Super puzzle from Gila this morning, demonstrating again what a strong bunch of setters this paper has to call on.
What struck me here was the quality of the surface readings: pretty much every one is a little story in itself. The cluing is impeccable; the grid is solver-friendly; there is a wide range of subject matter; and there was enough challenge to keep the solver interested. You can probs tell that I liked it, so I’ll shut up now and let you say what you thought.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Person penning international correspondence
PARITY
An insertion of I in PARTY, in the sense of – for example – ‘third party insurance’ or ‘injured party’.
4 Angry rap music mainly revolving around money, essentially
UP IN ARMS
An insertion of N for the middle letter (‘essentially’) of ‘money’ in (RAP MUSI[C])* The anagrind is ‘revolving’ and the insertion indicator is ‘around’.
9 Hang about in a Brummie’s barge?
LOITER
You would have to know a little about English regional accents – never a bad thing – to fully get this. One of the markers for the accent around Brum is the movement of the I vowel sound in Standard English in words like ‘five’ or ‘like’ to an OY/OI sound, making them sound like ‘foive’ and ‘loike’. On that basis, a ‘barge’, or a lighter would sound like LOITER.
10 Reserve is assigned a team
SET ASIDE
A charade of SET and A SIDE.
12 A rubbish bin used outside is not loaded
UNBIASED
An insertion of A and (BIN)* in USED. The anagrind is ‘rubbish’ and the insertion indicator is ‘outside’.
13 You said it! In the end, demand always changes
AMENDS
A charade of AMEN! and DS for the final letters of ‘demand’ and ‘always’.
15 Bring in bits for repairing on a regular basis
EARN
The even letters of rEpAiRiNg.
16 Sweet topping made from apples cooked with rum and a touch of yoghurt
MAPLE SYRUP
(APPLES RUM Y)* with ‘cooked’ as the anagrind.
19 New record tends to be welcomed by clubs after hours
CLEAN SLATE
An insertion of LEANS in C and LATE. The insertion indicator is ‘to be welcomed by’.
20 Video corporation changing hands
FILM
For once, ‘corporation’ wasn’t TUM. Gila is inviting you to change the R in FIRM to an L.
23 Oppressive main space
LEADEN
A charade of LEAD and EN for the printers’ ‘space’. If you’re newish to all this, look out too for the EM space.
25 Obsessive‘s fear spun out of control
SUPERFAN
(FEAR SPUN)* with ‘out of control’ as the anagrind.
27 Popular guide for rambling
INDIRECT
A charade of IN and DIRECT.
28 Bootlicking soldiers following Sergeant Major
SMARMY
A charade of SM and ARMY.
29 A snack regularly being covered in nuts is not OK!
SANCTION
The parsing is a little complicated, but it’s a perfectly clear clue: it’s A and NC for the even letters of ‘snack’ inserted into (IS NOT)* The anagrind is ‘nuts’.
30 Switch company, having no start or end plan
INTEND
I think this is [N]INTEND[O], but I can’t quite see where the ‘switch’ comes in. Originally Nintendo was a card producing company, so happen that’s got something to do with it.
Down
1 Dirty election must be oddly disregarded
POLLUTE
A charade of POLL and the even letters of mUsT bE.
2 Bruiser arranged with me to pay back cash
REIMBURSE
(BRUISER ME)*
3 The head of this old English newspaper is a slimeball
TOERAG
A charade of T for the initial letter of ‘this’, O, E and RAG.
5 Look, hold up!
PEEK
A reversal (‘up’, since it’s a down clue) of KEEP.
6 Marines manoeuvring south narrowly avoided collision
NEAR MISS
A charade of (MARINES)* and S. I always raise an eyebrow at this expression, since in reality it’s a NEAR HIT.
7 Portuguese king ultimately letting queen be in command
REIGN
A charade of REI followed by G and N for the final letters of ‘letting’ and ‘queen’. REI is the Portuguese word for ‘king’, which could be considered a language too far, but it’s roi in French and rey in Spanish and you’ve got three crossing letters out of five, so stop moaning.
8 Comes forward for flight in an excited state
STEPS UP
A charade of STEPS and UP.
11 Support friend without breaking the law!
LEGALLY
A charade of LEG and ALLY.
14 Plane not working at full speed
FLAT OUT
A charade of FLAT and OUT.
