Independent 10,756 by Sheena

by

The puzzle is available here.

 

Hello everyone.  Today we welcome another new setter* to the Indy, Sheena, who has brought us a themed offering with a generous sprinkling of interlinked clues.

*Edit – not such a new setter, as it turns out.  See Tees@22 below and this later comment by “Teesna” for confirmation.

The theme is based around the 3/16/22, 2 and 4 at 10 with some related grid entries and references in the clues.  As some references may stray into the realm of opinion I won’t attempt to list them.

With all the cross references I had a slow start until I knuckled down to unravel the 3/16/22 anagram.  I don’t normally have great success with long anagrams (nor much with short ones!) but a little work paid off.  After that all went well until the end, where I found the SW corner pretty tricky.

I thought the setter made very good use of the theme and of the individual parts of 3, 16 and 22.  I also particularly liked RECIPIENT and RHYMES.  Thanks Sheena!

 

Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, explicit [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. Link words are generally omitted for clarity.

 

Across

1a    Stop one in some French street (6)
DESIST
I (one) in DES (some, French) and ST (street)

4a    3 16 22 leader ultimately out to break bones (8)
STURGEON
The last letter of (ultimately) ouT inside (to break) SURGEON (bones).  3 16 22 = SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY

9a    Now centrist 22 repelled masses in vote (6)
BALLOT
LAB (now centrist PARTY (22)) reversed (repelled) + LOT (masses)

10a   Utterly uncivil in speech where 2 and 4 in clash (8)
HOLYROOD
WHOLLY RUDE (utterly uncivil), sounds like (in speech).  2 = SALMOND; 4 = STURGEON

11a   Third 22 giver coming in to seize creature? (5,4)
GHOST CRAB
HOST C (third PARTY (22) giver, whimsically) inside (coming in) GRAB (seize).  A new creature for me

13a   Backed wisdom gathered about northern register (5)
ENROL
The reversal of (backed) LORE (wisdom) around (gathered about) N (northern)

14a   Philosophical about England’s case given improvement? (10)
REDESIGNED
RESIGNED (philosophical) around (about) EnglanD’s outer letters (case)

15a   Disagreement blows over? (4)
SPAT
TAPS (blows) reversed (over)

17a   Subpoena in which great many mentioned (4)
CITE
A homophone of (… mentioned) SIGHT (great many)

19a   Tortuous epic! Blowing top, 2 aired grievances (10)
COMPLAINED
An anagram of (tortuous) EPIC together with, without his first letter (blowing top), [s]ALMOND (2)

22a   See 3 Down

23a   Process 10 witnesses at island satellite circles? (9)
ATTRITION:  AT followed by I (island), which TRITON (satellite, moon of Neptune) goes around (circles).  10 = HOLYROOD

25a   Two points with previous example is explanation (8)
EXEGESIS
E S (two points – of the compass) next to EX (previous) and EG (example) all followed by IS

26a   Thane disrupted mass for 16 song (6)
ANTHEM
THANE anagrammed (disrupted) + M (mass).  16 = NATIONAL

27a   Accepted cash that brings paid attention (4,4)
TOOK NOTE
A double definition

28a   Ruler snares French in rigged deal (6)
ALFRED
FR (French) in an anagram of (rigged) DEAL

 

Down

1d    Start replacing tons with grams in correct code (5)
DEBUG
DEBU[t] (start), replacing T (tons) with G (grams)

2d    Large 3 fellow in upset, one hostile to 4 (7)
SALMOND
L (large) and MON (SCOTTISH (3) fellow) in SAD (upset)

3d & 16/22    Oh! Nasty tartan politics, erupting now herein? (8,8,5)
SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY
OH! NASTY TARTAN POLITICS anagrammed (erupting)

5d    Where problems universal in lively lobster brought to pan (7,4)
TROUBLE SPOT
U (universal) in an anagram of (lively) LOBSTER + POT (pan)

6d    Sheena to stop Welshman revealing Burns’ concerns? (6)
RHYMES
ME (Sheena) inside (to stop) RHYS (Welshman)

7d    2 on this (so 4 suggested) disposed to gripe (3,4)
EGO TRIP
An anagram of (disposed) TO GRIPE.  2 = SALMOND; 4 = STURGEON

8d    Greet news boss protecting usual extremists? That’s knotty (9)
NODULATED
NOD AT (greet) and ED (news boss) around (protecting) the outer letters (extremists) of UsuaL

12d   3 16 22 being this slippery soil and granite (11)
REGIONALIST
An anagram of (slippery) SOIL and GRANITE

14d   Person getting irrational after one comes in late? (9)
RECIPIENT
PI (irrational) after I (one); this is inserted into (comes in) RECENT (late)

16d   See 3

18d   Ray and Henry leaving village 22 (7)
TORPEDO
H (Henry) removed from (leaving) T[h]ORPE (village) + DO (22: PARTY).  The definition is fishy

20d   Three in to be taken apart: not 2 nor 4? (7)
NEITHER
THREE IN is to be anagrammed (taken apart).  The question mark indicates a definition by example.  It also works perfectly without the need to interpret the figures as clue numbers.  2 = SALMOND; 4 = STURGEON

21d   Announced reason for which author Jules sees dragon (6)
WYVERN
Sounds like (announced) WHY (reason for which) VERNE (author Jules)

24d   Wanderer takes no notice crossing motorway (5)
NOMAD
NO and AD (notice) around (crossing) M (motorway)

 

26 comments on “Independent 10,756 by Sheena”

  1. Working on the principle that if you can’t think of anything nice to say, it’s better to say nothing, so I’ll just thank Kitty for her excellent review.

  2. Magnificent puzzle. Great to fit so much in – many excellent clues of which my favourites were the SNP anagram, GHOST CRAB, RHYMES, NODULATED, and NOMAD. Thanks, Kitty, for the fine blog.

