Independent 11,291 by Bluth

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A bit tricky from Bluth today, but a fun challenge.

It’s Tuesday so we should expect a theme – and it’s there in the first entry. The TV show mentioned at 1a/1d has a spin-off given by 5a/25a/27d, and there are many other references in the clues. We have the characters Walter White, Jesse, Chuck McGill (and his supposed hypersensitivity to electricity), Kim Wexler, Mike (Ehrmantraut), Gus Fring; the actor Bob Odenkirk; El Camino, a spin-off film; and several references to the show’s themes of cooking up illegal drugs in the desert around Albuquerque, New Mexico. But apart from the title itself in 1a/1d, we don’t need any detailed knowledge of the show to solve the clues. (It’s not one I’m familiar with, so thanks to Wikipedia for filling in the details for me.)

I’d have to say that putting in so many thematic references seems to have led to a few slightly awkward clues: 12a is really obscure, 17/14 is more of a description than a definition, and some of the constructions are a bit contrived. But it all made sense in the end. Among the non-thematic clues I thought 26a, 12d and 29d were very neat. Thanks Bluth as always.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1/1D BREAKING BAD
Something Hollywood’s good at – with reference to moving TV show (8,3)
BAKING BREAD (something that TV chef Paul Hollywood is good at), with the RE (with reference to) moving a bit earlier in the phrase.
5 BETTER
Alcohol-free ale’s bringing in punter (6)
TT (abbreviation for teetotal = alcohol-free), brought into BEER (ale).
10 DRAPE
Copy doctor opening curtain (5)
APE (as a verb = copy), with DR (abbreviation for doctor) coming first (opening).
11 GROUPWARE
Teams possibly fighting on party drug (9)
WAR (fighting) added to (on) GROUP (party, in the sense of people on one side of a debate), then E (slang abbreviation for the drug ecstasy).

Groupware = collaborative software enabling a group of people to work together on a project. Microsoft Teams is an example.
12 COIF
Perhaps Bob Odenkirk’s biggest character’s framed by cleaner (4)
The capital letter at the start of O[denkirk], hence its biggest character, inserted into CIF (a brand of household cleaning products; known as Jif in some countries, and previously in the UK).

A rare variant of “coiffure” = hairstyle, so for example a bob (a short straight cut ending above the shoulders). An unusually tricky clue: a definition by example for an obscure word, with a brand name in the wordplay that won’t be familiar to everyone.
13 STAGE
Produce a drug with value – finally on street (5)
A + last letters (finally) of [dru]G + [valu]E, all added on to ST (abbreviation for street). It’s hard to see that “finally” applies to both words because of the intervening “with”.

Stage, as a verb = produce = to manage putting on a stage play.
14
See 17
17/14 CLINGFILM
Chuck McGill – fine without source of electricity – one can see right through it (9)
Anagram (chuck = throw) of MCGILL FIN[e], without the first letter (source) of E[lectricity].
18 WASTELAND
Desert seen when Walt and Jesse regularly cooked (9)
Anagram (cooked) of WALT AND + alternate letters (regularly) of [j]E[s]S[e].
21 APROPOS OF
In reference to a rugby player – round and very strong (7,2)
A + PROP (a playing position in rugby) + O (round) + SO (very) + F (musical term for strong, or loud, from Italian forte).
23 ABATE
Moderate hit set in outskirts of Albuquerque (5)
BAT (hit) in the outer letters of A[lbuquerqu]E.

Moderate, as a verb = abate = lessen.
25 CALL
Dub some anatomical language (4)
Hidden answer (some . . .) in [anatomi]CAL L[anguage].
26 ASKEW
Wakes up lopsided (5)
Anagram (up) of WAKES.
28/30 COAL MINE
Some people dig this El Camino broadcast (4,4)
Anagram (broadcast = scattered) of EL CAMINO (which was the title of a film sequel to 1a/1d).
31 PATCHOULI
Some butter pastry shortened with occasional doses of plain oil (9)
PAT (a block of butter) + CHOU[x] (a type of pastry) without its last letter (shortened) + alternate letters (occasional doses) of [p]L[a]I[n].

