Independent 11,308/Wire

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My first blog of 2023 brings me a Wire puzzle in the Independent. Happy days.

Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

Across

1 Cured meat at the end of second game
BACKGAMMON
A charade of BACK and GAMMON. ‘She seconded/backed the proposal.’

7 Shade obscures tail of flying monster
HUGE
An insertion of G for the last letter of ‘flying’ in HUE. The insertion indicator is ‘obscures’.

9 Attempt to bring mammals back
STAB
A reversal of BATS.

10 Rubbish fish mostly gulp near edge of pond
CODSWALLOP
A charade of COD, SWALLO[W] and P for the initial letter of ‘pond’.

11 Relative leaving the French boy without clothes
UNCLAD
A charade of UNC[LE] and LAD.

12 Letter of substance reported generosity of spirit
LARGESSE
A homophone (‘reported’) of LARGE S.

13 Island cheers beginning of sailing craze
TASMANIA
A charade of TA, S for the initial letter of ‘sailing’ and MANIA.

15 Steer to encircle extremely raggedy creature
ORYX
An insertion of RY for the outside letters of ‘raggedy’ in OX. The insertion indicator is ‘to encircle’.

17 God recalling the folly of Eden
ZEUS
A reversal of SUEZ. Nothing to do with original sin, but with Anthony Eden, the British PM who presided over the Suez crisis in 1956; it is generally considered to be the reason for his resignation in early 1957 on the grounds of ill health.

19 Cocks perhaps on English church disappear
EVANESCE
A charade of E, VANES and CE. Think weathercocks.

22 Disinfectant that will benefit you orally
SHEEP-DIP
Well, a female sheep is a ‘ewe’ and ‘orally’ is a homophone indicator …

23 Note taken from very friendly prisoner
INMATE
IN[TI]MATE. The removal is of the seventh ‘note’ of the tonic sol-fa.

25 Number in teen choir possibly lacking clarity
INCOHERENT
An insertion of N in (TEEN CHOIR)* The anagrind is ‘possibly’ and the insertion indicator is ‘in’.

26 Part of America periodically using just cash
UTAH
The even letters of jUsT cAsH.

27 Where one might stay depressed
FLAT
A dd.

28 Self-absorbed clot hesitantly gathers linen
BEDCLOTHES
Hidden in self-absorBED CLOT HESitantly.

Down

2 Gannet naturally raised is partly aerial
ANTENNA
Hidden reversed in gANNET NAturally.

3 Majority cycling around a capital in Asia
KABUL
An insertion of A in KBUL. The insertion indicator is ‘around’; ‘cycling’ is the indication to place the last letter of BULK for ‘majority’ at its front.

4 Misfortune of child seen regularly in play
ACCIDENT
An insertion of CID EN for the odd letters of ‘child seen’ in ACT. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.

5 New slide made GP study distribution in later life
MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD
A charade of (SLIDE MADE GP)* and READ. The anagrind is ‘new’.

6 Replacement vessel gets you to US airport
NEWARK
A charade of NEW and ARK gives you the airport that is in New Jersey but serves New York City.

7 Hot place on Earth supported flowering plant
HELLEBORE
A charade of HELL, E and BORE.

8 12 dozen gutted library in a horrid way
GROSSLY
A charade of GROSS and LY for L[IBRAR]Y.

14 Wrongly inform of fog finally clearing on harbour
MISREPORT
A charade of MIS[T], RE and PORT.

16 Wine area lit up after five
VARIETAL
A charade of V for the Roman numeral and (AREA LIT)* with ‘up’ as the anagrind.

18 Film Dynasty over on large compound
ETHANOL
A charade of ET, HAN, O and L gives you the ‘compound’ that is the essential ingredient in 16 acrosses and other alcoholic beverages.

20 Animal shelter stuck with label ‘house‘
COTTAGE
An insertion of TAG in COTE. The insertion indicator is ‘stuck with’.

21 Part of speech raved about Britain
ADVERB
A charade of (RAVED)* and B.

24 Cat maybe climbing over usual empty shed
MOULT
An insertion of UL for the outside letters of ‘usual’ in TOM reversed. The reversal indicator, since it’s a down clue, is ‘climbing’; The insertion indicator is ‘over’.

