Independent 11,097 by Bluth (Saturday Puzzle 7 May 2022)

by

My first Bluth solve/blog…

…and enjoyable it was too – with a bit of a chewy ending.

Two 15-letter Acrosses, and two 14-letter Downs provided the framework, with some interesting surface reads, Cyclops-ean smuttery and some clever diversions, a couple via North Carolina.

Quite a few needed leaving to mull over, and wait for crossers, many of which were provided by those four long answers.

The surfaces of 1D and 2D had a touch of the Cyclops about them – with a ‘topless dominatrix’ and a ‘star’ stripping for Playboy – oo-err! 18A raised an eyebrow – with a wonderful anagram and indirect definition. As did 22D, with the Rev. Wilbert Awdry as ‘who made Thomas’. And 17D maybe needed a bit of specialist General Knowledge, especially for non-football followers. The two ‘SPIN-OFFS’, of Endeavour and Enterprise were probably slightly less specialised…

My LOI (last one in) and also LOP (last one parsed) was 3D MEDIOCRE – I had all the crossers but just couldn’t see a word to fit, and couldn’t parse the clue. I was about to reach for a pattern-matcher on my eChambers when the penny dropped, and then retro-fitted the parsing from the answer back to the clue (at which point, the DIME dropped as well!).

 

I looked in vain for any theme(ette), or Nina – but I may have missed something subtle?

Otherwise, it was a fairly good mental workout for a Saturday (non-)Prize puzzle slot.

My thanks to Bluth, and I hope all is clear below.

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
7A UPDATE Happy to see revamp (6)

UP (happy) + DATE (see, go out with)
8A SPIN-OFFS Wine – mostly very strong on board SS Enterprise and Endeavour? (4-4)

S_S around (i.e. the rest is ‘on board’) PINO(T) (wine, mostly) + FF (music, fortissimo, very strong)

[Enterprise was a spin-off from Star Trek; Endeavour from Morse!]
10A FREE-WILL Voluntary leave without payment to begin with (4-4)

FREE (without payment) + WILL (leave, bequeath)
11A INFANT Popular female soldier’s child (6)

IN (popular) + F (female) + ANT (soldier)
12A EXTRACURRICULAR Dog’s regular I see for say going on supplement in addition to routine courses (15)

EXTRA (supplement) + CUR (dog) + R(IC)ULAR (REGULAR, going on, with IC – I + see – instead of EG, say)
14A SMACKER Heroin addict abandoning us for £1 (7)

SMACK (heroin) + (US)ER (addict, abandoning US)
15A SPANDEX Some critics pan Dexy’s material (7)

hidden word in, i.e. some of, ‘criticS PAN DEXy’
18A STATUE OF LIBERTY About 100 tons of copper batteries fly out all over the place (6,2,7)

anag, i.e. all over the place, of BATTERIES FLY OUT!

[I presume the SofL weighs about 100 tons, and is made of copper?!]
20A POETIC Quote work from the east – it’s imaginative (6)

CITE (quote) + OP (opus, work), all reversed, or from the East = POETIC
21A SOCIABLY Perhaps Stallone’s accepting old agents’ bill, initially in a friendly manner (8)

S_LY (nickname, i.e. perhaps, of Sylvester Stallone, US actor), around (accepting) O (old) + CIA (agents, spies) + B (Bill, initially)
23A ASSORTED Wally or Edward, briefly mixed (8)

ASS (wally) + OR + TED (Edward, briefly)
24A STRESS Worry safecracker’s opening lock (6)

S (opening letter of Safecracker) + TRESS (hair, lock)
Down
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1D APPROXIMATIONS A topless dominatrix pops up to provide rough ideas (14)

anag, i.e. up, of A + (D)OMINATRIX (topless) + POPS
2D RAKE Star finally stripping naked for Playboy (4)

R (final letter of staR) + (N)AKE(D) (naked, stripped of outer letters)

[the ‘playboy’ in question being non-capitalised – a profligate, or rake]
3D MEDIOCRE Disappointing change in Raleigh Cycling – with brownish-yellow colour trimming handlebars at first (8)

MEDI (dime, or change, in the US, i.e. Raleigh, North Carolina, cycling round by two letters) + OC(H)RE (brownish-yellow colour, removing, or trimming, H – first letter of Handlebars)
4D OSTLERS They’d put saddles on in fancy stores – bolts, essentially, must go in the middle (7)

OST_ERS (anag, i.e. fancy, of STORES) around L (essence, or middle, of boLts)

