Independent 10,781 by Skinny

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Monday entertainment from Skinny: mostly straightforward but occasionally needing a bit more thought.

I enjoyed 1a (great anagram and sneaky definition), 29a (logical enough when you see it), 24a (lovely surface), and 12a (another good surface if you get the reference, but it still works if you don’t). Thanks to Skinny.

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

ACROSS
1 ERIC CANTONA
Notorious kung-fu exponent playing a concertina (4,7)
Anagram (playing) of A CONCERTINA.

French footballer, notorious for having once aimed a kung-fu kick at a spectator in retaliation for verbal abuse.
7 MOA
Large bird once seen among Jerusalem Oaks (3)
Hidden answer (seen among) in [jerusale]M OA[ks].

Large flightless bird from New Zealand, now extinct, so “once”.
9 RECTA
Waste pipes clergyman picked up (5)
Homophone (picked up) of RECTOR = clergyman.

Plural of RECTUM = human waste pipe.
10 NATIVISTS
Insist VAT is scrapped for those who favour established inhabitants (9)
Anagram (scrapped) of INSIST VAT.
11 LASER BEAM
High-energy light meal prepared to entertain a European (5,4)
Anagram (prepared) of MEAL, containing (to entertain) A SERB (a European).
12 REEKS
Run – I’m scared opening of Surströmming will produce unpleasant smells (5)
R (run, in cricket scoring) + EEK (exclamation indicating “I’m scared”) + opening letter of S[urströmming]. Which, in case you didn’t know, is a Swedish “delicacy” of fermented fish, and smells somewhat worse than the surface of this clue might suggest; opening the can underwater seems to be recommended.
13 GOODS IN
Fine associated with crime where deliveries are made (5,2)
GOOD (fine = OK) + SIN (crime).

Name for a business entrance where incoming deliveries are accepted.
15 LOIN
Cut of meat from beast’s twisted innards (4)
LION (beast), with the inner letters (innards) twisted round.
18 EASE
Drugs reported to aid peacefulness (4)
Homophone (reported) of Es or E’s: the plural of a single capital E, which is slang for ecstasy tablet = recreational drug.
20 CHELSEA
Besides tea houses, where might you encounter The Blues? (7)
ELSE (besides, in the sense of “in addition”), housed by CHA (tea).

Chelsea is one of several places where you might encounter a football club called The Blues.
23 ASHES
Remains while chap has series of tests (5)
AS (while) HE’S (chap has = a man has).

Two definitions. Burned remains; or the series of Tests (cricket matches) played between England and Australia, named after a trophy which supposedly contains “the ashes of English cricket” from the first time Australia beat us at home.
24 ULULATING
Wailing singer returns with topless sailor (9)
LULU (Scottish singer), reversed (returns), then [r]ATING (junior sailor; topless = first letter dropped).
26 GEORGIANS
Maybe residents of Athens, Greek originally, organise dancing (9)
First letter (originally) of G[reek] + anagram (dancing) of ORGANISE.

No, not Athens the capital of Greece, and not the country of Georgia either. It’s the city called Athens in Georgia, USA.
27 IPADS
Patent, perhaps, on plugs for small computers (5)
IP (short for intellectual property, of which patents are an example) + ADS (plugs = slang for advertisements).
28 NAG
Badger, one caught in empty netting (3)
A (one) caught in N[ettin]G (empty = middle letters removed).

Badger = nag = pester.
29 SHED LIGHT ON
Explain a good way to find the right gardening tool? (4,5,2)
Definition and cryptic definition. To shed light on something is to provide explanation; and it’s probably easier to find tools in a garden shed if the light is turned on.
DOWN
1 EARPLUGS
Old West lawman carries personal protection (8)
EARP (Wyatt Earp, US lawman: Gunfight at the OK Corral and all that) + LUGS (as a verb = carries).
2 INCISION
Current racket almost overthrown after 50% of income is cut (8)
I (scientific symbol for current), then NOIS[e] (racket; almost = last letter dropped) reversed (overthrown), all placed after INC[ome] (only 50% of it).
3 CHAIR
President‘s national barrier (5)
Double definition: the person in charge of an organisation, or the name of one of the barriers in the Grand National horserace (sometimes just called “the National”).
4 NANKEEN
Grandma impatient for fabric (7)
NAN (grandmother) + KEEN (eager, though “impatient” seems a little stronger to me).

Cotton fabric, originating from the Chinese city once known in English as Nanking (or variants thereof), now Nanjing.
5 OPTIMAL
Flawless atrium evenly coated with gemstone (7)
Even-numbered letters (evenly) from [a]T[r]I[u]M, inserted into (coated with) OPAL (a gemstone).

Flawless = perfect; optimal = the best possible. Not exactly the same but near enough.
6 ADVERTISE
Computers and such held back in hostile market (9)
IT (information technology = computers and such), reversed (held back), in ADVERSE (hostile).