An essential oil used in perfumes and incense.
32 IVORY
I stridently shout becoming closer to Walter White? (5)
I + VO[call]Y (stridently?) with CALL (shout) changing to the closing letter of [walte]R.

A shade of not-quite-white.
34 NUDISM
Recall tabloid papers penetrating journalism at last – it’s very revealing (6)
SUN (a tabloid newspaper) with ID (identity documents = papers) inserted, all reversed (recall . . .), then the last letter of [journalis]M.
35 OGRESSES
Fearsome females from Sierra Leone returned after knocking out international opponents (8)
S (Sierra in the radio alphabet) + SERG[i]O (Italian film director Sergio Leone) without the I (international), all reversed (returned), then E + S (opponents in a game of bridge).
DOWN
1
See 1 Across
2 ET ALIBI
Dropping minute, possibly titanium bone discovered in ancient Rome and elsewhere (2,5)
[m]ETAL (possibly titanium) without the M (minute), then [t]IBI[a] (a bone) without the outer letters (dis-covered).

Phrase meaning “and elsewhere” in Latin, therefore in ancient Rome. Perhaps not a common phrase, but guessable from the more common “alibi” meaning a defence that one was elsewhere when a crime was committed.
3 KNEW
Recognised Kim Wexler principally defending any outspoken … (4)
First letters (principally) of K[im] W[exler], containing (defending) NE (which sounds like “any” when spoken out loud).
4 NIGHT OWLS
… criminal with long sentence, initially they’ll stay up late (5,4)
Anagram (criminal = very bad) of WITH LONG + initial letter of S[entence].
6 ESPY
Every now and then Pepsi pays for spot (4)
Alternate letters (every now and then) of [p]E[p]S[i] P[a]Y[s].

Spot, as a verb = espy = notice.
7 TSARINA
Sinatra excited empress (7)
Anagram (excited) of SINATRA.
8 RHEUM
Discharge high explosive during game with Mike (5)
HE (abbreviation for high explosive) inserted into RU (rugby union = game), then M (Mike in the radio alphabet).

A discharge of mucus from the eyes or nose.
9/19 LONG-SUFFERING
Stoic and composed felon, Gus Fring (4-9)
Anagram (composed) of FELON GUS FRING.
12 COCOA
Two firms meet over a drink (5)
Two CO (abbreviation for company = firm), before (over, in a down clue) A.
15 EGYPT
Country‘s ultimately the wrong way up on back of chart (5)
Last letters (ultimately) of [th]E [wron]G [wa]Y [u]P + last letter (back) of [char]T.
16 FERAL
Wild time in Florida (5)
ERA (a period of time) in FL (abbreviation for Florida).
19
See 9
20 DWELL
Live band’s extreme sound (5)
Last letter (extreme) of [ban]D + WELL (sound, as an adjective = healthy).
22 RELATED
Informal time for kiss identified (7)
RELA[x]ED (informal), with T (time) instead of X (kiss).

I think the definition is in the sense of relate to = identify with = to have sympathy or understanding for someone.
24 AMOROUS
A shy person, largely accepting men will be passionate (7)
A + MOUS[e] (shy person) without the last letter (largely), containing OR (other ranks = men = ordinary soldiers as distinct from officers).
25 CAPON
Mafia boss with term in prison – he’s emasculated (5)
CAPO (Mafia boss) + last letter (term) of [priso]N.

A castrated cockerel.
27 SAUL
Old king left after cycling America (4)
USA (America) with the first letter “cycling” round to the end, followed by L (left).

The first king of Israel in the Old Testament.
29 THUS
So good to get away from ruffians (4)
THU[g]S (ruffians), without the G (good).
30
See 28 Across
33 YES
Melting 6 pence down, ok (3)
Anagram (melting) of 6d ES[p]Y without the P (abbreviation for pence).

