Tuesday’s Independent puzzle is set by Radian who is a regular in the Independent series.
On Tuesdays, there is usually some theme or message involved in the puzzle. Today the theme was found predominantly in the clues with many references to sports or games. There were also some sports and games in the entries.
I thought many of the surfaces today were very smooth with those for HARPOON, SEMI-FINAL, OCULI, KAPIL DEV, CENTRE and BAIL being the stand out ones for me.
I was writing the blog whilst watching some test cricket (bloggers can get access to Independent puzzles in advance) so the cricket allusions were very appropriate.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 9 |
Typically taking a very short time (2,7) ON AVERAGE (typically) ON (regularly taking a drug) + A + VERY excluding the final letter Y (short) + AGE (period of time) ON A VER AGE |
| 10 |
A northerner’s course (5) ASCOT (name of a horse racecourse) A + SCOT (northerner) A SCOT |
| 11 |
Coach likes strapping batter’s midriff to be bowler’s target (7) SKITTLE (target in a bowling alley) Anagram of (coach) LIKES containing (strapping) TT (central letters of [midriff] BATTER) SKI (TT) LE* |
| 12 |
Talk incessantly about old weapon at sea (7) HARPOON (barbed dart or spear, especially for killing whales; weapon at sea) HARP ON (dwell tediously or repeatedly on in speech or writing; talk incessantly) containing (about) O (old) HARP (O) ON |
| 13 |
Bear loses right to invest (5) ENDUE (invest with) ENDURE (tolerate; bear) excluding (loses) R (right) ENDUE |
| 14 |
Immature flyer is rashly flying after cold (9) CHRYSALIS (golden-coloured butterfly pupa or pupa generally; immature flyer) C + an anagram of (flying) IS RASHLY C HRYSALIS* |
| 16 |
Reveal secret to let opposition win (4,3,4,4) GIVE THE GAME AWAY (disclose a secret) GIVE THE GAME AWAY (give up; let the opposition win) double definition GIVE THE GAME AWAY |
| 19 |
Decisive game’s influential, if boring (9) SEMI-FINAL (contest immediately preceding the final resulting in the elimination of the loser; decisive game) IF contained in (boring) SEMINAL (notably creative or influential in future development) SEM (IF) INAL |
| 21 |
Victor’s first to leave ring circling bull (5) INNER (the ring circling the bull on an archery or darts target for example) WINNER (victor) excluding the first letter V (first to leave) INNER |
| 22 |
Winger, surprisingly sleek, secures try almost (7) KESTREL (bird; winger) Anagram of (surprisingly) SLEEK containing (secures) TRY excluding the final letter (almost) Y KES (TR) EL* |
| 23 |
VIP‘s six at Lord’s? (3,4) BIG SHOT (very important person) BIG SHOT (a six hit at Lord’s cricket ground would require a BIG SHOT by the batter) cryptic definition BIG SHOT |
| 24 |
One helps pupils losing way in Windows (5) OCULI (round windows) OCULIST (specialist in diseases and defects of the eye, of which the pupil is an important component) excluding (losing) ST (street; way) OCULI |
| 25 |
Try phoning Irish town overlooking last event (9) TRIATHLON (sporting event in which competitors swim, cycle and run) TRI (sounds like; on the phone; phoning TRY)+ ATHLONE (Irish town) excluding the final letter (overlooking last) TRI ATHLON |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Robert longs to overtake the French racing vehicles (10) BOBSLEIGHS (racing sledge for two or more people) BOB (Robert) + (SIGHS [yearns; longs] containing [overtake] LE [one of the French forms of ‘the’) BOB S (LE) IGHS |
| 2 |
Indian cricketer lived illicitly with Pakistan’s opening trio (5,3) KAPIL DEV (former Indian test cricketer, born 1959) Anagram of (illicitly] LIVED and PAK (first three letters of [opening trio] PAKISTAN) KAPIL DEV* |
| 3 |
Player at Twickenham the focus of indecent remark (6) CENTRE (one of the positions in a Rugby Union team is CENTRE, [Twickenham hosts England’s Rugby Union matches]) CENTRE (hidden word as the central letters of [the focus of] INDECENT REMARK) CENTRE |
| 4 |
People initially relish good service (4) RACE (people) R (first letter of [initially] RELISH) + ACE (an unplayable serve in tennis; good service) R ACE |
| 5 |
A number book into unbelievable game (10) TETHERBALL (A game with two players who use rackets to strike a ball that is tethered to the top of a pole; the object is to wrap the string around the pole) (ETHER [substance used as an anaesthetic to create numbness; number) + B [book]) contained in (into) TALL (hardly to be believed; unbelievable) T (ETHER B) ALL |
| 6 |
Sport left burden in A&E (8) LACROSSE (a sport) L (left) + (CROSS [burden] contained in [in] [A + E]) L A (CROSS) E |
| 7 |
Small champion loves large swimming group (6) SCHOOL (shoal of fish; large swimming group) S (small) + CH (champion) + OO (two characters representing zero [loves score in tennis]; loves) + L (large) S CH OO L |
| 8 |
Bill picked up wall game here (4) ETON (reference the ETON school wall game [variety of football played against a wall]) NOTE (bill as in a dollar bill or a dollar NOTE) reversed (picked up; down entry) ETON< |
| 14 |
What char does at night for unblemished record? (5,5) CLEAN SLATE (unblemished record [?]) I always thought CLEAN SLATE referred to an action to forget about the previous rather blemished record and start again, although I suppose the new CLEAN SLATE does represent the new and recent unblemished record) CLEANS LATE (char is short for charlady [CLEANer] and LATE describes evening or night time, so together we have a description of what a char does at night) CLEAN S LATE |
