Independent 11,274 / Mev

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Our mid-week cruciverbal challenge has been set by Mev. I am not familiar with this compiler’s work, although I can see that a small number of puzzles by him/her have already been blogged on this site.

I found this to be an enjoyable and stimulating solve on a grid that I at least found quite engaging, despite the lack of longer entries.

Alas, despite my best efforts, I have been unable to parse some of the clues that I am nonetheless confident of having solved correctly: 2, 18 and 27. Mev has thus had the last laugh today, and I am waiting with bated breath to be enlightened by other solvers. Many thanks to setter and solvers alike – I have now corrected and completed the blog.

My favourite clues today were 5A and 13, both for concision; 23, for smoothness of surface; and, above all, 3, for making me laugh out loud. Incidentally, I take it that AC in 5D can apply equally to a male or female aviator!

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across  
   
05 ORANGES Fruit with no varieties?

“0 (=zero) ranges (=no varieties)”
   
09 NECTARINE Peach tree canine almost trashed

*(TREE CANIN<e>); “almost” means last letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “trashed”
   
10 AZTEC Old American found in middle of piazza by investigator

<pi>AZ<za> (“middle of” means middle letters only) + TEC (=investigator, i.e. detective, in slang)
   
11 TEENAGE Support elderly horse at end of life, not yet 20

TEE (=support) + NAG (=elderly horse) + <lif>E (“end of” means last letter only); the “20” of the definition refers to “20 years of age”
   
12 ALTERED Changed key before commencement of diminuendo

ALT (=key, on computer keyboard) + ERE (=before, in poetry) + D<iminuendo> (“commencement of” means first letter only)
   
13 CREOSOTE Brown oil damaged E-scooter

*(E-SCOOTER); “damaged” is anagram indicator
   
15 YARN Story of beam reflected by Newton

YAR (RAY=beam; “reflected” indicates reversal) + N (=Newton, i.e. the SI unit)
   
18 HAWK Shout about selling // bird

Double definition: to hawk is to shout about selling, to cry one’s wares (Chambers) + a hawk is a bird
   
19 QUADRANT Sixties designer adopting a doctor’s measuring device

[A + DR (=doctor)] in QUANT (=sixties designer, i.e. Mary Quant); a quadrant is an instrument for measuring altitudes
   
23 STOMACH Tolerate second coat amid very warm easterly

S (=second) + [MAC (=coat, i.e. mackintosh) in TOH (HOT=warm; “easterly” indicates reversal)]
   
25 JAINISM Is “jam” in roly-poly a form of worship?

*(IS JAM IN); “roly-poly” is anagram indicator; Jainism is an ascetic Indian religion related to Buddhism
   
26 INANE Silly chicken animator’s segment runs backwards

Hidden (“segment”) and reversed (“runs backwards”) in “chickEN ANImator”
   
27 OXIDIZING Rusting unopened container concealed gluey material for stiffening fabric

<b>OX (=container) + <h>ID (=concealed) + <s>IZING (=gluey material for stiffening fabric); “unopened” means that first letters are dropped
   
28 GARBAGE Bachelor inhabiting lock-up can type

B (=bachelor) in GARAGE (=lock-up); a garbage can is a type of rubbish bin
   
29 ENGINES Bonnet-wearing drivers?

Cryptic definition: a bonnet is the cover of a motor-car engine
   
Down  
   
01 ORNATE Intricate pieces from flugelhorn at Eisteddfod

Hidden (“pieces from”) in “fligelhORN AT Eisteddfod”
   
02 SACRED COW Revered idea broadcast around area of country from the beginning

[ACRE (=area of country) + DC (=from the beginning, i.e. da capo, in music)] in SOW (=broadcast)
   
03 UNAWARE Ignorant of Stubbs pottery?

Cryptically, “Una (=Stubbs, the UK actress) –ware (=pottery)” could be described as “Stubbs pottery”
   
04 AFIRE Rotate chunk of rafter I failed to get burning

Hidden (“chunk of”) and reversed (“rotate”) in “raftER I FAiled”
   
