Independent 10,854 by Italicus

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Italicus makes one of his relatively rare appearances today

We enjoyed this puzzle. It was not too challenging, with some excellent surfaces and a theme (it is Tuesday!) based around the East Sussex coastal resorts at 23ac and 8ac.

Seaside features appear at 9ac, 11ac, 18ac, 2d, 4d and 24d.

Specific to 23ac is the 18d, built as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales who became the Prince 20d in 1811. It is perhaps a pity that Italicus chose not to include the architect of the 18d, John NASH at 25d

In the 1960s, 23ac was a popular destination for 16ac, who clashed with the 24ders on the beach. Of late it is renowned for its 17ac festival.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
8. Resort hotel beside old abandoned vicarage (4)
HOVE

H (hotel) O (old) VicaragE without the middle letters or ‘abandoned’

9. Spooner’s European braves outdoor seating (4,6)
DECK CHAIRS

A Spoonerism of CZECH (European) DARES (braves) – we’re not keen on Spoonerisms, but this is a good one!

10. Older woman‘s company? Flipping saucy stuff! (6)
COUGAR

CO (company) + RAGU (‘saucy stuff’) reversed or ‘flipped’

11. Hairstyle covered in elaborate nets for prom (8)
SEAFRONT

AFRO (hairstyle) ‘covered’ in an anagram (‘elaborate’) of NETS

12. Gangster’s partners importing American-caught oysters, say (8)
MOLLUSCS

MOLLS (gangster’s partners) round or ‘importing’ US (American) C (caught)

14. Pub outside Totnes regularly provides buffet (6)
BATTER

BAR (pub) round or ‘outside’ alternate or ‘regular’ letters of ToTnEs

16. Government department seconds fashion-conscious youths (4)
MODS

MOD (Ministry of Defence – ‘government department’) S (seconds)

17. Record Spinning Around, Free and It’s a Sin (5)
PRIDE

EP (record) reversed or ‘spinning’ round RID (free)

18. Popular attraction run by tart (4)
PIER

R (run) after or ‘by’ PIE (tart)

19. Inconclusive test on Italy’s Adriatic peninsula (6)
ISTRIA

TRIAl (test) without the last letter or ‘inconclusive’ after or ‘on’ I (Italy) ‘S

21. South American scrambled up ravine (8)
PERUVIAN

An anagram (‘scrambled’) of UP RAVINE

23. Bachelor woke 8’s neighbour (8)
BRIGHTON

B (bachelor) RIGHT ON (woke)

26. Posh Home Secretary left card (6)
PALACE

PA (personal assistant – ‘secretary’) L (left) ACE (card)

27. Spain broadcast sitcoms about working for financial experts (10)
ECONOMISTS

E (Spain) + an anagram (‘broadcast’) of SITCOMS round ON (working)

28. Frank and Oscar exercise before noon (4)
OPEN

O (Oscar in the phonetic alphabet) PE (exercise) N (noon)

DOWN
1. Dull, ordinary and unacceptable in sumo wrestling (10)
MONOTONOUS

O (ordinary) NOT ON (unacceptable) in an anagram (‘wrestling’) of SUMO

2. Birds and marine mammals circling bottomless bay (8)
SEAGULLS

SEALS (marine mammals) round or ‘circling’ GULf (bay) without the last letter or ‘bottomless’

3. Cherishes a note about son (6)
ADORES

A DO (note) RE (about) S (son)

4. Freezes chops daughter discarded (4)
ICES

dICES (chops) with the ‘d’ (daughter) omitted or ‘discarded’

5. Unruly crowd holds up South Carolina game (8)
SCRABBLE

RABBLE (unruly crowd) after or ‘holding up’ (in a down clue) SC (South Carolina)

6. Mindlessly repeat standard nonsense (6)
PARROT

PAR (standard) ROT (nonsense)

7. Neither revolutionary supports independent press (4)
IRON

NOR (neither) reversed or ‘revolutionary’ after or ‘supporting’ I (independent)

13. Be frugal with millions found in waste container (5)
SKIMP

M (millions) in SKIP (waste container)

