Grecian is Tuesday’s Independent setter
Tuesday is theme day in the Independent and just reading a few clues makes it clear what the theme is. The words ‘spook’ or ‘spooks’ occur in 22 of the 33 clues.
Spook has a few meanings, e.g. Spy, Ghost, Startle or Frighten and Grecian makes good use of all of them throughout the puzzle.
There were a couple of entries that were new to me – HOMUNCLES at 30 across and POGO, as defined in the puzzle, at 28 down.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E was a blast from the past. I remember watching it the television series in the mid 1960s with Robert Vaughn and David McCallum in the lead roles.
I wonder whether the SEMEN homophone at 12 across will raise any eyebrows?
I looked up the temperature in Siberia as I wrote the blog. It will be 26 degrees Celsius later this week in Irkutsk, so it’s not always GLACIAL there, but I realise that the winters are exceptionally cold.
There was a good mix of words in the grid which made it very enjoyable puzzle.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 9 |
Spook hiding information in case of accident (5) AGENT (spy; spook) AT (outer letters of [case of] ACCIDENT) containing (hiding) GEN (information) A (GEN) T |
| 10 |
Friars at a resort for religious movement (9) RASTAFARI (West Indian, especially Jamaican, religious movement) Anagram of (re-sort) FRIARS AT A RASTAFARI* |
| 11 |
Big cheese judged and damned (9) EXECRATED (cursed; damned) EXEC (EXECutive [important person in a business]; big cheese) + RATED (judged) EXEC RATED |
| 12 |
Seed rating announced (5) SEMEN (sperm; seed) SEMEN (sounds like [announced] SEAMAN [rating]) SEMEN |
| 13 |
Siberian spooks cutting City Hall line (7) GLACIAL (Siberian temperatures can get very cold or GLACIAL at certain times of year) CIA (Central Intelligence Agency [spooks]) contained in (cutting) (GLA [Greater London Authority; city bureaucracy; city hall] + L [line]) GLA (CIA) L |
| 15 |
Punch Australia’s opener after arsing about (7) SANGRIA (Spanish wine punch with fruit and soda water or lemonade) Anagram of (about) ARSING + A SANGRI* A |
| 17 |
Old spook in Utah getting leg-over (5) PUTIN (referennce Vladimir PUTIN [born1952], former intelligence officer [old spook], current President of Russia) PIN (leg) containing (getting … over) UT (Utah) P (UT) IN |
| 18 |
Sink or basin (3) DIP (sink) DIP (basin) double definition DIP |
| 20/7 |
Spook in tree getting into Prince and Queen (5,6) HARRY [PALMER] (fictional intelligence officer in films based on the spy novels of Len Deighton; spook) PALM (tree) contained in (getting into) (HARRY [reference current British Prince HARRY or Shakespeare’s Prince HARRY in Henry IV Part 1] + ER [Elizabeth Regina {queen}]) HARRY (PALM) ER |
| 22 |
Foreign character recalled spook with wild lion (7) YPSILON (character in the Greek alphabet) SPY (spook) reversed (recalled) + an anagram of (wild) LION YPS< ILON* |
| 25 |
Unmotivated American spook’s discipline returning? Not so much (7) AIMLESS (unmotivated) A (American) + MI (Military Intelligence, discipline of a spook) + LESS (not so much) A IM< LESS |
| 26 |
Spook in Territorial Army (5) ALARM (startle; spook) ALARM (hidden word in [in] TERRITORIAL ARMY) ALARM |
| 27 |
Frank Ocean originally changed tune about heartless spook (9) OUTSPOKEN (candid; frank) O (first letter of [originally] OCEAN) + (an anagram of [changed] TUNE containing [about] SPOK (letters remaining in SPOOK when the central letter O is removed [heartless]) O UT (SPOK) EN* |
| 30 |
Spooks infiltrating Syrian city are very small men (9) HOMUNCLES (tiny men capable of being produced artificially according to Paracelsus, endowed with magical insight and power) UNCLE (spooks [reference the television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. broadcast from 1964 to 1966. There is also a later film [2015] involving the same characters) contained in (infiltrating) HOMS (city in Syria) HOM (UNCLE) S |
| 31 |
Spook is good company (5) GHOST (spook) G (good) + HOST (troop; company) G HOST |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Headless spook gives concern (4) CARE (concern) SCARE (frighten; spook) excluding the first letter (headless) S CARE |
