Independent 10,786 by Rodriguez

by

The puzzle is available here.

 

Hello everyone.  What a treat for me to get to blog a puzzle by one of my favourite setters.  I found it nice and chewy, just right for this solver on a damp Caturday, with the expected high quality and class.  My picks of the clues today are, in the acrosses, 23 (CASTIGATE) and 24 (LIONISE), natch.  In the downs I noted 1 (WHEN I’M SIXTY-FOUR) and 17 (LECTERN).  Lovely stuff throughout – thanks Rodriguez!

 

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    Low part of track coming to round lake with fish (7,4)
WALKING BASS
WAKING (coming to) round L (lake) + BASS (fish)

9a    Pole holding female’s jacket in an emergency (3,4)
MAE WEST
MAST (pole) containing (holding) EWE (female)

10a   Kind of wine relative knocked back, bagging university degrees (7)
NUANCES
SEC (kind of wine) and NAN (relative) reversed (knocked back) containing (bagging) U (university)

11a   One sporting yellow bloomers caught in pub – is she sozzled? (9)
SPICEBUSH
C (caught) in an anagram of (… sozzled) PUB IS SHE

12a   Bucolic couple of rivers (5)
RURAL
R and URAL (couple of rivers)

13a   Club but no ball for a round (4)
DISC
DISC[o] (club) with no O (ball)

14a   Gauge still a distance across the Atlantic (10)
PHOTOMETER
PHOTO (still) + METER (a distance across the Atlantic)

16a   Hardliner saw stars (10)
MAXIMALIST
MAXIM (saw) + A–LIST (stars)

19a   Heading for insolvency again, one has a large bill (4)
IBIS
The first letter of (heading for) Insolvency + BIS (again)

22a   Order is completely uncommunicative? (3-2)
SAY-SO
SAYS O (0) could indicate “is completely uncommunicative”

23a   Around entrance, holding sparkly white dress down (9)
CASTIGATE
C (circa, around) and GATE (entrance) containing (holding) ASTI (sparkly white)

24a   Pavilion is earmarked to host fete (7)
LIONISE
PaviLION IS Earmarked is holding (to host) the answer

25a   Imitating reggae with Norway’s head of state (7)
ALASKAN
À LA (imitating) + SKA (reggae) + Norway’s first letter (head)

26a   Recalling car that’s broken on trail (11)
REMINISCENT
MINI (car) inserted into (that’s broken) RE (on) and SCENT (trail)

 

Down

1d    A number fancy gathering in French square (4,2,5-4)
WHEN IM SIXTY-FOUR
WHIM (fancy) around (gathering) EN (in, French) followed by SIXTY-FOUR (square)

2d    The Führer picked up the pieces in Berlin (6)
LIEDER
Sounds like (picked up) LEADER (the Führer)

3d    Time stops where Naomi appears to be Frank (2,5)
IN TRUTH
T (time) goes inside (stops) IN RUTH (where Naomi appears – in the Bible)

4d    Comfortable about stifling report (7)
GUNSHOT
SNUG (comfortable) reversed (about) + HOT (stifling)

5d    Like to keep jade stuff in changed forms (8)
ANAGRAMS
AS (like) containing (to keep) NAG (jade, a horse) and RAM (stuff)

6d    A sickly brunette’s out for reassurance (8,7)
SECURITY BLANKET
A SICKLY BRUNETTE is anagrammed (out)

7d    Bill’s about to think, unlike Queen Victoria? (6)
AMUSED
AD (bill) around (about) MUSE (to think)

8d    Stable employee stole pants put on queen (6)
OSTLER
An anagram of (… pants) STOLE is before (put on, in a down entry) R (queen)

15d   Result of clot and me limbo dancing round south (8)
EMBOLISM
ME LIMBO anagrammed (dancing) around (round) S (south)

16d   It’s a pity American needs return fare from Asia (6)
MASALA
ALAS (it’s a pity) and AM (American) must be reversed (needs return)

17d   Hannibal leading Carthaginian’s last stand (7)
LECTERN
LECTER (Hannibal) preceding (leading) CarthaginiaN’s last letter

18d   Struts of wood always aboard ship (7)
SASHAYS
ASH (wood) and AY (always) in SS (aboard ship)

20d   Back outspoken comic writer (6)
STERNE
STERN (back), homophone (outspoken)

21d   Irrational former official of Rome (6)
PILATE
PI (irrational) + LATE (former)

 

16 comments on “Independent 10,786 by Rodriguez”

  1. I’m afraid I gave up on this about half way through, it was just taking too much time. But now I’ve seen Kitty’s excellent explanations I wonder why. Despite being a semi-professional walker and amateur pianist, I had never heard WALKING BASS before, but now I know! Thanks Rodriguez and Kitty.

