Independent 10,937 by Gila

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A cracking puzzle from Gila with lots of great clues. It was probably at the easier end of the spectrum, but did still need some thought in places.

There were some great anagrams, 25 being particularly good. I also liked 1 across plus 11 for the container and contents deception.

ACROSS
1 STANDOFFISH
Cold counter with salmon? (11)

DD/CD – stand of fish = counter with salmon?
7 SCOOP
Exclusive stock initially given to supermarket (5)

S[tock] + Co-op
8 EARTHLING
Person left doing electrical work outside (9)

Earthing around l{eft}.
10 ORDEALS
Two bad grades in certain exams and tests (7)

D+E(=bad grades in most exams) in orals
11 HELLION
Bothersome kid mostly detained by brave individual (7)

Hel[d] + lion
12 LANCE
Student regularly nicked carrying a weapon (5)

L + odd letters of nicked around a
13 OVERDRAWN
Finished fatigued and strapped for cash? (9)

Over + drawn
16 FREE RANGE
Non-working scale lacking a battery? (4-5)

Free(=non-working, as in free time) + range. Ref to battery hens.
18 DEPOT
Complete closure of precinct, including record store (5)

Do + [precinc]t around EP
19 ENTITLE
Nurse has right permit (7)

EN(=enrolled nurse) + title
22 ASPIRIN
Vivacity almost completely suppressed by an analgesic (7)

Spiri[t] in an
23 SCOUNDREL
Rat run closed off (9)

(Run closed)*
24 ANTIC
Father steering clear of wild caper (5)

[Fr]antic
25 NILE RODGERS
Chic musician upset older singer (4,7)

(Older singer)*. Chic isn't a judgement on him – it's a reference to him being in the band Chic.
DOWN
1 SLOW DANCE
Scale down jigging for this? (4,5)

&lit – (scale down)*
2 AT PEACE
Dead quickly takes ecstasy (2,5)

At pace around e{cstasy}
3 DRESS DOWN
Put casual clothes on carpet (5,4)

DD
4 FORTH
Military outpost hours away (5)

Fort + h{ours}
5 INHALED
Took inspiration from popular, acclaimed broadcast (7)

In(=popular) + hom of hailed.
6 HAITI
Members of militia heading up republic (5)

Hidden, rev in militia heading
7 SHOPLIFTERS
Without heroin, less profit is generated for criminals (11)

(Less profit)* around h{eroin}
9 GIN AND TONIC
Cook not dining without a cold drink (3,3,5)

(Not dining)* around a + c
14 EYEBALLED
Being stared at, I sobbed loudly (9)

I assume this is a hom of eye + balled, although I don't quite see the homophone indicator unless it's meant to be "loudly".
15 APPARATUS
Soldier wearing suitable American equipment (9)

Para{trooper} in apt + US
17 RETINOL
Vitamin A and iron let out (7)

(Iron let)*
18 DEPLANE
Aim to go through the top of Delaware and get off in New York? (7)

Plan in Dee. The New York is a ref to this being an American expression.
20 THORN
Potential pain in side of mouth or nose (5)

Hiidden in mouth or nose.
21 ERROR
Fear losing face, thus making a mistake (5)

[T]error

14 comments on “Independent 10,937 by Gila”

  2. NealH
    I did not probably understand you fully in the context. You were looking at ‘bawled’ as well. Weren’t you?

  3. I had to search online for Nile Rodgers, never having heard of either him or the band Chic (not my scene), but it obviously was a reference to a band. Otherwise all very clear and enjoyable, so thanks Gila and Neal.

  4. Held up for a while by guessing that NEIL RODGERS might be a musician and did not know HELLION which defeated me. And I’ll admit to Googling to get RETINOL having worked out what I needed to do but not knowing the word.

    I enjoyed the anagrams for G&T and SHOPLIFTERS, the lovely definition for FREE RANGE, STANDOFFISH for the laugh – though it has been done before, and the equation of person with EARTHLING. COTD, though, goes to the beautiful &lit surface and anagram for SLOW DANCE. Splendid. I’m not sure if our blogger was raising an eyebrow at loudly as a homophone indicator in the above-mentioned EYEBALLED: it worked for me.

    Thanks Gila and NealH.

  5. Not so easy for me and this didn’t really provide much respite after yesterday’s buffeting from Methuselah. I’d come across HELLION before but couldn’t remember it and I’m afraid I have to confess ignorance of the famous ‘Chic musician’ at 25a.

    SLOW DANCE is an early candidate for clue of the week with STANDOFFISH not far behind.

    Thanks to Gina and NealH

  6. Not so easy for me, either. Wrong-footed myself for a while by putting overspent at 13a, until gin and tonic sorted that one out. Didn’t know hellion. Odd word. Enjoyed all four 11 lettered round the outside clues (Nile Rodgers is a legendary record producer). Thanks to Gila and NealH

  7. I had the definition for THORN as potential pain in side as in the expression “a thorn in ones side”. Apart from that, what PostMark said.

  8. Thanks NealH and Gila.
    Enjoyed this.
    Don’t understand18d: Delaware postal code is DE and Del is the generally used abbreviation.

  10. Illippu @8 – in this case the letter D, as the top letter of Delaware, is written in full as DEE, in the same way as e.g. H is AITCH.

    I was another who found most of the puzzle fairly easy, but without knowing HELLION and RETINOL and, not for the first time, forgetting, unlike our corner shop sized local branch, CO-OP can be a supermarket.

    All in all an enjoyable Monday solve

  11. Came to this one late in the day but glad I found time for it – even though I knew nothing about the band Chic so was wading through treacle there!
    STANDOFFISH & EARTHLING took top marks here with FREE RANGE in bronze medal position.

    Thanks to Gila for the puzzle and to Neal for the review.

  12. I’m another who was ignorant of Nile Rodgers and entered NEIL at first, until that spoiled RETINOL. 1D is v. good. Thanks Gila and NeilH.

  14. Lovely puzzle. Couldn’t see STANDOFFISH until I revealed the T & was immediately annoyed with my impatience. Probably my favourite clue though EARTHLING & FREE RANGE pushed it close.
    Thanks all.

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