Independent 10976 / Klingsor

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I always enjoy a Klingsor puzzle

 

 

 

I liked this one particularly because of the intricate wordplay in some clues.  There are a number of parsings when I have had to use 3, 4 or even 5 colours to show all the constituent parts.

Just the one music reference this week that I could see where we flooded SWAN LAKE to create SWAN SEA

The BLOCK CAPITALS clue was quite quirky, but I suspect many solvers wrote in the entry fairly quickly.

Most of the entries were fairly well-known words, but I doubt if many people refer to a pin of ale (CASK) all that often these days.

Thanks to Klingsor for an entertaining challenge.

No Detail
Across  
1

Rush, we’re told, is a weed (4) 

TARE (type of weed)

TARE (sounds like [we’re told] TEAR [rush or move quickly])

TARE
3

Attorney initially rejected case for appeal (10) 

ATTRACTION (allure; appeal)

ATT (attorney) + R (first letter of [initially] REJECTED) + ACTION (legal case)

ATT R ACTION
9

A racing event – one on river, say (7) 

REGATTA (yacht or boat race-meeting, some of which take place on a river)

R (river) + EG (for example; say) + A + TT (reference a motor cycling Tourist Trophy racing event, such as the Isle of Man TT) + A (one)

R EG A TT A
11

Portion of vitamin I’m allowed is negligible (7) 

MINIMAL (negligible)

MINIMAL (hidden word in [portion pf] VITAMIN I’M ALLOWED)

MINIMAL
12

One recruits new petrol attendants after dismissing Dan (6,7) 

TALENT SPOTTER (someone whose business is to discover and recruit talented people, especially in entertainment and sport)

Anagram of (new) PETROL ATTENDANTS excluding (after dismissing) DAN

TALENT SPOTTER*
14

A quiet, boring time gets you yawning (5) 

AGAPE (with mouth wide open, such as when yawning)

(A + P [piano; quiet]) contained in (boring) AGE (period of time)

AG (A P) E
15

Atoll perhaps cultivated for cereal (5,4) 

CORAL REEF (island consisting of a circular belt of CORAL enclosing a central lagoon)

Anagram of (cultivated) FOR CEREAL

CORAL REEF*
17

Team’s oddly beset by failure to secure cup (9) 

DEMITASSE (small cup of tea)

TAS (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of TEAM’S) contained in (beset by) DEMISE (failure)

DEMI (TAS) SE
19

Passage requiring a key? (5) 

AISLE (passageway)

A + ISLE (island; key)

A ISLE
21

CLOSE OFF ROME AND BERLIN? (5,8) 

BLOCK CAPITALS (CAPITAL letters written in a san serif font, as is this clue, in my version of the crossword at least)

BLOCK (close off) + CAPITALS (Rome and Berlin are capital cities)

BLOCK CAPITALS
24

Skilled worker is irregular, not punctual at first (7) 

ARTISAN (skilled manual worker)

PARTISAN (in World War II, an irregular resister within the enemy occupation lines) excluding (not) P (initial letter of [at first] PUNCTUAL)

ARTISAN
25

Playwright is keeping individual company (7) 

IONESCO (reference Eugène IONESCO [1909 – 1994], Romanian-French playwright who wrote mainly in French)

(IS containing [keeping] ONE [individual]) + CO (company)

I (ONE) S CO
26

Case of family retaining no memory – weird, if you ask me (3,2,5) 

FOR MY MONEY (in my opinion; if you ask me)

FY (outer letters of [case of] FAMILY) containing (retaining) an anagram of (weird) NO MEMORY

F (OR MY MONE*) Y
27

Constant request for pin? (4)

CASK (a pin is a CASK of 4.5 imperial gallons)

C (constant in mathematical notation) + ASK (request)

C ASK
Down  
1

Player in bother is backed by sponsors, primarily – they’ll offer a fortune (5,5)

TAROT CARDS (a type of CARD particularly associated with fortune telling)

(ACTOR [player] contained in [in] DRAT [interjection used to express annoyance; bother!]) all reversed (is backed) + S (first letter of [primarily]) SPONSORS

(TA (ROT CA) RD)< S
2

Note, celebration involves one displaying finery (7) 

REGALIA (insignia or special garb; finery)

RE (note of the tonic sol-fa) + (GALA [celebration] containing [involves] I [Roman numeral for one])

RE GAL (I) A
4

New star gets involved with cast and performs (9) 

TRANSACTS (performs)

Anagram of (gets involved with) (N [new] and STAR and CAST)

TRANSACTS*
5

One who loves me to wear jumper (5) 

ROMEO (young man very much in love)

ME contained in (to wear) ROO (kangaroo; jumper)

RO (ME) O
6

Maybe Leo Tolstoy briefly is confused with Lenin, a leader of Communists (13)

CONSTELLATION (Leo is a group of stars forming a CONSTELLATION)

Anagram of (confused with) TOLSTOY excluding the final letter Y [briefly] and LENIN and C [first letter of [leader of] COMMUNISTS)

CONSTELLATION*
7

Single male first to sprint into pool for dip (7) 

IMMERSE (dip or plunge under the surface of a liquid)

I (single) + M (male) + (S [initial letter of {first to} SPRINT] contained in [into] MERE [a pool])

I M MER (S) E
8

Duck found on European river (4) 

NILE (river in northern Africa)