  2. 14a was unusual in being both my first and last grid entry – got the METER part on first read through but PHOTO held out right to the end.
    I’d not come across WALKING BASS, MAXIMALIST or SPICEBUSH before, but they were all so well clued they couldn’t be anything else.
    Many thanks to Kitty and Rodriguez

  3. I am blinded by the brilliance of this setter. Never a :”that’ll do” clue
    In fact every frame a Rembrandt.
    Nothing to single out as they are all gems.
    Hyperbole? I dont think so
    You’re a lucky blogger Kitty
    Thanks all

  4. Exactly what copmus said!

    One of the hardest I’ve ever done from this setter – but so rewarding

  6. I’ve just popped back as I remembered I had forgotten to say anything about the puzzle when I commented earlier!

    I found it very tough but it was an absolute corker with penny-drop moments aplenty. At the end of the tussle, the only things I needed to look up were the shrub in 11a and the specific meaning of “jade” in 5d.

    I agree with Copmus @3 about the impossibility of choosing even a short list from such a fine selection.

    Many thanks to Rodriguez and to Kitty.

  7. I admit that I struggled with this. I was not on the right wavelength at all. Got there in the end but can’t say I enjoyed it much. That, of course, is down to me and nit the setter in any way at all.

    Many thanks, Rodriguez but you beat me today. Thanks to Kitty for the much needed hints.

  8. I’m mainly here to check that everyone found it tough ! – it was excellently done looking at Kitty’s wonderful explanations but just too difficult for me and like Tantrasman @1 I surrendered about halfway through, then resorted to a whole lot of “reveal letters”

    MAXIMALIST and MASALA my choices of the ones I got. WHEN IM SIXTYFOUR my favourite of those I didn’t (I could see where it was headed but nowhere near!)

    Thanks Rodriguez and Kitty for the learning experience

  9. Popping in late for a Saturday just to add my praise to that which has gone before. Splendid puzzle which, by the looks of it, I should be proud to have completed. Like DuncT, the first element of PHOTOMETER eluded me until very late on, and it was satisfying to construct those same three dnk solutions from the superb clueing. Otherwise, I really can’t add to copmus’s perfect summary.

    Thanks Rodriguez and Kitty

  10. I actually didn’t find this as hard as others from this setter.. the misdirection was at the right level for me.. . i started 1d from the bottom up and there aren’t many songs ending in ***ty-four… but failed to parse obvs… similar to DuncT@2 with the METER… faves were 23ac (with the exact same image in my mind as shown by Kitty) .. and LECTERN .. genius… n LEIDER … who says ‘O’ level German isn’t useful!?
    thanks to Rodriguez and Kitty

  11. That was tough and no mistake! I got off to a bad start by not knowing WALKING BASS and failing to fully parse 1d but then improved with a slight hiccup where SPICEBUSH was concerned – needed to verify that one.
    Top two for me were CASTIGATE & LECTERN – loved Kitty’s illustration of the latter.

    Thanks to Rodriguez for the work-out and to our favourite feline for the nicely illustrated review.

  12. Brilliant misdirection throughout. I actually did not find this as hard as yesterday’s for some reason. Unfortunately failed to parse 1d but now that I see how it fits together it’s another beauty.

  13. Many thanks, Kitty, for the delightful blog, and to everyone taking the trouble to comment.

  14. Another one who gave up half-way through here. It’s getting near my bedtime and I was never going to finish it.

  15. Superb.
    The only one we didn’t know was SPICEBUSH bur the clue clearly led to the answer, which we confirmed by googling since Chambers doesn’t say what colour flowers it has.
    Can’t really single out a CoD, but IBIS, IN TRUTH and LECTERN caught our fancy.
    Thanks, Rodriguez and Kitty.

  16. Simply superb.
    When I saw it was Rodriguez I decided to leave it for Sunday morning’s entertainment knowing it wouldn’t be a walkover.
    I am so pleased I did. A really lovely Sunday morning tussle it proved to be.
    Thanks to both a very favourite setter and our lovely blogger (love the kitten in a blanket).

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