17 Under restraint, police officers toughen up
REINFORCE
A charade of REIN and FORCE.
18 Kid endlessly adjusted screen time on the sly
IN SECRET
A charade of [K]I[D] and (SCREEN T)* with ‘adjusted’ as the anagrind.
19 Dictionary publisher‘s change involving a couple of lines
COLLINS
And for once, ‘dictionary’ wasn’t OED. An insertion of LL in COINS.
21 Married individual mostly looked to get rich
MONEYED
A charade of M, ONE and [E]YED.
22 Audible sign of hesitation in boy’s talk
SERMON
An insertion of ERM in SON.
24 NY prosecutor upset with Mafioso’s additional charge
ADD-ON
A charade of DA for District Attorney reversed (‘upset’, since it’s a down clue) and DON.
26 Reverberating sound of dance music lacking tone, oddly
ECHO
[T]ECH[N]O The setter is asking you to remove the odd letters of ‘tone’ from the dance music. Rap, Techno and Nintendo – we really have been down with the kids today.
Many thanks to Gila for the start to the Indy week.
Re 30a. It is just a reference to the Nintendo Switch. Great start to the week.
Very nicely put together and thanks to Hovis @1 for explaining Switch. Not having gaming thumbs, that was well beyond me. Lots of charades today but that’s not a complaint when they’re as delightfully assembled as this. And a very nice clue for COLLINS (generally my saviour on the odd occasions Chambers has been found wanting)
What Pierre said, a great start to the week. At 19D, other dictionaries are available! I’ve never seen Longman’s mentioned, though it surely ought to be. I wonder if there’s a league table based on the number of words contained, but surely the full OED would always be on top. I worked out ECHO and INTEND but had to come here for confirmation. Thanks Gila and Pierre.
I thought this was excellent. Nicely challenging and great fun, with smooth surfaces throughout..
I didn’t know the Portuguese for king, but it was pretty obvious what it had to be. 29a was my last one in as I struggled for a while to parse it. The answer is one of those interesting words which can have two opposite meanings.
Many thanks to Gila and to Pierre.
Superbly blogged. I needed help with a few but am becoming accustomed to indicators like ultimately/finally, essentially and space. Charades were almost thematic in the grid and I’m increasingly au fait with them as well. My favourite was FIRM having understood ‘changing hands’ from previous puzzles. Many thanks.
FILM I should have said
Mostly straightforward with no problems apart from INTEND which we decided had to be that but couldn’t parse, and CLEAN SLATE where our first guess was an only partly parsed ‘clean sheet’ till we got FLAT OUT. We did know the techno genre, though, so no trouble with ECHO.
Lots to enjoy so no real favourite.
Thanks, Gila and Pierre.
Thanks Gila and Pierre most of this was relatively easy but hit the buffers in the intend sermon crossers although in hindsight sermon was obvious enough. I remember doing an Anax blog back in the day which caused a minor comment storm which involved nintendo. Plus ca change and all that.
It’s a sad sign of age when Switch makes you think of defunct debit cards rather than gaming. Neither Atwest nor idland made sense, though. Nice puzzle and blog. Thanks
I had 5 quibbles with this otherwise excellent puzzle, at 9, 12, 15 and 30 across, and 7 down (as blogged).
Yes, surfaces that stopped you in your tracks just to appreciate the pictures, so thanks to Gila. But then Pierre – top blog. If you’re as French as your name, then respect to you for your grasp of British Midlands accents and also the Yorkshire ‘happen’, meaning maybe/ possibly. Brill. I love fifteensquared
High praise indeed coming from our bird-loving reviewer who was denied any opportunity to include one of his ‘bird links’ today. However, this was as he said, a very good puzzle so perhaps the setter can be forgiven for his omission on this occasion!
I did need to check on the Portuguese king and the ‘switch’ was a guess but I have little desire to be ‘down with the kids’ so that’s fine by me.
Top of my tree was TOERAG – I do hope it gets spotted by some of our current newspaper heads!
Many thanks to Gila and to Pierre for the review. Hope you get at least two opportunities to include birds on your next visit to the hot seat!
Enjoyable. Pleased to have cracked and understood LOITER. A bit too complex (‘rap music mainly..’) for my taste but I could get used to it.
Thanks to Gila and to Pierre (pity about the birds).