21 comments on “Independent 11,291 by Bluth”

  1. I think I was in much the same boat as Quirister today: the show is not familiar so I suspected any unusual name as being pertinent but none rang bells and a post-solve visit to Mr Google filled me in. I also shared a slight raised eyebrow over the ‘def’ for CLING FILM which is certainly a quality but whether it’s sufficient to define …

    That said, lots of sparkle as usual with Bluth. BREAKING BAD, DRAPE, CALL, KNEW, NIGHT OWLS, EGYPT, CAPON and the nicely done YES were my favourites.

    Thanks Bluth and Quirister

  2. Chacun à son goût, and this one was certainly to mine. 12 did not seem obscure at all, either as to definition or wordplay. I failed to parse OGRESSES but am all the more impressed having seen your explanation. Thanks to Bluth and Quirister.

  3. Very much enjoyed the challenge. Never watched 1a,1d but at least I knew about it so managed to solve everything other than having to guess GROUPWARE having never heard of it or of Microsoft Teams obviously. The parsing, as given, does have some double duty which I’ve never seen Bluth do before. ET ALIBI was also new to me but an easy guess.

    COIF was my loi. No problem with it though. At first, I thought COIN, with bob as the old shilling, but CIF then jumped out at me. Top marks go to 1a,1d and 35a with 33d as a runner up.

  5. Hovis @3: I don’t think there’s any double duty in GROUPWARE. The definition is “Teams possibly”, and then (in order) “party”, “fighting” and “drug” give us GROUP WAR E. (It is using more or less the same meaning of “group” in both wordplay and definition, but nothing from the clue is used twice.)

  6. I always look forward to a Bluth puzzle, but I found this one utterly tiresome with what to me were so many random names and references. I can appreciate the cleverness of creating a themed puzzle of this type, but it’s just not for me. Sorry.

  7. Thanks Quirister. Of course you’re right. I was thinking of E as ‘a party drug’ (not the sort of party I attend, I hasten to add).

  8. Thanks, Bluth & Quirister. I always enjoy Bluth’s puzzles, and this was no exception, though I definitely found it tougher than his usual level. I think your assessment is right, Quirister – cramming in the theme has made some clues a bit convoluted, but I am a big fan of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, so enjoyed the references, and the clues all seem sound enough to me. And I can appreciate the brilliant misdirection of Sierra Leone, even though it completely bamboozled me.

    Like Hovis, I also thought of COIN until I had the PDM with CIF. Very good.

    GROUPWARE is not a term I’m familiar with, but it’s one of those awful techy neologisms whose meaning is self evident and the clue pointed to it clearly. I’m all too familiar with Teams, unfortunately – the bane of my working day.

  9. I didn’t know the theme and found this hard going, being unable to parse BREAKING BAD, IVORY and OGRESSES and never having heard of ET ALIBI, though it could be worked out from wordplay as Quirister points out. Failed on COIF, stubbornly sticking to “coin” for ‘Perhaps Bob’, unlike some of more consumer product aware posters above. Yes, it’s still called Jif here.

    Widdersbel @8: “…I also thought of COIN until I had the PDM with CIF. Very good.” Yes, you sensibly dropped the COIN, a penny, as I should have done. Very good.

    Thanks to Bluth and Quirister

  12. Thanks both. I guessed the theme and 1a/1d just because it fitted…who knew Mr Hollywood was a baker, or in my case, who cares? Only arrived at CAPON from Capone (wrongly) and the parsing of OGRESSES entirely defeated me and does play to the general consensus of this being a little contrived, but I can still admire it for it being different

  13. Gave up and revealed my last one, 12a, having spent 10 minutes googling Bob Odenkirk, whom I had never heard of. However, whilst googling I spotted BREAKING BAD which I hadn’t solved either at that point. Also couldn’t parse ET ALIBI and OGRESSES.
    Not one of my favourite setters.

  14. Well I thought this was brilliant, even though I have yet to watch the series. I particularly liked BREAKING BAD and pace Quirister COIF. Thanks, both.

