Independent 11,224 by Phi

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It's unusual to see Phi on a Monday, so this was a pleasant surprise.

There were many enjoyable clues from the rather naughty 16A to the Dickens-themed 22D. The unfamiliarity of the word in 21A meant that I probably spent as much time on that as the rest of the crossword but I managed to crack it in the end.

ACROSS
1 REDCAP
Military policeman’s discussion about east Washington area (6)

Rap around (E{ast} DC(=Washington DC)). Rap can be a slang term for chatter or discussion. Redcap is an informal term for a military policemen, referring to the colour of cap they wear.
5 ABHORRED
Hated sailor worked on plot to nick expensive car (8)

Ab(=sailor) + (hoed around RR(=Rolls Royce)). The plot here would refer to a plot of landed which was being hoed.
9 TERN
Seabird heading away from rear of boat (4)

[S]tern
10 OPIUM EATER
De Quincey, say, by his own admission, concocted mere Utopia (5-5)

(Mere utopia)*. You don't need to look too far for the confession because De Quincey's best known work is Confessions of an English Opium Eater.
11 MAN CHILD
A new chapter penned by unassuming boy (3-5)

(A n{ew} ch{apter}) in mild
13 RAGMAN
Waste disposal expert hurried to take in business meeting (6)

Ran around A{nnual} G{eneral} M{eeting}
14 STEPPE
Movement of foot initiating exercises? That’s plain (6)

Step + PE
16 UNCHASTE
Being fond of sex, say, could make nuts ache (8)

(Nuts ache)*
18 EYE LEVEL
Republican’s second to bellow about First Lady being easily visible? (3-5)

([R]e[publican] + yell) around Eve
20 RED EYE
Problem with photography in wine centre? (3-3)

Red(=wine, as in a "bottle of red") + eye(=centre in things like hurricanes)
21 ORMERS
Shells old section, but fighter escapes (6)

[F]ormer(=old) + s{ection}. Fighter is used in abbrevs for fighter planes such as F-105. Ormer is better known as abalone, a type of marine mollusc.
23 TAPEWORM
Record reduction in action by mass parasite (8)

Tape(=record) + wor[k] + m{ass}
25 IDEALISTIC
Cities laid out on a utopian scale (10)

(Cities laid)*
27 AIDE
Political associate’s plan – back to front (4)

Idea with the back letter moving to the front
28 TENEMENT
Principle is to accommodate blokes in housing (8)

Tenet around men
29 SOFTEN
Moderate frequently behind introduction of socialism (6)

Often after s[ocialism]
DOWN
2 ELEGANTLY
Soldier on line captured in lament with style (9)

(Ant(=soldier ant) + l{ine}) in elegy
3 CYNIC
Sceptic clearly heartless and not quite nice (5)

C[learl]y + nic[e]
4 PROMISE
Guarantee concert is ending in Satie (7)

Prom(=promenade concert) + is + [sati]e
5 ALI
Sporting superstar landed, losing time (3)

Ali[t]. Clue refers of course to Muhammad Ali.
6 HOMERIC
Displaying heroic style in full? Not in full (7)

Don't follow this. Possibly home=in + ric[k] but don't understand how that relates to full.
7 REARGUARD
Defensive about curtailed debate – witty character seeing Conservative off (9)

Re + argu[e] + [c]ard
8 ENEMA
Approve turning up after drug treatment (5)

Amen< after E{cstasy}
12 DOUBLET
Garment more like culottes than kilt? (7)

CD referring to the fact that culottes has a double T whereas kilt doesn't.
15 PILFERAGE
Thieving large amount of money brought about fine expression of anger (9)

(Pile around f{ine}) + rage
17 TAY BRIDGE
Book probing tragedy, I fancy, finding location of railway tragedy (3,6)

B{ook} in (tragedy I)*. The Tay Bridge disaster occurred in 1879, when a bridge over the Tay collapsed, killing everyone on board.
19 VESTIGE
Small trace, say, I picked up on waistcoat (7)

(e.g. + I)< on vest
20 REPACKS
Makes new arrangement of recording in store displays? (7)

EP(=Extended Play, originally a vinyl recording format but can be used to refer to a short album in any format) in racks
22 RUDGE
Dickens character uncultured after receiving introduction to Gradgrind (5)

G[radgrind] in rude. You don't have to look far for the Dickens character because he appears eponymously in Barnaby Rudge.
24 WHARF
Quayside question cut short by bark (5)

Wh[y] (or wh[o]) + arf, which is a phonetic imitation of a dog's bark.
26 TOT
Sum? Unofficial salesman offloads third (3)

To[u]t

11 comments on “Independent 11,224 by Phi”

  1. I couldn’t get ORMERS and probably never would have done – thanks NealH for sorting it out, and Phi for an enjoyable challenge.

    I think 6d is HOME (in) + RIC[h], as in a rich / full sound, but without the last letter.

  2. Maybe Phi was asked (nicely) to provide a one cuppa puzzle for a Monday
    Even so he is a great reliable setter.

  3. I gather the shift is due to avoiding the adjacency of the same word in two puzzles.

    It gives you a Nina on a Monday, which might even have helped with ORMERS if spotted.

  5. As suggested by Phi @3, there’s something going on here. Have a look at the middle row of unchecked letters, then the first and second columns of unchecked letters and go from there. There are a few other goodies too, just maybe related to that middle row.

  6. Thanks Phi & NealH. Very pleasant surprise to see Phi on a Monday. I did get ORMERS, which is a bit of a crossword staple, but failed to parse DOUBLET (groan!) or HOMERIC (thanks Quirister).

    Completely missed the Nina – thanks for the pointer, WordPlodder. I did wonder if there might be something significant about the two EYE clues across the middle but can’t think what it might be.

  7. Widdersbel @6 – In addition to the “EYE(s) have it” you’ve already noticed, have a look at the letters at the ends of all of the rows containing completed across clues. The first and last two columns containing unchecked letters are also of interest. All related to the symbol for the Nina.

  8. WOW!

    That all balanced out nicely. We spotted LIBRA straight away once we had completed the puzzle. We were wondering when it would appear given Phi’s earlier Zodiac puzzles.

    We hunted for other related items and noticed LEVEL but couldn’t spot anything else. Thanks to the other commenters who pointed us in the right direction although it took us a while to realise that we needed to look at the initial and final 3 letters of the across clues.

    After the initial shock of finding Phi on a Monday, this was fun to solve over lunch.

    Thanks Phi and thanks also to NealH.

  10. After the Virgo puzzle I made a mental note to look out for the Libra one, but I was put off balance by the Monday appearance. Thanks for taking the scales from my eyes.

  11. I don’t think I’ve come across ORMERS in a crossword before, but as my surname is Dormer, it’s a word I’ve long been familiar with. I’ve sometimes joked my surname is actually d’Ormer.
    Couldn’t parse it, though. Didn’t spot the three letter duplications, also.

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