Independent 11,193 by Serpent

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The last Saturday in August brings a puzzle from Serpent.

And usually a theme, but I don’t see it today. 9ac, 18ac and 5dn are my favourite clues – the usual smooth surfaces prevalent throughout.

Thanks Serpent and assistance with 4dn gratefully received. Though as I’m currently in the North of Scotland may take a little while to update.

Also the hidden theme would be nice to know – I’m sure there is one.

Key * anagram, dd double definition, rev reversed, underline definition.

Across

1 Drug problem starts to attract troublesome element (7)
Habit (drug problem) + at (starts to attract troublesome) = HABITAT

5 Wary of running feud disrupting almost all aid (7)
Help (aid) – p around (feud) = HEEDFUL

9 Rubbish broadcaster on radio set fire to a hidden mike (9)
Homonym of Lit a (set fire too) + bug (hidden mike) = LITTERBUG

10 Cap on splitting money in speculative venture (5)
Re (on) in bet (money in speculative venture) = BERET

11 What stops triumph over order? (6)
Eh(what) in best (triumh) = BEHEST

12 Cost of moving goods vehicle (8)
DD CARRIAGE

14 Arrested man reversed charges and called informally (9)
Nicked (arrested) around Rev. man = NICKNAMED

16 Exclude some testimony that’s been retracted (4)
Rev. hidden tesTIMOny = OMIT

18 Counter had fine cheese (4)
Rev. ate + f (fine) = FETA

20 Collected head of state in navy vessel at sea (9)
(RN+ vessel + s)* = NERVELESS

23 Broadcast again revolved around argument that’s more bigoted (8)
Rev. reran (broadcast again) around row (argument) = NARROWER

24 Group blocking postgraduate qualification for medicine man (6)
Gang (group) in ma (postgraduate qualification) = MGANGA

27 Warning from porter perhaps emptied restaurant (5)
Ale (porter perhaps) + rt (emptied restaurant) = ALERT

28 Made known criminal’s last dealings subject to review (9)
(l + dealings)* = SIGNALLED

29 Have Post Office review following disappearance of article (7)
Po(post office) + assess (review) – a = POSSESS

30 Royal Navy pilot admits being less lenient (7)
Rn (royal navy) in steer (pilot) = STERNER

Down

1 Absolutely determined that Man will be proven innocent ultimately (4-4)
He’ll be (that man will be) + nt (proven innocent ultimately) = HELL-BENT

2 Complain about hospital following drill (5)
Bit (drill) + c(about) + h (hospital) = BITCH

3 Suspect senator’s attempting to overthrow government? (7)
(senator)* = TREASON

4 London Underground entrance about to close early (4)
TUBE

5 Stranded in the Atacama desert? (4,3,3)
Cryptic definition HIGH AND DRY

6 Say nothing about lawyers supporting mass prohibition (7)
Bar (lawyers) after m (mass) in eg (say) + o (nothing) = EMBARGO

7 Make official warning to store belonging to African country (9)
Fore (warning) around Mali’s(belonging to African country) = FORMALISE

8 Character that features in epistolary novel (6)
DD LETTER

13 Person helping to write out names in USA (10)
(names in UAS)* = AMANUENSIS

15 Cold and unappetising article in French toast sandwiches (9)
Cheers (toast) around les (article in French) = CHEERLESS

17 I speak badly of key individual? (8)
I slander (speak badly of) = ISLANDER

19 Missionary position adopted by naked men (7)
Males(men) – ms (naked) around post (position) = APOSTLE

21 Very dangerous nurse leads chase (7)
En (nurse) + grave (very dangerous) = ENGRAVE

22 Part of brazen campaign pitch (6)
Hidden brazEN CAMPaign = ENCAMP

25 Supply only new material (5)
(only)* + n (new) = NYLON

26 Protection provided by English and American soldiers (4)
E (English) + gis(American soldiers) = EGIS

 

24 comments on “Independent 11,193 by Serpent”

  2. I reckon NERVELESS is ER (head of state) in N (navy) + (vessel*). Always enjoy Serpent but didn’t spot the usual hidden Nina. Wasn’t keen on 11a where ‘stops’ and ‘over’ seem to be doing double duty. Wasted a bit of time looking for a word ???B meaning ‘order’ as a result. Missed the parsing of TUBE, so thanks flashling. Cheated on MGANGA, a new word to me. Wasn’t keen on the word order for 30a. I thought 26d was odd. So many words fit ?G?S so going for a very unusual spelling of AEGIS seems odd – maybe theme related?

