Independent 10,691 by Klingsor

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A trickier than usual Monday puzzle today – as we’d expect from Klingsor, who normally appears later in the week.

There are some unusual constructions, including the reverse wordplay of 1a and the complexity of 9a, but both have straightforward definitions to compensate. 13a is very nearly a brilliant clue but I’m not sure it quite works. Plenty of other good ones though, including the long anagrams at 26a and 1d, and the probably accurate surface of 4d. 6d is probably my favourite: the construction was fairly obvious straight away, but I needed a few crossers to work out which explorer / writers were involved. Thanks Klingsor for the challenge.

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

ACROSS
1 GOOD-FOR-NOTHING What makes bio big and worthless? (4-3-7)
Reverse wordplay: to change BIO into BIG, you need to put in G (good) instead of O (zero), so GOOD FOR NOTHING.
9 TRANSLATE Possibly start with Latin, changing it back to English? (9)
Anagram (possibly) of START + LAEN, where the latter is LA[ti]N with the TI (IT backwards) changed to E (English). Sneaky.
Clue-as-definition.
10 YOUTH Teenager‘s not entirely happy out here (5)
Hidden answer (not entirely) in [happ]Y OUT H[ere].
11 NOISY One stops interfering, becoming vociferous (5)
I (Roman numeral for one) inserted into (stopping) NOSY (interfering, as an adjective).
12 HILARIOUS Shifting hair oil, American makes killing (9)
Anagram (shifting) of HAIR OIL, then US (American).
Killing = slang for very amusing = hilarious.
13 SANTIAGO City‘s playing against Lazio for final (8)
Anagram (playing) of AGAINST, then the final letter of [lazi]O (as in the Rome football club). I can see what Klingsor means, and the surface is great, but I’m not sure that “for final” really works as “take the last letter”.
The capital city of Chile, or any one of many other places with the same name (which is Spanish for St James).
15 GAZEBO Look round, taking in baron’s summerhouse (6)
GAZE (look) + O (circle = round), taking in B (baron).
Gazebo = structure in a park or garden providing shelter from the sun (or the rain, depending on the local climate). A summerhouse might be similar, but probably more substantial.
17 WRETCH We’re told gag, an unfortunate sort (6)
Homophone (we’re told) of RETCH = gag = experience nausea.
19 INFLAMED At home, renowned boxing legend initially gets angry (8)
IN (at home), then FAMED (renowned) containing (boxing) the initial letter of L[egend].
22 BRIDEWELL Nick‘s encouraging report on newly-wed’s health? (9)
BRIDE WELL would be an encouraging (if brief) report on the health of a newly-wed woman.
Nick = Bridewell = slang terms for a jail: from Bridewell Palace in London, which was originally a residence for Henry VIII but later became a women’s prison.
23 TOSCA Tenor’s given award, mostly for opera (5)
T (tenor) + OSCA[r] (popular name for an Academy Award in the film industry; mostly = last letter dropped).
Opera by Puccini.
24 CLOVE Part of bulb cracked (5)
Double definition: one segment of a bulb of garlic, or the past tense of the verb “cleave” (to split / crack).
25 VACILLATE Unfortunate, having to quit holding sway (9)
VACATE (to quit), holding ILL (unfortunate, as in an ill omen).
Vacillate = dither = sway between two options or opinions.
26 REST ON ONES OARS Renovation of store’s no reason to take it easy (4,2,4,4)
Anagram (renovation) of STORES NO REASON.
To take a brief break while rowing a boat, or (metaphorically) to take a break during some other activity.
DOWN
1 GET ONE’S OWN BACK Desperately we ask – no, beg – Charlie not to retaliate (3,4,3,4)
Anagram (desperately) of WE ASK NO BEG + C (Charlie, in the radio alphabet) + NOT.
2 ORATION Belted hunter scoffing at speech (7)
ORION (The Hunter = a constellation that features a row of three stars forming the hunter’s belt) containing (scoffing = swallowing) AT.
3 FISHY Fling is overlooked by female, I suspect (5)
F (female) + I, before (overlooking = above, in a down clue) SHY (fling = throw, as in a coconut shy).
Suspect (adjective) = fishy = dubious or not quite right.
4 ROAD HOGS Centre of Paris sadly has good and bad drivers (4,4)
Central letter of [pa]R[is], then an anagram (sadly) of HAS GOOD.
Slang for inconsiderate drivers.
5 OVERLY Evidently short of time too (6)
OVER[t]LY (evidently = visibly), with the T (time) removed).
As in “overly long” = too long.
6 HEYERDAHL He explored two British writers (9)
The two writers are Georgette HEYER and Roald DAHL.
The explorer is Thor Heyerdahl.
7 NEURONE Series about entertaining English individual displaying a bit of nerve (7)
RUN (a series) reversed (about), containing (entertaining) E (English), then ONE (individual).
Nerve cell, now more usually spelled neuron.
8 CHEST OF DRAWERS Gent almost picked up prize in game – a piece of furniture (5,2,7)
TOF[f] (slang for upper-class person = gentleman; almost = last letter dropped), then REWARD (prize) reversed (picked up = upwards, in a down clue); all inserted into CHESS (a game).
14 INCREMENT Popular setter secures right to get pay rise (9)
IN (fashionable = popular) + CEMENT (something that sets = setter), containing (securing) R (right).
An increase in salary, especially an automatic one every year or after a specific period of service.
16 ANGLICAN Old English houses start to captivate member of church (8)
ANGLIAN (relating to the Angles, early migrants from Northern Europe settling in England), containing (housing) the starting letter of C[aptivate].
A member of the Church of England or associated churches elsewhere.
18 EPITOME Summary of largely impressive book (7)
EPI[c] (impressive; largely = last letter dropped) + TOME (a large book).
Epitome usually means a “typical example”, but it can also mean a summary of a larger written work.
20 MASCARA A disfigurement concealed by Mum’s cosmetic (7)
A SCAR (a disfigurement) contained in (concealed by) MA (Mum = mother).
21 HEAVEN Chuck Norris’s heading for paradise (6)
HEAVE (chuck = throw) + first letter (heading) of N[orris].
23 TOLLS Charges pound to block opening up (5)
SLOT (opening) reversed (up, in a down clue), with L (pound = UK currency symbol, from the Latin librae) inserted (blocking).
Fees charged for the use of a road, bridge, or other infrastructure.

