Independent 11,399 / Alchemi

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Alchemi’s latest concoction has been served up for our entertainment and stimulation this Tuesday.

I found this puzzle to be towards the easy end of the Indy difficulty spectrum, but nonetheless an enjoyable solve. The two clues that I struggled most with were 5 and 19, which were both new to me, and as regards the latter, I would appreciate confirmation of my parsing.

My favourite clues today, all for smoothness of surface, were: 4, 20, 26 and 30.

Incidentally, another Tuesday puzzle bites the dust and another theme has gone unnoticed by me. I am travelling most of today, but I will check in this evening for enlightenment.

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

Across    
     
01 SISTER Senior nurse in Leeds is terrible

Hidden (“in”) in “leedS IS TERrible”
     
04 MORPHINE After comeback concert, man takes fashionable drug

MORP (PROM=concert; “after comeback” indicates reversal) + [IN (=fashionable) in HE (=man)]
     
10 MOONLIGHT Spooner’s diver could have another job

Spoonerism of “loon (=diver, i.e. bird) + might (=could)”
     
11 THORP Old village puts pressure on god

THOR (=god, in Norse mythology) + P (=pressure, in physics); thorp is an archaic word for village, cf. the German Dorf
     
12 MILE A lot of yards being 50% camomile

<camo>MILE; “50%” means 4 of 8 letters are used; there are 1760 yards in a mile
     
13 WILD HORSES Amazing slideshow featuring last of your Mustangs?

<you>R (“last of” means last letter only) in *(SLIDESHOW); “amazing” is anagram indicator
     
15 REGARDS Looks at fish eaten by communists

GAR (=fish) in REDS (=communists)
     
16 EXEMPT Free former politician abducted by alien

EX- (=former) + [MP (=politician, i.e. Member of Parliament) in E.T. (=alien, i.e. extraterrestrial)]; a tax-exempt product or service is tax-free
     
19 STOW IT Speech beginning as follows: “Shut up”

S<peech> (“beginning” means first letter only) + TO WIT (as follows, namely); “stow it” means “be quiet”, hence “shut up”
     
21 FLOWERS Force brings down violas?

F (=force, in physics) + LOWERS (=bring down, sinks)
     
23 ASBESTOSIS Serious complaint when boss’s tie is undone

AS (=when, as conjunction) + *(BOSS’S TIE); “is undone” is anagram indicator
     
25 DEAD Finally found purple bra fitted perfectly

<foun>D <purpl>E <br>A <fitte>D; “finally” means last letter only is used; e.g. This line is dead/perfectly straight.
     
27 ANTI-G Spacesuit feature – superclean tight trousers

Hidden (“trousers”) in “supercleAN TIGht”; “anti-g” stands for “anti-gravity”
     
28 BELOW ZERO Freezing boozer? Well, almost ghastly

*(BOOZER + WEL<l>); “almost” means last letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “ghastly”
     
29 ADHERERS Increase radio audience – sounds like they stick!

Homophone (“sounds like”) of “add (=increase) + hearers (=radio audience, listeners)”
     
30 EYELET Sounds like key opening

Homophone of “islet (=key, i.e. small island)”
     
Down    
     
01 SOME MORE Angry about note that Twist required

MEMO (=note) in SORE (=angry); the reference is to the hungry Oliver’s request in Dickens’ Oliver Twist
     
02 STOP LIGHT Son heading for difficult situation at traffic signal

S (=son) + TO (=heading for, as in The train to/heading for Paris) + PLIGHT (=difficult situation)
     
03 EELS Slippers in baskets, hiding first pair

<cr>EELS (=baskets); “hiding first pair” means first two letters are dropped; eels are slippery fish!
     
05 OUTEDGE Exposed, say, climbing the far boundary

OUTED (=exposed, e.g. closet homosexual) + G.E. (E.G.=say, for example; “climbing” indicates vertical reversal)
     
06 PUT MONEY ON Irritating typo on menu back

*(TYPO ON MENU); “irritating” is anagram indicator; to back e.g. a horse is to put money on it
     
07 IRONS Shackles // Jeremy?

Double definition: irons are shackles, fetters AND Jeremy Irons is a British actor, born in 1948
     
08 EL PASO Progressive group starts to attract support round city in Texas

ELP (=progressive group, i.e. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, a British progressive rock supergroup, formed in 1970) + A<ttract> S<upport> (“starts to” means first letters only) + O (=round, i.e. pictorially)
     
09 UGLIES Unattractive people from America accepting German position

[G (=German) + LIE (=position)] in US (=American)
     
14 BROWN SUGAR It’s sweet, I’m cold outside, admits burglar evenly

[OWNS (=admits) + <b>U<r>G<l>A<r> (“evenly”) means even letters only] in BRR (=I’m cold)
     
17 PIECEMEAL Post-war lunch reported bit by bit

Homophone (“reported”) of “peace (=post-war) lunch (=meal)”
     