[ostlers being attendants who looked after the horses at an inn – the olden-day equivalents of the guy who parks your car for you at a fancy hotel, I guess?]
5D BIKINI Cycle unfinished – in India one comes in two pieces (6)

BIK(E) (cycle, unfinished) + IN + I (India)
6D CONFLUENCE Meeting to study viral infection with nurse and chemical engineer (10)

CON (study, mug up on) + FLU (viral infection) + EN (Enrolled Nurse) + CE (Chemical Engineer)
9D FUNDAMENTALISM Good time girl with northern charm ignoring an orthodox viewpoint (14)

Fun (good time) + DAME (girl) + N (northern) + TALISM(AN) (charm, ignoring AN!)
13D RECITATION Reading about award (10)

RE (about, regarding) + CITATION (award)
16D PRINCESS Perhaps Charlotte, North Carolina’s filling ministers’ time away (8)

PRI_ES(T)S (ministers – of the church, without T – time, away) around (filled by) NC (North Carolina, again!)

[clever misdirection, from Princess Charlotte, currently fourth in line to the British throne, to Charlotte, North Carolina!]
17D OFFSIDE They might draw the line at this in Stockley Park (7)

CD – needs a bit of interest in football – in the UK, the VAR, or video assistant referee, is usually at Stockley Park, watching the footage and deciding on close offside calls, often by drawing a computer-generated line on the screen to determine these
19D EXCITE River around large town with back of dinghy leaving wake (6)

EX_E (river, mostly in Devon) around CIT(Y) (large town, with Y – back end of dinghY, leaving)
22D AWRY Without a shred of doubt, who made Thomas crooked (4)

AW(D)RY – The Rev. Wilbert Awdry, who wrote the original Thomas the Tank Engine stories, so is effectively ‘who made Thomas'(!), without D – first letter, or a shred, of Doubt

14 comments on “Independent 11,097 by Bluth (Saturday Puzzle 7 May 2022)”

  1. Another entertaining challenge from Bluth, though the cycling dime was beyond me. The solution had to MEDIOCRE, though, unlike the puzzle.

    Thanks to Bluth and mc.

  3. 1D and 8A came fairly quickly from a few crossers and the definitions, but much of the rest was hard, but fun. I had to google Stockley Park and didn’t know smacker = £1.

    When the pennies finally started to drop 8A and 2D were particular favourites, and 18A was best clue I’ve seen this week.

    Thanks to Bluth & Mc_rapper67

  4. I found this tough and it was appropriate that as a 3d solver I was beaten all ends up by MEDIOCRE. The significance of SPIN-OFFS and of the reference to ‘Stockley Park’ also escaped me.

    The enumeration and crossers helped but the original def for STATUE OF LIBERTY wasn’t exactly obvious; I’ll take Bluth’s word for it that the weight and material of which it is made are correct!

    Thanks to Bluth and mc_rapper67

  5. I found this a mostly solver-friendly crossword – I did have a short investigoogle into 18a but didn’t find that exact ‘definition. My favourite clue was 22d, not least because the Thomas books formed such a large part of a 1950s childhood

    Thanks to Bluth and mc_rapper67

  6. I couldn’t parse MEDIOCRE and had the same experience otherwise as WordPlodder, but that did not detract at all. It’s interesting that a few clues at first seemed impenetrable but on closer examination were solvable and impeccably fair. Lots of subtractions and substitutions! Thanks to Bluth and mc_rapper67.

  7. 18a googled at 31 tons of copper, considerably more framework and concrete, so it depends on the scale I suppose

  8. Thanks both. Similar unknowns to those others have mentioned – OFFSIDE went in quickly but with a virtual question mark, as two lines rather than one require to be drawn for (the purpose of deciding) rather than ‘at’ offside

  10. Thanks Bluth, and yes, that is an interesting read. Who would have thought that there isn’t a really definitive answer?

  12. Bluth@9: Interesting article.

    Of course that’s an American article which means they are using US tons – 2000 pounds. The Imperial ton is 2240 pounds, making nearer 90 tons. And also 90 (metric) tonnes. It amuses me as to how close the Imperial and metric ton is.

  14. Thanks for all the comments and feedback – much appreciated, as usual…and to Bluth for dropping in and giving us some background.
    Looks like most enjoyed this, with several finding MEDIOCRE as the chewy end bit, like I did.
    The last thing I expected to be debating on a Sunday morning is the copper weight of the Statue of Liberty, but such are the joys of cruciverbalism (and pedantry?!…)
    There must be an accounting ledger somewhere showing how much copper they bought…just a thought…

Comments are closed.