  3. I thought the long anagram was clever. I liked WYVERN and EXEGESIS. I spent too long trying to get moon into 23ac. Note to self; other satellites are available. Thanks to Kitty and Sheena

  5. Not only the first by Sheena but also the first puzzle I’ve seen themed on the SNP which made it quite fun. I know several Sheena’s from North of the border so suspect we have a Scottish setter today. Not sure I’d want to see too many more (SNP puzzles as opposed to Scottish setters) – there’s limited fodder with which to play – but the setter had some fun with it and the central anagram is priceless for both surface and construction. I was lucky in that in did leap straight to mind and, as with themes like this, it did make at least two, if not three, others into obvious write-ins.

    I’m with Raich in liking RHYMES and NOMAD. COMPLAINED is a clever construction, I smiled at the WYVERN homophone, EXEGESIS – a word I don’t think I’ve ever used – came together through following the instructions and I enjoyed the TAKE NOTE dd.

    One minor correction to the blog, Kitty. The French ‘some’ in 1ac should be DES.

    Thanks Sheena and Kitty

  7. I remember a recent puzzle where the Welshman was Rees and thinking, “It should be Rhys, but there are not many words with Rhys in them.” Wrong again.

  8. Hovis@4 and PostMark@5: Thanks for the corrections – clearly I can’t count my esses and have a wholly holey brain.

    Petert@3 and Postmark@6: I too wanted to join the merry mooning party!

  10. Really enjoyed this. The long anagram clue was inspired and made me sit back in admiration and delight. It also made a few other clues come more easily to mind. Couldn’t parse everything, hadn’t heard of either of the creatures, so thanks to Sheena for the fun and to Kitty for the explanations.

  11. I enjoyed this, the clever surface of the long anagram helped me no end which then opened the door to a few others, DNF as usual but got a long way which is always nice

    DEBUG (as I rarely get the substitution ones!) and NEITHER my favourites

    Thanks a lot Sheena and Kitty

  12. I cracked the long anagram quickly (unusual for me to get one that size straight off) and from there rattled off several other theme answers from definitions and enumerations.
    I then thought (so rashly!) the whole thing was going to be easy but soon realised it was more challenging. As ever I needed some use of the reveal button (didn’t think to associate subpoena to cite / sight or that great many = sight) but overall a reasonable challenge.

  13. usually don’t like these sort of dependent themes but the anagram was so obvious it made it pretty straight forward in the end.. until as Kitty says the bottom L… 25ac in particular, all the possible bits were in front of me but still couldn’t get it all in the right order… SIGHT as “great many” seems a stretch to me so that didn’t help.. all of which meant that 14dn was last in.. really enjoyed it all up till then.. I know a few people who will have lapped up the fully devolved theme…
    thanks Sheena n Kitty

  14. The long one at 3/16/22 was actually my first one in and so, plain sailing thereafter?
    Not really but that is mainly because I am not very keen on cross references (and there were plenty here).
    My favourite? Apart from the impressive SNP anagram, probably RECIPIENT (14dn).
    Unlike others I didn’t like EXEGESIS (25ac) very much – why is EG just ‘example’?
    Many thanks to Kitty & Sheena.

  15. Not for me I’m sorry to say and I don’t think that’s just down to my feelings about the protagonists involved!
    Themes are always difficult to handle and I’d like to see this new setter compile an un-themed puzzle next time.

    Thanks to Sheena for her hard work and to our favourite feline for the review and fascinating marine life pics.

  16. @14
    I think example can stand for e.g. because unlike say “zb” in German, e.g. doesn’t stand for “for example” but for “example given”. Taking this as simply meaning “an example that is given”, Sheena can arguably refer to it as an example.

  17. Well the kids are all hopped up and ready to go for this new setter, whose debut I enjoyed. Like Sil@14 my FOI was the long, grin-inducing anagram, after which those that depended on it fell into place quite smoothly. RECIPIENT was perhaps my favourite. A fine puzzle, fairly clued throughout.

  18. We enjoyed this, in particular the use of the theme and the various PARTY references.

    We did wonder whether the SNP would consider themselves “REGIONALIST”, and we still don’t understand 23ac – what is the definition exactly?

    Thanks to Sheena (and congratulations on the publication!) and to Kitty

  19. The SW corner defeated me. I got the theme quickly enough but couldn’t see ‘subpoena’ = ‘cite’, nor ‘ray’ = ‘torpedo’. Should have seen ‘exegesis’ as I’ve been working with a company of that name. But thanks and welcome anyway to Sheena, and thanks of course to Kitty.

  20. Helped by getting the long anagram early on after the broad hint at 26A. I don’t usually like cross-references but in this case once 3/16/22 was cracked everything was OK. Last in was CITE, in which I’m not really sure about either definition.
    Thanks to Sheena for a successful debut and to Kitty for the blog.

  21. Sil@14 I think you are technically right about EG and I can’t really justify the clue. I was taught it meant exempli gratia, which I think you could translate as for the sake of an example and yet eg for just example just feels ok to me, while the more frequently used “say” somehow doesn’t. I just like a clue where the wordplay and the definition come into your mind at the same time.

  22. An EX EG eh? Well, that was just one among innumerable ludicrous conceits in this puzzle, which was obviously the product of an incorrigibly sick mind — probably that of a right egregious Sassenach.

  24. A great debut puzzle – congratulations to Sheena. I look forward to more puzzles from her (I assume) and seeing her style develop. Thanks to Kitty for the blog.

  25. I had DEBUT for 1D which is just as valid an answer which is why I dislike these clues when phrased ambiguously.
    This left me with the fictitous and unparsed TROUT CRAB at 11 do a DNF

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