Independent 10,838 / Bluth

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Bluth has compiled the Thursday crossword this week. It is a while since it last fell to me to blog one of his puzzles.

I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle overall. I completed the SE quadrant first of all, but I had some trouble in each of the other three quadrants. The SW quadrant revealed itself to me last of all, with 18 and 23 being my last two in.

My favourite clues today were 2, 9 and, above all, 4 and 25, all four of them for smoothness of surface.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 DADO RAIL Moulding young explorer in European Parliament

DORA (=young explorer, from the children’s programme Dora the Explorer) in DÁIL (=European Parliament, i.e. the lower house in Ireland); a dado rail is a decorative moulding round the wall of a room
     
05 APLOMB Oddly missing maypole dancing mob’s confidence

<m>A<y>P<o>L<e> (“oddly missing” means odd letters are dropped) + *(MOB); “dancing” is anagram indicator
     
09 WIND FARM Holding on to snake – it’s green

WIND (=snake, twist, as verb) + FARM (=holding); a wind farm is environmentally friendly, hence “green”
     
10 ATTAIN Win back some alumni at talks

Hidden (“some”) and reversed (“back”) in “alumNI AT TAlks”
     
12 LIEGE Superior story about eating on vacation

E<atin>G (“on vacation” means all middle letters are dropped) in LIE (=story, untruth); a liege is a lord or superior, in the feudal system
     
13 IMPRECISE Rough brats surrounding playground I initially enjoyed

{[REC (=playground, i.e. recreation ground) + I] in IMPS (=brats)} + E<njoyed> (“initially” means first letter only); a rough estimate is an imprecise one
     
14 ROGUES Villians’ accents – not British

<b>ROGUES (=accents); “not British (=B)” means letter “b” is dropped
     
16 REISSUE Second edition on the subject of children

RE- (=on the subject of, regarding) + ISSUE (=children)
     
19 INSIDER Aide: ring and ask Biden to avoid extremes before heading to rally

<r>IN<g> + <a>S<k> <b>IDE<n> (“to avoid extremes” means first and last letters are dropped) + R<ally> (“heading to” means first letter only)
     
21 WASHER Ring // scrubber

Double definition: a washer is a (rubber) ring to keep a joint or nut secure AND someone who washes, scrubs
     
23 MODERN ART Tom & Jerry essentially reworked – it has an avant-garde aesthetic

*(TOM + AND (=&) + <j>ERR<y> (“essentially” means middle letters are dropped”)); “reworked” is anagram indicator
     
25 CELLO Small room love what Lloyd Webber plays

CELL (=small room, in prison) + O (=love, i.e. zero score in tennis); the reference is to British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber (1951-)
     
26 TIERED Join revolutionary in ranks

TIE (=join, connect) + RED (=revolutionary, communist)
     
27 BEAR TRAP Live chat describes drawing, say – it’s potentially gripping

ART (=drawing, say) in [BE (=live, exist) + RAP (=chat, informal talk)]
     
28 ROSTRA Stages run over street artist

R (=run, in cricket) + O (=over, in cricket) + ST (=street) + RA (=artist, i.e. Royal Academician); rostra are platforms, hence “stages”
     
29 ISOLATED Lite soda drunk alone

*(LITE SODA); “drunk” is anagram indicator
     
DOWN    
     
01 DAWDLE Lawyer would liberate discharged lag

DA (=lawyer, i.e. district attorney) + W<oul>D L<iberat>E (“discharged” means all central letters are dropped); to lag (behind) is to dawdle, take too long
     
02 DANGEROUS Hairy? Leads to dermal abrasion with plastic surgeon

D<ermal> A<brasion> (“leads to” means first letters only) + *(SURGEON); “plastic” is anagram indicator; a hairy situation is a dangerous, risky one
     
03 RIFLE Strip in serif lettering

Hidden (“in”) in “seRIF LEttering”; to rifle is to plunder, ransack, hence “strip”
     
04 IN RUINS Is run out after batting has collapsed

IN (=batting, in cricket) + *(IS RUN); “out” is anagram indicator
     
06 PUTREFIES Informed about matches ref interrupts and spoils

PU ((well) UP (=on) =informed; “about” indicates reversal) + [REF in TIES (=matches)]
     
07 OKAPI Satisfactory beer served up for beast

OK (=satisfactory) + API (IPA=beer, i.e. India Pale Ale; “served up” indicates vertical reversal)
     
