Vigo presents the Independent puzzle on theme day.
It was only when blogging the puzzle that I remembered that Tuesday puzzles usually have a theme. A scan of the grid showed a few cuts of beef and types of steak, so I looked at all the entries and came up with ten possibilities as shown in the graphic below.
The positions of the cuts are placed symmetrically with one exception – HANGER [steak] doesn’t match symmetrically with [beef] KNUCKLE
I made fairly steady progress solving the clues with the North West corner holding out longer than the rest of the puzzle.
This was a very accessible puzzle with the grid filled with everyday words.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Dull part of cricket pitch (8) OVERCAST (clouded over; dull) OVER (an element of the game of cricket) + CAST (throw; shy) OVER CAST |
| 5 |
Functional uniform with fur (6) USABLE (working; functional) U (Uniform is the International Radio Communication code word for the letter U) + SABLE (fur of the arctic and subarctic marten of North Asia) U SABLE |
| 9 |
Embraced sixth sense love employed (8) ESPOUSED (embraced [a cause]) ESP (extra sensory perception, sometime referred to as the sixth sense) + O (character representing zero [love score in tennis]) + USED (employed ESP O USED |
| 10 |
American directors on ship (6) ABOARD (on a ship) A (American) + BOARD (the directors of a company form the BOARD or formal committee that governs a company) A BOARD |
| 12 |
Fine, limp fringe (5) FLANK (edge; fringe) F (fine) + LANK (limp) F LANK |
| 13 |
Exploit Oscar during unusual free trip (9) PROFITEER (take advantage of; exploit) O (Oscar is the International Radio Communication code for the letter O) contained in (during) an anagram of (unusual) FREE TRIP PR (O) FITEER* |
| 14 |
One suspended in hot incense (6) HANGER (descriptive of one suspended) H (hot) + ANGER (incense) H ANGER |
| 16 |
Endlessly lucky Ken rolled joint (7) KNUCKLE (a joint of veal or pork from the knee downwards) Anagram of (rolled) LUCKY excluding the final letter Y (endlessly) and KEN KNUCKLE* |
| 19 |
Demanding individual run out by you and I (7) ONEROUS (burdensome; demanding) ONE (individual) + RO (run out in cricket scoring notation) + US (you and I) ONE RO US |
| 21 |
A small platter is out of place (6) ASTRAY (off course; out of the correct place) A + S (small) + TRAY (flat board; platter) A S TRAY |
| 23 |
Profanities as naughty child draws across middle of frieze (9) IMPIETIES (blasphemies; profanities) (IMP [naughty child] + TIES [draws]) containing (across) IE (central letters of [middle of] FRIEZE) IMP (IE) TIES |
| 25 |
Golf shot starts to spin hard after nasty knock (5) SHANK (in golf, to strike the ball by mistake close to the heel of the club so that it makes contact with the hosel, causing the ball to fly to the right (for a right-handed player); [poor] golf shot) SHANK (first letters of [starts] each of SPIN, HARD, AFTER, NASTY and KNOCK S H A N K |
| 26 |
Emphatic type with male mice hearts (6) ITALIC (of a sloping type introduced by the Italian printer Aldo Manuzio in 1501, used especially for emphasis or other distinctive purpose, indicated in manuscripts by single underlining; emphatic type) IT (central letters of [heart] WITH) + AL (central letters of [heart] MALE) + IC (central letters of [hearts] MICE) – three hearts IT AL IC |
| 27 |
Manipulate mechanic? (8) ENGINEER (arrange or contrive; manipulate) ENGINEER (a mechanic) double definition ENGINEER |
| 28 |
Elegant and witty, eases oddly inside (6) DRESSY (elegant) ESS (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of EASES) contained in (inside) DRY (ironic; witty) DR (ESS) Y |
| 29 |
Pressing item is dull and inflexible (8) FLATIRON (an old-fashioned iron for pressing clothes, heated on a stove, etc) FLAT (dull) + IRON (inflexible) FLAT IRON |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Regarding enemy rising loudly and unmatched (3-3) ONE-OFF (made for a single occasion only; unique; unmatched) ON (regarding) + FOE (enemy) reversed (rising; down entry) + F (forte; loudly) ON E OF< F |
| 2 |
Seaplane crashed across end of Southwold promenade (9) ESPLANADE (promenade) Anagram of (crashed) SEAPLANE containing (across) D (last letter of [end of] SOUTHWOLD) ESPLANA (D) E* |
| 3 |
Shy laugh the French dismissed (5) CHUCK (throw; show) CHUCKLE (laugh) excluding (dismissed) LE (one of the French forms of ‘the’) CHUCK |
| 4 |
Secret agent skins up with little sign of hesitation (7) SLEEPER (an agent who spends a long time [often years] establishing himself or herself as an inoffensive citizen preparing for the moment when he or she will be required to pass on information, spy for a foreign power, etc] PEELS (skins) reversed (up; down entry) + ER (expression indicating hesitation) SLEEP< ER |
|
6 |
