Independent on Sunday 1,707 by Laccaria

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Pretty sure this is a debut from Laccaria. This has probably the best clue I’ve blogged in years.

It quickly became clear this is themed on the Peanuts cartoon strip. There’s also a crossing Las Vegas/roulette but I suspect that’s just coincidence. Thanks Laccaria

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
7. Revealing orientation of spin (6)
OUTING

Double definition first one being sexual orientation

8. Searching internet possibly, looking for game (2,6)
ON SAFARI

Safari is the web browser of Apple machines & phones

10. He has to pay young lady, coming out with rock (6)
DEBTOR

DEB a new society woman & TOR for rock

11. Wrecked hull on U-boat (not British) docking at port (8)
HONOLULU

A wrecked [HULL ON (b)O(at)]* with B(ritish) removed and AT docked

12. Republican playing silly, interrupting to propose amendment, for instance? (11)
TRISYLLABLE

R(epublican) & a played SILLY* all in TABLE for propose. Not really sure how fair this type of defintion by example is.

17. Awful liar imprisoned by revolutionary prince (7)
CHARLIE

An awful LIAR* in the crossword favourite revolutionary CHE

19. See 29

 

20. See 29

 

25. Have a wager with this Mutant Turtle with outsize shell (8)
ROULETTE

A mutant [TURTLE & shell of O(utsiz)E]*

26. Fully clothed is perhaps what you need to be, to travel … (2,4)
IN GEAR

Double definition

28. … like this person, weary, shattered, covering a great distance (8)
WAYFARER

FAR – great distance inside a shattered WEARY*

29/19/20. Unfortunately, this isn’t a grand way to mark dramatic opening (2,3,1,4,3,6,5)
IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT

Outstanding. [THIS ISN’T A GRAND WAY TO MARK and the opening of D(ramatic)]* Snoopy often used this to start his (awful) manuscripts

DOWN
1. Festival date: around Saint Marina? (9)
WOODSTOCK

WOO – court, date & ST in DOCK – a marina say

2. Stop burning counterfoil! (4)
STUB

Double def

3. Spying some typo on script returned (6)
SNOOPY

Hidden reversed in tYPO ON Script

4. Actors Kingsley and Courtenay, maybe, cycled to Bury (6)
ENTOMB

BEN (kingsley) & TOM (courtney) with the B moved to the end

5. Unruly boat user is one causing damage (8)
SABOTEUR

An unruly [BOAT USER]*

6. Ancient Pope discovered in Roswell – in USA (5)
LINUS

Hiddden in roswelL IN USa

9. City dismisses marketing fever (4)
AGUE

PR – spin, marketing taken from (pr)AGUE

13. Setter’s mother rises for leader at prayers (4)
IMAM

I’M – the setter is & MA reversed

14. Changing hands: whiskey and soda? (3)
LYE

L not R in RYE

15. Sharp object‘s point grasped by young servant (4)
FANG

N(orth) point in FAG a servant, usually a younger boy in public schools

16. I led a riot: damaged column (9)
EDITORIAL

A damaged (I LED A RIOT]*

18. Glass vase broken, son dropped here, you bet! (3,5)
LAS VEGAS

No S(on) in a broken [GLASS VA(s)E)*

19. Restrain the first man to lose his head (3)
DAM

A decapitated (a)DAM

21. Juliet isn’t there to nudge Romeo: he‘s a stable chap (6)
OSTLER

no J(uliet) in (j)OSTLE – nudge & R(omeo)

22. Cardinal uses ancient entry occasionally (6)
NINETY

Alternate letters in aNcIeNt EnTrY

23. Shade upper part of face and tip of nose (5)
BROWN

BROW & N(ose)

24. Girl is terribly clumsy, having mislaid manuscript (4)
LUCY

MS – manuscript removed from a terrible CLU(ms)Y*

27. Raising dead besides others (2,2)
ET AL

LATE – dead reversed

 

27 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,707 by Laccaria”

  1. Not much more you could ask for – a new setter, an accessible, popular culture, answer-based theme and some excellent clues, with the &lit 29/19/20 as the highlight, as emphasised by flashling. All parsed except for the second part of the 7a double def, for which I couldn’t bring the ‘spin’ sense of OUTING to mind.

    I thought TRISYLLABLE was fair enough, though I would have put in TRISYLLABIC were it not for the wordplay.

    Thanks and welcome to Laccaria, who I see comes to us from the MyCrossword site, and to flashling

  2. Loved the Peanuts theme. I have a complete collection of the books. My memory isn’t great, but was the cat (nemesis to Snoopy) called FANG. Flashling, you have forgotten to dock the AT in the anagram fodder for 11a. In 4d, your spelling for the actor differs from that in the clue. Didn’t check but suspect the latter is correct.