05 OVERACTED Perhaps maiden aircraftwoman Hughes performed unsatisfactorily

OVER (=perhaps maiden, in cricket) + AC (=aircraft(wo)man) + TED (=Hughes, i.e. the English poet)
   
06 ADAPTS Modifies starters of any dodgy automobiles prone to stalling

First letters (“starters of”) “A<ny> D<odgy> A<utomobiles> P<rone> T<o> S<talling>”
   
07 GATOR Snapper’s Centre Of Photography atop a hill

<photo>G<raphy> (“centre of” means middle letter only) + A + TOR (=hill); a gator is a colloquial way of referring to an alligator, hence “snapper”
   
08 SECEDING Formally withdrawing club’s initial rating of player as a guard

C<lub’s> (“initial” means first letter only) in SEEDING (=rating of player)
   
14 SOUTH POLE Very unusual hut provides roof for European in remote location

SO + *(HUT) + POLE (=European, from Poland); “unusual” is anagram indicator
   
16 ATTRITION Current inside Neptunian satellite, after a time, is wearing down

A + T (=time) + [I (=current, in physics) in TRITON (=Neptunian satellite, i.e. a moon of Neptune)]
   
17 WHISKING Mixing with that guy’s family before midnight

W (=with) + HIS (=that guy’s) + KIN (=family) + <ni>G<ht> (=mid- means middle letter only)
   
20 ARISING Fault in a drilling platform cropping up

SIN (=fault) in [A + RIG (=drilling platform, for oil or gas)]
   
21/1A CAMERA OBSCURA Fan cures Obama in dilapidated car showroom?

*(CURES OBAMA) in *(CAR); both “fan (=agitate, whip up)” and “dilapidated” are anagram indicators; a camera obscura is a dark chamber in which an image of outside objects is projected on a screen, hence “showroom”
   
22 IMAGES Ultimate tragic gamester heartily makes digital duplicate

<ult>IM<ate> <tr>AG<ic> <gam>ES<ter>; “heartily” means middle letters only are used
   
24 ON AIR Transmitting booming Tallis aria frequently

<bo>O<mi>N<g t>A<ll>I<s a>R<ia>; “frequently” means that every third letter
     
25 JUICE Extract // battery power

Double definition: an extract of something is its juice, sap AND colloquially, battery power
     

 

27 comments on “Independent 11,274 / Mev”

  4. What a bonny St Andrew’s Day treat for fans of Scottish indie music! AZTEC CAMERA, CAMERA OBSCURA, TEENAGE Fanclub, ALTERED IMAGES, (WHIS)KING CREOSOTE, Hamish HAWK (not Howl – Hawk is just a dd, I think), GARBAGE (though I think only Shirley Manson is Caledonian), (A)FIRE ENGINES, ORANGE(S) JUICE. Have I missed any?

    Thanks, Mev, for brightening up a cold and foggy day.

  5. Thanks, Mev & RR. I also laughed at 3d, very good.

    OXIDIZING stumped me too. I guessed it from the crossing letters and definition but couldn’t parse it beyond [b]OX. It might have helped if I’d not entered an S instead of the required Z… Thanks for the explanation, KVa – I’m familiar with that meaning of sizing but it didn’t occur to me.

  6. I had HAWK & OXIDIZING, although, according to my Chambers, the gluey material is ‘size’ and ‘sizing’ is the verb for applying it. Chambers also has AC only for aircraftman. Not at all sure about SACRED COW though. Best I could do was SOW around ACRED + C(ountry) but “acred” doesn’t ring true. Hopefully, others will help out.

  7. Good spot, Quizzy Bob! Completely passed me by, though I’m familiar with all those acts. (I’ve even got tickets to see Hamish Hawk next February.)

  10. Happy 30th November to all, especially those north of a certain border. Thanks to RR for the blog and the LOL, and all commenters so far.
    Title: Postcard. Kudos to Quizzy Bob for spotting the theme, missing only [The] NECTARINE (at) NO. 9, and (perhaps?) that although TEENAGE fitted in the grid, I had to put FAN and CLUB in the clues. And yes, let’s say I definitely *was* familiar with Hamish HAWK when I set this in May last year. 😉 Actually, just a few days after I finished it, Eccles had a clue that was pretty much the same as my 3D here. He was gracious enough to say ~”don’t worry about it, it happens all the time.” Cheers to him.

