Independent 10904 / Klingsor

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Klingsor is a frequent contributor to the Independent cryptic puzzle series.

 

 

 

This was a good Thursday challenge with the clue for CHATEAUBRIAND (4 down) being the standout for me today.  I always enjoy clues with many component parts and this one had six parts and an excellent surface.

I think the clue for DRAFT at 23 across is a quadruple definition, although I have a bit of struggle getting the right part of speech for each definition.

Every so often I find I am blogging a clue to the same word or solving crosswords with the same word fairly frequently.  MOTORCADE (14 down) is currently the word in question.  Phi used it in the puzzle I blogged last Friday and I’m sure I have come across it in another puzzle within the last few days.  Statistically there are always going to be times when one word crops up a number of times

Klingsor always seems to get a musical reference into his puzzles.  Today we had ALLEGRO at 13 across.

TONTINE is a word I usually only come across in crossword puzzles these days, although there is a TONTINE Hotel in a small town only 25 miles from where I live.

Finally, the anagram fodder was very helpful in spelling DIARRHOEA at 24 across.

No Detail
Across  
1

What could produce minor hitch? (8)

DRAWBACK (disadvantage; problem; hitch)

DRAW is a reversal of (BACK) WARD (WARD of court [a person, especially a minor, placed under the control of a guardian or a court])

DRAW BACK
5

Twice yearly wife provides fruit (6) 

PAWPAW (a fruit of a tree of the same name, native to South America)

(PA [per annum; yearly] + W [wife]) + (PA [per annum; yearly] + W [wife]), so ‘twice yearly wife’

PA W PA W
9

Varied crimes by worker? He must be one (9) 

MISCREANT (wrongdoer or villain; one who commits crimes)

Anagram of (varied) CRIMES + ANT (reference a worker ANT [sterile female member of a colony of ants that forages for food])

MISCRE* ANT
11

Small lake sinks lower and lower (5) 

SCOWL (look gloomy and threatening; lower)

(S [small] + L [lake]) containing (sinks) COW (an animal that lows)

S (COW) L
12

Character pockets money for annuity scheme (7) 

TONTINE (an annuity scheme in which several subscribers share a common fund, with their individual benefits increasing as members die until only one member is left alive and receives everything or until a specified date at which the proceeds are divided amongst the survivors)

TONE (character) containing (pockets) TIN (informal term for money)

TON (TIN) E
13

Everyone I must restrain runs fast (7) 

ALLEGRO (musical term meaning lively and rather fast)

ALL (everyone) + (EGO [the I or self] containing (must restrain) R [runs])

ALL EG (R) O
14

Notorious libertine composed sad, sad requiem (7,2,4) 

MARQUIS DE SADE (reference the French nobleman MARQUIS DE SADE [1740 – 1814], who was a revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his libertine sexuality)

Anagram of (composed) SAD SAD REQUIEM

MARQUIS DE SADE*
16

Learning for toddlers – a clue for Gran in it? (5-8) 

POTTY TRAINING (learning experience for toddlers)

POTTY (anagram indicator) TRAINING (anagram fodder) could be a cryptic crossword clue for GRAN IN IT (TRAINING*)

POTTY TRAINING
20

Briefly spray a lilac (7) 

SYRINGA (lilac)

SYRINGE (spray with an instrument for injecting fluids) excluding the final letter E (briefly) + A

SYRING A
21

Resenting competing alongside extremists in election (7) 

ENVYING (resenting)

EN (first and last letters of [extremists in] ELECTION) + VYING (competing)

E N VYING
23

Plan one leaving board in a huff announced? (5) 

DRAFT (outline; plan)

DRAFT (divergent duct from a water turbine; one leaving [?])

DRAFT (a selection or conscription board to determine military service)

DRAFT (sounds like [announced] DRAUGHT [puff of wind; huff]) quadruple definition
24

Do I hear a tail-ender finally bats, getting the runs? (9) 

DIARRHOEA (persistent looseness of the bowels; the runs)

Anagram of (bats) DO I HEAR A and R [last letter of [tail] ENDER)

DIARRHOEA*
25

Smart bar to east of Croatia’s capital (6)

CLEVER (smart)

C (first letter of [capital of] CROATIA) + LEVER (bar)

C LEVER
26

It makes star pupils slip up? Rats! (8) 

REVERSAL (the act of reversing)

a REVERSAL of the letters of the words STAR PUPILS generates SLIP UP RATS

REVERSAL
Down  
1

Cotton shrinking upset Yankee (6) 

DIMITY (a stout white cotton, striped or figured in the loom by weaving with two threads)

TIMID (apprehensive; shrinking) reversed (upset; down entry) + Y (Yankee is the international radio communication code for the letter Y)

