Independent 11,389 / Methuselah

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Thursday’s puzzle this week has been set by Methuselah, offering me as blogger my second opportunity to blog this setter’s work this year.

This time, I think that I have teased out more of the parsing than I did before, but I still would appreciate other solvers’ input regarding 5 and 6D/15, to check that I am not barking up the wrong tree.

My favourite clues today were the concise & lit. at 6A; 16, for its misleading capital letters; and 20 and 26, both for humour. Incidentally, I was surprised to see 16 given as one 8-letter word, but I did find it listed as such in Collins.

Of course, an extra source of enjoyment – doubtless for setter and regular solvers alike – is to be found in the references to Indy crossword setters that pepper the clues today.

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

Across    
     
01 NOSTALGIA Missing the old days tons, Gila moved back to suburbia

*(TONS GILA) + <suburbi>A (“back to” means last letter only); “moved” is anagram indicator
     
06 REHAB What stops boozer going back?

EH (=what?) in RAB (BAR=boozer; “going back” indicates reversal); & lit.
     
09 UNEATEN Like champion sacrificing bishop left on table?

UN<b>EATEN (=like champion; “sacrificing bishop (=B, in chess)” means letter “b” is dropped); uneaten food is left on the table
     
10 TANGRAM One travelling round city tackles left-hand side of Angel’s puzzle

ANG<el’s> (“left-hand side of” means first three letters out of six) in TRAM (=one travelling round city)
     
11 UNKEMPT Shabby English premier rejected in Knut cryptic

[E (=English) + MP (PM=premier, i.e. Prime Minister; “rejected” indicates reversal)] in *(KNUT); “cryptic” is anagram indicator
     
12 SLOVAKS European people called out lazy jab

Homophone (“called out”) of “slow (=lazy) + vax (=jab, i.e. vaccination)”
     
13 SPECTACLES Eccles taps out things you need to see

*(ECCLES TAPS); “out” is anagram indicator; you need spectacles to (be able to) see
     
17 DR NO Methuselah’s put out by tricky Nimrod – he’s an evil genius

*(N<im>ROD); “Methuselah’s (=I’m) put out by” means letters “IM” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “tricky”
     
18 PARANORMAL Weird pop artist left with Marilyn originally

PA (=pop, father) + RA (=artist, i.e. Royal Academician) + NORMA (=Marilyn originally, i.e. Norma (Jean Baker)) + L (=left)
     
22 LIB DEMS Third party cover will protect British bloke from claims in the end

[B (=British) in LID (=cover)] + <blok>E <fro>M <claim>S (“in the end” means last letter of each word only)
     
23 INROADS Raider’s responsible for these raids on supply

*(RAIDS ON); “supply”, i.e. flexibly, is anagram indicator
     
26 STILTON After X-rated complaint, Bluth regularly performing something blue?

STI (=X-rated complaint, i.e. sexually transmitted infection) + <b>L<u>T<h> (“regularly” means alternate letters only) + ON (=performing); Blue Stilton is a type of cheese
     
27 OF A SORT Ordinary firm welcomes soldiers with inferior credentials

O (=ordinary, as in O-level) + [OR (=soldiers, i.e. Other Ranks) in FAST (=firm, set)]; “of a sort” means inferior, mediocre
     
28 PAGER Quiet person getting on old-fashioned device

P (=quiet, i.e. piano) + “AGER” (=person getting on)
     
29 LEFT BRAIN A new Filbert could be a bit of a thinker

*(A + N (=new) + FILBERT); “could be” is anagram indicator
     
Down    
     
01 NAURU Island’s gold located in capsized vessel

AU (=gold, i.e. chemical symbol) in NRU (URN=vessel; “capsized” indicates vertical reversal)
     
02 SNEAK Tell tales of Serpent swallowing own tail

SNAKE (=serpent); “swallowing own tail (=E)” means letter “e” moves up the word
     
03 AUTOMATE Set up mechanism for car lover

AUTO (=car) + MATE (=lover)
     
04 GENETIC Hereditary earl comes up in draw started by government

G (=government) + ENETIC (ENTICE (=draw, attract; “earl (=E) comes up” means second “e” moves higher up the word)
     
05 ARTISTE Stage performer getting a rise out of Tees? On the contrary

T T (=tees, i.e. 2 x letter tee) appearing separately in [A + RISE]
     
06/15 RING OF FIRE Hob gives off this country air

Cryptically, a hob on a cooker has rings of fire; the reference is to the 1963 country music hit Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash
     
07 HERBARIUM Where Dill is in her element

HER + BARIUM (=element, on Periodic Table); dill is a type of herb, of course
     
08 BOMBSHELL Hint of marijuana in Hoskins’s nether regions makes for nasty surprise

M<arijuana> (”hint of” means first letter only) in [BOB’S (=Hoskin’s) + HELL (=nether regions)]
     
13 SADDLES UP Joining blue party, fellow secures seat

LES (=fellow, i.e. man’s name) in [SAD (=blue, depressed) + DUP (=party, in NI)]
     
14 ENNOBLING Making dignified exit, nudists initially leave jewellery behind!

E<xit> N<udists> (“initially” means first letters only) + NO BLING! (=leave jewellery behind!, as an order)
     
16 DOORJAMB Perform stuff from Quince in Globe … it holds up entrance

DO (=perform) + [JAM (=stuff (made) from quince) in ORB (=globe, sphere)]
     
19 ARSENAL A lot of weapons // or just one club

Double definition: an arsenal/cache of weapons AND Arsenal Football Club
     
20 A BIT OFF Lord Byron possibly less than polite

Cryptically, Lord Byron could be described as a bi(sexual) toff!
     
