Independent 11,187 by Tyrus (Saturday Puzzle 20 August 2022)

by

It is almost ten years since I first blogged a Tyrus Indy puzzle, or ‘prize puzzle’, as they were in those days…tempus fugit.

Those outer ‘unches’ (unchecked cells) looked suspicious, but when the top row started filling up with ‘P P S T O C’ and the bottom with ‘E R G X…’ I dropped that chain of thought…only to come back to it later.

There was some fun along the way – 11A has a very Cyclops-ean feel to the surface read; the ‘Communist twin’ turning tail at 22D was probably my favourite; and SOCK PUPPETRY took a while, and was a new term for me, in terms of online manipulation of chat groups.

And, talking of online manipulation, round the edge I discovered (Grant) SHAPPS – our Transport Secretary, for at least the next two weeks, until Liz shuffles him into obscurity. I initially went down a dead-end siding, by trying to associate him with Liam FOX, Damian GREEN, and Edward HEATH – perhaps they’d all been Transport Secretaries at some point?

But, as an avid Private Eye reader and HIGNFY watcher, I should have remembered Grant SHAPPS’ little skeleton in his closet – the online money-making scheme he used to run, with a variety of alter egos, including (Corinne) STOCKHEATH, (Sebastian) FOX and (Michael) GREEN, providing phoney testimonials – a form of SOCK PUPPETRY.

 

To sum up – this would have been an enjoyable solve even without the Nina – and not everyone will have spotted it. Which makes it an even more impressive puzzle, as it hasn’t really been compromised by having to fit all that material in.

In terms of timing, I’m not sure if Tyrus (or the Indy editor) was expecting Shady Shapps to still be involved in the Tory leadership race by this point, or whether this had to be rushed out due to his expected demise when the new leader-ene cleans out the Augean stables of the current cabinet?

Either way, thanks to Tyrus for the entertainment, and hopefully all is clear below.

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
8A IN UTERO Before birth of current emperor, quite regularly accepted (2,5)

I (physics, electric current) + N_ERO (Roman emperor) around (accepting) UT (regular letters from ‘qUiTe’)
9A UVULA You originally voiced Mulan, the central part (bit throaty) (5)

U (homophone, you) + V (original letter of Voiced) + ULA (central part of mULAn)

[the UVULA being a part of the throat, or a ‘throaty bit’!]
10A ADAPTS Tailors fitting in commercials (6)

AD_D (adverts, commercials) around APT (fitting)
11A KINSFOLK Involved in fetish, finally entices Stef into sexual relations (8)

KIN_K (fetish) around (involving) SFOL (final letters of ‘enticeS steF intO sexuaL’)

[ooo-errr, missus – a bit Cyclops-ean?]
12A HEATED UP After preliminary introduction to ecdysiasts, party got livelier (6,2)

HEAT (preliminary round in competition) + E (first letter of, or introduction to, Ecdysiasts) + D UP (Democratic Unionist Party)
14A DETACH Had to work with 21, in short, for free (6)

anag, i.e. to work with, of HAD + ETC (21, et cetera, in short!)
15A SPRY Lively for one’s age (though needing a shower!) (4)

SPR(A)Y – shower, short of, or needing A = SPRY!
17A TRAIN School head’s resigning from stress (5)

(S)TRAIN – stress, with S, head, or first letter, leaving, or resigning
18A GORE Bloodshed is turnon? (4)

GO (turn) + RE (with reference to, on)
19A NEPHEW Relative setback for writer (hack) (6)

NEP (pen, or writer, set back) + HEW (hack)
21A ET CETERA Spain and Thailand create problem, with some others (2,6)

E (Espana, Spain, IVR) + T (Thailand, IVR) + CETERA (anag, i.e. problem, of CREATE)
24A ESOTERIC Secret coteries disbanded (8)

anag, i.e. disbanded, of COTERIES
26A SLIGHT Little spot outside Leatherhead (6)

S_IGHT (see, spot) around (outside) L (first letter, or head, of Leather!)
27A REIGN Are rulers here ignored to some extent? (5)

hidden word in, i.e. some extent of, ‘heRE IGNored’
28A UPROOTS Forcibly removes great batsman (Stokes) at end of over (7)

UP (over?) + ROOT (Joe Root, former Englan cricket captain, great English ‘batter’, as they should now be called…) + S (stokes, unit of kinematic viscosity, not Ben Stokes – current England captain!)
Down
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1D PIDDLE Leak in stately home where dukes reside (6)