08 BANTERED Joked with injured – taking name for the first time

BATTERED (=injured); “taking name (=N) for the first time (=T)” means the first letter “t” is replaced by an “n”
     
11 SPUR Motivate // stud

Double definition: SPUR is to motivate, incite, as verb AND a spike, projection, as noun
     
15 UNDERWEAR Perhaps boxers are knocked out – fighting without energy

UNDER (=knocked out, unconscious) + [E (=energy) in WAR (=fighting)]
     
17 SMELL A RAT Suspect lets alarm off

*(LETS ALARM); “off” is anagram indicator
     
18 FILM STAR Cruise, perhaps, features deckhand

FILMS (=features) + TAR (=deckhand, sailor); the reference is to American actor Tom Cruise (1962-)
     
20 ROAM Trio regularly joining morning walk

<t>R<i>O (“regularly” means alternate letters only) + AM (=morning)
     
21 WITNESS Watch wife charm Head

W (=wife) + IT (=charm, sex appeal) + NESS (=head(land), cape)
     
22 TORPID Slow to drip compound

TO + *(DRIP); “compound” is anagram indicator
     
24 DREGS Doctor, say, first to study sediment

DR (=doctor) + E.G. (=say, for example) + S<tudy> (“first to” means first letter only)
     
25 CAROL Song starts to chart after release on vinyl at last

C<hart> A<fter> R<elease> O<n> (“starts to” means first letters only) + <viny>L (“at last” means last letter only)
     

13 comments on “Independent 10,838 / Bluth”

  1. Another enjoyable puzzle from Bluth – thank you to him – I smiled a lot while solving but the biggest smile was for the young explorer in 1a

    Thanks also to RR

  3. Very enjoyable. At25A, sadly Julian Lloyd Webber no plays cello in public due to a neck injury, but I hope he can still play privately. Never having heard of a dado rail, 1A was my LOI and I had to do some online research to find it. Thanks Bluth and RatkojaRiku.

  4. A pleasant puzzle, all neatly clued, although IT for ‘charm’ in 21d is a bit of a stretch. I wasn’t familiar with a DADO RAIL but knew Dora, so guessed the answer.
    I liked the clue for MODERN ART (do you consider it goodish, Mr Gorman?)
    “Apart from on commentary, where else on earth would you hear the word APLOMB being used?” – HMHB. In crosswords, in seems.

  5. We really enjoyed Bluth – as usual. Just 15 and 6 unparsed due to PETREFIES (yeah, I know you don’t spell it like that) rather than PUTREFIES.

    Thanks for the puzzling and the blog RR!

  6. I had to enter DADO RAIL from the wordplay too, helped by the ‘young explorer’ bit.

    The expected number of witty clues from Bluth, with top marks from me for the amusing surface for DANGEROUS.

    Thanks to RR and Bluth

  7. This was a real pleasure to solve. A perfect combination of some fairly easy clues, some needing patient assembly of the parts and some penny drop moments. Thanks to Bluth and RR.

  8. Another good puzzle from Bluth – as usual I started well enough, then quite a lot of time head scratching before the “of course!” moments hit. Lots of good surfaces – 22D was one of my last ones in, but a favourite when I finally worked it out.

  9. Thanks for the blog, RR and for the kind words so far.

    Quizzy_Bob @4 – I’m not convinced that IT for ‘charm’ is as big a stretch as you might imagine. One of the definitions for ‘It’ in Chambers is “An indefinable crowning quality, personal magnetism” – that very much sounds like charm to me!

  11. I knew Dado rail but was mystified by the Dora bit until coming here. Quite mild for a Thursday – thankfully. Thanks to Bluth & RR.

  12. Another lovely crossword from Bluth.
    I guessed DADO RAIL while thinking of Finding Dory for the constructional bit – how wrong was I.
    Loved 6dn after Danny Makkelie’s mess-up yesterday [that said, England fully deserved the win].
    I wished that 15dn didn’t contain ‘are’ (because as it is, the cryptic grammar isn’t right).
    Fine succinct clue for SMELL A RAT at 17dn – frequently clued but this is one of the best I’ve seen.
    Many thanks to RR (as we call him) & Bluth.

  13. Late to this party having saved up this for the family holiday – found it tricky but plenty of variation of types of clue which always helps us novices learn new tricks (and relearn as I can never recall what ‘essentially’ means)

    The aforementioned DADORAIL and WASHER favourites. WINDFARM also great but really stretched us even with crossers

    Thanks Bluth and RR

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