Independent 10,874 by Klingsor

A fun challenge from Klingsor; occasionally tricky, but always passing the “makes sense when you see it” test.

Some great surfaces here. 17a and 3d suggest getting annoyed by the neighbours’ taste in music late at night but not wanting to cause trouble, and 6d reminds me of the infamous 1987 storm in southern England (the forecast did in fact warn us about high winds, but didn’t think it would be so bad). Thanks Klingsor.

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

ACROSS
1 MOIST
Damp fog gathers round (5)
MIST (fog) containing (gathering) O (round).
4 MEANWHILE
Dirty trick reported at the same time (9)
MEAN (dirty = slang for unfair, as in “dirty deal”) + homophone (reported) of WILE (trick).
9 BREAKFAST
Getting hold of recipe, magistrate fixed a meal (9)
BEAK (slightly old-fashioned slang for magistrate, schoolmaster, or similar authority figure) containing (getting hold of) R (abbreviation for Latin recipe = take, in medicine formulations), then FAST (fixed, as in “stuck fast”).
10 ABOUT
A leader of Brexiteers needs striking roughly (5)
A + leading letter of B[rexiteers] + OUT (striking = not working because of an industrial dispute).
11 LOGGIA
Gallery lost half of Caravaggio works (6)
L (abbreviation for lost, as in records of a sports team’s recent results: W3, D1, L2) + anagram (works) of the second half of [carav]AGGIO.

Loggia = an open balcony in a theatre = gallery. (Or a covered arcade attached to a building.)

12 SUCHLIKE
His luck changed, close to someone similar (8)
Anagram (changed) of HIS LUCK, then the closing letter of [someon]E.
14 SMALLHOLDERS
Acquiring shopping area by hospital, joins property owners (12)
SOLDERS (joins, in metal), containing (acquiring) MALL (shopping area) + H (abbreviation for hotel).

Smallholder = someone owning and operating a small farm, often a one-family enterprise.

17 DISCONSOLATE
Wretched record playing well into the night? (12)
DISC (record = music recording) + ON (playing) + SO LATE (well into the night?).
20 RESIGNED
Mark cuts grass, uncomplaining (8)
SIGN (mark) inserted into (cutting) REED (a type of grass).
21 TEMPER
Artistic technique mostly creating mood (6)
TEMPER[a] (historic painting technique using pigments mixed with egg yolk), without the last letter (mostly).

As in a bad temper = a bad mood.

23 GUANO
One fellow abandons dinosaur droppings (5)
[i]GUANO[don] (a type of dinosaur), abandoning I (one in Roman numerals) and DON (fellow = university academic staff member).
24 GRENADINE
At home, tucked into pineapple drink (9)
IN (at home), inserted in GRENADE (explosive device = “pineapple” in military slang).

Grenadine = fruit syrup, traditionally made from pomegranate juice, used in cocktails. (From the French grenade = pomegranate, which is also what the explosive device is named after.)

25 CHEONGSAM
Hems can go high for this dress (9)
Anagram (high = drunk) of HEMS CAN GO.

Traditional Chinese dress, close-fitting with a high neckline.

26 THEME
Article with extremely macabre subject (5)
THE (definite article) + end letters (extremes) of M[acabr]E.
DOWN
1 MOBILISE
To rally crowd, I tell a story about head of state (8)
MOB (crowd) + I + LIE (tell a story), around the first letter (head) of S[tate].

Mobilise = rally = encourage into action.

2 IDEOGRAM
Graphic symbol or image daughter redesigned (8)
Anagram (redesigned) of OR IMAGE + D (d = abbreviation for daughter, in genealogy listings giving the number of children).

A language-independent pictorial symbol, such as the “waste-bin” image representing “delete”.

3 TAKE IT LYING DOWN
Could be to yield, wanting minimum of kerfuffle? (4,2,5,4)
Anagram (could be) of TO YIELD WANTING with the minimum (just the first letter) of K[erfuffle].

Clue-as-definition: take it lying down = accept a situation without causing a fuss. I think I’ve only ever heard this phrase used in a negative sense, as in “don’t take it lying down”.

