Independent 10,925 by Knut

by

Monday fun from Knut.

I saw a few football references early on, and wondered about a theme. Well, there is one, but not football: it’s the TV series The Fast Show, known as Brilliant (14a) in the US. PAUL WHITEHOUSE is one of the writers and performers, and it contains the characters RON MANAGER, BRILLIANT KID and UNLUCKY ALF. The clue surfaces also include a reference to another character, Arthur Atkinson, and his catchphrase “Where’s me washboard?”.

I anjoyed the surface of 10a (well, they did go through a poor run of form earlier this season), the neat double definition in 20a, and the cryptic definition of 18d. My favourite has to be 28a: the surface says it all, though too much has probably been said about the man already. Thanks Knut for the enjoyment.

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

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 PARASITE
Airborne troop starts to intercept the enemy drone (8)
PARAS (short for the Parachute Regiment = airborne troop) + starting letters of I[ntercept] T[he] E[nemy].

Parasite in the sense of “someone who takes advantage of others and doesn’t contribute anything”: a drone is a male bee that doesn’t contribute to making honey or building the hive.
5 CHORUS
Singers from Switzerland (or America) (6)
CH (abbreviation for Switzerland, from its formal Latin name Confoederatio Helvetica) + OR + US (abbreviation for United States of America).
10 UNNERVE
Get at Arsenal, no wingers, vague, no guts (7)
[g]UNNER[s] (nickname of Arsenal Football Club) without the outside letters (wingers), then V[agu]E without the inner letters (guts).

Get at = unnerve = make (someone) feel uncomfortable.
11 APOSTLE
Answer mail left by eastern early Christian (7)
A (answer) + POST (mail) + L (left) + E (eastern).
12 SMEW
Billed character‘s catchphrase “Where’s me washboard?” (4)
Hidden answer (catchphrase = a phrase catching, or holding, this word? A bit of a stretch I think) in [where]S ME W[ashboard].

A species of duck, so it has a bill (beak).
14 BRILLIANT
British stream ain’t unfortunately sparkling (9)
B (British) + RILL (stream) + anagram (unfortunately) of AIN’T.
17 HUNCHBACK
To trust one’s instincts when cycling in Paris, one rang some bells (9)
To trust one’s instincts = to BACK one’s HUNCH; cycling = swap the order of the two parts.

Title character from Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame: Quasimodo the bellringer.
19 MIMIC
Copy owner of tiny hand getting frozen cold (5)
MIMI (owner of tiny hand getting frozen) + C (cold). A reference to Puccini’s opera La bohème and its well-known aria Che gelida manina, sometimes translated as “Your tiny hand is frozen”, which Rodolfo sings to Mimi while falling in love at first sight.
20 TIGHT
Having had a few, unlikely to buy a round (5)
Double definition. Slang for drunk; or slang for miserly and ungenerous.
22 TURQUOISE
Quite sour cocktail, like a Swimming Pool? (9)
Anagram (cocktail = mixture) of QUITE SOUR.
24 HARVESTED
Ran wildly, pocketing underwear having made hay! (9)
HARED (ran wildly), containing (pocketing) VEST (underwear).
26 LEEK
Surrealist 1D first to finish vegetable (4)
Refernce to 1d Paul: KLEE (Paul Klee, Swiss-born German surrealist artist) with the first letter moved to the end (to finish).
28 UNKEMPT
Scruffy UK PM networking? (7)
We need to split “networking” into two: it’s an anagram (working) of UK PM NET.
30 IN CLASS
Batting talent at school (2,5)
IN (cricketing term for players currently batting) + CLASS (talent = natural ability in a sport).
32 ELDEST
First-born daughter sheltering during sleet storm (6)
D (abbreviation for daughter), contained (sheltering) in an anagram (storm) of SLEET.
33 PLAY-OFFS
Pressure, job losses, make-or-break seasonal events (4-4)
P (scientific symbol for pressure) + LAYOFFS (job losses).

Sports matches at the end of a season to determine promotion or demotion in a league, therefore make-or-break events.
DOWN
1 PAUL
Leaders of Premier League hosting a United 11? (4)
Leading letters of P[remier] L[eague], containing (hosting) A + U (abbreviation for United).

Reference to 11a Apostle: St Paul, in the New Testament.
2 RON
Navy engaging ordinary bloke (3)
RN (Royal Navy), containing (engaging) O (ordinary, as in O-level exams for those of us who can remember that far back).