  5. Congratulations to Laccaria on producing this puzzle which I really enjoyed. 29/19/20 is an instant classic! Bluebird/Conto/Will

  6. Excellent debut, Laccaria, very enjoyable. The long anagram is superb.

    I thought TRISYLLABLE was fair enough thanks to precise and clear clueing – it was one of my last in but once I had most of the crossing letters, the penny dropped. It’s one of those where once you see it, you are absolutely sure it’s right.

    Thanks for the blog, flashling.

  7. Excellent puzzle, more from this setter would be very welcome indeed.
    I’m not really a fan of “multi-clue clues”, you can go from having very few checkers to half the grid checked with one solution but today’s was a beaut.
    I also liked ON SAFARI, WAYFARER, and ET AL.
    Thanks Laccaria and flashling

  8. Thanks both. SNOOPY alerted me to a potential theme which I managed to forget until coming here even though my penultimate clue solved was WOODSTOCK the order of which I still don’t quite understand as marina goes around saint

  9. An excellent debut, perfectly pitched for Sunday breakfast, and a brilliant anagram to boot — congratulations Laccaria!

  11. Great debut, Laccharia and nice to see another from MyC appearing in the Indy. Nicely worked theme though not one with which I’m particularly familiar so several references were lost on me. I recognised SNOOPY and CHARLIE BROWN and, with hindsight, should have clocked WOODSTOCK but have never encountered the rest. And, yes, the long one certainly deserves the plaudits it is securing.

    Thanks Laccaria and flashling.

  13. Thanks to everyone for the comments, and to flashling for the blog – too generous in your praise, methinks! Yes it’s my first time here, but I’ve come not just from MyC but, like an anagram, from ‘all over the place’. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had a contribution published on 1across, as well as two appearances on the late (and sadly missed) Alberich’s site. And I had a long run on BD, with its ups-and-downs but enjoyable on the whole – no hard feelings (and BD, if you’re reading this, all the best wishes for a quick recovery from your injuries).

    Yes I suppose I struck lucky with IT WAS A DARK… – hours spent fiddling with the Scrabble letters until it all came together as an &lit. I did want to get SCHROEDER and his beloved BEETHOVEN into the grid too, but they wouldn’t fit… Like Schroeder, I have at one time or another in my life had a bash at various Beethoven sonatas – but on a ‘proper’ piano and with far less skill.

    For those who didn’t notice, the centenary of Charles M. Schulz’s birth is coming up shortly, on 26 November.

    I must extend my thanks to Mike Hutchinson for accepting my puzzle at first try; to John Henderson (‘Nimrod/Enigmatist/Elgar’) for his kind comments (passed on by Mike); to Ashley (‘Boatman’) for getting me started – and especially to ‘Hippogryph’ of this parish for testing the first draft and making many valuable suggestions.

    Thanks all!

  14. Wondered if I had time for another new setter debut in Indy; anyway printed it; once I started looking at it, I couldn’t put it away. Have 8 smilies around, and yes, it is a grand way to make dramatic opening! Thanks Laccaria!

    That’s what I posted in Gdn site after finishing Everyman. It belongs here, so…for the records.

    Welcome Laccaria!

  15. Very pleasing, accessible, puzzle which I solved without seeing the theme, which I’d not have been familiar with anyway, though I did know the long one from other contexts. Thank Laccaria for an excellent debut puzzle and flashling for the blog.

  16. I’ll add to the chorus of praise for this one – found the cluing hit the sweet spot of challenging but doable. To my shame it was only when I came here that I noticed the theme, which added to my admiration, and of course loved 29/19/20.

    Hope to see Laccaria back soon!

  18. I might add that the LAS VEGAS/ROULETTE mini-theme was entirely coincidental – especially seeing as I loathe gambling!

    For some years now I’ve been having a go at the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Bulwer-Lytton, as you probably know, was the originator of that egregious opening line, in his novel Paul Clifford. Never won anything though – I reckon my purple prose isn’t purple enough! Has anyone else had a shot at this?

  19. Thanks Laccaria and welcome to the Indy. That was quite pleasant even without spotting the theme — if I thought to look for it I would have found it because I’ve read the Peanuts strip for decades. I liked NINETY, TRISYLLABLE, and, of course, 29/19/20. Thanks flashling for the blog.

  22. Forgive me flashling but I can’t figure how HONOLULU works if by taking out the B then OAT remains as part of the anagram?

  23. An enjoyable puzzle, although we needed a couple of goes at it. We missed the theme, although when we got LINUS we remembered him as a Peanuts character. And we weren’t aware of where 29/19/20 came from so we learnt something new today. So thanks and welcome to Laccaria, and thanks, too, to Flashling.

  25. Scolty@22 – may I answer that? The parsing should be:
    (HULL ON U [b]O[at])* after removing both B (‘not British’) and AT (‘docking AT’ – docking in the sense of cutting off). Yes I know, a bit of misdirection here!

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