4 MEAT
Starter of mutton to devour? (4)
First letter (starter) of M[utton], then EAT (devour).

Clue-as-definition, with the question mark indicating a definition by example.

5 ASTOUNDING
Advanced plumbing needs little time to be installed – amazing (10)
A (advanced, as in A-level exams) + SOUNDING (plumbing, as in plumbing the depth of the sea), with T (short for time, so “little time”) inserted (installed).
6 WEATHER FORECAST
We’re told if a force 10 on way – by this? (7,8)
Homophone (we’re told) of WHETHER (if), then an anagram (10 = reference to 10a ABOUT) of A FORCE, then ST (short for street = way).

Extended definition. if there’s a Force 10 storm on the way, you’d hope the weather forecast would tell you so.

7 ICONIC
Well-known passage from mystic on I Ching (6)
Hidden answer (passage from) in [myst]IC ON I C[hing].
8 ENTREE
Charlie drops out of Middle English course (6)
[c]ENTRE (middle), without the C (Charlie in the radio alphabet), then E (abbreviation for English).

A dish served as a starter before the main course of a meal; or in North American English it can mean the main course itself.

13 CONCIERGES
Hall porters recognise suspect outside college (10)
Anagram (suspect, as an adjective = dubious) of RECOGNISE, outside C (abbreviation for college).
15 CAMPSITE
Place for holidaymakers affected the audience’s view (8)
CAMP (affected, as an adjective = contrived or over-acted) + homophone (the audience’s) of SIGHT (view).
16 DERRIERE
On reflection, did wrong pinching one monarch’s bottom (8)
ERRED (did wrong), reversed (on reflection), containing (pinching) I (one in Roman numerals) + ER (Elizabeth Regina = monarch).
18 TRAGIC
Josh is boring jerk? Very sad (6)
RAG (josh = tease) inserted into (boring = drilling into) TIC (jerk = involuntary movement).
19 ESCAPE
It’s an adventure, missing commercial flight (6)
ESCAP[ad]E (adventure), missing AD (advertisement = commercial).
22 BEAM
Broadcast live in the morning (4)
BE (live, as a verb) + AM (in the morning, from Latin ante meridiem = before midday).

Beam, as a verb = send a radio or television signal.

11 comments on “Independent 10,874 by Klingsor”

  1. Klingsor shows, yet again, why he is one of my favourite setters. Expertly crafted surfaces throughout. The construction of 6d, with the placement of 10a, is easily my COD.

    Minor typo in 7d. Missing the initial I of the solution.

  2. Very good puzzle but I’m afraid much of the skill of the setter was lost on me, as I lazily just entered from the definition or what seemed to be the obvious answer eg WEATHER FORECAST without taking the trouble to parse everything. It’s much more satisfying to take longer and “smell the roses” along the way.

    Still, even while solving, I did appreciate clues such as the tricky parsing of BREAKFAST, CHEONGSAM and DERRIERE. I’ll even forgive Klingsor for ICONIC, currently one of the most over-used words in the English language.

    Thanks to Klingsor and Quirister

  3. I agree with WordPlodder that ICONIC has lost its gravitas through overuse. Glad CHEONGSAM appeared recently or I would have forgotten it once again. LOGGIA was another word plucked from the far recesses of my memory then checked in Chambers. I have a memory like an elephant – it’s one large grey area.

  4. Tuesday is the regular theme day. However, we cannot see anything here apart from THEME in the last across clue!

    An enjoyable puzzle – we struggled on 25ac and we entered A and O the wrong way round before we got the tick to say that we had finished the puzzle correctly.

    Thanks to Klingsor and Quirister.

  5. 25a took a couple of stabs plus a couple of letter reveals. Very nicely clued & enjoyable.
    Thanks both

  6. The first time I have tried a Klingsor and I liked it very much. Good clueing meant the answer was, eventually, obvious. On top of that a well constructed blog too from Quirister so thanks to both for some afternoon lockdown entertainment.

  7. My 3rd crossword of the day (FT & G were the others) and probably my favourite — thanks Klingsor. I liked MEANWHILE, DISCONSOLATE, MOBILISE, and ENTREE among other clues. Nice surfaces, clean parsing — thanks Quirister for the blog.

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