Independent 11,475 by Bluebird

by

The puzzle is available here.

 

Hi everyone.  A first time Bluebird for me, and I enjoyed it.  I do did however need your help explaining 2d.  Edit: thank you all!

Edit 2: Simon S below has alerted us to a theme.  See comments 13 and 22.

The good idea of 10a, the cuckoo defending the gull in 26a, 7d’s thorny subject and the issue of Eagle in 25d all stood out for me.  My favourites are 19a and 18d.  Of those I originally chose Earl Z as my top pick, but looking back am smiling more at the tut-tut given to the short skirt.  Thanks Bluebird!

 

Definitions are underlined in the clues below.  In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.  For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.

 

Across

1a    A coin is distributed capital (7)
 NICOSIA
A COIN IS anagrammed (distributed)

5a    Cricket match on well-tended ground that’s used for trials (4,3)
 TEST BED
TEST (cricket match) by (on) BED (well-tended ground)

9a    One associated with trouble involving egg mayonnaise? (5)
 AIOLI
I (one) next to (associated with) AIL (trouble) containing (involving) O (egg)

10a   Put underwear on at home then move to and fro – good idea! (9)
 BRAINWAVE
Put BRA (underwear) on IN (at home) then WAVE (move to and fro)

11a   Park-keeper following devout individual who’s from elsewhere (8)
 STRANGER
RANGER (park keeper) following ST (devout individual)

13a   Line formed when odd characters are ejected from gin shop/taproom (6)
 ISOBAR
The answer is formed when odd characters are ejected from gIn ShOp + BAR (taproom)

15a   Barman removing earth from flowers in the entrance of inn (7)
 ROSSINI
We are removing E (earth) from ROS[e]S  (flowers) and adding IN + the first letter of (entrance of) Inn

16a   Old German head of recruitment who may take up position at bank (6)
 ANGLER
ANGLE (old German) + the first letter of (head of) Recruitment

19a   I disapprove of times one wears short skirt (3-3)
 TUT-TUT
T T (times: two copies of T, time), one of which is surrounded by (wears) TUTU (short skirt)

20a   Writer given $1000 by posh, trendy publishers (7)
 PENGUIN
PEN (writer) + G ($1000) + U (posh) + IN (trendy)

22a   Relatives of diplomats with cold, uncovered flesh (6)
 UNCLES
UN (diplomats) + C (cold) + all but the outer letters of (uncovered) fLESh

24a   Maybe Thomas the Tank Engine munches on the track (4-4)
 CHOO-CHOO
CHEW CHEW (munches: two lots of munch), sound-alike (on the track, the track being a recording)

26a   Cuckoo defends gull both tail-less and unable to fly (9)
 UNFLEDGED
An anagram of (cuckoo) DEFENDs GULl, both without their last letters (tail-less)

27a   Beelzebub was back (5)
 DEVIL
LIVED (was) reversed (back)

29a   Music from party promotions (7)
 BALLADS
BALL (party) + ADS (promotions)

30a   A piece of finest ripe dragonfruit or watermelon might be described thus (7)
 STRIPED
It’s hidden in a piece of fineST RIPE Dragonfruit

 

Down

1d    Functioning doubles borne by a hotel-island that appears in Genesis (5,3)
 NOAHS ARK
ON (functioning) is reversed (doubles) on top of (borne by) A + H (hotel) + SARK (island)

2d    A dove’s call is lower in Scotland (3)
 COO
I assumed when solving that COO is a Scottish word for a cow, but now can’t find that supported in any dictionary.
Thanks to commenters for links showing that this is indeed the case – see below

3d    Puzzling originator in Cologne is Tesla – or is it Einstein? (9)
 SCIENTIST
I (puzzling originator – ie the setter) in SCENT (cologne) + IS + T (tesla, symbol for the SI unit)

4d    Do this to sailor, bishop and vicar that is carrying astatine (10)
 ABBREVIATE
AB (sailor), B (bishop) and REV (vicar) + IE (that is) around (carrying) AT (astatine).  We ABBREVIATE the elements of the clue to get the answer.  (Ok, technically At is a chemical symbol rather than an abbreviation, but it does come from letters in the word so it would be very nitpicky to object)

5d    Chops branch up (4)
 TRAP
PART (branch) written upwards in the grid

6d    Kiss turning on son, 29? (5)
 SONGS
SNOG (kiss) turning ON + S (son).  29a = BALLADS.
… except that as Hovis points out @3, we are actually turning NO.  Much less sexy!

7d    Thorny subject of Blair’s initial meandering discourse with his partner in crime (7-4)
 BRAMBLE-BUSH
Blair’s first letter (initial) + RAMBLE (meandering discourse) + BUSH (his [Blair’s] partner in crime)

8d    Tedious academic quick to belt out Latin (6)
 DREARY
DR (academic) + EAR[l]Y (quick) ejecting (to belt out) L (Latin)

12d   Enterprising recluse made mincemeat with four bananas (11)
 RESOURCEFUL
RECLUSE anagrammed (made mincemeat) together with FOUR anagrammed (bananas)

14d   They cover hits by Underworld (10)
 LAMPSHADES
LAMPS (hits) by HADES (underworld)

17d   Our arms once held this grown-up struggling to accept the ends of childhood innocence (9)
GUNPOWDER
An anagram of (… struggling) GROWN-UP including (to accept) the last letters of (ends of) childhooD innocencE

18d   Registered name is ‘Earl Z’! (8)
 ENROLLED
E (earl) + N ROLLED (Z – the letter N is turned on its side)