    KVa has the correct parsings for HAWK and OXIDIZING. I did think the latter, and SACRED COW might be tricky to fully parse, but I tried to make the definitions simple in each case to make up for it. There was the pangram to help you out in the SE corner, if you spotted that. For 2D, in the same way that
    softly>piano>P, we also have
    from the beginning>da capo>D.C. , so yes, (ACRE + D.C) in SOW.

    Cheers one and all, I’m off to check on the status of those Camera Obscura CDs I just ordered in the 4AD sale. 😀

  11. 2d needs a bit of musical knowledge. DC = Italian da capo = “from the beginning”: an instruction to go back to the start of the music and play again. So it’s SOW (broadcast), around ACRE (an area of country) + DC (from the beginning).

  12. Sorry, Mev, we crossed. Completely missed the theme, but thanks for the reminder of AZTEC CAMERA – I’m old enough to have them on LP, which I haven’t played for a while but might now.

  13. Totally missed the theme – not my scene at all though some of the names @4 ring a bell. And I missed ‘sizing’ and would agree with Hovis @ 6 on size/sizing. But, since I didn’t make the connection anyway, the point is moot. I have no idea where the D comes from in SACRED COW – I don’t understand the proposed parse @8 – is it the French ‘D’ that’s being referred to or is ACRED being used as an adjective? Neither work imho but I’d like to know what the setter had in mind.

    Likes include ORANGES, QUADRANT, INANE, GARBAGE, UNAWARE and WHISKING. Mev definitely get the last laugh – not only do we have the theme but it also appears to be a pangram.

    Thanks Mev and RR

  14. Sorry Mev, we crossed too and see you’ve fessed up to the pangram too. NHO ‘da capo’ as musical instruction so something new to recall for next time.

  15. No worries at all, Quirister and PostMark.
    Incidentally, my Chambers Crossword Dictionary has AC under the heading of “aircraftman, aircraftwoman”, and my Chambers says sizing is “n. application of size, **or material for the purpose**”.

  16. PM@13!
    I wasn’t confident of my ‘proposed’ parsing@8. It was a wild thought.
    da capo: hope I remember it next time when needed.

  17. Mev@15
    When ‘aircraftman’ is not ACM, I was wondering why ‘aircraftwoman’ should be ACW.
    If both are AC, that sounds fair.

  18. Thanks, Mev for the clarifications. Should have at least thought to look up “dc” and find “da capo” and didn’t look far enough down in the Chambers entry for ‘sizing’ – so, all good in the end. No chance with the ghost theme but always a pleasure to come here and find out about it.

  19. Thank goodness for fifteensquared! So much of this would have “parsed me by” as it were, without the illumination provided here. [I was trying to work the Democratic (Republic of) Congo into SACRED COW and I can’t believe I missed AZTEC CAMERA.

  20. KVa @16!!! But you speak with such authority. I naturally assumed I was being too dim to recognise your solution 😀

  22. Thanks to one and all for helping me to correct and complete this blog.

    I was completely blinded by “owl” at 18, and I never entertained the idea of an -iZing ending at 27.

    As for the ghost theme, it completely passed me by, but we live and learn, as they say! Thank you for broadening my general knowledge, Mev.

  23. We also had an incompletely parsed ‘howl’ at 18, and having spelt 27 as ‘oxidising’ we wondered how to account for losing the ‘lass’ bit of ‘isinglass’ as the gluey material. Otherwise a straightforward solve, though we missed both theme and pangram.
    Thanks, Mev and RR.

  24. I could copy & paste the comment @23 other than maybe saying I found it straightforward might be stretching it a bit.
    Enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks both

  25. Thanks Mev for a nicely constructed crossword. I missed HAWK, the theme, the pangram, and a fair amount of the parsing yet I still enjoyed this due to clues like GATOR, SOUTH POLE, ATTRITION, and ARISING.Thanks RR for the helpful blog.

  27. Brilliant crossword.
    Theme and pangram.
    We are spoilt.
    Thanks to MeV (MegaElectronVolts)
    And RR for explanations

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