Independent 10,716 by Radian

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An enjoyable challenge from Radian.

It’s Tuesday so we’re looking for a theme, which isn’t hard to find. 22d is ATTIRE, and about half of the other solutions are in this category: BROGUE (shoe), CUMMERBUND, TRAINER, BATHROBE, BOILER SUIT, SARI, CARDIGAN, TARBOOSH, SHOE, SLACKS, PITH HELMET, SPORRANS, ANORAK, SLIP (petticoat). That’s an impressive outfit or two (I don’t think it would be practicable to wear all of these at the same time). COVERING isn’t too far off the meaning either.

As well as the theme, there are some good surfaces, including my personal favourite 15a for its rather devious definition. Thanks Radian for the fun.

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

ACROSS
8 BACHELOR
Single chap, barman, withdrawn character (8)
BACH (bar-man = music composer), then ROLE (character) reversed (withdrawn).
9 BROGUE
Origin of Bond villain’s accent (6)
First letter (origin) of B[ond] + ROGUE (villain).

Brogue = an Irish accent.
10 OBOE
Old boozer regularly produces wind (4)
O (old) + alternate letters (regularly) of B[o]O[z]E[r].

Wind = musicians’ shorthand for “a woodwind or brass instrument”.
11 CUMMERBUND
Band of copper with odd number stamped in boss (10)
CU (Cu = chemical symbol for copper), then an anagram (odd) of NUMBER inserted into (stamped in?) MD (managing director = company boss).

A waist sash sometimes worn with formal suits or uniforms.
12 CORPUS
Collar American nicking rare complete works (6)
COP (collar = seize / arrest) + US (American), containing (nicking) R (abbreviation for rare).

Corpus = a collection of texts, for example the complete works of an author or a collection of written texts used for language research.
14 COVERING
Blanket for one remaining in coastguard stores (8)
OVER (remaining = left over) + IN, contained in (. . . stores) CG (abbreviation for coastguard).
15 WHITISH
Desire to secure success maybe beyond the pale? (7)
WISH (desire), containing (to secure) HIT (success).

Cryptic definition: something that’s almost white is beyond being merely pale.
17 TRAINER
Coach (or several of them) about to return 2? (7)
TRAIN (as a verb = coach, as in sports coach; or as a noun = several coaches running on rails), then RE (on the subject of = about) reversed (to return).

The definition refers to 2d SHOE: trainer = training shoe = sports shoe.
20 BATHROBE
8 beat English 14 after shower? (8)
BA (reference to 8a, BACHELOR = someone who holds a bachelor’s degree, which may be a BA, BSc or similar) + THROB (beat, as a verb = pulse rhythmically) + E (English).

The definition refers to 14a COVERING: a bathrobe is what one might put on after a shower.
22 AERATE
Make bubbly that’s consumed over a long time (6)
ATE (consumed) around (over) ERA (a long time).
23 BOILER SUIT
Sturdy onesie? Trouble is, sadly, I must be squeezed into it (6,4)
Anagram (sadly) of TROUBLE IS, with an extra I squeezed into it.

One-piece workwear outfit; a similar shape to a onesie, but made of sturdier fabric.
24 SARI
Asian wearing this runs a risk unnecessarily to some extent (4)
Hidden answer (to some extent), appearing twice in [run]S A RI[sk unneces]SARI[ly].

Garment worn by women in southern Asia.
25 TAKE IN
Occasionally thank one German for house (4,2)
Alternate letters (occasionally) from T[h]A[n]K, then EIN (“one” in German).

House, as a verb = provide accommodation to = take in.
26 CARDIGAN
He charged the Russians for jumper (8)
Double definition: the 7th Earl of Cardigan, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade against Russian forces, or a knitted sweater that opens at the front. Not strictly two independent definitions because the garment is named after the man, but I think the surface is good enough to overlook that.
DOWN
1 TARBOOSH
Seaman heckles Henry the redcap? (8)
TAR (sailor = seaman) + BOOS (heckles) + H (abbreviation for henry = scientific unit of electrical inductance).

Tarboosh, also known as a fez = a hat, generally made of red felt, from the Middle East or North Africa.
2 SHOE
Small hole, not large, in 9 say (4)
S (small) + HO[l]E without the L (large).

The definition refers to 9a BROGUE, which can mean a style of shoe, typically with laces and perforated decoration.
3 SLACKS
They may hide tights, ironically (6)
Cryptic definition: slacks = informal trousers; tights = stockings that go all the way up to the waist, which women may wear under the slacks. “Ironic” in the informal sense of “unexpected but amusing”, because slack is the opposite of tight.
4 GRIMACE
Lower margin stops good (very good) service (7)
RIM (margin), inserted into (stopping) G (good) + ACE (very good service in tennis = a service that the opponent can’t return).