 

16 comments on “Independent 10,691 by Klingsor”

  2. A fairly straightforward solve, though tricky in parts especially SW corner. Getting the long and very clever perimeter clues early on certainly helped – 1A leapt out straight away. Thanks Klingsor and Quirister.

  3. SE held out for me for a bit – TOSCA eluded me for longer than it should have – but it fell in the end. Trickier than I expected, after a relatively straightforward romp through this morning’s Guardian but very enjoyable with some lovely surfaces. GET ONE’S OWN BACK and ROAD HOGS justified the entrance fee on their own; HEAVEN is amusing, along with HILARIOUS; TRANSLATE is very clever and so is GOOD FOR NOTHING which, I’m afraid, solved from crossers and enumeration – thanks Quirister for the enlightenment. Nice to remember HEYERDAHL and what a spot by our setter.

    Thanks Klingsor and Quirister

  4. pleasant outing.. the long ones seemed to be the key… bottom n right side came first so direction of travel was up and to the left… 25ac had me misdirected until the first letter emerged.. 22ac was new to me so required a google to confirm..
    thanks Klingsor n Quirister

  5. Never heard of BRIDEWELL before, so looked it up. Apparently there was one in my home town, over two hundred years ago. Seems like I’ve got a reasonable excuse for not knowing it.

  6. Well, we must have been on Klingsor’s wavelength this morning as we simply breezed through this, getting all but a handful of answers on our first pass – helped by the long answers being virtually write-ins from their enumeration.
    We liked INFLAMED for the misdirection and INCREMENT for the ‘setter’ not being i, me, etc.
    Thanks, Klingsor and Quirister.

  7. I thought TRANSLATE was very clever and was my favourite; I’ll be brave and say it would do for an &lit but I’ll almost certainly be wrong. I wasn’t sorry to see that the potentially emetic theme suggested by RETCH and HEAVE wasn’t developed further!

    One the things I like about cryptics. Where else would you see Chuck Norris sharing star billing (well you know what I mean) with Georgette Heyer?

    Thanks to Klingsor and Quirister

  9. I got quite a lot of these unparsed on the first pass from definition and enumeration, and most of those stayed unparsed till Klingsor shed light, especially 1A and 9A. I also thought I had misparsed SANTIAGO until my “does that really work?” turned out to not just be me.
    Favourite was HEYERDAHL.

  11. It was suggested that I should try this crossword because of a comment I made on the Guardian blog about the various uses of “setter” in that and other crosswords, when I remarked that it could also be used to clue “cement”. A strange coincidence but a really enjoyable experience, so I am really glad I did.

  14. I’m sorry that Klingsor’s magnificently crafted clues for GOOD-FOR-NOTHING and TRANSLATE were totally wasted on me, as the enumeration was all I needed for the first, and a couple of crossers for the second. And BRIDEWELL was a write-in!

    I agree that ‘Lazio for final’ does not accurately clue the O at the end of SANTIAGO, but I can’t imagine anyone complaining that the clue was unfair.

    Wittily and often deceptively clued, so many thanks for the entertainment to setter and blogger.

  15. Didn’t know Bridewell or rest on ones oars (only heard of laurels) but nicely clued so we could get them. Who is Chuck Norris?

  16. Ericw @15: there have been a few people with that name, but I think we’re talking about a US actor who does martial-arts stuff in action films. Or so I’m told; not really my area of expertise.

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