18 USED TO IT Familiar with conditions outside ruined Troy

*(OUSIDE) + T (=Troy, in weight); “ruined” is anagram indicator
     
20 TOOLBAR Collection of icons also left on counter

TOO (=also) + L (=left) + BAR (=counter); the reference is to a toolbar on a computer screen
     
21 FAIRLY Quite crafty, absorbing atmosphere

AIR (=atmosphere) in FLY (=crafty)
     
22 CANADA Country with roughly nothing Spanish

CA (=roughly, i.e. circa) + NADA (=nothing Spanish, i.e. the Spanish word for nothing)
     
24 BITCH Maybe boxer attacked children

BIT (=attacked) + CH (=children); a boxer is a type of dog, hence “bitch” for the female
     
26 SWAY Possibly retaining Western influence

W (=Western) in SAY (=possibly, for instance); to carry no sway is to have no influence
     

14 comments on “Independent 11,399 / Alchemi”

  1. Thanks, Alchemi and RR!
    STOW IT and OUTEDGE: I parsed both of them as you did. Can’t see any gaps.

    Liked MOONLIGHT, ADHERERS, FAIRLY and BITCH.

  2. Thanks Alchemi and RR

    The theme is track titles from the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers album:

    SISTER MORPHINE, MOONLIGHT MILE, WILD HORSES, DEAD FLOWERS, BITCH, BROWN SUGAR & SWAY.

  3. I found this relatively light for an Alchemi puzzle but good fun. The theme is right up my street, and I spotted it as soon as 1a & 4a were in place.

    I have never heard of 19a and 5d but at least OUTEDGE was easily derivable from the wordplay. I just had to bung STOW IT in and hope.

    Many thanks to Alchemi and to RR.

  5. Well, today we have Alchemi, Anto & Aardvark. Wouldn’t it be strange if tomorrow we had Bluth, Brummie & Basilisk 🙂

  6. Had no trouble with STOW IT, though the usual dictionaries don’t seem to have it as meaning “shut up!” This one does, though…
    https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/arzv2ny
    …with citations from 1566 to 2012 including…
    1838 Dickens Oliver Twist: ‘Stow the gammon,’ interposed the robber, impatiently.
    1918 Boy’s Own Paper: ‘Stow it!’ he said.
    1938 G. Greene Brighton Rock: Stow it, Pinkie […] we don’t want ice-cream.

  7. Great fun puzzle, and a fine tribute to the best ever Stones album – which is not open to discussion.

    Like RD @3, the theme became apparent to me very quickly indeed and is right up my street. One of my all-time favourites, though it came out the year before I was born.

    Thanks, Alchemi and RR.

  8. Thanks both. The same two answers were also new to me – I don’t even recall seeing ‘to wit’ before, although it looked feasible. Spotted two Rolling Stones tracks, but didn’t know the album; in fairness, at that age, I was more into Pinky & Perky, which scares me now I write it down

  9. I tried in vain to identify the theme so thanks to Simon S @2 for pointing it out. As for others, STOW IT and OUTEDGE weren’t familiar but both wordplay and def made sense and the rest went in OK. I liked the EELS in their creels and the parsing of BROWN SUGAR.

    Thanks to Alchemi and RR

  10. Another theme passes me by but then I was never a Stones fan – Mick Jagger with his strange posturing and over-sized lips was a real turn-off to a teenage me!
    Not to worry, I loved the puzzle and gave big ticks to MOONLIGHT, WILD HORSES, STOW IT, IRONS & TOOLBAR.

    Thanks to Alchemi for the puzzle and to RR for the review.

  11. Thanks RR and all.

    OUTEDGE was unfamiliar to me too, but if I get stuck trying to fill a themed grid, I allow myself one obscurity as long as I can clue it so that the solver can just follow the wordplay instructions.

    STOW IT is clearly an age indicator. Those of us whose childhoods were at a time when Jennings and Darbishire or Billy Bunter were widely read will have had no problem. Those who didn’t suffer under the regime of prep school novels paid for it here.

  12. An enjoyable solve, though as often happens we missed the theme. We guessed OUTEDGE from ‘boundary’ and confirmed it in Chambers but couldn’t parse it. One minor grumble – we were surprised that ‘sounds like’ was used as an anagrind in two adjacent clues.
    THanks, Alchemi and RR

  13. Thanks Michael* and RR not too hard but the strolling bones link beyond me so thanks for noticing that.

  14. Thanks Alchemi for a fun puzzle. I actually found all of the Stones’ songs but that’s more related to my age than my cleverness. I was able to solve the entire crossword so it must have been on the gentle side. Favourites included MORPHINE, WILD HORSES, PIECEMEAL, USED TO IT, and EXEMPT, the latter for its surface. Thanks flashling for the blog.
    [Widdersbel: I’ve placed Sticky Fingers 3rd on my list; 1st is Exile on Main Street followed by Beggars Banquet.]

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