Independent 10,871 by Vigo

by

An enjoyable Monday puzzle from Vigo.

We have various beasts, birds and fish (real or mythological) to deal with here, though I can’t find a specific link between them to suggest a theme. UPDATE: yes, there is one – see comment from Vigo @13.

Always happy to see a DRAGON (1d) because they’re part of the culture in Wales where I grew up. I also liked the delightfully logical construction of 30a and the “mystery driver” of 18d, among many other excellent clues. Thanks Vigo as always.

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

ACROSS
1 DISLOYAL
Roughly slay idol that’s unfaithful (8)
Anagram (roughly) of SLAY IDOL.
5 BANTAM
Prohibit domesticated, tailless fowl (6)
BAN (prohibit) + TAM[e] (domesticated) without its last letter (tailless).

Bantam = a smaller-than-usual chicken or other poultry bird.
9 AGONISED
Worried journalist after past offence recalled (8)
AGO (past), then SIN (offence) reversed, then ED (editor = journalist) after that.
10 SHELLS
Bombards ship crossing place of turmoil (6)
SS (originally a single-screw steamship, but just “ship” for crossword purposes) around (crossing) HELL (place of turmoil).

Shell, as a verb = to bombard with explosive devices.
12 OVERNIGHT
Quickly getting close in public (9)
NIGH (near = close) in OVERT (public).

In the sense of “an overnight success” = something that develops very quickly.
13 EAGLE
Bird inside a glebe-house is hiding (5)
The phrase [insid]E A GLE[be-house] is hiding the answer.
14 BEAR
Carry drug in pub (4)
E (slang for the recreational drug ecstasy) in BAR (drinking establishment = pub).
16 GRIMACE
Frown about rolling around in dirt (7)
CA (ca = short for Latin circa = about), reversed (rolling around), in GRIME (dirt).
19 OUTGROW
Get too big for unfashionable final part of clothing line (7)
OUT (short for “out of fashion”) + final letter of [clothin]G + L (short for line) ROW (line).
21 ROSE
Groomsmen regularly got up (4)
Alternate letters (regularly) of [g]R[o]O[m]S[m]E[n].
24 SIGIL
Old seal swims in gulf ingesting lobster heads (5)
First letters (heads) of S[wims] I[n] G[ulf] I[ngesting] L[obster].

Sigil = seal in the sense of someone’s personal stamp pressed into sealing-wax to fasten a letter.
25 LIGHTNING
Evidence of storm easing when energy is lost (9)
LIGHT[e]NING (getting lighter = easing), without the E (energy).

According to the dictionaries, “lightning” (as in an electrical storm) is just a variant version of the word “lightening” (becoming lighter or brighter), but the spelling without the E seems to have become standard for this sense.
27 KRAKEN
Rescue vessel returns with knowledge of monster (6)
ARK (rescue vessel) reversed (returns), then KEN (knowledge, in Scottish or Northern English dialect).

Sea-monster in Scandinavian folklore, perhaps an exaggerated version of the giant squid. (I first met it in the John Wyndham novel The Kraken Wakes.)
28 ALLOCATE
Place brewing local tea (8)
Anagram (brewing) of LOCAL TEA.

Place, as a verb = put into the right place = allocate.
29 SHAFTS
Handles cons (6)
Double definition. Shaft, as a noun = wooden or metal pole forming the handle of a spear, golf club, or similar implement. Shaft, as a verb = con = slang for cheat or trick.
30 TACTLESS
Undiplomatic time to reduce activity (8)
T (time) + ACT LESS (reduce activity).
DOWN
1 DRAGON
Continue slowly and tediously to find fabulous beast (6)
DRAG ON (to go slowly and tediously, as in “the meeting seemed to drag on for ever”).
2 SHOVEL
Sun shed scoop (6)
S (abbreviation for sun, though I’m not sure in what context – weather forecast summaries presumably?) + HOVEL (a rough hut = shed).
3 ONION
Bulb in contact with electrical current working finally (5)
ON (in contact with) + I (scientific symbol for electrical current), then finally ON (working).
4 AVENGER
Hail new German superhero (7)
AVE (Latin for “hail” in the sense of “Hail Caesar!”) + N (new) + GER (abbreviation for German).

One of a team of Marvel Comics superheroes; also a popular title for various other fictional heroes, human or superhuman.
6 ATHLETICS
Sports distressed satchel with note inside (9)
Anagram (distressed) of SATCHEL, with TI (a note in the musical sol-fa scale) inside.
7 TELEGRAM
Players gathering stage right for message (8)
TEAM (sports players), containing (gathering) LEG (stage = one section of a longer journey) + R (right).
8 MUSTERED
Assembled yellow plant for audience (8)
Homophone (for audience) of MUSTARD, which can be a shade of yellow or a plant. (Or, of course, the yellow condiment made from the plant’s seeds.)

Muster = to assemble the members of a military unit.
11 STAG
Unfinished platform for male (4)
STAG[e] (platform), without its last letter (unfinished).