DIMIT< Y
2

Minister going topless is a firing offence (5) 

ARSON (the crime of maliciously and feloniously setting fire to property; a firing offence)

PARSON (minister of religion) excluding the first letter P (going topless)

ARSON
3

Obstruction is brief? No way (7) 

BARRIER (obstruction)

BARRISTER (Collins defines ‘brief’ as British slang for a lawyer, especially a BARRISTER) excluding (no) ST (street; way)

BARRIER
4

Ate a cracking fish starter in restaurant, and to follow one beef dish (13)

CHATEAUBRIAND (a thick steak cut from grilled fillet of beef, usually served with fried potatoes and mushrooms; beef dish)

([ATE + A] contained in [cracking)] CHUB [small European river fish]) + R (first letter of [starter in] RESTAURANT + I (Roman numeral for one) + AND

CH (ATE A) UB R I AND
6

Excuse given by a bishop on crack (7) 

ABSOLVE (pardon; excuse)

A + B (bishop) + CRACK (solve the mystery of)

A B SOLVE
7

Crew heading off after year in stinking capital city (9) 

PYONGYANG (Capital city of North Korea)

(Y [year] contained in [in] PONGY [smelly; stinking]) + GANG (crew) excluding the first letter G (heading off)

P (Y) ONGY ANG
8

Backed minister to approve law, obtaining an easy victory (8) 

WALKOVER (easy victory or easy success)

(REV [reverend; minister] + OK [to approve] + LAW) all reversed (backed)

(WAL KO VER)<
10

Flexible new star learned to change characters (13) 

TRANSLITERATE (write a word in letters of another alphabet; change characters)

Anagram of (flexible) (N [new] and STAR) + LITERATE (well-educated; learned)

TRANS* LITERATE
14

Procession of cars round Democrat on the move? (9) 

MOTORCADE (procession of cars)

Anagram of (on the move) O (round-shaped letter) and DEMOCRAT

MOTORCADE*
15

So detective appears in long story divided into several parts (8) 

EPISODIC (having many parts in a series; divided into several parts)

(SO + DI [Detective {Inspector}]) contained in (appears in) EPIC (long narrative poem or story)

EPI (SO DI) C
17

Get any swimming around Zulu river? (7) 

YANGTZE (river in China)

Anagram of (swimming) GET ANY containing (round) Z (Zulu is the International Radio Communication code for the letter Z)

YANGT (Z) E*
18

The opposite of how Milton wrote? (7) 

INVERSE (opposite)

IN VERSE (as a poet, Milton would write IN VERSE)

IN VERSE
19

Bit of loose skin covered up by Italian garment (6) 

AGNAIL ( torn shred of skin beside the nail)

AGNAIL (reversed [up] hidden word in [covered by] ITALIAN GARMENT)

AGNAIL<
22

Images clicked on notebook’s screen, first of all? (5) 

ICONS (picture or symbol in a graphic display, representing a particular facility or operation available to the user, usually activated by means of a mouse click)

ICONS (initial letters of [first of all] each of IMAGES, CLICKED, ON, NOTEBOOK’S and SCREEN)

I C O N S

 

21 comments on “Independent 10904 / Klingsor”

  1. Very enjoyable, although I admit that I often bunged in the answer first and then parsed later eg CHATEAUBRIAND. Most of DRAFT went over my head; I knew there was more to it, but I was only confident about the first definition. I was pleased I could remember SYRINGA and DIMITY from previous appearances in crosswords. Favourites were REVERSAL and in a somewhat similar vein, the POTTY TRAINING reverse anagram.

    Just a very minor parsing difference. For 24a, I took the second R to come from ‘tail-ender finally’ = last letter of tail-ender (regarding tail-ender as one word), rather than the tail, or last letter of ender, which doesn’t account for the ‘finally’ in the wordplay.

    Thanks to Klingsor and Duncan

  2. I struggled with DRAFT too, but I think it’s just a definition and soundalike. In the game of draughts a huff is the removal of a piece from the board. Does anyone still play draughts these days? Many years ago, as a kid, I used to play it with my grandmother (and always lost).

    22 down is an &lit, I think?

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  3. My first thought for 1a was a cryptic definition for MARRIAGE but, fortunately, I didn’t enter this and waited for some crossers. Failed to get the two crossing unknowns DIMITY & TONTINE. I did remember SYRINGA and worked out CHATEAUBRIAND from the wordplay. AGNAIL was yet another unknown for me being only familiar with “hangnail”.

    I did like the 2 different uses of “lower” in 11a with neither matching its use in the surface.