NIL (nothing; zero; duck score in cricket) + E (European)

NIL E
10

Mind you, lies spread about conservationists in a biased way (13) 

TENDENTIOUSLY (in a biased manner)

TEND (mind) + an anagram of (spread) YOU LIES containing (about) NT (National Trust,a conservation group)

TEND E (NT) IOUSLY*
13

Trembling or shake following ends of seismic event? (10) 

AFTERSHOCK (one of several minor SHOCKs following the main SHOCK of an earthquake)

Anagram of (trembling) OR SHAKE and F [following] and CT (last letters of [ends of] each of SEISMIC and EVENT)

AFTERSHOCK*
16

Rene’s gutted, cut up over mark in English test again (2-7) 

RE-EXAMINE (inspect or test again)

RE (letters remaining in RENE when the central letters EN are removed [gutted]) + AXE (cut) reversed (up; down entry) + M ([Deutsch]mark) + IN + E

RE EXA< M IN E
18

Criminal is more violent around summer time (7) 

MOBSTER (American gangster; criminal)

Anagram of (violent) MORE containing (around) BST (British Summer Time)

MO (BST) ER*
20

City wants ballet, but with much more water! (7) 

SWANSEA (city in Wales)

SWAN LAKE (a ballet) with LAKE upgraded to SEA (something with more water)

SWAN SEA
22

Martial art is to finish in decisive blow (5) 

KENDO (the Japanese art of swordsmanship practised with bamboo staves, in 18th century style armour, and observing strict ritual; a martial art)

END (finish) contained in (in) KO (knockout; decisive blow)

K (END) O
23

Vulgar supporter upset female (4) 

NAFF (vulgar)

FAN (supporter) reversed (upset; down clue) + F (female)

NAF< F

 

13 comments on “Independent 10976 / Klingsor”

  1. Yet another superb outing by Klingsor. Love his clueing style. I don’t think any setter can match him with &lits and 9a, 13d are both beautifully crafted examples. I also thought 6d was phenomenal and loved the humour of SWANSEA.

  3. Excellent puzzle. I’m another who loved the REGATTA and AFTERSHOCK &lits (they were to me anyway) and the ‘ballet, but with much more water’ for SWANSEA. I admit to just bunging a few in, eg CONSTELLATION, but it was satisfying to work out the tricky parsing of others such as TENDENTIOUSLY.

    There was a real sting in the tail with my last two in, TARE and CASK, two examples of those apparently simple and familiar 4-letter words used in a not so simple or familiar sense.

    Thanks to Klingsor and the more than usually polychromatic Duncan

  4. I’m jumping onto the REGATTA, AFTERSHOCK, SWANSEA bandwagon – standout clues though that’s not to demean any of the others. Excellent clueing throughout with smooth surfaces and some cunning tricks. I also liked the assembly of ROMEO, the spotting of the reversed actor in TAROT CARDS, the delightfully simple AISLE and the surface/misdirect in ATTRACTION. Whilst the surface was slightly less smooth, TALENT SPOTTER made me smile. (One recruited and dismissed new petrol attendants?)

    Thanks Klingsor and Duncan

  5. I agree entirely with Hovis @1.

    CONSTELLATION is, indeed, phenomenal: I love clues where names are so cleverly used – and that’s another device in which Klingsor excels.

    I started listing my other ticks for construction and surface but that became pointless: FOR MY MONEY there are no duds to be seen, as PostMark implies.

    (My last one in, which held me up for ages, was AFTERSHOCK, for the simple reason that I kept misreading the second letter of my entry as E – ironical that I have just been interrupted in writing this sentence by a phone call about my cataract operation!)

    Many thanks, as ever, to Klingsor for the fun and to Duncan for the blog.

  6. Eileen @5: whilst I used to enjoy doing crosswords on paper, one advantage of my move online has been that my lousy handwriting no longer presents me with precisely the problem you describe. On many occasions I have wasted time or come up with bizarre solutions utilising letters that subsequently turned out to be something completely different…

  7. Excellent clueing, on the easy end of Klingsor I thought, but none the worse for that – they’ve been taking far too long of late! Thanks Klingsor and Duncan.

  8. What more can we add to what’s already been said in praise of this crossword?
    We liked the upgrading of the ballet and the need to separate Leo from Tolstoy, as well as the skilled worker and the playwright.
    Thanks, Klingsor and Duncan.

  9. I can only echo the previous comments regarding this excellent puzzle. CONSTELLATION was also my favourite, but – a minor point – the blog omits to mention that the A in “A leader of communists” must be included in the anagram for it to work.

  11. After reading the comments here I looked at the crossword again, particularly the smoothness of surfaces and, my goodness yes, it’s a gem. Thanks to Klingsor and to Duncan.

  12. Thanks Klingsor for a superb crossword. I echo what Eileen said about CONSTELLATION; I also found AGAPE (great surface), ROMEO, SWANSEA, and KENDO to be a cut above. I had trouble with short ones — TARE, CASK, and TAFF. (For TAFF I had “barf” thinking “upset supporter” might be an anagram of bra. That probably violates some rule, however.) Thanks Duncan for filling in my many parsing gaps.

  13. Count me among the fans of this one. Superb throughout, although at the risk of being repetitious I have to single out SWANSEA and REGATTA. I like to print these out (perhaps it’s a generational thing) but for some reason I enjoy them much more than when I’m forced to use a device.

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