15. They escape, sporting bits of pirate costumes (3,7)
EYE PATCHES

An anagram (‘sporting’) of THEY ESCAPE

17. Show about Henry and Mike’s ghosts (8)
PHANTOMS

PANTO (show) round H (henry) + M (Mike in the phonetic alphabet) ‘S

18. Eccentric VIP keeps a big cat in building (8)
PAVILION

An anagram (‘eccentric’) of VIP round or ‘keeping’ A + LION (big cat)

20. Ruler is somewhat sombre gentleman (6)
REGENT

Hidden (‘somewhat’) in sombRE GENTleman

22. Rest of class sit for photographer (6)
REPOSE

RE (Religious Education – ‘class’) POSE (sit for photographer)

24. Sweet sound of mythical bird (4)
ROCK

A homophone (‘sound of’) ROC (mythical bird)

25. Boy raised on hospital food (4)
NOSH

SON (boy) reversed or ‘raised’ + H (hospital)

 

18 comments on “Independent 10,854 by Italicus”

  1. And surely your NOSH on the PIER might include both MOLLUSCS and SKIMPI? Funnily enough, there’s a minor and accidental sub theme: Davis Land was a PHANTOM island, spotted off the PERUVIAN coast by pirate Edward Davis in 1687. He almost certainly had an EYE PATCH and a PARROT 😀

    I enjoyed the surfaces conjured up by Italicus – MONOTONOUS, SKIMP, SEAGULLS, EYE PATCHES, PALACE, PERUVIAN and MOLLUSCS for example. Not particularly tricky; possibly over a bit too soon. COTD, for me, is BRIGHTON for the witty inclusion of wokeness.

    Thanks Italicus and B&J

  2. A pleasant crossword but not overly taxing. If my printout is anything to go by, Italicus seems to be having trouble with his space bar. Lots of clues with words running together. I also enjoyed the use of “woke” in 23a. There was no way I was ever going to get 19a without a word fit – never heard of it (I don’t get about much). Hove is my favourite 🙂 (see what I did there).

  3. Hovis – I think ISTRIA is one of those places I’ve only ever visited in crosswordland! Eccles clued it here in January: Both sides dismissed in void court case in Balkan region

  4. Thanks PostMark. Glad I didn’t post that I’d never heard of it back then! Hope nobody remembers I said I’d already used my annual quota of exclamation marks.

  5. What a delightful puzzle for all the reasons described by B&J.

    My top two were PALACE and EYE PATCHES but pretty much every clue was good.

    Many thanks to Italicus and to B&J.

  6. “Out of my brain on the train” Great album and film .
    Never heard of COUGAR in that context
    Thanks.

  8. This was an absolute pleasure to solve and as our reviewers commented, even the Spoonerism worked well!
    Difficult to choose a favourite but I did particularly like HOVE & PALACE.

    Many thanks, Italicus, and thanks to B&J for the review.

  9. Hear hear to all the above, a very enjoyable solve with themed clues popping up all over the place. I add to the collection that 2D ‘Seagulls’ is the nickname of Brighton & Hove Albion FC. Thanks Italicus and B&J.

  10. Loved seeing the theme unfold here.
    I did wonder if a NOSH of MOLLUSCs in BATTER was included (as long as the SEAGULLs don’t grab them)
    I don’t know Italicus but enjoyed this first meeting. +1 for the right-on reference.
    Thank you Italicus and B&J.

  11. Much to enjoy here, and a very quick solve except…
    … I usually start with the last down clue (they being usually the easiest). Here, my FOI was DHAL (H in LAD rev) which is as valid an answer as NOSH. Got ECONOMISTS and realised I had to rethink.

  13. Many thanks to all for the generous comments and to B&J for the kind and comprehensive review. For 23a, I should really thank the late, great Rik Mayall. I was fortunate enough to see him at the Dome in Brighton fairly early in his career. He bounded on stage in the persona of Rick from the Young Ones, and cried ‘Right on, Brighton!’ Funny how some things stay with you

  14. I really enjoyed this one, found it a comfortable level of difficulty, and several smiles along the way.
    There was a nice coincidence – most times John Halpern has a crossword as Paul in the Guardian he does a zoom meeting in the evening to chat about it, and cryptics in general, and finishes by giving us a couple of words / phrases to write clues for. Last Friday’s words were Brighton and rock. I had a bishop rather than a bachelor but otherwise much the same wordplay as Italicus!

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