Independent 11,111 / Radian

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It is Radian whose latest puzzle, with its aesthetically pleasing number, graces this week’s Tuesday slot.

Tuesday is theme day, and you don’t have to look far to find references to all things astronomical – indeed, it is easier to identify the far fewer solutions that don’t refer to the stars and space in one way or another! This is a real tour de force from Radian in terms of the volume of thematic material squeezed into the puzzle.

I did wonder if “world” for Mars was precise enough at 22, but in my version of Chambers, the 7th meaning of “world” is “any planet or heavenly body”, so no problem there. Apart from that, I only vaguely remembered the printing term used in 3.

My favourite clues today were 8, for its elusive but fair wordplay; and 16 and 23, both for smoothness of surface – Radian doubtless had Brian Cox in mind when cluing the former.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues

Across    
     
09 ON THE BALL Performing with the bishop, everybody’s alert

ON (=performing, i.e. on stage) + THE + B (=bishop, in chess) + ALL (=everybody)
     
10 STUNT Slow growth of fruits over on top of tree

STUN (NUTS=fruits; “over” indicates reversal) + T<ree> (“top of” means first letter only); the “slow” of the definition is a verb
     
11 EARLIER Peer at one monarch once

EARL (=peer) + I (=one) + ER (=monarch, i.e. Elizabeth Regina)
     
12 FULGENT Short drunk guy’s gleaming

FUL<l> (=drunk, informally; “short” means last letter is dropped) + GENT (=guy)
     
13 NEATH New planet lacking core at a lower level formerly

N (=new) + EA<r>TH (=planet; “lacking core” means middle letter is dropped); neath is an archaic (“formerly”) form of “beneath”
     
14 PURE MATHS Subject quietly matures after treatment with heroin

P (=quietly, i.e. piano in music) + *(MATURES + H (=heroin)); “after treatment” is anagram indicator
     
16 CASTOR AND POLLUX Cox tours Lapland excitedly indicating stars

*(COX TOURS LAPLAND); “excitedly” is anagram indicator
     
19 SCRAPHEAP C&A perhaps distributed crates here?

*(C + A + PERHAPS); “distributed” is anagram indicator; a crate is a decrepit car, informally, hence found on the scrapheap!
     
21 SOUTH Keep quiet about unfashionable quarter

OUT (=unfashionable) in SH! (=keep quiet)
     
22 MINERVA After excavation, oddly reveal Athena’s alter ego

MINE (=excavation) + R<e>V<e>A<l> (“oddly” means odd letters only are used); Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom, known as Athene to the Greeks
     
23 VEHICLE Clive set out to patrol fringes of English Channel

E<nglis>H (“fringes” means first and last letters only are used) in *(CLIVE); “set out” is anagram indicator; a vehicle is a means of doing something, as in a vehicle/channel of communication
     
24 RIGEL Stage Irish revolts star

LEG (=stage, of competition) + IR (=Irish); “revolts” indicates reversal; Rigel is a first magnitude star in the constellation Orion
     
25 INVERNESS Northern city, where to find Nemo vessel

IN VERNE (=where to find Nemo, i.e. Captain Nemo in Jules Verne’s novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Seas and The Mysterious Island) + SS (=vessel, i.e. steamship)
     
Down    
     
01 COPERNICUS Stargazer’s firm and hurtful, dismissing moon

CO (=firm, i.e. company) + PERNIC<io>OUS (=hurtful, destructive; “dismissing moon (=Io, of Jupiter)” means letters “io” are dropped); the reference is to the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
     
02 STAR WARS Celeb spotted revolutionary nicking rare film

STAR (=celeb) + [R (=rare) in WAS (SAW=spotted, noticed; “revolutionary” indicates vertical reversal)]
     
03 ZENITH Top nut occupies spot on height

[EN (=nut, in printing) in ZIT (=spot)] on H (=height)
     
04 PAIR Priest embraces perfect couple

A1 (=perfect) in PR (=priest)
     
05 ALL FIRED UP Enthused, a couple of students sack party

A + L (=student) + L (=student) + FIRE (=sack, dismiss) + DUP (=(political) party, in Northern Ireland)
     