A male deer, or a soon-to-be-married man on a boys’ night out.
15 ENROLMENT
Registration of mentor Len upset (9)
Anagram (upset) of MENTOR LEN.
17 FORSAKES
In favour of drink soprano rejects (8)
FOR (in favour of) + SAKE (Japanese drink made from rice) + S (abbreviation for soprano in vocal music).
18 STIGMATA
Mystery driver and short friend getting A marks (8)
STIG (The Stig = anonymous driver on the TV series Top Gear, who always wears a full-face helmet and doesn’t speak on camera) + MAT[e] (friend; short = last letter dropped) + A. (For those who knew Top Gear prior to 2015, Vigo might be thinking of Richard Hammond as the mystery driver’s short friend, perhaps?)

Stigmata = marks corresponding to the wounds of Christ on the cross.
20 WOLF
Run up to Casanova? (4)
FLOW (run), reversed (up = reading upwards in a down clue).

Wolf = Casanova = slang for a man who frequently tries to seduce women.
21 REGALIA
Insignia of Algeria destroyed (7)
Anagram (destroyed) of ALGERIA.
22 FINALE
End with bit of fish and beer (6)
FIN (a bit of a fish) + ALE (beer).
23 AGREES
Flowing grease settles (6)
Anagram (flowing) of GREASE.

Settle = to come to an agreement following a dispute.
26 TROUT
Fish in Test dropping end of fly (5)
TR[y] OUT (test), dropping the Y which is the end letter of [fl]Y. The surface suggests fly-fishing in the River Test (Hampshire, southern England).

15 comments on “Independent 10,871 by Vigo”

  1. Thanks Vigo and Quirister

    As Vigo often has a theme irrespective of the day of the week I did a spot of trawling.

    From what I can find, at least (moon)DRAGON, ROSE, WOLF, BEAR, LIGHTNING, KRAKEN & BANTAM are all names associated in some way or other with the Marvel AVENGERs. I don’t claim that the list is exhaustive: others will know the field better.

  2. Thanks Simon S @1: that sounds convincing, but it’s definitely not my area of expertise so I’ll take your word for it!

  3. US professional sports teams seems at least a possibility – Bears, Eagles, Athletics, Lightning, Kraken.

    Probably anything vaguely Nordicly mystical works if you look hard enough – Clans of Northgard for example.

    Hopefully setter will swing by later!

  4. Feel as though I’m stepping on Hovis’ toes, but in 18a LINE = ROW, I think.
    Thanks to Vigo and to Quirister for the blog. I couldn’t get either 2 or 20d. Fixated on 2d being a triple definition and I’d totally forgotten that definition of a wolf – positively archaic but nothing wrong with that in crossword land! Very enjoyable start to the day.

  6. I saw the various beasties scattered around but didn’t know enough to make them into a theme. Never heard of a SIGIL and I entered what I thought was a plausible STAN[d] for 11d which held me up for GRIMACE. Yes, S for ‘sun’ crops up every now and then in crosswords but I don’t know how often or in what context the abbreviation is used in the real world

    I agree with Jayjay @4 about WOLF for ‘Casanova?’ which needed an A-Z run-through and was my last in. I wonder how many millennials know what a TELEGRAM is?

    Thanks to Vigo for the usual enjoyable start to the working week and to Quirister

  7. All very straightforward and enjoyable. We just saw BANTAM, EAGLE and the rest as assorted creatures, real or imaginary, and left it at that. LOI was MUSTERED which evoked a groan when we realised it was a homophone.
    Thanks, Vigo and Quirister.

  8. The theme was lost on me but that didn’t detract at all from enjoyment of the puzzle. Think SIGIL was new to me but perhaps I’ve simply forgotten it, not much call for its use these days.
    Took a while to sort out SHOVEL so I’ll award that top prize today.

    Thanks to Vigo and to Quirister for the review.

  9. Like Jane @8, I had no idea about the theme. The surface of 2d made no sense at all to me, but that apart this was a very enjoyable puzzle.

    Many thanks to Vigo and to Quirister.

  10. I enjoyed this one a lot. Favourites TELEGRAM, BEAR & SHELLS.
    RD@9 I wondered at that too for a bit, but alighted on “the tabloid ditched its exclusive story”, which works, I think.
    Thanks Vigo and Quirister.

  11. @10 Mev exactly that about 2d. I know vigo has stated she likes to grid fill with thematic words to get going – not that it really helped today. Thanks Q and setter for today’s fun.

  13. Thank you to Quirister for blogging and to all who took the time to comment.

    As far as thematic words go there are several that appear on different house’s sigils in Game of Thrones.

    (Bantam – House Swyft, Shells – House Westerling, Eagle – House Mallister, Bear – House Mormont, Rose – House Tyrell, Lightning – House Dondarron, Kraken – House Greyjoy, Dragon – House Targaryen, Onion – House Seaworth, Stag – House Baratheon, Wolf – House Stark and Trout – House Tully)

    Guess which box set I binged during lockdown?

  14. Thanks Vigo @13 for enlightening us! That’s a series I’ve never found the enthusiasm to get into.

  15. Can’t help but feel House Seaworth and House Tully missed out in the imposing sigil allocation. Great fun, thanks to Vigo and Quirister

Comments are closed.