Independent 11,447 / Umpire

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Umpire is a compiler whose work I am not familiar with, and I can see that he has not had many puzzles published under this pseudonym in the Indy.

I suppose that, with the Ashes series now underway and Wimbledon just round the corner, the word “umpire” will be on people’s lips more than at any other time of the year. I thought at first that there might be a theme going on here around tennis, but I couldn’t really parse 23A to my satisfaction. I eventually spotted that the grid has a lot of words in it that can be followed by ball, mainly but not exclusively to form the names of sports. There are fourteen of them, as indicated in 23A, which turns out to be the gateway clue: 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15D, 17, 19A, 19D, 23D, 26 and 28. Incidentally, 9 and 18 as balls were both unfamiliar to me.

As far as the clues go, I got off to a quick start but then slowed down, needing to search Chambers to find 9 and 21, both of which are straightforward words that were fairly clued. Umpire definitely had the last laugh today!

My favourite clues today were 7A, 8 and 13, all for smoothness of surface; and 12, for making me laugh out loud when the penny dropped.

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

Across    
     
01 STOP Halt and bend forward having lost some oxygen?

STO<o>P (=bend forward; “having lost some oxygen (=O)” means that one letter “o” is dropped)
     
04 PESTO Dressing and ointment primarily put on source of irritation

PEST (=source of irritation) + O<intment> (“primarily” means first letter is dropped)
     
07 BASE HQ indifferent after Liberal’s sacked

B<l>ASÉ (=indifferent); “after Liberal (=L)’s sacked” means that letter “l” is dropped
     
09 MEDICINE Perhaps TV detailed surprisingly nice drug

MEDI<a> (=perhaps TV; “de-tailed” means last letter is dropped) + *(NICE); “surprisingly” is anagram indicator
     
10 TENNIS Recalled group taking control of pub game

INN (=pub) in TES (SET=group; “recalled” is anagram indicator)
     
11 MEAT Side being forced to swap ends causes beef?

TEAM (=side); “being forced to swap ends” means last letter changes place with the first letter
     
12 TIDDLYWINKS Small flicker?

Cryptic definition: tiddlywinks are flicked in the game of the same name
     
13 PINCER Crab’s beginning to be overwhelmed by long right claw

C<rab> (“beginning” means first letter only) in [PINE (=long, yearn) + R (=right)]
     
15 NEW AGE In the end, Queen refuse to lose intro for some music from the 80s

<quee>N (“in the end” means last letter only) + <s>EWAGE (=refuse, waste; “to lose intro” means first letter is dropped); New Age music is a dreamy style of music of the late 1980s, usually using synthesisers
     
17 BASKET Hamper request to infiltrate live broadcast at the back

ASK (=request) in [BE (=live, exist) + <broadcas>T (“at the back” means last letter only)]
     
19 CANNON Gun is unable to have butt replaced by Navy

CANNOT (=is unable to); “to have butt replaced” means that last letter is replaced by letter “n (=Navy, as in RN)”
     
21 PUNCTUALLY Sharp joke in fact making adult leave

PUN (=joke) + <a>CTUALLY (=in fact; “making adult (=A) leave” means letter “a” is dropped); “ten o’clock sharp” is “punctually at ten o’clock”
     
23 BALL Dance fourteen here might attend?

A ball is a dance; there are fourteen entries in this grid – listed in the preamble – that can be followed by “ball”
     
24 STRUCK Impressed by Turkey in draw

TR (=Turkey, in IVR) in SUCK (=draw, pull)
     
25 ESTRANGE Cut ties with sergeant being deployed

*(SERGEANT); “being deployed” is anagram indicator
     
26 FOOT Pay fine for removing cover on books

F (=fine) + <f>O<r> (“removing cover” means first and last letters are dropped) + OT (=books, i.e. Old Testament); to pay the bill is to foot the bill
     
27 EASEL Wife leaves treacherous person to make a stand

<w>EASEL (=treacherous person); “wife (=W) leaves” means letter “w” is dropped; an easel is an artist’s stand
     
28 HAND Some bananas genetic material hard to reverse

DNA (=genetic material) + H (=hard, as in HB pencils); “to reverse” indicates reversal; a hand is a division of a bunch of bananas
     
