Independent 11,242 by Bluth

by

An enjoyable and absorbing puzzle.

There was a small Starsky and Hutch theme with three consecutive clues referring to the title characters and their co-star, Huggy Bear. The clues were often quite intricate with lots of small pieces to put together. I particularly liked 10A for the well concealed definition.

ACROSS
1 COMMA
Mark, caught by rebounding bullets, say (5)

C{aught} + ammo<
4 INSULATED
Protected journalist following abuse over article (9)

Ed{itor} after (insult around a)
9 LOSE HEART
Somehow lets a hero become discouraged (4,5)

(Lets a hero)*
10 CACTI
About turn before head of infantry deserts – that’s what they’re good for (5)

C(=about) + act(=turn) + i[nfantry]
11 EXTINCT
Not opening text in court – it’s expired (7)

[T]ext + in + c{our}t
12 RED KITE
Friends knit them occasionally for high flyer (3,4)

Even letters of friends knit them
13 TOP HEAVY
Work hard during afternoon meal, leaving content, very likely to tip (3-5)

(Op(=opus i.e. work) + h{ard}) in tea + v[er]y
14 UBIETY
Being in a particular place, you purchase a cuppa for the audience (6)

Hom of "you buy a tea".
17 REVAMP
Pimp against paper covering prostitute’s initiation (6)

V{ersus} with ream(=paper) coverint it + p[rostitute]. Pimp is used in the "Pimp my ride" sense.
19 HARRUMPH
Mostly tough sort of steak – needs last drop of syrah to clear your throat (8)

Har[d] + rump + [syra]h
22 INSIDER
One of us is hot and dries out (7)

In(=hot, as in the "in thing") + dries*
24 TABASCO
Supermarket taking American graduate instead of European – it can be hard to swallow (7)

Tesco with (A{merican} BA) replacing E{uropean}
25 ENEMA
To conclude a little exercise in retirement – it will leave you feeling flushed (5)

(Amen + e{xcercise})*. The def refers to flushed toilets, which would be the likely result of the treatment.
26 SERENGETI
Green repaired and in place before international – it’s a great space for game (9)

Green* in set + i{nternational}. Game here obviously refers here to animals for hunting.
27 SMALL ARMS
T-Rex had these weapons (5-4)

DD, referring to the relatively small (in proportion to its body) size of the T-Rex's upper arms
28 SPROG
Programme on small child (5)

Prog{amme} on s{mall}
DOWN
1 COLLECTORS ITEMS
Gather men and plot writing valuable pieces (10,5)

Collect(=gather) + OR(=ordinary ranks i.e. soldiers, men) + site(=plot)
2 MISSTEP
Error some puppets simply sent up (7)

Hidden, rev in puppets simply
3 ATHENAEUM
Bathe naked before performing 25 to entertain university club (9)

[B]ath[e] + (enema* around u{niversity})
4 INACTIVE
Dormant core of volcano toured by island resident (8)

[Vol]c[ano] in (I{sland} native)
5 SATYRS
Starsky first to kick off about lecherous men (6)

Stars[k[ick]]y*
6 LUCID
Hutch regularly breaks cover, it’s clear (5)

Even letters of hutch in lid
7 TACTILE
Corrupt cat in hat – Huggy? (7)

Cat* in tile, a slang word for a hat
8 DRIVE BY SHOOTING
Assault overnight – body is abandoned (5-2,8)

(Overnight body is)*
15 BARE BONES
Framework made from stick cut-off tree with electric saw originally (4,5)

Bar(=stick) + ebon[y] + e{lectric} + s[aw]
16 CAPTURES
Apartment engulfed by smoke – arson essentially leads to arrests (8)

Apt(=abbrev for apartment) in cure(=smoke in the sense of curing fish) + [ar]s[on]
18 VISCERA
Clamp holds son on middle of X-ray to reveal innards (7)

(Vice around s{on}) + [X]ra[y]
20 MASSEUR
Rubber fashion amuses King (7)

(Amuses)* + r(=king)
21 ERASER
Rubber coat from ASOS worn by that woman twice – husband’s always absent (6)

A[so]s in ([h]er [h]er)
23 DRAWL
Speak slowly and pull student (5)

Draw l{earner}

19 comments on “Independent 11,242 by Bluth”

  1. What a cracker of a puzzle from one of my favourite setters. I wasn’t aware of who’d set it before completion but the trademark Bluth to humour and misdirection are there throughout.
    I particularly liked CACTI, HARRUMPH, SERENGETI and TACTILE.
    Many thanks Bluth and NealH.

  2. I didn’t see much of Starsky and Hutch but I wonder if there was a character called King, since there’s an unnecessary capital K at 20D. Great stuff, so thanks Bluth and NealH.

  4. An excellent puzzle to start the week with several pieces of intricate parsing to unravel as is the norm with this setter.

    14a was my last one in, until my long lost schoolboy Latin came to my rescue to get me to an answer which I have never heard of.

    I enjoyed the nostalgia of the S&H mini-theme.

    Many thanks to Bluth and to Neal.

  5. I enjoyed the Starsky and Hutch reminder and that was a neat little interlude. I also smiled at the two sequential rubbers further down the Downs. As Stephen L and RD (got it right this time!) say between them – intricate parsing, misdirection and fun with particular favourites: INSULATED, CACTI, HARRUMPH, TABASCO, SMALL ARMS (lol), TACTILE and MASSEUR.

    Thanks Bluth and Neal

  6. An absolutely lovely puzzle.

    In the parsing of 1D you need to add “MS” for Writing (and the last two letters in ITEMS)

    Thanks so much to Bluth for the morning’s entertainment and NealH for the blog

  7. Good fun, even though the theme completely passed me by. Never heard of UBIETY, but I’m hoping it will be a new word I do remember given the Latin connection.

    I won’t go into specifics, but I don’t think it was “toilets” being referred to as having been ‘flushed’ by an ENEMA; you don’t need to know any more.

    Thanks to Bluth and NealH

  8. I very rarely spot a theme and this one passed me by too.

    Thanks very much to Bluth for the enjoyable crossword and to NealH for theblog

  9. 21 confused me. “Worn by” suggested to me that the A and S were on the outside of the word, with the other content in the middle. But it’s the other way round.

  12. James @ 11 I read it as he was expecting the A & S to be on the outside. Perhaps he’ll clarify.

    I expected them to be on the inside.

  13. Very enjoyable one. Particular fan of 26A, 27A and 25A definitely had ‘Break wind’ vibes to it.

    Thanks to NealH and Bluth.

  14. Perhaps I wasn’t clear, but I agree that if something is worn by you, then you are inside it.

    So the clue reads to me that A[so]S is worn by h[ER] + h[ER], but in fact it’s the opposite, with h[ER + h[ER] being worn by A[so]S.

  16. Thanks both. Got there gradually, correctly guessing the exact order of letters in ATHENAEUM which plays to my northerner’s hang-up about London locations, but otherwise everything at an ideal level for a Monday

  17. I thought this was great. I couldn’t decide how much of the puzzle was thematic. A lot of the clues are crime-related.

  18. Thanks Bluth for a most enjoyable crossword. Some of my top picks included COMMA, SERENGETI, INACTIVE, DRIVE-BY SHOOTING (great surface and anagram), and VISCERA. I noticed Starsky and Hutch as well as the crime-related solutions but I never watched the show. I couldn’t parse REVAMP; thanks NealH for the blog.

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