Short form of the man’s name Ronald; the slang “bloke” perhaps suggests a nickname / short form rather than a full name.
3 STREWTH
Blimey – spread tons on top of highway (7)
STREW (spread = scatter) + T (tons) + first letter (top, in a down clue) of H[ighway].

Blimey = strewth = expressions indicating surprise.
4 TREMBLANT
Like some bling Monsieur Balzac regularly chucked in N Midlands river? (9)
M (French abbreviation for Monsieur) + alternate letters (regularly) of B[a]L[z]A[c], inserted into (chucked in) TRENT (river flowing from Staffordshire to Yorkshire).

Description of jewellery (bling) with gemstones set on a flexible mount so that they tremble when the wearer moves.
6 HOODLUM
Wise guy putting cover on chimney (7)
HOOD (a cover for the head, or in US usage the cover for a car’s engine compartment) + LUM (an old word for chimney, which would probably have died out if it weren’t so useful to crossword setters).

Hoodlum = a member of a violent criminal gang; wise guy = US slang for a Mafia member.
7 RAT
Traitor defended by Arthur Atkinson (3)
Hidden answer (defended by . . .) in [arthu]R AT[kinson].
8 SPECTACLES
Shows small muscles around genitals, having dropped kilo (10)
S (small) + PECS (short for pectoral muscles), around TAC[k]LE (male genitals) without the K (kilo).

Spectacles = shows = eye-catching displays.
9 MALI
Motorway going over the greatest country (4)
M (abbreviation for motorway, as in M1) before (over, in a down clue) ALI (Muhammad Ali, boxer nicknamed “The Greatest”).
13 MANAGER
Mum elevating 2’s brother, a new boss (7)
MA (mum = mother), then a reversal (elevating = upwards in a down clue) of REG (brother of 2d RON, referring to the Kray twins Reggie and Ronnie) + A + N (new).
15 ARMOIRE
Cabinet enters, raising “Cheerio, Mr Attlee!” (7)
Hidden answer (enters . . .), reversed (raising = upwards in a down clue), in [chee]ERIO MR A[ttlee].

A large wardrobe / clothes cabinet, or a desk built into a cabinet.
16 WHITE HOUSE
Wife slapped English TV doctor that’s known for The West Wing (5,5)
W (wife) + HIT (slapped) + E (English) + HOUSE (fictional doctor, the title character of an American TV series).

The section of the White House used for the president’s offices is called the West Wing, hence the name of a TV series set there.
18 KERB DRILL
Kelvin, terribly ill-bred, having run in; cross words? (4,5)
K (abbreviation for Kelvin, a measure of temperature) + anagram (terribly) of ILL-BRED, with R (run in cricket scoring) inserted.

An early version of road-safety advice for pedestrians crossing a road, later replaced by the Green Cross Code; “cross words” as in words to use as a check before you cross.
21 THERMOS
Eliot carrying that woman’s second hot water bottle (7)
TS (the writer T. S. Eliot), containing (carrying) HER (that woman’s = belonging to that woman) + MO (slang abbreviation for moment = second = a very short time).

An insulated flask for keeping liquids hot (or cold).
23 UNLUCKY
Tough peacekeepers, brave (though not at first) (7)
UN (United Nations = peacekeepers) + [p]LUCKY (brave) without its first letter (not at first).

Tough = unlucky = regrettable but unavoidable: “The other team won – tough if you don’t like it”.
25 TATI
Director still getting undressed (4)
[s]TATI[c] (still = not moving), with the outer letters removed (undressed).

Jacques Tati, 20th-century film director.
27 AS IS
Adult sibling’s current state (2,2)
A (abbreviation for adult) + SIS (sister = sibling).
29 KID
Ms lang eating starter of Iberian goat (3)
KD (Ms lang: the Canadian singer k d lang, who always writes her name in lowercase) containing (eating) the starting letter of I[berian].

Kid = a young goat.
31 ALF
Chap bailiff evicted on and off? (3)
[b]A[i]L[i]F[f], with alternate letters removed (evicted on and off).

As with “bloke” in 2d, the slang term “chap” suggests a shortened version of a man’s name (Alfred in this case).

31 comments on “Independent 10,925 by Knut”

  1. Thoroughly enjoyable in fact Marvellous! as Ron Manager would have said. With a couple of clues that were also Alf’s catchphrase. It’s a shame that Rowley Birkin QC or Scorchio! didn’t get in but obviously no way they could have been clued fairly.

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane Knut and thanks Quirister for the blog.