Down    
     
02 THEREMIN Enter with him playing instrument

*(ENTER + HIM); “playing” is anagram indicator; a theremin is an electronic musical instrument
     
03 PAINT Colour part of Vespa in Tuscany

Hidden (“part of”) in “vesPA IN Tuscany”
     
04 PRINTER Press runner losing the lead

<s>PRINTER (=runner); “losing the lead” means first letter is dropped
     
05 SPEED Narcotic paraphernalia initially concealed by one ranked in tournament

P<araphernalia> (“initially” means first letter only) in SEED (=one ranked in tournament)
     
06 OUTFLOW Gush when tofu’s cooked and soft

*(TOFU) + LOW (=soft, not loud, of music)
     
07 BANDWAGON Speak at length about date with a current obsession

[D (=date) + W (=with) + A] in BANG ON (=speak at length); cf. to jump on the bandwagon
     
08 SKINNY Perhaps tight-knit family’s visiting South American city?

KIN (=family) in [S (=South) + NY (=American city)]; e.g. skinny jeans are tight-fitting, hence “perhaps tight-knit”
     
14 CLAY COURT With damaged ACL, cry out playing 10 here?

*(ACL CRY OUT); “damaged” is anagram indicator; tennis (=entry at 10) can be played on a clay court
     
15 NET Profit immediately after selling off The Times?

NE<x>T (=immediately, straight away); “after selling off The Times (=X, as in 6 x 6 = 36)” means letter “x” is dropped
     
16 HOOLIGAN Delinquent’s heartless, loafing around below house

HO (=house) + *(LOA<f>ING); “heartless” means middle letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “around”
     
18 KNUCKLE One joint or another almost broken by chance when cycling

UCK-L (LUCK=chance; “when cycling” means first letter moves back to back of word) in KNE<e> (=(another) joint; “almost” means last letter is dropped)
     
19 CRYSTAL Carry occasionally cut old glass

C<a>R<r>Y (“occasionally” means alternate letters only) + STAL<e> (=old; “cut” means last letter is dropped)
     
20 JUST SO Oscar falls to the ground in saddled contests neatly

JOUSTS (=saddled contests, in medieval times); “Oscar (=O, in radio telecommunications) falls to the ground” means letter “o” moves to the very end of the word
     
22 LEEKS Shelters housing 1000 vegetables

K (=1000, as in kg) in LEES (=shelters)
     
23 BEACH Gathered wood for clambake site, say

Homophone (“gathered”) of “beech=wood”; clambakes are traditionally held along the coast of New England, hence “beach”
     

21 comments on “Independent 11,447 / Umpire”

  2. This was good fun with a theme that even I could spot.

    My repetition radar bleeped with “leave(s)” used as removal indicator twice. I can’t make any sense out of the surface of 19d – what is a “CARNY”, or is it a misprint? Also, I would have thought that a CLAMBAKE in 23d is uniquely American.

    I had a lot of ticks with TIDDLYWINKS my favourite.

    Many thanks to Umpire and to RR.

  5. I really enjoyed this. Some superb clueing and to get fourteen theme words (fifteen, if you include ‘ball’) is one hell of an achievement. In some ways, it’s a shame 23a gave the game away but I can hardly criticise Umpire for that. If I have to name a favourite, I’ll plump for KNUCKLE.

  6. Thanks both. Spotted the theme relatively early, which helped. I often wonder if I attended a handball game, and kept shouting ‘handball’ like they do at football games, how long it would be before being thrown out. I will also campaign for a 15th component of the theme bing HOOLIGAN BALL – there already is murderball so why not?

  7. @RabbitDave a CARNY is a carnival worker (though Chambers gives it as N. Am. Slang) and the blog does (at the time of writing this) have a typo of CARRY for CARNY in the clue statement. Also, 12A is TIDDLYWINK (not plural) but I do appreciate the effort that goes into writing these blogs and am definitely grateful to RR for it! Thanks also, obviously, to Umpire for the crossword.