PI_LE (stately home) around (resided in by) DD (duke, plural)
2D PUPPETRY See 4 (8)

see 4
3D SENSED Noticed polar opposites among children (6)

SE_ED (children, issue) around NS (north and south, polar opposites)
4D SOCK (PUPPETRY) & 2 Handy method of online chicanery (4,8)

CD? SOCK PUPPETRY can be literally a sock on a hand to make a simple puppet – a ‘handy method’! But it can also refer to the practice of creating false identities in online discussion groups to bolster ones own opinion…online chicanery!
5D TURNED ON Small number excited? (6,2)

‘no’ can be an abbreviation, i.e. small, for number, and could also be cryptically described as ‘turned on’!
6D OUTFIT Strip not allowed before bout (6)

OUT (banned, not allowed) + FIT (bout, or attack, of illness, or laughter)
7D CABLE CAR Support briefly up – clear about this form of air travel? (5,3)

(K)CAB (back, or support, short of a letter, or briefly, and written upwards) + LE CAR (anag, i.e. about, of CLEAR)
13D PLACE Spot inexperienced driver cutting speed (5)

P_ACE (speed) around (cut by) L (learner driver)
16D PRESSURE Cheer up – pulling article in support of Prince Harry (8)

P (prince) + RE(A)SSURE (cheer up, removing, or pulling, a – indefinite article)
17D TOWERING Huge drag picking apart 27 (8)

TOW (drag) + ERING (anag, i.e picking apart, of REIGN – 27A)
18D GET RID OF Got fired after damaging bin (3,3,2)

anag, i.e. damaging, of GOT FIRED
20D HOT AIR Locks books inside? That’s bluster! (3,3)

H_AIR (lock) around OT (Old Testament, books)
22D CASTRO Communist twin turning tail (6)

CAST(OR) – twin, of Pollux, turning the last two letters, or the tail = CASTRO

[the Communist being Fidel Castro, of course (or his brother Raul)]
23D REHASH Right, what remains in use, not for the first time? (6)

R (right) + EH (interjection, pardon?!, or what?!) + ASH (remains)
25D CRUX Copper wrong about rule – that’s the key point (4)

C_U (Cu, copper) around R (rule), plus X (mark indicating wrong answer)

9 comments on “Independent 11,187 by Tyrus (Saturday Puzzle 20 August 2022)”

  1. I didn’t spot the Nina until about three quarters done and had quite a chuckle so many thanks to Tyrus for another great puzzle. Thanks too to M C_r for an especially finely embellished blog!

  3. [[Coincidentally (?), Shapps has been in the news in the last few days with a stupid suggestion that bicycles should have number plates. He U-turned on it about as quickly as Liz Truss did with her idea of cutting Civil Service pay in poorer areas.]]

  5. UPROOTS:
    ‘Up’ in ‘time is up’ or ‘game is up’ means ‘over’. Right?

    ‘S for Stokes’ is a good deception as we are tempted to look at the ‘s’ at the end of Stokes (which leads us to a dead end).

    Liked SOCK PUPPETRY and PRESSURE.

  6. Cracking puzzle with lots to like with some real head scratchers. I didn’t see the Nina until the end which then made more sense of SOCK PUPPETRY – a new term for me. CRUX last one in though so obvious once I’d got it. I see LE CARRE also in there straddling 7 & 23d but I suspect that is happenstance rather than a moley link.

    Thanks to Tyrus & to mc_rapper67

  7. Pretty tough but we got there in the end. SOCK PUPPETRY was out LOI, after crossers meant that 2 could onlu be ‘puppetry’ or ‘pulpitry’ and at the last moment we thought of ‘sock’ for 4 – but all it meant to us was in terms of actual sock puppets worked by putting a hand in them (‘Handy method …’). We’d never heard of the online chicanery meaning, and even if we had I doubt the nina (which we didn’t spot) would have meant anything to us.
    A satisfying solve, all the same. Thanks, Tyrus and mc_rapper67.

  8. Thanks both. Eventually beaten by the clever KINSFOLK, and SOCK PUPPETRY owing to not knowing either of its meanings and also being ignorant of the meaning of chicanery. Political comments in puzzles do not get me TURNED ON in the clue for which the position of the question mark confuses me….would ‘excited small number?’ be fairer?

  9. Thanks to mc_r for a great blog – I like the bit that keeps changing below the completed grid (sorry for the technicaI jargon there). Thanks also to everyone else who commented.

    Serendipitous that it appeared today, just when we’re wondering whether to believe Shapps or Mick Lynch!

Comments are closed.