Independent 11,008 by Tees

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Crosswords are sometimes written a few weeks before they are published and the themes can seem a little out-of-date by the time they appear.

That clearly isn't the case with this puzzle, which references events which have happened within the last week, most notably our PM's continuing troubles with parties (both political and social). I found it an excellent puzzle to solve – it was never too easy but also never so difficult that progress came to a grinding halt.

ACROSS
1 SCREWTOP
Society man joining elite closer to wine? (8)

S{ociety} + crew(=man as a verb) + top(=elite)
6 MUTUAL
Shared on line: season almost over (6)

Autum[n]< on l{ine}
9 FIASCO
Conservative in Sofia spinning debacle (6)

C{onservative} in Sofia*
10 RANGNICK
Interim football manager called ‘The Devil’ (8)

Rang(=called) Nick(=the Devil, as in Old Nick). Ralf Rangnick is currently the interim manager of Manchester United.
11 ANDROGEN
No information, doctor admitted, on a hormone (8)

((No gen) around Dr) on A
12 GOTHIC
Go-slow endless in grotesque style (6)

Go + thic[k] (=slow in the sense of slow on the uptake)
13 ENID
Camelot woman some drunken idiot (4)

Hidden in drunken idiot. Enid is a minor character from Arthurian legend who is married to the knight Geraint.
14 SEA DRAGON
Rutland fossil reanimated so a danger (3,6)

(So a danger)*. Continuing the astonishingly current theme, this was a fossil ichthyosaur found last week in Rutland.
16 PARTYGATE
Scandal: Tories for example shown exit? (9)

Party (e.g. the Tories) + gate. This is the name which has been coined for the scandal involving parties at Downing Street during lockdown.
18
See 21 Down

20 GROWTH
Sunak needing this short article on good argument (6)

Th[e] on g{ood} row – that would be growth in an economic sense to improve the Treasury's finances.
22 ASSAILED
Attacked: enjoyed festive booze-up without wife (8)

[W{ife}]assailed
24 BERIBERI
Drink one to limit bone disease (8)

(Beer + I) around rib
25 CHEERS
Church empties, vacated, Queen brought in? Here’s to it! (6)

(Ch{urch} + e[mptie]s) around ER.
26 EUGENE
Mrs Jack Brooksbank not one for Ionesco? (6)

Engen[i]e. I think this is Princess Eugenie, who married someone called Jack Brooksbank (we kindly paid for the security). Eugene Ionesco was a Romanian-French playwright.
27 GLASS EYE
Artificial organ composer Tees heard (5,3)

Glass (composer Philip Glass) + hom of I (i.e. the compiler Tees)
DOWN
2 CHIGNON
A representative leaving mushroom and bun (7)

Ch[amp]ignon – this would be a bun in the hairstyle sense.
3 EASY RIDER
Film duck eating seconds in Scots town (4,5)

Eider around (s{econds} in Ayr)
4 THONG
Host runs out in skimpy knickers (5)

Th[r]ong
5 PIRANHA
Fierce sort from country seen in pub area (7)

Iran in PH(=public house) a{rea}
6 MENAGERIE
When sloshed emerge in a confused crowd (9)

(Emerge in a)* – technically a collection of animals but can be used colloquially to mean an unusual group of people.
7 TENET
Ecstasy dropped into the wine as principle? (5)

E{cstasy} in tent, an old name for Spanish red table wine.
8 AUCTION
Lots here getting something done about upper-class (7)

Action around U(=upper class in U/non-U)
14 SAY CHEESE
Instruction from shooter perhaps at Caerphilly? (3,6)

Say(=perhaps) + Caerphilly?(a cheese example). Obviously referring to someone shooting with a camera rather than gun.
15 GAWKINESS
Sozzled, sneak swig showing lack of coordination (9)

(Sneak swig)*
16 PARVENU
Vulgarian censure overturned? Say pub closed early (7)

Par< + venu[e]
17 AMAZING
Astonishing answer on issue about unknown elected (7)

(A{nswer} + mag{azine}(=issue)) around (Z(=unknown) + in(=elected))
19 SUE GRAY
16 Across investigator argues poorly: Tory ultimately supporting (3,4)

Argues* + [Tor]y. Sue Gray is the career Civil Servant who is investigating whether or not various parties took place and whether or not Boris Johnson knew they were parties.
21/18 WHITEWASH
With partying, what was guzzled? Conceal disreputable affair (9)

With* + eh(=what) around was
23 SACRA
Bones in bag next to top drawer? (5)

Sac(=bag) + RA(=Royal Academician, someone who might be called a top drawer of art works). Sacra is the plural of sacrum, a bone just below the spine.

9 comments on “Independent 11,008 by Tees”

  1. Two Tees in a row! As with his puzzle yesterday, this was good fun. Topical too.

    My top clues were RANGNICK, PARTYGATE and THONG.

    Many thanks to Tees and Neal.

  2. I didn’t know most of the names, contemporary and historic, scattered around the grid, but all were possible from wordplay. Some others like SCREWTOP took a bit of working out so I didn’t find this a particularly easy way to start the week.

    Favourite were CHIGNON, a word I don’t remember seeing in crosswords before and the surfaces for GAWKINESS and WHITEWASH.

    Thanks to Tees and NealH

  3. The Independent is right up with the play here, as the report, the butt of many a joke in the media, is due out this week, I think. So spot on, and a rather good puzzle, thanks Neal and Tees.

  4. Had to look up Brooksbank, Ionesco, and Rangnick, all unknown to me.
    However, I did remember the film from more than 50 years ago.

  5. Not an easy Monday stroll, but we got it all and enjoyed the political references. One minor point about 14ac; the fossil was actually found some time ago but only made the headlines this month to tie in with the Digging for Britain TV programme.
    Thanks, Tees and NealH.

  6. Second puzzle of today, and probably the only one other than the Guardian I’ll get time to complete today, more’s the pity. But as NealH says, here the Indy team has its collective finger on the pulse, as we all wait to find out what Sue Gray has to say about all those alleged Tory misdemeanours. I’m sure her name has been used more over the past week than any normal person’s is mentioned in a lifetime!

    I had pause only with RANGNICK, as I am no footie fan, and while the clue was clear I did take time out to look him up. Other than that many chuckles, so thanks Tees and NealH.

  7. I did have to look up the required devil, the hormone and the Camelot woman but thought this was a very enjoyable puzzle from a setter who’s obviously been studying the recent news!
    Rosettes handed out to SCREWTOP, ASSAILED & CHIGNON.

    Thanks to Tees and to Neal for the review.
    From what I read about Ms Gray, she’s known as a ‘good’ party member who won’t want to rock the boat so I’m not really expecting any earth-shattering outcome to the enquiry.

  8. Thanks NealH, I didn’t know Tent was wine (or maybe had forgotten it) and had to use Google for Mrs Brockbank, thinking that Ionesco was somewhere in the Med. I agree with your assessment in the final sentence of the preamble, thanks for the challenge Tees.

  9. Thanks both. A couple of failings on my part, where I lacked both pieces of GK to solve 26 unaided, and didn’t fully know the meanings of both definition and answer for the crossing 16dn. I did know RANGNICK and being of a Manchester blue footballing persuasion, will only regard him as devilish in the unlikely event he does better than his recent predecessors

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