  4. Very good, thanks Klingsor, Duncan, & cruciverbophile for sorting out DRAFT . I’d forgotten about huffing, in fact I’ve never been quite sure it wasn’t a term invented by my dad, as on the odd occasion I played draughts against other children they’d invariably not heard of it and insisted I was cheating.
    I like that Klingsor has provided his own pat on the back at 25 for 26. SCOWL also vg.

  5. Funnily enough, I’ve actually encountered TONTINE outside of crosswords. There was a 1966 comedy, The Wrong Box, which starred many of the leading British actors of the day and was based around a tontine. Although I admire Duncan’s ingenuity in finding the quadruple def for DRAFT, I think I’m with cruciverbophile in seeing two main elements and the huff being the removal from the board.

    As well as those highlighted by Duncan and others above, I enjoyed DRAWBACK, WALKOVER, EPISODIC, PYONGYANG and the delightful SCOWL.

    Is anyone else indebted to Disney’s version of The Jungle Book for PAWPAW? Other than in crosswords, Baloo’s song is the only time I’ve encountered the fruit, I think.

    Thanks Klingsor and Duncan

  7. PostMark@5 Me too with The Wrong Box, though I couldn’t remember the title. SCOWL was clever, adding another dimension to a recent spate of bovine lowers. Thanks Klingsor and Duncan. For clues like CHATEAUBRIAND I wish the app didn’t automatically move you on to the next clue as you try to parse it..

  8. A fairly quick solve with no real problems. We’re with cruciverbophile@2 about the parsing of DRAFT; we guessed the ‘leaving the board’ meaning of ‘huff’ and confirmed it in Chambers.
    We liked the totally misleading surface of 24ac, but for CoD we’ll go for 26ac, REVERSAL – it would have been simple to clue it simply referring to ‘star’ and ‘rats’ but adding in ‘pupils slip up’ was brilliant.
    Thanks, Klingsor and Duncan

  10. Binsie@9 – I thought of “coupling” as well – and when I then read 5ac it looked like there was a theme developing!
    Thanks to Klingsor and Duncan

  11. Reluctantly late to the party – I’ve been out all day – but couldn’t not solve a puzzle from one of my favourite setters when I arrived home, nor fail to comment on it here.

    I found that I was giving ticks to most answers as I entered them, so I gave up. I agree with Duncan as to CHATEAUBRIAND being the standout clue, by the same reasoning as his.

    TONTINE leapt out at me. I first met it when I was at school and seriously into Agatha Christie books. It was crucial to one of her stories and it has stuck in my head all these years, although, at the time, I couldn’t really get my head round how it worked. It has stood me in good stead with crosswords over the years, but I couldn’t remember which book it appeared in. I have been moved today to find out and, when I googled it just now, I discovered that, apart from ‘The Wrong Box’, mentioned by PostMark and Petert, the source that I recognised was ‘4.50 from Paddington’ and that it has featured, interestingly, in several places elsewhere – see here

    Huge thanks, as ever, to Alberich and to Duncan.

  12. I, too, thought of The Wrong Box when I got 12ac.

    The Tontine Hotel wasn’t the one in Peebles, Duncan? A friend of mine moved to West Linton a few years ago and she took a group of us there for dinner the day after her housewarming party.

  15. Dormouse @ 12

    Yes, it is the TONTINE Hotel in Peebles I was thinking off.

    I retired to Jedburgh in 2010, but I lived in Peebles for three years in the late 1980s so knew quite a bit about the hotel. The intervening 21 years were spent in Southampton.

  16. I couldn’t have defined tontine for love nor money but I must have heard of it or read about it somewhere, as for some reason the French practice of ‘en viager’ sprang to mind. Reading comments above I must see if I can find a copy of “The Wrong Box” the film has an all star cast, and RLS is always worth reading.

    Very enjoyable solve with a second glass of wine. I particularly enjoyed the anagram for the marquis de sade.

    Thanks Klingsor and Duncan.

  19. I only knew tontine as a brand of pillow in Aus, so when I googled it, only bedding suppliers were shown in the results. I’m guessing googling tontine in other parts of the world produce different results?

  20. Certainly here in the UK the first results are definitions of the investment meaning although the Peebles hotel comes up. (I recall that the hotel was built from the proceeds of a tontine.)

  21. I do recall seeing the black & white film, possibly at shcool – Terry Thomas and/or Alec Guinness in it perhaps? Concerning who could be the last one alive to ‘win’ the pot, I Think?
    Otherwise, loved MARQUIS DE SADE; DRAWBACK and REVERSAL (a nice symmetry there); POTTY TRAINING was from the same pigeon hole too.
    Thank you to Klingsor (always a pleasure) and Duncanshiel.

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