing as expected of the French, proper, returning with useful tips (7) | doing as expected / DU (of, French) + TIF (fit, or proper, returning) + UL (tips, or outer letters, of UsefuL) |
|
| 22A | NOSE DIVE | By sound of it, is aware of seedy club – sudden fall results? (4,4) | sudden fall / NOSE (homophone, i.e. by the sound of it – NOSE sounds like KNOWS, is aware of) + DIVE (seedy club) |
|
| 25A | FABRIC | Fantastic draper at back in charge of material (6) | material / FAB (fabulous, fantastic) + R (back letter of drapeR) + IC (in charge, of) |
|
| 28A | DIANA | Royal once featured in Guardian article (5) | royal, once / hidden word in, i.e. featured in, ‘guarDIAN Article’ |
|
| 29A | REARRANGE | Fix new date for start of revised Listener series (9) | fix new date for / R (start of Revised) + EAR (listener) + RANGE (series) |
|
| 30A | MEET | Suitable encounter (4) | double defn. / something that is MEET could be suitable (archaic/formal); and to MEET can be to encounter |
|
| 31A | BERLIN WALL | In end Rob will learn about barrier (6,4) | barrier / anag, i.e. about, of B (end letter of roB) + WILL LEARN |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | PLAUDIT | Sign of approval of extremely practical check (7) | sign of approval / PL (extreme letters of PracticaL) + AUDIT (check) |
|
| 2D | INTRUSION | Our inn – it’s upset, getting unwelcome visit (9) | unwelcome visit / anag, i.e. upset, of OUR INN ITS |
|
| 3D | ANGEL | Investor’s displeasure with switch of sides (5) | investor (usually in theatrical ventures) / ANGE( |
|
| 4D | EXAM | Flipping greatest English test! (4) | test / MAX (maximum, greatest) + E (English), flipping = EXAM |
|
| 5D | YAHOO | Boor, just starting, you are hearing out, obnoxious (5) | boor / first, or starting, letters of ‘You Are Hearing Out Obnoxious’ |
|
| 7D | OF USE | Handy round protective device (2,3) | handy / O (round-ish letter) + F USE (protective device |
|
| 8D | EASTERN | Core of team back from China? (7) | from China? / EA (middle, or core, of tEAm) + STERN (back) |
|
| 9D | ESCARGOT | Parisian is seen about freight delivering delicacy for him? (8) | delicacy for him (Parisian) / ES_T (French, i.e. Parisian, for is, third person) around CARGO (freight) |
|
| 14D | ESPY | Spot suggestive of sixth sense? (4) | spot / If something is suggestive of ESP (sixth sense), then it might be ESP-Y?! |
|
| 16D | SPEEDWAY | Went into power for sport (8) | sport / S_WAY (power) around PEED (went!) |
|
| 17D | GODS | Thor’s high point? (4) | high (vantage) point (in a theatre) / GOD (Thor) plus possessive S |
|
| 18D | REFERENDA | Votes near – defer after review (9) | votes / anag, i.e. after review, of NEAR DEFER |
|
| 19D | KINGDOM | United follower maybe – doing wrong in outskirts of Khartoum? (7) | ‘United’ follower, maybe (i.e. United Kingdom’) / K_M (outer letters of KhartouM) around INGDO (anag, i.e. wrong, of DOING) |
|
| 21D | LACTEAL | Milky tea? Call for change (7) | milky / anag, i.e. for change, of TEA CALL |
|
| 23D | STALE | Second story, no longer new (5) | no longer new / S (second) + TALE (story) |
|
| 24D | VERSE | See Gaelic language poetry (5) | poetry / V (vide, Latin, interjection, see!) + ERSE (Gaelic) |
|
| 26D | APRON | Article lying flat, almost, in airport area (5) | airport area / A (indefinite article) + PRON( |
|
| 27D | Armour for men, reportedly (4) | armour / homophone, i.e. reportedly – MAIL (chain mail, armour) sounds like MALE (for men) |
||
I think there’s a theme of “1961” – the year John F. KENNEDY became President of the United States of America, Princess DIANA was born, PRIVATE EYE magazine was founded, Yuri GAGARIN became the first man to enter outer space, the BERLIN WALL was erected and SPURS won the F.A. Cup Final.
Finished most of this very rapidly but took some time to get NOTA BENE, GAGARIN, GODS and (for some inexplicable reason) EASTERN. Lots of humour made for an enjoyable solve. Liked the definitions for GAGARIN & KINGDOM.
12A reminds me of the woman who asked the barman for a double entendre so the barman gave her one.
Thanks to Raich and mc_rapper67.
Assuming you’re correct (and even if you aren’t), passerby, that’s a brilliant spot.
Hear, hear: well done Passerby for seeing that theme. Unlike McRapper, I struggled with the top half, but the final few went in fairly quickly over the second mug of tea. Thanks Raich and McRapper.
Ah…good spot, passerby at #1 – that makes sense. I should have done a bit of research, rather than just assuming it was Raich and the Cold War again!
fun solve… only stumbled about over KINGDOM.. maybe cos recently it doesn’t seem to be a word that naturally follows United? we shall see..
thanks to mc_rapper67 n Raich
This was close to being my first Independent solve without having to resort to revealing a letter or two, but NOTA BENE defeated me. ESPY, OF USE and GAGARIN were my favourites.
Having got GAGARIN and KENNEDY we thought that one needed to be of a certain age to remember them, then when we got BERLIN WALL we wondered if there was some sort of anniversary theme and on checking when PRIVATE EYE first appeared it all became clear. But we missed the significance of SPURS and DIANA. What we did notice, though, was that the thematic entries are arranged symmetrically in the grid.
A satisfying solve, particularly as we spotted the theme. Favourite was ESCARGOT.
Thanks, Raich and mc_rapper67
Spurs also won the DOUBLE in ‘61!
Many thanks for the excellent blog, mc_rapper67, and also to all who commented.
Yes, everything has been spotted including SPURS DOUBLE (of League and FA Cup, first time it had been done in the twentieth century).
Thought I’d finished this pretty quickly, but I hadn’t, because of failing to look for the theme. Very grateful to passerby for pointing it out, to binsie for mentioning the Spurs double, to mc_rapper67 for the blog and of course to Raich for the entertainment.
Thanks to mc-rapper67 for the blog.
We started and finished the puzzle late last night and realised there were some answers that could possibly be linked but as it was late we checked the blog instead of trying to find the theme ourselves. Thanks to all the commenters who helped find the various thematic entries.
Thanks Raich for the entertainment – a very pleasant solve to end the day.
I struggled with the top half yesterday but it solved fairly easily today. Sleeping on it does help. Didn’t spot the theme of course. Very enjoyable. I quite like it when it takes more than one sitting, although it does mean I tend to get a backlog of puzzles.
Thanks Raich and mc_rapper67.
Thanks for all the comments and feedback – especially Raich, for confirming that the various commenters had spotted all the thematic items.
Sounds like we all enjoyed this puzzle, and not all of us spotted the theme.
Time for all Spurs fans to get excited about another year ending in a ‘1’, only to have their dreams dashed by the end of the season (;+>)
(Spoken by a closet/childhood Leeds fan, who has spent most of his intervening lifetime keeping that embarrassing fact a secret…)