Many thanks to Wire for the start to the Indy puzzling week.

12 comments on “Independent 11,308/Wire”

  2. Loved the misdirection of ZEUS. When I was at school many years ago, we were told that the Suez crisis, as much as any other single event, marked the end of the British empire; I don’t know if that is still a generally held view.

    I find those partial anagrams hard and missed the parsing of MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD. Not needed for the clue to work, but would have been even better if SHEEP-DIP was administered by mouth and not as a shower or run-through bath. COTTAGE held out at the end to make for a satisfying and enjoyable puzzle.

    Thanks to Pierre and Wire

  3. I. too, liked ZEUS and LARGESSE. I missed the (dove)COTE and wondered why OTT was a label in COTTAGE. Thanks, both.

  4. Lots to enjoy and puzzle over. A good start to the week. Joyce solved SHEEP DIP from the definition and a few crossing letters but needed the parsing explaining by Bert – it then raised a smile.

    Thanks to Wire and Pierre.

  5. Petert @3: reading your note I found myself thinking ‘what dovecote?’ Isn’t that strange. Of course, it is probably the most obvious of the -cotes but, when I parsed, I recall ‘TAG in – what? COTE – animal shelter? Yep, that’s fine’ And dove never entered my head! I might have been thinking of the French cote or hillside which would certainly shelter animals – I can’t say.

    This was a lovely start to the week as others have said. WordPlodder – you will be delighted to hear that Sheep Dip can be administered by mouth! A delightful bit of whisky trivia: there is a single malt whisky called Sheep Dip (with a sister blend called Pig’s Nose) which is bizarrely linked to my home county of Worcestershire. Beneath an incongruous photograph on the label in sepia tones of village yokels herding sheep through verdant Midlands pastures is the motto ‘This whisky is much enjoyed by the villagers of Oldbury-on-Severn’.

    Favourite clue by a country mile today is ZEUS. Just beautiful.

    Thanks Wire and Pierre

  6. I have a vague memory of SHEEP DIP meaning any strong alcoholic drink, but can’t find any dictionary support. There’s a cocktail, though.

  7. Petert – your vague memory is correct at least insofar as the whisky. The backstory to Sheep Dip is precisely that: the farmers referred to the cheap whisky they drank as ‘sheep dip’ in much the same way as we might disparagingly refer to a rough wine as ‘paint stripper’. The unfathomable bit is why Oldbury-on-Severn!

  8. Wasn’t entirely convinced by obscures as an insertion indicator but otherwise really enjoyed this.
    Like others I was impressed by ZEUS and quite liked the fact that MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD was to be found centrally!
    Thanks to Wire and Pierre

  9. Thanks Wire, it’s always a pleasure. I had many ticks including HUGE, LARGESSE, ZEUS (great surface), the nicely hidden BEDCLOTHES, and MISREPORT. I didn’t get the clever homophone in SHEEP DIP so thanks Pierre for parsing.

  10. Great stuff Wire, really enjoyed this with smiles and misdirection throughout the grid. I could highlight virtually every clue but I’ll go with CODSWALLOP (great word) ZEUS, SHEEP-DIP and MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD.
    Many thanks and thanks to Pierre for a great blog.

  11. A pleasant and not too difficult solve for a Monday, although we couldn’t parse ACCIDENT – we only took the alternate letters of ‘child’ and wondered how ‘acent’ could be ‘play’.
    A theme maybe? Probably not, although the ETHANOL in SHEEP DIP might make you INCOHERENT; we’ll stick to our VARIETAL, thanks!
    And thanks to Wire and Pierre.

  12. [PM @5: Of course you’re absolutely right and not only that, I should have remembered as we have a bottle of the stuff at home which I bought for my father, who was a sheep farmer, at Heathrow (I think) several decades ago. I know exactly the label you’re referring to and can see it in my mind’s eye. Believe it or not, it’s yet to be opened after all these years as my father was inherently suspicious of a whisky (a) of that name and (b) which came from the well-known whisky producing region of Oldbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire]

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