  4. Thadsi in the middle row can be a name, and there’s Ben Ten in the LH column, but I doubt they’re it.
    Clap for reversed charges.
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  5. ISLANDER and HELL-BENT were both very clever, I thought. I, too, couldn’t parse TUBE. I think it’s because DEBUT only “closes early” after it’s “about”. Too subtle for me. Once we had HELL and TREASON, I thought we had a Dante’s Inferno theme, but it appears not.

  7. Thankyou twencelas and Serpent
    I tried to stand on my head with 4D TUBE and couldn’t quite work it out. It seemed counter-intuitive, and I wanted the ‘debut’ to open late rather than close early. Don’t think I’ve seen something like that before. One is the word, the other is the reversal, and it’s all ‘about’ the grammar.

    Liked HABITAT, HIGH AND DRY, EGIS, AMENUENSIS, and NERVELESS.
    Never heard of MGANGA , and I couldn’t find a MRINGA.

    The surface of MISSIONARY was funny, but the clue was diminished, I felt, by ”post” for ”position’
    And is a ‘bit” a ”drill” or a bit of a drill?

  9. James@4. ”Clap for reversed charges”. That one went over my head. Is ”charges” an embed indicator? It seems that one word is superfluous, either ”charges” or ”and”. What am I missing?

  11. Ericw @ 10 in engraving the technical term is to chase out the design, ie using a (rotary) tool to gouge out the material.

  12. Pleasant one from Serpent, though MGANGA and the parsing of TUBE were the stings in the tail. Perhaps I was subconsciously thinking of Rufus, but at 30a I had a blind spot about ‘admits’ as an insertion indicator and thought that STERNER must be a colloquialism for a ‘Royal Navy pilot’!

    I was a bit surprised EGIS didn’t have an initial A, but I see from Chambers that this isn’t specifically indicated as a US spelling. I look forward to seeing if there is a theme or Nina.

    Thanks to Serpent and twencelas

  16. Many thanks to twencelas for the great blog and to everyone who has taken the time to comment. Thanks particularly to Simon @11, James @13 and Joshua @15 for clarifying “chase”, “reversed charges” and “triumph over”.

    The puzzle does contain at least one thematic element …

  18. What a delightfully sneaky theme. Love it, but wish I’d seen it. Thanks Joshua for the “triumph over”. Think my brain needs some jumper cables of late.

  20. The element of surprise (delivered with ruthless efficiency and a fanatical devotion to the Pope like the Spanish Inquisition, Monty Python)

  21. Lovely puzzle, if elementary overall, with quite a few chewy bits (as in subsequently swallowed rather than spat out). Excellent clues; great surfaces and airtight grammar. Ta muchly, Serpent.

  22. Nice puzzle. Favourites LITTERBUG (amusing surface + neat wordplay), ISLANDER (like the misleading def), and CARRIAGE, FETA + NYLON (v smooth surface readings). I had a definitional problem with the BITCH clue, as a ‘bit’ is part of, or an attachment to, a drill, + not the drill itself.

  23. Thanks Serpent. I saw the chemical elements about halfway through but I was too late in coming here to post it before the theme was revealed. The word “element” is in 1a and maybe that steered me in the right direction. As usual, there many many good clues including BERET, FETA, HELL-BENT, BITCH, TUBE, and CHEERLESS. I couldn’t parse BEHEST or SIGNALLED and AMANUESIS was an unknown for me. Thanks twencelas for the blog.

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