Independent 11,194 by Quince

Wot another Bank Holiday? Soon be Christmas then I guess..

This seemed a relatively easy plain BH puzzle, I dislike CDs as a blogger in case there’s more I’ve missed but if you can see more let me know

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS

1. Bird from Ring of Fire? (8)

FLAMINGO

FLAMING & O – a ring. This took me longer than it should have

5. One gradually stripped during a party game (6)

PARCEL

Cryptic def for the Pass the Parcel game

10. Working for remake of Dune, close to director (5)

UNDER

A remake of DUNE* & the close of (directo)R

11. Scoops in paper, after discovering rich sect (3,6)

ICE CREAMS

A discovered rICh sECt & REAMS – lots of paper

12. He goes inside to backed-up loo where one may get the runs (3,4)

THE OVAL

HE inside TO & LAV(atory) reversed – backed up. An English Cricket ground m’lud.

13. See 22

14. Broadcast releases games of snooker, causing stops in play (6-6)

FREEZE FRAMES

Sounds like FREES & FRAMES – games of snooker

19. Do thermostats control it? (12)

HOUSEWARMING

Double ish def. Do for party and actual temp control

22/13. MAGA line might hit around Republican hotspots (7,7)

THERMAL IMAGING

Not really sure about the def here, surely it finds hotspots not that they are unless some extended def is at work [MAGA LINE MIGHT]* hit with R(epublican) inserted

24. Bill Nighy’s beginning to divide current opinion (7)

INVOICE

N(ighy) inside I – electrical current & VOICE opinion – let’s hear your voice on this…

25. Spiced risotto is missing nuts, but finally ready to go (3,2,4)

HOT TO TROT

HOT – spiced & IS removed from R(is)OTTO* nuts & (bu)T finally

26. Steps requiring two volunteers to lead private aid group (5)

TANGO

TA – Territorial Army, altough I’m not convinced that actually still exists by that name & NGO – Non Governalmental Organisation

27. Ultimately sage is put into bubbling stew (6)

WISEST

IS inside a bubbling STEW*

28. Poetry by Frost, perhaps, expressed apprehension (4,4)

COLD FEET

COLD frost maybe & FEET – well you could argue it refers to poetry

DOWN

1. Department sacks Head of Chemistry for not working (6)

FAULTY

C(hemistry) removed from FA(c)ULTY

2. Did a summer’s work around lake, getting spoiled (6)

ADDLED

L(ake) inside ADDED – what summers do

3. Endlessly persevering at sea, going backwards (2,7)

INREVERSE

Endlessly (p)ERSERVERIN(g)* at sea.

4. Examine source of Gulf Stream (5)

GRILL

G(ulf) & RILL- a stream

6. Bloody Tube! Between two areas, nothing runs on time (5)

AORTA

[O & R(uns) & T(ime)] all in 2 x A(rea)

7. Essentially cocky, Athos and Aramis developed allure (8)

CHARISMA

Middle – the essential bits of coCky atHos & a developed ARAMIS*

8. Street gossip stops friend returning just in time (4-4)

LAST GASP

ST(eet) & GAS – gossip all in a reversed PAL – friend

9. What’s behind member‘s temper in EU? Money, partly (8)

PERINEUM

Umm well yes. Hidden in temPER IN EU Money. Erm thanks for that Quince.

15. Online posters upset about Liam during end of One Direction (8)

EMAILERS

Should it be 1-7? Not sure. End of onE & a reversed [RE (about) LIAM] & S(outh)

16. Fresh eggs let outside (9)

RENOVATED

OVA – eggs inside RENTED – let out

17. Doctor Who’s following leaves time for programme (4,4)

CHAT SHOW

CHA – tea – leaves & T(ime) & a doctored WHOS*

18. Windows unsettle criminal (8)

LUNETTES

A criminal UNSETTLE*

20. Fund bans new prospective union member (6)

FIANCE

First N(ew) removed from FI(n)ANCE

21. Seconds from admitting he overstepped lockdown rules, leader of Tories is committed (6)

DEVOUT

Second letters of aDmitting hE oVerstpped lOckdown rUles & start of T(ories) It should be noted the Independent is independent and never ever has a go at any one political party, OK yeah yes it does in the crossword realm.

23. Low point son cheekily unveils (5)

MOONS

MOO – low, what cows do & N(orth) – point & S(on)

24. Popular couple split up (2,3)

IN TWO

IN popular & TWO couple

8 comments on “Independent 11,194 by Quince”

Hovis

#1 - Mon 29th Aug 22, 06:48

Fairly straightforward but I really liked this. Lots of nicely constructed surfaces. I particularly liked the clues for DEVOUT & AORTA. Once upon a time EMAILERS used to be E-MAILERS (way back when TA was a thing 🙂 ) but hyphens are becoming a dying species. My only query was the definition for THERMAL IMAGING. Perhaps meant to cryptically refer to spotting heat ‘hot-spots’, but I don’t buy that.

WordPlodder

#2 - Mon 29th Aug 22, 07:22

There’s a temperature theme in many of the across answers (FLAMING, ICE, FREEZE etc) and I don’t know if this is being referred to in the slightly iffy THERMAL IMAGING for ‘hotspots’.

Good entertainment for the start of the week, even if it’s not a holiday here. I parsed HOUSEWARMING as a sort of double def cum cryptic def; anyway, whatever it was I liked it. My favourites were the lavatorial surface for THE OVAL and the ‘Bloody Tube’ for AORTA.

Thanks to Quince for crossword number four and to flashling

Rabbit Dave

#3 - Mon 29th Aug 22, 08:28

Nice and light. This was good fun with FLAMINGO my favourite, closely followed by THE OVAL.

Many thanks to Quince and flashling.

Petert

#4 - Mon 29th Aug 22, 10:37

AORTA was my favourite. THERMAL IMAGING spots hot, but I am not sure it works as hotspots.

jane

#5 - Mon 29th Aug 22, 12:20

Plenty of humour in this one which is always appreciated here although 9d didn’t quite hit the spot.
FLAMINGO raised a smile as I used almost exactly the same clue in a puzzle for our Birding Group members some years ago and I also enjoyed PARCEL where our setter nicely diverted me towards Strip- Jack-Naked and the like. MOONS and AORTA were others that appealed.

Thanks to Quince and to flashling for the review.

TFO

#6 - Mon 29th Aug 22, 13:22

Thanks both. Took me longer than perhaps it should, held up on the likes of HOUSEWARMING, for which I might have preferred a two-word enumeration. I think a form of THERMAL IMAGING was used in cricket for a while to detect ball contacting bat, and was known as ‘hot-spot’; either way, it seems fair to me

Tony Santucci

#7 - Mon 29th Aug 22, 18:41

Thanks Quince for the “thermal” crossword and a multitude of great clues including FLAMINGO, THE OVAL, HOT TO TROT, FAULTY, ADDLED, AORTA, PERINEUM, FIANCE, DEVOUT, and MOONS. I couldn’t parse COLD FEET or FREEZE-FRAMES so thanks flashling for the blog.

allan_c

#8 - Tue 30th Aug 22, 06:32

We didn’t get round to posting yesterday but this was an enjoyable bank holiday solve. AORTA was favourite. As for 15dn, it would be (1-7) for us.
Thanks, Quince and flashling.

Comments are closed.