Independent 11,125 / Serpent

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Serpent is putting us through our cruciverbal paces this Thursday.

I found this to be towards the difficult end of the Indy spectrum, not least in that there was quite a lot of rather intricate wordplay – at 1D, 8, 16… – that took some teasing out. That said, I was able to parse all the solutions that I arrived at to my satisfaction and was afforded a great deal of enjoyment along the way – the mark of a good puzzle, in my humble opinion.

My favourite clues today were 10, 17 and 23, all for smoothness of surface and despite their being amongst the easiest for me to solve. I would appreciate fellow solvers’ confirmation of my parsing of the definition at 4.

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

Across    
     
01 PUTSCH Place school in special measures to remove head?

PUT (=place) + SCH (=school); cryptically, a putsch (=coup, revolutionary outbreak) could be described as a set of “special measures to remove head” of organisation!
     
04 DIVISION Operation involving 24 or 25 led by police officer

DI (=police officer, i.e. detective inspector) + VISION (=sense or insight, i.e. entries at 24 and 25); division is a mathematical operation
     
09 PLEASURES Sources of satisfaction certainly involved in requests

SURE (=certainly, of course) in PLEASE (=requests)
     
11 STILL Non-sparkling wine is not made with this

A still is used in the distillation of spirits, not in wine production
     
12 UNKNOWN Nameless drunk now needs clothes

Hidden (“clothes”) in “drUNK NOW Needs”
     
13 ENTAILS Demands an unspecified number of stories from reporter

Homophone (“from reporter”) of “N (=an unspecified number of”) + tales (=stories)”
     
14 ISOLATION Pariah’s state’s one source of comfort following Conservative’s loss

I (=one) + <con>SOLATION (=source of comfort; “CON (=Conservative)’s loss” means letters “con” are dropped)
     
17 OUT Books university dons published

U (=university) in OT (=books, i.e. Old Testament); “dons” is to be read as wears, sports, i.e. as a verb in the wordplay
     
19 JOY Delight in Irish writer rejecting church

JOY<ce> (=Irish writer); “rejecting church (CE, i.e. Church of England)” means letters “ce” are dropped
     
20 ROTTERDAM Place dog next to puppy’s mother?

ROTTER (=dog, cur) + DAM (=puppy’s mother, i.e. female parent of an animal)
     
22 DECADES Floor assistants delivered for many years

Homophone (“delivered”) of “deck (=floor, on boat) + aides (=assistants)”
     
25 INSIGHT This thing is potentially revealing

*(THING IS); “potentially” is anagram indicator; semi- & lit.
     
27 SHOWN Demonstrated child accepts husband and wife being divorced

[H (=husband) + WIFE (=wife)] in SON (=child); “being divorced” indicates that H and W appear at separate points in the word, not side by side
     
28 NEGLIGENT Thoughtless niggle managed to conceal onset of depression

*(NIGGLE) + <d>ENT (=depression; “to conceal onset” means first letter is hidden); “managed” is anagram indicator
     
29 PASSOVER Fail to observe religious celebration

PASS OVER (=fail to observe, ignore)
     
30 CLOSER More evenly-matched clubs are deprived of runs

C (=clubs, in cards) + LOSE (=are deprived of) + R (=runs, on cricket scorecard)
     
Down    
     
01 POP MUSIC Operation inverted current total held by computer in numbers?

{OP (=operation) + [MUS I (I=current, in electronics + SUM=total; “inverted” indicates reversal)]} in PC (=computer); pop music could be described as “numbers”, i.e. songs
     
02 TWEAK Minor adjustment lacking ability to support argument’s conclusion

<argumen>T (“conclusion” means last letter only) + WEAK (=lacking ability)
     
03 CUSTOMARY Army scout redeployed, as per standard practice

*(ARMY SCOUT); “redeployed” is anagram indicator
     
05 ISSUE Children came out without daughter

ISSUE<d> (=came out, flow from); “without daughter (=D)” means letter “d” is dropped
     
06 INSET Supplementary part of document belonging to firm

IN (=belonging to) + SET (=firm, hard)
     
07 INITIATED Bring up delay about information technology I set up

[IT (=information technology] in DETAIN (=delay, hold back)] + I; “bring up” indicates vertical reversal
     
08 NO LESS I’m impressed the French almost lied about checks

LES (=the French, i.e. a French word for the) in NOS (SON<g>=Lied, from German; “almost” means last letter is dropped; “about” indicates reversal); cf. Peter cooked dinner – fillet steak and champagne, no less
     
10 RUNNIER International athlete drinks more fluid

I (=international) in RUNNER (=athlete)
     
15 OBJECTORS Protesters aim to overpower soldiers finally

OBJECT (=aim, purpose) + <t>O <overpower>R <soldier>S (“finally” means last letters only)
     
16 NOTHING Predecessor to number one hit leads to New Order getting name about

*(HIT + N<ew> O<rder> G<etting> N<ame>); “leads to” means first letters only are used in anagram, indicated by “about”
     
17 OVERSPILL What cannot be contained as filing for bedcovers and pillows?

Hidden (“filling”) in “bedcOVERS + PILL<ows>”
     
18 IMITATOR Limit state and work endlessly for most sincere sycophant?

<l>IMI<t> <s>TAT<e> + <w>OR<k>; “endlessly” means first and last letters are dropped; as the saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
     
21 ADDS UP American party accepting Democrat succeeded makes sense

A (=American) + [D (=Democrat) + S (=succeeded) in DUP (=party, in NI)]
     
23 DINGO Racket game that’s only found in Australia

DIN (=racket, noise) + GO (=(board)game)
     
24 SENSE Witness accepts partners holding hands in hearing?

N S (=partners, in bridge) in SEE (=witness, observe); “holding hands” means that they appear side by side in the word, not separately, cf. 27
     
26 GUESS Visitors having no time to judge, given little information

GUES<t>S (=visitors); “having no time (=T)” means letter “t” is dropped
     

 

20 comments on “Independent 11,125 / Serpent”

  1. In 24d, I took ‘holding hands’ to refer to card hands. Also, in 22a, I took ‘deck’ as ‘floor’ both as verbs. Haven’t had time to look for any nina and need to go out now, so will look later.