Market, as a verb = advertise.
7 MISTER
Aerosol merits getting sprayed (6)
Anagram (sprayed) of MERITS.

A device that produces a mist of fine droplets of liquid = an aerosol.
8 ASSIST
Lend a hand to musician scoring introduction to ballad (6)
[b]ASSIST (bass player = musician), removing (scoring = crossing out) the B which is the introductory letter of B[allad].
14 STAR SIGNS
Celebrity autographs reveal Leo and 11 others (4,5)
STAR (celebrity) + SIGNS (autographs, as a verb).
16 ASPIRANT
One pursuing partisan struggles (8)
Anagram (struggles) of PARTISAN.

Aspirant = one who attempts (struggles) to achieve something.
17 BARGES IN
Interrupts pub singer’s endless barking (6,2)
BAR (pub = drinking establishment) + anagram (barking = crazy) of SINGE[r] (endless = last letter dropped).
19 EMULATE
Mimic large bird – teal, perhaps (7)
EMU (large bird) + anagram (perhaps) of TEAL.
20 COUNSEL
Lawyer Morocco unselfishly protects (7)
Hidden answer (. . . protects) in [moroc]CO UNSEL[fishly].
21 BANG ON
Rabbit? Exactly (4,2)
Double definition: slang for “talk at length”, or slang for “exactly right”.
22 THRONG
Cram right into skimpy underwear (6)
R (right) in THONG (skimpy briefs).
25 APING
A sharp noise that’s echoing (5)
A PING (a sharp noise).

Ape (as a verb) = echo = copy.

13 comments on “Independent 10,781 by Skinny”

  1. Really enjoyed this puzzle. Both 1a and 29a gave me a laugh on a Monday morning. Thanks to skinny and quirister

  3. Like Johnnybgoode, I enjoyed the laughs at ERIC CANTONA and SHED LIGHT ON – and BANG ON, too.

    I also particularly liked the surfaces of 24ac ULULATING (lovely word) 26ac GEORGIANS (clever misdirection), 1dn EARPLUGS and 17dn BARGED IN.

    I thought 3dn was a wee bit naughty: I thought the convention was that it’s acceptable to decapitalise but not to do the reverse.

    Many thanks to Skinny for the puzzle and Quirister for the blog.

  4. This was good fun.

    Is “scrapped” a valid anagram indicator in 10a? I also thought that “national” in 3d needed to be capitalised, which could have been disguised by making National the first word, e.g. National barrier for President.

    23a was a clever construction: 1st definition + wordplay + 2nd definition to give a nice smooth surface. 1a was my favourite.

    Many thanks to Skinny and to Quirister.

  5. @3 I meant, of course, that it’s acceptable to false capitalise but not to decapitalise. Thanks, Rabbit Dave for deciphering what I meant. 😉

  6. Rabbit Dave @4: I think “scrapped” works. When a car is scrapped at the end of its life, it’s either broken up into component parts that can be re-used, or crushed into a tangled lump of metal prior to recycling; either of these could be an analogy for an anagram.

  7. Quirister @6. Thanks very much for your explanation about “scrapped”. That seems fine.

  8. I agree with Eileen @3 & 5 and Rabbit Dave @4 about ‘national’ in the wordplay for 3d which I think should have been capitalised. Mind you, it wouldn’t have made any difference as I’d never heard of the Grand National fence anyway, and CHAIR was entered unparsed as my last in.

    I was pleased to be able to both solve and understand the football related clues. Thanks for explaining the significance of ‘Surst…’ in 12a which makes this an excellent clue. There must be something about the word REEKS which appeals to the mentality of our esteemed setters. In the singular, ‘Smell toddler’s bottom – awful!’ is one of my all-time favourite clues.

    Thanks to Skinny and Quirister

  9. Ended up with quite a high percentage of right answers from crossers and definitions without parsing but enjoyed it. 1A was almost my loi but my favourite when it did finally click.

  10. Nice to see you again, Skinny. I’m afraid the 1a football reference was lost on me so I had to use the checkers to point me in the right direction but we should all know by now what it takes to persuade Eimi to publish a puzzle!
    I really enjoyed solving this one and my favourite was SHED LIGHT ON with BANG ON coming a very close second.

    Thanks to Skinny and to Quirister for the review.

  11. Hello everyone, thanks so much to Quirister for the excellent blog, and to all who commented, it’s greatly appreciated.

    The point of National/national is well noted – I did umm and aah about it, to be honest.

    Thanks again

  12. Mostly straightforward but we struggled with the crossing APING and IPADS, then fell at the CHAIR – not sure if we would have got it if ‘national’ had been capitalised but we’d have stood a better chance.
    Plenty to like though. Favourite was SHED LIGHT ON for the groan it elicited when we got it.
    Thanks, Skinny and Quirister.

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