Lower (rhyming with hour) = scowl = grimace.
5 OBSERVER
One who respects Sunday (8)
Double definition: one who respects (observes) religious customs / holy days, or short for “Sunday newspaper” (of which the Observer is an example).
6 BOMBARDIER
Engineer Bob married NCO in artillery (10)
Anagram (engineer, as a verb = construct) of BOB MARRIED.

Military rank in artillery regiments, equivalent to corporal elsewhere.
7 TURN IN
Shop name in Italian city (4,2)
N (abreviation for name) in TURIN (Italian city).

Shop, as a verb = report (someone) to the police or authorities = turn in.
13 PITH HELMET
It helps to keep a cool head – help them with it possibly (4,6)
Anagram (possibly) of HELP THEM with IT.

Lightweight cloth-covered helmet / sunhat, associated with colonial-era European explorers (or military personnel) in hot climates.
16 SPORRANS
Bags pics heading north carrying old bishop (8)
SNAPS (pics = short for snapshots / pictures), reversed (heading north = upwards in a down clue), containing O (old) + RR (Right Reverend = title for a bishop).

Sporran = a pouch worn with traditional Scottish Highland dress for men.
18 EXTERNAL
Cross endless borders from elsewhere (8)
ETERNAL (endless), containing (bordering) X (a cross).
19 DEFUNCT
Trade function essentially obsolete (7)
Hidden answer (essentially, though this usually means just the middle letter or two letters rather than a longer word) in [tra]DE FUNCT[ion].
21 ANORAK
Trainspotter‘s article artist displayed in fair (6)
AN (form of the indefinite article) + RA (Royal Academician = artist), in OK (fair = reasonably good but not excellent).

Anorak = somewhat disparaging slang for a train enthusiast, or anyone with a similar niche interest that others don’t appreciate. (Named for the rainproof jacket they often wear, which is unfashionable but appropriate for outdoor activities in the British weather.)
22 ATTIRE
Clothes dry in breeze (easterly) (6)
TT (teetotal = dry = avoiding alcohol) in AIR (breeze) + E (easterly).
24 SLIP
Blunder finally across border (4)
Final letter of [acros]S, then LIP (border).

Slip = blunder = mistake.

8 comments on “Independent 10,716 by Radian”

  1. Yes, a plain clothes theme from Radian today. I struggled in the SW corner but eventually got there. My only rather tenuous addition to Quirister’s list is that you ‘take in’ (25A) clothes that are too large – not something that affects me these days, unfortunately. Thanks Radian and Quirister.

  2. 15a reminded me of A Whiter Shade of Pale (one for copmus).

    6d reminded me of a joke from Three of a Kind.

    David Copperfield: “I am a bombardier and I show people my bombs.”
    Tracy Ullman: “ I am a gunner and I show people my guns.”
    Lenny Henry: “I am a private and I keep getting arrested.”

    That particular joke was written for the program by my father.

    I seem to recall an episode of QI where they maintained that Tommy Cooper’s headwear was a tarboosh and not a fez but this seems a bit of an iffy distinction.

  4. Thanks Radian and Quirister

    I thought there was an extra degree of irony in 3D, with the juxtaposition of TIGHT-S in the clue and SLACK-S in the solution.

  5. Absolutely delightful solve and, as has been said so often, lovely when a theme doesn’t dominate. I completed without being aware, remembered it’s a Tuesday and only then saw all those themed solutions. An absolute joy to hesitantly enter TARBOOSH into google and see a picture of a hat! It deserves to be a word and it is one.

    Ticks all over for me – SLACKS is very clever and, yes Hovis, the earworm for the afternoon is firmly in place as a result of WHITISH and pale. GRIMACE misled me for a while – particularly as lower can also mean cow – and it was a pleasure when the scowl synonym came to mind. OBSERVER, with its neat use of Sunday, the splendid anagrams for BOMBARDIER and PITH HELMET, the lovely construction of BACHELOR and the simple SHOE all mentioned in despatches.

    [Hovis: a delightful bit of repartee. Congratulations to your father. I had the pleasure of quoting from one of my own father’s witticisms over on the G page recently (and ended up, through request, retyping a longer piece from which it was taken over on General Discussion). It was lovely to read compliments on his efforts so I’m delighted to do the same. My father’s audience was the Town Council, however. I think your Dad would have got more laughs!]

  6. An enjoyable solve – a few write-ins (e.g. BROGUE) and some that required a bit of thought (e.g. CUMMERBUND). We guessed the theme early on once we realised there wasn’t a perimeter nina.
    For a while we just had the H and the L in 8ac and wondered if the ‘barman’ was going to be Holst – we kicked ourselves when we eventually got the answer.
    PITH HELMET and SPORRANS were our favourites.
    Thanks, Radian and Quirister

  7. A bombardier wearing a pith helmet and sporran is a lovely thought. Thanks to Radian and Quirister – I needed that blog for a couple of parsings.

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