Independent 11,280 by Atrica

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Atrica makes one of his or her five annual appearances today

Atrica must have compiled this puzzle fairly recently, with Truss referred to as a ‘former prime minister’ in 7d and Musk’s takeover of Twitter in 17d.

All good fun, with a good range of clue difficulty and some great surfaces.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Awash in dollars? Preposterous, after rouble obliterated in collapse (4-4)
CASH-RICH

RICH (preposterous) after CrASH (collapse) ‘obliterating’ ‘r’ (rouble)

5. A colourful entanglement – barmaid occasionally entertains Ireland’s leader (5)
BRAID

Alternate or ‘occasional’ letters of BaRmAiD round or ‘entertaining’ I (first letter or ‘leader’ of Ireland)

8. Make too much of past drama (8)
OVERPLAY

OVER (past) PLAY (drama)

9. Inebriated anglers lacking energy to make knots (6)
GNARLS

An anagram (‘inebriated’) of ANGLeRS without or ‘lacking’ ‘e’ (energy)

11. Cold-blooded specimens left us scratching heads (4)
EFTS

lEFT uS without or ‘scatching’ the first letters or ‘heads’

12. Since order messed up, have another think (10)
RECONSIDER

An anagram (‘messed up’) of SINCE ORDER

14. Peculiarly suited to appropriate brooch and weave with butterflies (4,2,2,5)
TIED UP IN KNOTS

An anagram (‘peculiarly’) of SUITED round or ‘appropriating’ PIN (brooch) KNOT (weave)

18. Sit down with Charles, awkwardly wasting hour here? (7,6)
WINDSOR CASTLE

An anagram (‘awkwardly’) of SIT DOWN and ChARLES without or ‘wasting’ h’ (hour)

22. Wife enters court with article, painting perhaps revealing lover (10)
SWEETHEART

W (wife) in or ‘entering’ SEE (court) THE (article) ART (painting perhaps)

24. Schooled with disregard for cold in Oxford? (4)
SHOE

ScHOolEd ‘disregarding the letters in ‘cold’

27. Below the first place, moved to the middle with small shoves (6)
ELBOWS

BELOW with the ‘b’ (first letter or ‘place’) moved to the middle + S (small)

28. Not many say a person should (3,2,3)
ONE OR TWO

A (slightly dubious) homophone (‘say’) of ONE OUGHT TO (a person should)

29. Male and female – when a kiss is shared it goes both ways (5)
SEXES

SEX (it) going forward and XES (backward – ‘both ways’) sharing the ‘x’ (kiss)

30. Careless mistake leads to someone having overdose (8)
SLIPSHOD

SLIP (mistake) + S H (first letters or ‘leads’ to someone having) OD (overdose)

DOWN
1. Constricted by Platonic love, nearly separated (6)
CLOVEN

Hidden (‘constricted by’) in PlatoniC LOVE Nearly

2. Cover arranged to hold inert gas (5)
SHEET

SET (arranged) round or ‘holding’ HE (helium – inert gas)

3. Cord quietly breaks eggs (4)
ROPE

P (quietly) in (‘breaking’) ROE (eggs)

4. Gold props up economy when Spain slumps – congratulations from its neighbour (7)
CHAPEAU

AU (gold) after or ‘propping up (in a down clue) CHEAP (economy) with the E (Spain) moved down or ‘slumping’ – an expression of congratulations in France (‘neighbour’ to Spain)

5. Deviates from objectives spearheaded by bishop (5)
BENDS

ENDS (objectives) after or ‘spearheaded by’ B (bishop)

6. Oh dear, stupid husband departing capital could be George Bush (9)
AERODROME

An anagram (‘stupid’) of Oh DEAR without the ‘h’ (husband) + ROME (capital) – apparently George Bush airport serves Houston

7. Doubt, hell! Former prime minister ultimately moved ahead (8)
DISTRUST

DIS (hell) TRUSs (former prime minister) with the last or ‘ultimate’ letter ‘s’ changed to T (the next letter in the alphabet) or ‘moved ahead’

10. When upset, I go off doughnuts (4)
TORI

A reversal (‘upset’) of I ROT (go off)

13. Takes home fishing gear (4)
NETS

Double definition

14. Can the German fight? This might flare up (9)
TINDERBOX

TIN (can) DER (‘the’ in German) BOX (fight)

15. Movie spectacular failing to open (3)
PIC

ePIC (spectacular) without the first letter or ‘failing to open’

16. Bird that won’t fly in still weather (4)
KITE

A KITE (not the bird of prey) will not fly without wind (in still weather)

17. Severe blows as Musk’s company’s close to chaos for the second time (8)
TWISTERS

TWITtER (Musk’s company) with S (last letter or ‘close’ to chaos) replacing the second ‘t’ (time)

19. Official seizing drug in bar in the Caribbean? (4)
REEF

REF (official) round or ‘seizing’ E (drug)

20. Remove heart and head of salamander, then slice up gland (7)
ADRENAL

An anagram (‘slice up’) of sALAmANDER without the ‘m’ (middle letter of ‘heart’) and ‘s’ (first letter or ‘head’)

21. Put down best ever (6)
RECORD

Double definition

23. Municipalities have invested in themselves after evacuation (5)
TOWNS

OWN (have invested) in ThemselveS (first and last letters only – the middle letters being ‘evacuated’)

25. Difficulty in hotel – problem caused by bed bugs? (5)
HITCH

H (hotel) ITCH (‘problem caused by bed bugs?’)

26. Ring dock about nothing (4)
LOOP

LOP (dock) round O (nothing)

 

12 comments on “Independent 11,280 by Atrica”

  6. Thanks Atrica & BnJ

    I thought the theme was signalled by 14: we have braid, Windsor, slip(shod), (c)love(n), twist(er) (possibly, sheet, rope, nets (possibly), reef, bend, loop, and hitch.

  9. As I trawled through my mental list of Four-letter birds beginning with K, I thought of KNOT, which, though a wrong answer, helped open up the crossword. CLOVEN provides us with the CLOVE of CLOVE HITCH, as well as the LOVE of love not.

  10. Well, we got it all but couldn’t parse CASH RICH, TIED UP IN KNOTS, ONE OR TWO or TOWNS. An enjoyable puzzle, though, with no need to know the theme (whichever one it was) to solve it. CHAPEAU was our favourite.
    Thanks, Atrica and B&J.

  11. Excellent puzzle with very clever wordplay throughout, I have to admire the setter’s art I particularly liked CASH RICH, ONE OT TWO, SEXES and my favourite, TWISTERS.
    Many thanks Atrica and B&J for a top blog.

  12. Enjoyed the puzzle. Missed the theme as per. Fell 2 shy of a correct finish – CHAPEAU & TORI (bunged in chateau&roti – doh) but was unfamiliar with the expression of congrats & didn’t consider geometry. Favs for me – DISTRUST, CASH RICH & TWISTERS.
    Thanks Atrica & B&J

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