| 2 |
Spook ran event frightfully (8) REVENANT (ghost; spook) Anagram of (frightfully) RAN EVENT REVENANT* |
| 3 |
Looking up in mirror at spook’s heavenly body (4) STAR (heavenly body) STAR (reversed [looking up; down entry] hidden word in [in] MIRROR AT SPOOK’S) STAR< |
| 4 |
Talked nonsense with spook in Palladium (8) PRATTLED (chattered inconsequentially; talked nonsense) RATTLE (startle; shock; spook) contained in (in) PD (chemical symbol for palladium) P (RATTLE) D |
| 5 |
Assistants covering up spook’s initial digressions (6) ASIDES (digressions)_ AIDES (assistants) containing (covering up) S (first letter of [initial] SPOOK’S) A (S) IDES |
| 6 |
Historical spook somewhere in Norfolk (10) WALSINGHAM (town in North Norfolk) WALSINGHAM (refrence Sir Francis WALSINGHAM [principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death]. popularly remembered as her “spymaster”; historical spook) double definition WALSINGHAM |
| 7 |
See 20 Across [HARRY] PALMER |
| 8 |
Mark Zuckerberg ultimately engaged in crime (4) SIGN (mark) G (last letter of [ultimately] ZUCKERBERG) contained in (engaged in) SIN (crime) SI (G) N |
| 13 |
Government spook in Jamaica decapitated fish (5) GUPPY (small brightly coloured West Indian fish) G (Government) + DUPPY West Indian [Jamaica] word for a ghost; spook) excluding the first letter (decapitated) D G UPPY |
| 14 |
Spook failing with men badly (3,7) IAN FLEMING (IAN FLEMING [1908 – 1964], the author of the James Bond novels, worked in Naval Intellignece during the Second World War and can be considered a spook) Anagram of (badly) FAILING MEN IAN FLEMING* |
| 16 |
Buried in baby’s sand pit (5) ABYSS (very deep pit) ABYSS (hidden word in [buried in] BABY’S SAND) ABYSS |
| 19 |
Spook rebuilt man’s path (8) PHANTASM (spectre; ghost; spook) Anagram of (rebuilt) MAN’S PATH PHANTASM* |
| 21 |
Winger goes after free hit in Portsmouth tie? (4,4) REEF KNOT (a means of tying sails that will be used frequently in the port of a maritime city like Portsmouth; Portsmouth tie) Anagram of (hit) FREE + KNOT (snipe-like shore bird; flier; winger) REEF* KNOT |
| 23 |
Spook leader’s over-the- top in leather (6) SHAMMY (a soft leather, originally made from chamois skin, now usually from sheepskin, by working in oil) S (first letter of [leader] SPOOK) + HAMMY (acting in an over-the top manner) S HAMMY |
| 24 |
Wally adapted opening of Lorna Doone (6) NOODLE (idiot; wally) Anagram of (adapted) L [first letter of [opening of] LORNA and DOONE) NOODLE* |
| 26 |
A red pine (4) ACHE (long for; pine) A + CHE (reference CHE Guevara [1928 – 1964] was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary [a red]) A CHE |
| 28 |
Spook essentially embracing German punk movement (4) POGO (a popular punk form of dancing of the 1970s) POO (central letters of [essentially] of SPOOK) containing (embracing) G (German) PO (G) O |
| 29 |
Mark in revolutionary breeding ground for spooks? (4) NOTE (significant or distinguishing mark) ETON (British public school, a number of whose pupils have become spies in later years) reversed (revolutionary) ETON< |
Despite the theme being as obvious as it could possibly be, I struggled with this in places and found some of the definitions a bit of a stretch. However, I did enjoy it; after all, cryptics should encourage thinking outside the box, so thanks Grecian and Duncan.
Much of the GK involved was outside my knowledge. Didn’t know WALSINGHAM (place or person), didn’t know Ian Fleming was a spook, never heard of ‘duppy’ or of Harry Palmer. Only knew the plural HOMUNCULI. I always thought ‘shammy’ was spelt as ‘chamois’. So I learnt a few things today.
A great puzzle and a detailed and informative blog.
Thanks, Grecian and duncanshiell!
Liked SEMEN (whatever rating it gets from the homophone specialists-top seeds?!), DIP(‘(to) sink’/(to) DIP was immediately visible. Took a while to remember ‘basin/DIP’ as a geographical feature (as in The Amazon Basin)) and REEF KNOT (what a knotty and naughty def!).