Bores quit changing nickname (9) SOBRIQUET (nickname or assumed name) Anagram of (changing) BORES QUIT SOBRIQUET* |
| 7 |
Sword turned up in pedal bin (5) BLADE (sword) BLADE (reversed [turned up; down entry] hidden word [in] PEDAL BIN) BLADE< |
| 8 |
Approved of final section by journalist written about Old Republican (8) ENDORSED (sanctioned; approved) (END [final] + S [section] + ED [editor; journalist]) containing (written about) (O [old] + R [Republican]) END (O R) S ED |
| 11 |
Heartless cook behind house wine (4) HOCK (type of wine) HO (house) + CK (letters remaining in COOK when the central letters OO are removed [heartless]) HO CK |
| 15 |
Supplies reportedly more disgusting diners regularly (9) GROCERIES ([food] supplies) GROCER (sounds like [reportedly] GROSSER [more disgusting]) + IES (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of DINERS) GROCER IES |
| 17 |
Stand after knock out in the manner of Australian native (5,4) KOALA BEAR (animal native to Australia) KO (knock out) + A LA (in the manner of) + BEAR (tolerate; stand) KO ALA BEAR |
| 18 |
Dim foe I’d routed changed (8) MODIFIED (changed) Anagram of (routed) DIM FOE I’D MODIFIED* |
| 20 |
Part of nourishing piece of beef (4) SHIN (cut of beef) SHIN (hidden word [part of] in NOURISHING) SHIN |
| 21 |
Club succeeded in promotion of street artist (7) ARSENAL (football club based in London) S (succeeded) contained in (in) (LANE [street] + RA [Royal Academician; artist]) reversed (promotion of ; down entry) AR< (S) ENAL< |
| 22 |
Pelt across right bend in piste (3,3) SKI RUN (a piste is a designated ski trail) SKIN (pelt) containing (across) (R [right] + U [type of bend]) SKI (R U) N |
| 24 |
Leapt around in coat (5) PLATE (coat [of metal usually]) Anagram of (around) LEAPT PLATE* |
| 25 |
Avoid drink in street (5) SKIRT (pass along the edge of; avoid) KIR (drink made of white wine and blackcurrant syrup or liqueur) contained in (in) ST (street) S (KIR) T |
This was light but a lot of fun. As usual the theme passed me by.
Many thanks to Vigo and to Duncan.
Not crazy about meat but i like Kafka and this a K athon
Minor error in blog for 6d. Wrong bit underlined.
As others have said, quite approachable today. Theme nicely discreet and I’m not going to complain about the slight lack of symmetry. SOBRIQUET, IMPIETIES and KNUCKLE my favourites today.
Thanks Vigo and Duncan
FLATIRON (which sadly also spoils the symmetry…)
Only latched onto the theme post-solve and have to say that PLATE was new to me – doesn’t sound very appetising!
Always pronounce SOBRIQUET incorrectly so I wanted an extra ‘U’ to appear, it obviously didn’t……..
Top two here were OVERCAST & ONEROUS, which both raised a smile.
Thanks to Vigo and to Duncan for the review.
Found this entirely do-able which makes a pleasant change – even when we didn’t know the word the clues were nice and simple.
Themes we thought of: parts of words, parts of horses before not agreeing on cuts of meat!
Agree with Jane @6 on both the favourites and the spelling of SOBRIQUET (which I pronounce with the U but I don’t know if it is in real life)
Thanks a lot Vigo for a nice one where I could explain how clues worked to the wider family (like I’m some sort of expert!!) and to Duncan for filling in the blanks (like ITALICS which makes perfect sense in hindsight but I just couldn’t see the IT AL parts)
Missed the theme despite looking and knowing there had to be one. As Duncan says “everyday words”, perhaps with the exception of IMPIETIES which took a bit of teasing out.
Maybe not a very exciting clue (appropriately), but I still liked the not immediately obvious wordplay for OVERCAST.
Thanks to Duncan for the as ever excellent blog and to Vigo.
I can’t see any reason for the ungrammatical “you and I” in 19A.
Nothing to beef about for me. For once the theme helped
Hovis @ 3
Thanks – I’ve been on the road quite a bit today and only just picked up your comment. I have moved the underline to the right place now.
A fairly easy puzzle for theme day, and we actually saw the theme before completing, although we would have got everything without it. Favourites were IMPIETIES and GROCERIES.
Chambers has alternative spellings SOBRIQUET and SOUBRIQUET, with pronunciation so… (long ‘o’) and sou… to match.
Thanks, Vigo and Duncan.
Not only spotted the theme for a change, but it actually helped me get the last couple of answers.
The koala is not a bear.
Got my days all mixed up.. so very late indeed… nice puzzle.. the theme appears to be straightforward but it strikes me that these are all cuts of meat that can be used in another context ie HOCK is also wine, SKIRT is item of clothing, SHIN is also to describe climbing etc..?
Thanks Vigo n duncansheill
Bob @14: Agreed the koala is not a bear but it is commonly referred to as such. Chambers has “an Australian marsupial, like a small bear, also called koala bear or native bear.”