21 LETTER Learner uncovering top compiler Phi, perhaps

L (=learner) + <s>ETTER (=compiler; “uncovering top” means top letter is dropped)
     
24 ALOHA Rodriguez’s greeting returned a Hawaiian one

ALOH (HOLA=Rodriguez’s greeting, i.e. in Spanish; “returned” indicates reversal) + A
     
25 SATIN Quality material provided by Tyrus at intervals

Hidden (“provided by”) in “tyruS AT INtervals”
     

16 comments on “Independent 11,389 / Methuselah”

  1. RING OF FIRE
    My take
    Hob-RING
    gives-a link word
    off-OFF
    IRE-this country (not the UK this time)

    Air -song-RING OF FIRE the def.

  2. Thanks both. Very entertaining; whilst I normally find references to other setters a bit insular, it served well as a side show. I needed help with quite a lot of the parsing, but agree entirely with that here for RING OF FIRE (gas hob I assume) although putting the components in the correct order for ARTISTE still puzzles me slightly

  3. Thanks, Methuselah and RR!

    ARTISTE
    through vs out of
    A isre out of Tees?
    A rise through Tees? (on the contrary)
    A RISE through T T
    Does it work?

  5. Phew! Hard work but I think this is the Methuselah I have most enjoyed. A very nicely executed surface theme which certainly contributed to the pleasure: the Hoskins clue was particularly aptly done, as was DR NO. It’s also interesting to see what different setters are able to ‘get away with’ – which sounds more critical than I want it to be! ‘…stuff from Quince …’ = JAM seemed absolutely fine when I solved it but I could imagine it earning complaints had others done it. Likewise, the T’s trick in ARTISTE: I could imagine complaints that we don’t know how many T’s or whether they are together or separate. I admire this setter’s chutzpah in just putting them out there.

    Thanks Methuselah and RR

  6. Had no issues with 5d. “out of Tees. On the contrary” becoming “with Tees in” was how I worded it in my head.

    I do love Methuselah’s outings. His use of the Indy setters was wonderful, especially that for good ol’ Harry.

    Failed to get 6d/15. Having seen the answer, I’m not surprised. I couldn’t get the idea of ‘Ring of life’ being some weird variation on ‘Circle of life’ out of my head.

  7. @ KVa the IRE parsing wasn’t intended, but nice spot.

    @ PostMark I don’t think I’d have allowed myself “stuff from Quince” without the definition by example indicator if not for the special circumstances of the puzzle.

    Re ARTISTE, I meant for “out of” to be read as lacking, containing no more of (as in “the shop’s out of eggs”). Then “on the contrary” says A RISE is well-stocked with tees rather than having a shortage of them. The solver still has to figure out where the T’s go, I suppose, but they’ve got A RISE already so I think that’s fair!

    Thanks for the blog RR

  8. ARTISTE:
    The clue is saying start with ARTISTE, “out of Tees” – ie remove the ts – you get A RISE.
    “On the contrary” means reverse the procedure – you get ARTISTE.

  11. Thanks, Methuselah@7!
    RING OF FIRE: RR! Your parsing is vetted by the setter, I think.
    ARTISTE: Hovis@6! You have the correct parsing.

  12. FrankieG @10. I don’t think it quite works for me. In order for LES to join SAD and DUP i think he would need to be in the middle of them. As it is he interrupts SADD and UP.

    I’m sure that I’ve just not quite got the intricacy of the clue however.

    I really struggled with this and failed with an unparsed HERBALISM. I knew BALM wasn’t an element but couldn’t contort my mind to give me the right answer.

    Thanks to Methuselah and to RR for a great crossword and blog.

  13. Enjoyed this puzzle and found the references to other setters very entertaining. BOMBSHELL and STILTON my favourites. Had a chuckle when the penny dropped for ‘something blue’. Took a while to complete but very satisfying to do so and the blog cleared up my minor mistakes in parsing. I had shell for nether regions and thought HERBARIUM was a cryptic def failing to spot the element. Duh. But Dill’s gender has been revealed and that’s new information for me. Much appreciated blog and set.

  14. I found this tough but extremely clever and witty in places, especially the incorporation of the various setters into the surface reads (no coincidence I guess that Hoskins appears with marijuana) where I thought LETTER was brilliant. I’ll name the excellent &lit REHAB plus LIB DEMS as joining it on the podium.
    Many thanks to Methuselah and RR for a top puzzle and blog.

  16. Thanks Methuselah for the best crossword of the day. Great clues all around including my favourite PARANORMAL. I had a bit of a problem in the NE because I entered Pangram instead of TANGRAM but most else worked itself out. Thanks RR for the blog.

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