06 O SOLE MIO Music firm once blocking old unaccompanied Elvis hit

EMI (=music firm once, from 1931-2012) in [O (=old, as in OT) + SOLO (=unaccompanied)]; It’s Now or Never, based on O sole mio (=My own sun), was a 1960 hit for Elvis Presley
     
07 LUCENT Brilliant cryptic clue books

*(CLUE) + NT (=books, i.e. New Testament); “cryptic” is anagram indicator; lucent is shining, bright, hence brilliant
     
08 STET “Let it be” record released by music group

S<ep>TET (=music group, of 7 players); “record (=EP) released” means letters “ep” are dropped
     
14 PLANETARIA Where to see stars arrange film song

PLAN (=arrange) + E.T. (=film, by Stephen Spielberg) + ARIA (=song)
     
15 SIXTH SENSE Lord’s big shot edgy about Home Secretary’s telepathy?

SIX (=Lord’s big shot, in cricket) + [HS (=Home Secretary) in TENSE (=edgy, anxious)]
     
17       ON PAROLE In Paris they talk about Oscar being conditionally freed

O (=Oscar, in radio telecommunications) in ON PARLE (=in Paris they talk, i.e. translated into French)
     
18 LAUNCHER Foreign articles on singing star rocket

LA + UN (=foreign articles, i.e. French definite and indefinite articles) + CHER (=singing star, from US)
     
20 RENEGE Nice guy, say, stands up to go back

RENÉ (=Nice guy, i.e. a French male forename) + GE (E.G.=say, for example; “stands up” indicates vertical reversal)
     
21 SPHERE Second woman’s cutting training field

S (=second) + [HER (=woman’s) in P.E. (=training)]
     
22 MARS Writing about Arab world

AR (=Arab) in MS (=writing, i.e. manuscript)
     
23 VIVA Test quartet in Virginia

IV (=quartet, i.e. four) in VA (=Virginia, i.e. US state)
     
     

 

10 comments on “Independent 11,111 / Radian”

  1. I thought this was Radian on top form – so many really clever clues and lovely surfaces, so there were many smiles and ‘ahas’ during the solve.

    I agree with RR’s favourites and his reasons for them and would add MINERVA, COPERNICUS, SIXTH SENSE and ON PAROLE – but there wasn’t a dud to be seen. And, yes, what a tour de force to include such a wealth of thematic material.

    Many thanks to Radian for a super puzzle and to RR for a blog to match.

  2. Thanks, Radian and RR!

    Liked MINERVA, INVERNESS, COPERNICUS and SIXTH SENSE. Great puzzle. Nice blog!

  3. Thanks RatkojaRiku, as I didn’t know Full = Drunk (luckily have come across the whole word before) – agree with you, Eileen and KVa on the fantastic range of clues and amount of thematic material woven, not shoehorned, in – thus happy to add to the FULGENT praise, thanks Radian.

  4. I wondered if the references to ‘Elvis’ in the def at 6d and the answer VIVA at 23d could have been extended by including a thematically appropriate “Las Vegas” but it was not to be. Still, a highly enjoyable puzzle with the crossing FULGENT and LUCENT being my picks today.

    Thanks to Radian and RR

  5. Thanks to RatkojaRiku (I needed your help to see …EMI.) and to Radian for a star-studded show. As an unabashed Francophile I enjoyed RENEGE and ON PAROLE particularly. There was something very fair about the grid which meant no dead ends.

  7. Thanks both. Was pleasantly surprised to get through this, though needed to guess 16ac. Thought ‘Elvis hit’ for O SOLE MIO might be regarded as a little unfair, as it is the basis of the song, not its name, as noted in the blog, but it becomes useful knowledge if not already known. I welcome how often ET is clued as ‘film’ though on the same basis as above, ET is the main character where the full title is ET – The Extra Terrestrial, however once more, most do refer to the movie by the shorter name unless perhaps only recently installed on our planet

  10. Let me post one then: a fine puzzle, as blogged!

    In my admittedly very picky book, 10 Across functions better, or even perfectly, as a down clue, as both the indicators (‘on’ and ‘top of’) by convention sit more easily in that plane, as it were.

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