21d   Bus travelling north from city, heading for B&Q that’s on the outskirts (6)
 SUBURB
BUS reversed (travelling north) + UR (city) + the first letter of (heading for) B&Q

23d   A male nurse beside one’s bottom put up fluid (5)
 ENEMA
A, M (male), EN (nurse) and onE’s last letter (bottom) all written upwards (put up)

25d   Issue of Eagle, say, given to exhausted grandsons (4)
 EGGS
EG (say) + GrandsonS without the inner letters (exhausted …).  For the definitions, issue has its crosswordland staple meaning of offspring; in the surface reading it’s an issue of the old comic

28d   6p for a big cheese (1,1,1)
 VIP
VI (six) + P

 

24 comments on “Independent 11,475 by Bluebird”

  1. I think you’re right about 2d, but it’s a homophone of how a Scotsman (like the setter, I believe) might pronounce it. Rather like the German Kuh as well.

  3. A mixed bag for me. I really like the clue for ABBREVIATE, clever and quite novel. SONGS didn’t work for me. It seems we are turning ‘no’ in ‘snog’ not turning ‘on’. 12d didn’t work for me either. The two separate anagram indicators suggest an anagram of ‘recluse’ followed by an anagram of ‘four’.

    Kitty, a very minor point, but I think the ‘IN’ in 10a equates to ‘at home’ rather than just ‘home’.

  5. Thanks, Bluebird and Kitty! A great puzzle and a superb blog.
    Liked TUT-TUT, CHOO CHOO, SCIENTIST and SONGS.

    There are many references online for COO (in the sense we are looking for). Someone will come up
    with dictionary reference soon, I am sure.

    I found this somewhere:
    In the old Scots language, ‘coo’ means ‘cow’ so you may find many people still refer to this breed as either Highland cows or Highland coos.

  9. KVa. Can’t say it works for me. An anagram of a synonym is a bit too indirect for my liking. What do others think?

  10. Thanks all, much appreciated. 🙂

    I thought about coo just being a pronunciation thing, but wasn’t sure that would be ok. Much happier to find support that it’s also spelled that way – thank you for the links. I should have done a more thorough internet search, but it was surprising to find nothing in the main references.

    Hovis@3,9 – thanks for the tweak to 10a, now tweaked. Good point about SONGS – completely missed that. Have quietly removed it from my intro highlights.

    KV@8 – I decided to move swiftly on from that one!

  11. Hovis@9
    I withdraw my alternative parsing. I agree it doesn’t work. The setter probably intended what we all thought originally: ‘turning ON’.

    Kitty@10
    Moving on! 🙂

  13. Thanks Bluebird and Kitty

    Bluebird has posted on twitter that this puzzle has a ghost theme of Nic Jones, whose final album was called Penguin Eggs.

    I don’t know enough about him to spot the other references though.

  14. GUNPOWDER – “Our arms once held this grown-up struggling to accept the ends of childhood innocence”
    Such a beautifully poignant surface – for such a horribly destructive invention. Brilliant.

  16. FrankieG@12
    I was looking at NOAH’S ARK the way you looked at it. In the process, I landed on that mountain where the ark landed rather than considering the ark itself as a hotel-island. I think your explanation works. We can take this as a clue-as-definition.

  17. KVA@11 – 🙂

    FrankieG@12 – yes. I would like the term “extended definition” to refer to this sort of thing, but I don’t use it for fear of muddying the water, since people sometimes use that to refer to a true &lit.

    Simon S @13 – thank you (and nice to see you!). I too think I will leave it to others to flesh out the theme (and thanks to FrankieG for the link), but will add a mention to the intro in a bit.

  18. Thanks both. Some different elements here, I thought, not least of which ‘puzzling originator’ for I in SCIENTIST….really? Whenever I see the word Cowdenbeath I offer up my pathetic take on a Scottish accent with a cry of ‘the Mighty Cow!” wherein my version is not homophone of COO but I shall check this evening with my lovely neighbour who is from North of the border

  19. From the DEVIL to the STRANGER is also an album by Nic Jones.

    Liked this puzzle a lot. Loved TUT TUT and CHOO CHOO.

    Thank you Bluebird and Kitty.

  21. I really enjoyed this one but was very relieved that I didn’t need to know about a gentleman named Nic Jones in order to solve it! So many clues to enjoy along with Kitty’s superbly illustrated review and I’m filling my podium with BRAINWAVE, ANGLER, BALLADS, BRAMBLE BUSH & VIP.

    Many thanks to both our setter and our feline reviewer.

  22. Thanks and appreciation to Kitty for the excellent blog and to everyone who had a go at the puzzle and took the time to comment. Sorry about 6d.

    The titles of all of Nic Jones’s non-eponymous studio albums are referenced in the grid – BALLADS and SONGS, The NOAH’S ARK TRAP, From a DEVIL to a STRANGER, and PENGUIN EGGS.

  23. Like many above me, CHOO-CHOO, TUT TUT and BRAMBLE BUSH make my podium, but there were several other strong contenders. “Earl Z” produced quite a groan!

    Thanks Bluebird and Kitty.

  24. Thanks Bluebird for an enjoyable crossword. I liked PENGUIN, the very clever ABBREVIATE, and VIP among others. When I was on a whisky tour several years ago our Scottish guide always said cow like COO and explained the pronunciation. (When some Scots speak rapidly it can almost sound like a foreign language to an American.) I did not or could not twig the theme. Thanks Kitty for the blog.

Comments are closed.