  2. As expected from Serpent, quite difficult with the non-specific def for ROTTERDAM and both wordplay and def for POP MUSIC giving me most trouble. I didn’t think of the less obvious meaning of ‘lied’ at 8d, so missed the parsing. I couldn’t really have explained DIVISION either, but your parsing looks good.

    I couldn’t find anything in the grid, which is unusual for Serpent. Maybe someone else, including Hovis, will see something on closer inspection.

    Thanks to Serpent and RR

  3. Rare for me to note a popular music reference but I believe there are two albums by Joy Division in there. There may be more for devotees to find.

  4. I know a solver who will like this and Serpent will know who it is.
    I was worried that I couldnt find the usual signature (sometimes helps me over the finish line)
    I have an Unknown Pleasures T shirt-must get a Close one to match it.
    Great stuff!

  5. A wonderful tribute to (probably) my all-time favourite band, JOY DIVISION. UNKNOWN PLEASURES, CLOSER and the retrospective STILL were their three albums. Their songs included ISOLATION, DECADES, INSIGHT and PASSOVER.

  6. Hard as ever and, yes, a gold star to Serpent for finding definitions that are right on the edge of generic. Particularly the two mentioned by WP: ‘place’ for ROTTERDAM was OK, given I did solve that from wordplay but ‘numbers’ for POP MUSIC had me floundering and that did end up as a Reveal. I thought I was looking for a computing term and I know POP is/was something to do with internet protocols os thought I had no chance of working it out any further.

    I loved the anagram/surface combo for CUSTOMARY and the clever hidden for OVERSPILL. Not often a homophone makes the podium but DECADES is lovely – and should elicit no complaints whatsoever from the rhotic (though we do tend to get less worked up about that debate over here). But favourite today, for the glorious definition, so cunningly hidden in the surface, is PUTSCH.

    Oh, and well spotted Phi, if that’s correct. Another band that I passed over, so no hope of spotting anything like a theme.

    Thanks Serpent and RR

  7. Thanks Serpent and RR

    And per copmus @ 4, I am that solver – they were friends of mine.

    I had the privilege of seeing an early version of this puzzle a few weeks ago, and loved it.

  8. DIVISION: Your parsing looks perfect to me, RR!

    DECADES: I go with Hovis@1 (on deck).
    SENSE: I parsed it the way you did… holding hands is side by side (in the word).

  9. Well, I’m now back and couldn’t spot any theme/nina, so thanks to those above that did. Never listened to Joy Division, apart from singles in the charts. To add to favourites listed by others, I’ll include UNKNOWN as a nice inclusion due to the use of ‘drunk’ and ‘nameless’ which usually suggest an anagram and a removal of an N. 8d was very sneaky.

  11. My partner affects to think crosswords a waste of brain power, but passed by, spotted unknown pleasures, and couldn’t resist showing off, so mentioned Joy Division. Which helped, especially with 1d.
    Excellent stuff, thanks and respect to Serpent and Ratkojariku.

  12. Finding time on my hands after a quicker than expected solve of the FT’s Julius, I was delighted to find SERPENT here today.
    PostMark sums up pretty much my thoughts on tackling the grid. But though I found it hard, I couldn’t fail to spot and thoroughly enjoy the Joy Division theme which did help with (UNKNOWN) PLEASURES. Nice to see a shout-out to New Order too.
    Minor typo in the blog for that 9a, by the way, which should read ‘sure’ in ‘pleas’. I relied quite heavily on this blog, though, so thanks to RR and to, Serpent, chapeau.

  13. Thanks, RR – I wholly agree with your assessment, this was tough but very satisfying. One of those that’s well worth persevering with – a benefit of being “between jobs” meaning I currently have the time to devote to such meaningless pastimes (pace Jayjay’s partner).

    I’m usually the last to spot themes but today’s revealed itself to me very early – PLEASURES, UNKNOWN and JOY were put much my first three to go in. Loved it. Certainly helped with unraveling a few other solutions.

    Thanks, Serpent, superb crossword.

  14. Was PUTSCH there as a hint to the origin of the band’s name? Clever to get New Order in as well. I thought GUESS was neat.

  15. We guessed there must be a theme, but couldn’t see one; no wonder as it didn’t mean anything to us when explained. But it just goes to show that you don’t need to know the theme to solve the crossword as we got it all, despite some tricky parsing – some of which we didn’t get.
    Thanks, Serpent and RatkojaRiku.

  16. Many thanks to RatkojaRiku for the excellent blog, and to everyone who has been kind enough to comment.

    I’m delighted to discover the intersection of the set of Joy Division fans and the set of crossword enthusiasts doesn’t only contain Simon and me!

  17. Thanks Serpent, that was great. No one will believe me but I was solving this outdoors today and a young man walked past me wearing an UNKNOWN PLEASURES t-shirt just as I was searching for a theme. POP MUSIC already had me hyper-alert and, voila, JOY DIVISION emerged. I used Google to find CLOSER, DECADES, INSIGHT, PASSOVER, and STILL, all records by the band. Great fun. Thanks RatkojaRiku for parsing.

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