  15. WordPlodder @9 – pun entirely unintentional!

    I had to pop back in because I realised that I’d got so hung up on “Sierra Leone” I’d forgotten BREAKING BAD until I saw a comment about it on Twitter… I bunged it in once I spotted the theme and meant to go back to it to try to unravel the parsing but completely forgot. Now I’ve seen it, I have to say it is simply genius. Bravo, Bluth!

  16. Thanks Quirister.

    I’m hugely surprised that you think COIF is really obscure. (That said, I can see how so many people got held up on COIN) I think of COIF as being a perfectly ordinary word that I regularly encounter out in the wild. (Far more often than coiffure).

    I’m no fan of MailOnline but I don’t think of it as a home for obscure language and they use coif all the time – being obsessed as they are by what people look like etc etc.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11538905/Florence-Pugh-seen-time-ex-boyfriend-Zach-Braffs-Good-Person.html
    “in the new image of Pugh in character, she is seen gazing through a window with a boyish coif of short brunette hair”.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11497193/Nicolas-Cage-oozes-cool-slick-leather-jacket-matching-trousers.html
    “The 58-year-old living legend strolled into The Beverly Hills Hotel bedecked in black leather and crowned by a coif of brunette locks.”

    Rabbit Dave @6 – It’s inevitable with a theme like this that those who are unfamiliar with the show won’t like it as much – clues mentioning, say, Gus Fring are obviously less satisfying if ‘Gus Fring’ isn’t a ‘thing’ in your life already. A themed puzzle of this kind enhances the experience of those who are fans of the show and diminishes it for those who aren’t. You liked it when it was a puzzle with an OFAH theme (http://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/10/19/independent-10926-by-bluth/) – but didn’t when it was Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul – so it’s not that this _sort_ of thing isn’t for you… it’s that this sort of thing isn’t for you when the show isn’t for you. Thems the breaks.

    1ac/dn started as a thought for another type of clue. Breaking is a useful insertion indicator so I was looking for words that fitted BA*D or B*AD.
    I landed on BREAD because RE is a nice easy thing to insert and was thinking of a clue along the lines of:
    Money made on Breaking Bad (5)
    And it’s only when seeing that written down that the B[re]AKING became obvious and BAKING BREAD was too apposite to ignore – a lovely penny drop moment for me at the time. (I hoped that making it 1a/1dn would give solvers a helping hand as it meant they’d know that the two word solution wasn’t just 3,6 but an alliterative 3,6)

    For what it’s worth, I used ‘Hollywood’ as a source of misdirection in the same way back in June of last year (http://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/06/21/independent-10823-bluth/) so joining up the baking of bread with a TV show was already lurking in the back of my head somewhere.

    It’s endlessly fascinating to me that in crosswordland the fact that sailor = AB is assumed to be common knowledge whereas the use of cleaner = CIF will make people furrow their brows. I’m not sure the man on the Clapham omnibus would think the same! All part of the fun.

    Thanks all!

  17. Bluth @16: maybe it’s just me, then. I was vaguely aware of “coif” as a headdress, but wouldn’t have thought of it as a hairstyle – and when I asked Collins dictionary online it suggested “a less common word for coiffure”. Less or more common is clearly somewhat subjective.

  18. Quirister @17: interesting. I didn’t know of the hair-covering definition which is what Chambers gives first and second. But in 3rd place it says just “a hairstyle (informal)”

    That’s all I’ve ever understood it to mean. I always assumed it was the root of the word Quiff – which Chambers suggests is possible rather than certain.

  19. Day late to this but popped in to say how much I enjoyed this. Watched the first 2 seasons of BB then gave it up & haven’t seen BCS but aware of it so picked up on the theme. Beaten by the much discussed COIF & ET ALIBI (wish Latin was banned from crosswords) & short on a couple of parsings. On the off chance you read this Mr G thanks for all the great entertainment your puzzles (most esp your Django ones) have provided over the year.

  20. Thanks Huntsman. I’ll meet you for a Django on the 29th.
    I broadly agree with you when it comes to Latin – my hand was forced by the grid on this occasion.

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