  3. I confess I’ve never heard of, much less seen, the TV series so I had no idea about the theme. I did see RON, ‘Atkinson’ (in a clue) and MANAGER and wondered about a football theme, but that was obviously way off the mark.

    The ‘Scruffy UK PM’ was great, particularly for instantly bringing a certain person to mind but also for the nice “lift-and-separate”.

    Thanks to Knut and Quirister

  4. Monday is clearly not a day when my theme antennae are well tuned. Despite thoroughly enjoying The Fast Show, and with PAUL WHITEHOUSE so clearly visible, I failed to spot it at all. Well done Knut.

    I was delighted to come up with TREMBLANT from the wordplay and discover it’s a word; SPECTACLES was outrageous, THERMOS had a nice surface and the hidden ARMOIRE was splendid. But COTD goes to the neatly hidden SMEW with its lovely surface and, yes, extremely clear nod to TFS.

    Blah @1: Rowley would have been a glorious inclusion and one feels that his catchphrase with its two anagram indicators, “dreadfully drunk” might have had potential.

    Thanks Quirister and Knut

  5. Yet another example, if one were needed, of a puzzle where ignorance of the theme was no bar to the enjoyment of the solve. (I don’t know how The Fast Show completely passed me by.)

    I gave ticks to HUNCHBACK, MIMIC, LEEK, KERB DRILL but I’m with Quirister in giving top marks to UNKEMPT, for both construction and surface.

    Many thanks to Knut and to Quirister.

  6. What a lovely surprise to find Knut on a Monday. Solved in the car park while I waited for Mr CS to have his COVID booster.

    If I was to pick just one favourite from so many candidates, it would to be 18d

    Thanks very much to Knut and Quirister

  8. Thanks for the blog, dear Quirister, and thanks to those who have commented. I had a pretty long train journey to Berlin in the summer and had printed a few puzzles in case Deutsche Bahn’s wifi went on the, er, Fritz and I saw a clue for SMEW in a Times puzzle. It’s one of those words one only ever sees in crosswords and I don’t think I’ve ever clued it. The embed came to mind, and the rest followed (I think I’d been watching Paul Whitehouse the previous evening).
    Best wishes to all, Rob/Knut

  9. We were certain the surrealist in 26ac was the answer and wasted ages trying to parse ‘Klee’ and even trying to think of another surrealist before the penny dropped about LEEK and opened up the SE corner for us. Apart from that it was all pretty straightforward. We didn’t spot the theme, needless to say.
    We liked TREMBLANT, although we had to check it in Chambers, but we’ll go with others in nominating UNKEMPT for CoD.
    Thanks, Knut and Quirister.

  10. allan_c @9 – Glad I wasn’t the only one who got the clue for 26a the wrong way round. I had even resorted to a wordsearch for UNK _ C _ Y as my last one in until I realised that the answer was a vegetable not a surrealist.
    So bloomin’ obvious in retrospect isn’t it, wasn’t it?

    I wrote MANAGER in from the theme and didn’t try parsing it, so thanks to Quirister for saving me that bother.

    And thanks to Knut for the enjoyment.

  13. Despite having PAUL & WHITE HOUSE I only twigged the theme with RON & MANAGER & the ‘where’s me washboard?’ reference. A super puzzle & a really fun solve throughout & no parsing issues, which makes a pleasant change for me. TREMBLANT was a new word on me & was chuffed to get it from the wordplay. KERB DRILL takes the honours just pipping UNKEMPT for COTD beating any number of other worthy contenders.
    Thanks Knut & Quirister

  14. I know nothing of the theme but enjoyed this, favourite being the Parisian bellringer. Tremblant is a new word to me but so well clued that I got it. Thank you, Knut and Quirister.

  16. Kerb drill my favourite – a big smile for the cross words. And what a fabulous crossword it was. A pleasure from start to finish. Tremblant was new to me and I’m not sure I’ve come across smew before. Really wanted 6d to be one of the biblical wise men, but no. Another time, maybe. Big thanks to Knut and Quirister

  18. Sky sports commentators will not say that a sporting event is dull or poor. Might put off subscribers. Are bloggers of cryptic crosswords following the same rule? I have been attempting to solve cryptics for about a year. I do not recall any blogger describing any crossword as poor. Have they all been ‘great fun’ and ‘excellent’?
    This one by Knut was not in the same class as yesterday’s Sunday Times or today’s Times cryptics, in my opinion.
    My main beef is with the use of themes. This is lazy work by a setter. Knut uses as a theme today a 25 year old comedy which ran for 40 episodes. Dull, duller, dullest. I stop doing any crossword in which a theme becomes apparent whether I am familiar or not with the theme. I find them boring which is why I stop. Can Knut and The Independent not do better? Such themes do not seem to be essential for other newspapers.