| 15 |
Unusually striking way to avoid a commercial overhead? (10) SKYWRITING (tracing of words by smoke from an aircraft, often used as a method of advertising [a commercial]) Anagram of (unusually) STRIKING WAY excluding (avoid) A SKYWRITING* |
| 17 |
Follow round a pair of females in ship’s bar (8) TAFFRAIL (the rail round the stern of a ship; ship’s bar) TRAIL (follow) containing (round) (A + FF [two occurrences of [a pair of] F [female]) T (A FF) RAIL |
| 18 |
Victory banner raised to welcome Hearts player (4-4) WING-HALF (name of a player’s position in some sports) WIN (victory) + (FLAG [banner] reversed [raised; down entry] containing [to welcome] H [hearts]) HEARTS is the local name for HEART of Midlothian FC an Edinburgh team in the Scottish Premiership. WIN G (H) ALF< |
| 20 |
Nearly avoid oddly crude error at the Crucible (6) MISCUE (make an error when playing snooker. The snooker World Championship has been held at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield since 1977) MISS (avoid) excluding the final letter (nearly) S + CUE (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of CRUDE) MIS CUE |
| 21 |
Some tin got smelted making these? (6) INGOTS (mass of unwrought metal, especially gold or silver, cast in a mould) INGOTS (hidden word in [some] TIN GOT SMELTED) INGOTS |
| 22 |
Secure measure of speed for flyer (4) KNOT (tie; secure) KNOT (measure of speed) KNOT (snipe-like shore bird; flyer) triple definition KNOT |
| 23 |
Small bar at Old Trafford‘s temporarily free (4) BAIL (one of the crosspieces [small bars] that lie on top of the stumps to form the wicket; Old Trafford is a test cricket ground) BAIL (pay the (usually monetary) security given to procure the release of an accused person by assuring his or her subsequent appearance in court; temporarily free) double definition BAIL |
Not a cricket fan so had to look up .A.P. DEV to confirm he was a cricketer. ( I sometimes wonder how I ever solve any cryptic without extensive cricket knowledge).
Also didn’t know knot as a bird so wondered at flyer as knot being a nautical mile.
I also thought the surfaces and definitions were excellent, particularly commercial overhead.
Thanks Radian and Duncan.
I’d forgotten about ‘the Crucible’ being the venue of the snooker World Championship so didn’t understand the def for MISCUE and I couldn’t have said what TETHERBALL was, but otherwise everything made sense. I liked identifying the sporting references, even if I hadn’t thought of a BAIL as a ‘Small bar’ before.
Seems as though KAPIL DEV was still playing cricket only yesterday but I see he retired 27 years ago.
Thanks to Radian and Duncan
All very clear and enjoyable, despite initially setting myself on a wild goose chase in the SW corner by entering first ‘clean sheet’, then ‘clean sweep’, which didn’t parse but seemed a reasonable guess. Thanks Radian and Duncan.
They didnt seem to need him yesterday but good placement of theme and good start to the day.
Thanks Radian and Duncan
From The Listener crossword ten days ago – 16 All-rounder from Pakistan spinning devil out (8, two words).
I’ve seen HARPOON in the last forty-eight hours as well, clued similarly.
Genuine question – do setters see clues and try and give them an alternative definition, or are these things selected and locked in months in advance, and it’s just another example of the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon.
Thanks to S and B in any case.
As a supporter of the losing finalists in Last year’s Europa League, I am not sure I see a SEMI-FINAL as decisive. I think KNOTS can be used for airspeed as well, so 22d could work as a dd, but now it has been pointed out to me I prefer the triple. Thanks both.
We thought this was fairly gentle for a Tuesday themed puzzle, although a few answers took a bit of teasing out, and it was a few minuted before we remembered the Indian cricketer.
Thinking about whether CLEAN SLATE means an unblemished record, our first thought for 14dn was CLEAN SHEET till we realised it wasn’t quite right. But ‘clean sheet’ is perhaps more akin to an unblemished record; a team or its goalkeeper who finish a game without any goals against them is referred to as ‘keeping a clean sheet’.
HARPOON was our CoD, even though we were barking up the wrong tree for a while believing ‘talk incessantly’ was the definition.
Thanks, Radian and Duncan.
mw7000 @5 my understanding is there’s normally a gap of several months between a puzzle being initially submitted and it getting to publication. E.g in the spring I was on a charity zoom crossword setting event in which Dave Gorman (Bluth in the Independent) mentioned setting a particular clue for SKA which I recognised in a puzzle published within the last couple of weeks.
Thanks Radian and Duncan. I failed to parse TETHERBALL – always get caught out by “number”, when will I learn? Like PeterT @6, I missed the third definition of KNOT – the bird is a new one for me, but it still works as a DD. Good clue. Also very much enjoyed SKITTLE and WING-HALF.
I only got Skywriting by using the Anagram Helper within the Guardian Crossword grid. Very useful. I tell myself it’s not cheating, just like Wikipedia, online themed word lists (eg lists of sports ranked either alphabetically or by number of letters, none of which seemed to know “tetherball”) or Chambers! 🙂