  8. In my version of the puzzle the clue for 12a required only 10 letters so I’m surprised to see TIDDLYWINKS in the blog and the comments as plural. It’s not a big deal but the singular does fit the surface of the clue.

    I enjoyed the puzzle. Missed the theme. Liked FOOT and HAND at the bottom of the grid and needed help from the blog to understand the parsing for NET. Thanks both.

  9. RD@2 : I did it online and 19D definitely came up as having “carny” in the clue which I took to be a synonym of “carnival”. I regard CLAMBAKE as known this side of the pond from the score of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel

    https://youtu.be/kz_71XlwDc8

    ( still have the vinyl somewhere )

    Thanks Umpire and RR.

  10. Thanks, postmores@7
    TIDDLYWINK
    The wordplay works fine now.
    TIDDLY (small) & WINK (flicker).
    The cryptic def as mentioned in the blog is there, of course.

  11. Sofamore@8
    You are right about TIDDLYWINKS. I didn’t check my notes once I saw the plural here. Instead I tried to make flicker=WINKS work. 🙂

  12. Thanks very much for the blog, RR, and for the kind words from all in the comments. Indeed TIDDLYWINK at 12a is an &lit, as KVa@3/10 suggested. Regarding the two American words in clues (Carny and clambake) I think referencing such things without an indicator is fair, unless it so happened that a beach for a clambake were called something else.

    For Hovis@5, I think having a reveal of the theme can be satisfying (especially if you cotton on before getting to 23a) but also it allows solvers the chance to find all the thematic stuff with a target to aim for – I find sometimes that themes can extend far beyond my initial thought when I read comments here!

    Thanks again all.

  13. SPEED is not a narcotic, it’s a stimulant. TV is not a media, it is a medium. After two such inaccurate cluees I just threw the puzzle away.

  14. this is a great puzzle! especially loved SPEED and MEDICINE! Only disappointment in that a cricket ball did not appear. <3

  16. Nice puzzle, thanks S&B
    Rabbit Dave @ 2, I suppose your implication re CLAMBAKE is your rote complaint that it should be indicated as an American word. But if it’s ‘uniquely American’ as you say, you can have been in no doubt as to either its origin or its meaning.

  17. Goujeers@13 made me revisit those parsings which I hadn’t given a second thought. The free dictionary I use on my iPad offers ‘television’ and ‘media’ as synonyms, perhaps reflecting popular use. SPEED it identifies as slang, but in any event ‘narcotic’ confirmed my answer, which if inaccurate, like the ‘cluees’ mentioned in the objecting comment I regard as an inconsequential mistake

  18. Enjoyable puzzle, thanks Umpire and RR. I thought the TIDDLYWINK clue was very neatly done. I don’t object to having the theme spelt out for me – I would most likely miss it otherwise.

  19. Really enjoyed this one and confess that I didn’t even look for a theme until 23a made me think about the possibility.
    Too many good clues to mention but my absolute favourite was the small flicker.

    Thanks to Umpire for the fun and to RR for the review.

  20. Thanks Umpire for a most enjoyable crossword. I forgot that Tuesday is theme day otherwise I think I would have seen this one. With 14 theme answers this is a superb effort. I liked many of the clues such as PESTO, HAND, JUST SO, and BEACH. Thanks RR for in depth blog.

  21. Out all day so missed this till now. Completely missed the theme – not! Did I 23As. 🙂
    Hi RR, I read your list “3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15D, 17, 19A, 19D, 23D, 26 and 28” and could only count 13.
    Took me a while to work out which was missing, confused by the numerical rather than clue order.
    Then read your next sentence “Incidentally, 9 and 18 as balls were both unfamiliar to me.”
    Believe I’ve found a fifteenth:
    @http://printwiki.org/Ball_Printer – not secure, so I’ve disabled the link:
    ‘Ball Printer – A type of impact printer or typewriter in which the character set is carried on a small metal ball. Typefaces can be changed by simply swapping balls’
    Anyone remember the old IBM Selectric golf ball typewriters?
    TIDDLYWINK is a very fine @lit. The word has an extensive definittion. The game has an interesting history.
    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tiddlywink
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiddlywinks
    Thanks U&RR

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