Great crossword and theme. I was unable to parse three clues due to GK gaps i.e. GLA is a city (I was distracted by LA), KNOT is a ‘winger’ and MI is the ‘discipline of a spook’. Live and learn. I was thinking MI6 but the 6 wouldn’t parse. Had a lot of fun with the rest. Liked YPSILION and PRATTLED. Thanks to Duncan for the comprehensive blog and to Grecian for his earn.
A great puzzle and clever exploitation of an unusual and interesting theme.
I was fortunate to have most of the GK needed to finish the puzzle but forgot about the Greater London Authority: I think I assumed that GLA was the code for Glasgow airport and I have sufficient faith in the integrity of Grecian’s clues not to have bothered to look it up and left it with a ? (I’ve now done so and it turns out that it actually is – but, of course, it doesn’t parse properly!)
I had ticks for AGENT, RASTAFARI, SANGRIA, HARRY PALMER, OUTSPOKEN, REEF KNOT – great constructions and surfaces all round.
I’m always impressed when setters contrive to weave ‘real’ names (one of them is fictional!) into their clues, as in 27ac, 8dn and 24dn.
Many thanks to Grecian for a most enjoyable solve and Duncan for a fine blog.
An obvious “two-pronged” theme which should have helped, but I failed on HOMUNCLES, not being aware of the ‘Syrian city’ and (like Hovis @2) having come across “homunculus / homunculi” but not the alternative spelling as given in the answer; a pity as I remember The Man From U.N.C.L.E. very well. I didn’t know DUPPY or POGO either so the answers went in from def and wordplay respectively. GLA for ‘City Hall’ was another new one and worth keeping in mind for the future.
Good to have the memory jogged by a few, especially WALSINGHAM and HARRY PALMER. Another apt reminder was that PUTIN is an ‘Old spook’ and continues to be very spooky indeed.
Thanks to Grecian and Duncan
Grecian’s style always chimes well with me and I agree entirely with Duncan and Eileen – a most enjoyable solve and a clever (and thorough) exploitation of the theme, with great constructions and surfaces. If I had to pick a favourite, I’d go for REEF KNOT. Thanks, Grecian and Duncan.
Sofamore @4 – “City Hall” is often used metonymously to stand for the GLA (Greater London Assembly). You can be forgiven for not knowing that if you’re not a Londoner. The current City Hall is a new building in the Docklands, since they moved from the previous building next to Tower Bridge last year.
Where was matthew McFayden?
I loved this, but I had to resort to OneLook to find out what was going on with GUPPY
https://www.onelook.com/thesaurus/?s=%3Fuppy%3Aspook&res=res_0
DUPPY can also mean ‘A drawn game of noughts and crosses’ and in Multicultural London English, ‘kill’.
UNCLE brought back to mind the acronym – United Network Command for Law and Enforcement – the names Napoleon Solo, Illya Kuryakin and Leo G Carroll – and the EarWorm of the theme tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLOaIVUT7Nk
I even had the Corgi Toys Oldsmobile car, with figures of the two agents popping out of the windows firing guns when you pressed a button on the roof.
Perfect recall from nearly 60 years ago. Names I’ve learned more recently give me trouble though.
REEF KNOT is excellent.
Thanks G&d
Widdersbel@7 Thanks for the tip. I appreciate it.
copmus@8 – In a whole Succession of other stuff after Spooks
Ripper Street, Quiz and Stonehouse to name a few.
Thanks both. I raised an eyebrow at SEMEN only that it would suit my twang to clue it as ‘ratings’ rather than the singular. I feel I fell victim to a setter working very hard to maximise the theme, with GK as others have observed seeming very niche, including GLACIAL where the definition is loose and the GLA capital-centric at best, and WALSHINGHAM which took the prize for the oldest reference on the one hand, and the most geographically obscure on the other (Google maps appear to show only Little W….)…..needless to say about both I had, not a Scooby – now there’s ‘spooky’
Many thanks to Duncan, for a really excellent blog and to all of you commenters, for the positive feedback. I’m really pleased that the puzzle provided some enjoyment. This was one of the first crosswords that I ever sent to the Indy and it’s lovely to see it published.
Many thanks Grecian, I enjoyed that a lot. specially pleased with Harry Palmer and Ian Fleming. I too have long-ago recollectoions of Messrs Solo and Kuryakin, and of course the avuncular Mr Waverley. My one stopper was 13d where I felt it had to be GUPPY but did not know why.
Semen was Arsenal’s keeper and “Harry” Palmer played for Bordeaux