Independent 10,973 by Radian

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I found this quite tough and needed a couple of goes to finish.

The right side was particularly intractable for a long time. There were quite a few odd word associations which made working out some of the answers quite difficult e.g in clues like 16, 12 and 24. There was also some clever misdirection in some of the clues e.g. 5 and 4.

ACROSS
1 WRESTLE
Struggle with inability to relax? Not half (7)

W{ith} restle[ssness]
5 CADDIES
Despicable type stops working and leaves containers (7)

Cad + dies
10 OMEN
Sign boat captain (retd) (4)

Nemo< (=submarine skipper from 20000 Leagues under the Seas by Jules Verne)
11 CRICKET BAT
Striker at Old Trafford needs two contrasting wingers (7,3)

CD/DD – cricket and bat would be contrasting flying animals. Old Trafford, as well as being the name of one of the football stadiums, is somewhat confusingly also the name of the main cricket ground in Manchester.
12 STRAIN
Screen first of soccer coaches (6)

S[occer] + train(=a group of coaches). Strain and screen can both mean to filter coarsely, so are synonyms in that sense.
13 HAD A BALL
Enjoyed oneself, having tricked sailor – and everyone (3,1,4)

Had ab(=able bodied seaman) + all
14 PHYSICIAN
Doctor rubbishes any chips I munched (9)

(Any chips)* around I
16 CURRY
Groom‘s hot stuff (5)

DD. Curry can mean to clean a horse with a currycomb.
17 SPOON
How to warm up in bed and so on, keeping quiet (5)

So on around p
19 EDWARDIAN
Jockey awarded in time after Victoria (9)

(Awarded in)* with jockey as the anagram indicator. I'd slightly question whether Edwardian can be a noun referring to the period – I can't find that meaning in any of the dictionaries I've consulted.
23 GYMKHANA
Primarily young mares king enters in African state event for them? (8)

Leading letters of young mares king in Ghana
24 ANGLER
Rod‘s line snagged in spleen? (6)

L{ine} in anger. Based on an archaic belief that it was the source of such emotions, the spleen is associated with anger. Rod does appear in Chambers as someone who uses a rod for fishing.
26 CHESSPIECE
Perhaps rook tax money hotel collected (10)

Cess(=legal term for a tax and also a land tax in Scotland) + piece(=coin) around h{otel}
27 ARAB
Mount a rail the wrong way round (4)

A + bar<
28 EPISODE
Record verses about one’s part in serial (7)

EP + ode around I's
29 BRIDLED
Newly-wed daughter left inside took offence (7)

Bride + d{aughter} with l{eft} inside
DOWN
2 REMATCH
Put up more amenable champion for second game (7)

Tamer< + ch{ampion}
3 SENNA
Queen’s picked up laxative for driver (5)

Double subsidiary def = Anne's< + laxative plant meaning of senna. Main def = Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna.
4 LACONIC
Secular Tory introduced Blunt (7)

Laic around con
6 AIKIDO
Holds and locks in this fit youngster with nothing (6)

AI(=fit for purpose) + kid + o
7 DUTY BOUND
Obliged to jump to support job (4-5)

Bound after duty
8 ENABLER
One facilitates English navy seizing island on way north (7)

E{nglish} + (RN around Elba)<
9 HIGHLAND GAMES
In which man held haggis for tossing? (8,5)

&lit – (man held haggis)*. Haggis hurling is apparently a real sport which has appeared at the Highland Games.
15 STOCKISTS
Shopkeepers rolling over beds and chests in Ayr (9)

Cots< + kists(=a Scottish or Northern English word for a large chest).
18 PSYCH UP
Mentally prepare Yankee companion opening soft drink (5,2)

Y{ankee}(abbrev in phonetic alphabet) + CH(=Companion of Honour) in p(=piano) + sup(=drink)
20 AMATEUR
A couple occasionally query dilettante (7)

A + mate(=couple in a verb sense) + even letters of query
21 AVERAGE
It’s mean to state how old someone is (7)

Aver age = state age
22 LAPPED
Heading off, applauded what 3 did? (6)

[C]lapped
25 GUARD
Pullover to protect classy keeper (5)

Drag< around U (as in U and non-U)

9 comments on “Independent 10,973 by Radian”

  3. Thanks Radian and NealH

    Andrew @ 2: I wondered about that, but if so ‘in’ is doing double duty. I thought Radian was pretty strict in his application of the conventions.

  4. Very enjoyable with plenty to keep the brain ticking over. A few games / sporting references but I don’t know if it’s enough to constitute a theme.

    I took EDWARDIAN to be an adjective, but that’s probably just my lazy parsing. I didn’t know ‘Rod’ for ANGLER which was solved by wordplay.

    On this momentous day in the motor racing world, the double def + wordplay SENNA (RIP) was my favourite.

    Thanks to Radian and NealH

  5. I’ve been without a printer for several weeks and so have been bereft of FT and Indy puzzles, thus missing some great puzzles, as I could see from the blogs, from some of my favourite setters (some of them appearing in both papers!).

    Following the successful installation of a new printer this morning, I was delighted to get a Radian puzzle to solve. I found it quite tough, too, but so rewarding. i particularly liked WRESTLE, CRICKET BAT, PHYSICIAN, BRIDLED, LACONIC, HIGHLAND GAMES and STOCKISTS.

    Like WordPlodder, I took EDWARDIAN as an adjective and I don’t see any problem with it.

    Many thanks to Radian for a lovely puzzle, as copmus says (thank Goodness for Crucible in the meantime! 😉 ) and NealH for a fine blog.

  6. A great puzzle. I was helped by having come across CESS for tax in another puzzle recently as well as the reversed NEMO device. I liked LACONIC and EDWARDIAN. Thanks to Radian and NealH

  7. I also took Edwardian as an adjective and see no problem. Anglers booking a day’s fishing e.g. on a prestigious bit of river book it as a rod, I think. Highland Games was a good spot. Did not know Cess as tax – will try to remember! Thanks to Radian and NealH

  8. Like Petert I remembered cess from a recent Guardian c. Needed to come here for some parsing. So many thanks to NealH and to Radian for a very satisfying solve.

  9. Well done Neal I really struggled with this one after solving 5 or 6 by so called harder setters today. Horses for courses I guess. Ho hum bring on tomorrow’s

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