  20. Dormouse @19: I think the capital letters are just there for the surface: it seems that Swimming Pool is the name of a cocktail. But water in any significant depth (for example a swimming pool) absorbs red light and reflects blue light, which is why pools usually look that colour. (You just don’t see it in a glass of water because the effect is too small at that scale.)

  21. @Last of the Summer Wine
    As you probably know, the Times & Sunday Times puzzles do not allow the use of thematic material and the only living person permitted to feature in their puzzles is Her Majesty The Queen. I don’t compile puzzles for the Times Group, but I do for the Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, and I have a weekly puzzle in TES (Times Educational Supplement). Most of these puzzles are not themed, and I take exception to your description of my work as “lazy”, since I can assure you that I took just as much time over this puzzle as I do over any other.
    @Dormouse
    A Swimming Pool is a cocktail, I assume one should use capital letters to describe it, as I would with Screwdriver or Tequila Sunrise

  22. Blimey LOTSW have you not done Indy crosswords before? Thanks knut only just done this unkempt was as good as it gets.

  23. OK, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a swimming pool. I was sure I’d seem them other colours. (And I have a degree in physics so I did know something about the absorption of light.)

    I don’t know much about cocktails either, but googling some pictures I see that it is turquoise.

    Knut@21: Your comment about The Times reminds me of a Dave Allen routine. Apparently, the only trade names allowed to be mentioned on the BBC were Rolls Royce, Harrods and The Times. “So I was in my Rolls Royce going to Harrods, reading The Times, to buy a bottle of that black Irish stout with a white head.”

  25. I wasn’t aware of a Swimming Pool cocktail but will now have to look it up. Since lockdown started to bite, the JV household decided Friday Night is Cocktail Night so this sounds like a useful research topic 🙂

    I had me doots about HOODLUM = wise guy, could not find any overlap in my searches but did not encounter the Mafia US slang so thank you Quirister for that.

    I’ve absolutely no exposure to this theme but this crossword shows that if a crossword is well crafted the solver doesn’t need to know anything about the theme to solve it. The “Where’s me washboard?” clue shouted “Catchphrase!” but I just thought ‘yeah, right’ and go on with it.

    Cheers Knut.

    (p.s. I did really like the scruffy UK PM, and bonus kudos to James @11 🙂

  26. Thanks Knut. Despite total ignorance of the theme I was able to enjoy solving this, missing only HARVESTED/TATI. Favourites were TIGHT and PLAY-OFFS. [For themed puzzles in general I would think they are more difficult to set than non-themed ones so the accusation of “laziness” seems hollow to me.] Thanks Quirister for the blog.

  27. I greatly enjoyed this. Since I live in the US I solve later than those in the UK, and would not have commented except for the remarks by LOTSW. What is wrong with themes in crosswords? And why would anyone consider their use “lazy”? Surely the grid fill takes longer for the setter when thematic entries have to be included than when they do not.

  28. Well, the Phi puzzle later this week has a theme so LOTSW can take advisement. I doubt it will become apparent for most solvers, which is fine – they aren’t meant to dominate (I didn’t see today’s, but it’s nice to have it pointed out). However, there is a significant subset of people who like the challenge of finding them.

    As a long-standing fan of Paul Klee’s work, I have to say I wavered over his being called a surrealist. The print on the wall in front of me is definitely cubist, for instance. Far too protean to fit into any one bracket, I’d say.

    Did it strike anyone that Last of the Summer Wine would make good thematic material?

  29. Hiding one’s theme is one way to stop solvers moaning. Or at least I’d been thinking that it is. However you’re wrong to assume that The Times bans themes, as, well, quite frankly, it doesn’t. Subtle and infrequent perhaps, but not entirely eschewed.

  30. Well, those of you who take offence at my comments on themed crosswords, laziness and poor quality better not see what I wrote about Bluth’s crossword on 19th.

  31. Phi, you are a tease. But, if you must construct a themed puzzle on LOTSW could it be a little less appalling that Bluth’s effort on Only Fools and Horses?
    I live in the area and have watched each of the 295 episodes several times. Could you construct a puzzle on this theme that I could complete without realising what you had done?

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