Independent 11,496 by Umpire

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Umpire is a fairly new addition to the Indy setting team – this is our first blog of an Umpire puzzle.

We found this a relatively straightforward solve, with no unusual words and some neat surfaces. The parsing of 25d had us scratching our heads for a while. We would welcome your thoughts on 7d.

Looking forward to the next one!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Rocket scientists start to launch section of bridge (5)
NASAL

NASA (National Aeronautics & Space Administration – ‘rocket scientists’) L (first letter or ‘start’ to launch)

4. Stowaway repaired barge that contains food for Australians (9)
TUCKERBAG

TUCK (stow away) + an anagram (‘repaired’) of BARGE

9. A fool helping without reason initially causes anxiety (9)
AGITATION

A GIT (fool) rATION (helping) missing or without’ the ‘r’ (first or ‘initial’ letter of reason)

10. People on vacation preserve nut (5)
PECAN

PeoplE without the middle letters or ‘on vacation’ CAN (preserve)

11. Firing left then right? (8,6)
MARCHING ORDERS

When MARCHING, the verbal ORDERS to troops are ‘left, right’ …..

13. Noticed male wrongfully works (7)
SAWMILL

SAW (noticed) M (male) ILL (wrongfully)

15. Place invaded by small revolutionary in space (6)
LEEWAY

LAY (place) round or ‘invaded by’ a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of WEE (small)

16. Runner teams up every now and then (3)
EMU

Alternate letters (‘every now and then’) of tEaMs Up

18. Post-mortem Balmoral holds to preserve body (6)
EMBALM

Hidden (‘held’) in post-mortEM BALMoral

20. Mistakenly bet everyone follows new game (7)
NETBALL

An anagram (‘mistakenly’) of BET + ALL (everyone) after or ‘following’ N (new)

23. Fungus found in agitated horse’s tummy or cow’s heart (6,8)
OYSTER MUSHROOM

An anagram (‘agitated’) of HORSE’S TUMMY OR and O (middle letter or ‘heart’ of cow)

26. Bloke volunteers to get fish (5)
MANTA

MAN (bloke) TA (Territorial Army – ‘volunteers’)

27. Drop of honey and bit of lemon put separately into Iberian beverage-paradise! (7-2)
SHANGRI-LA

H (first letter or ‘drop’ of honey) and L (first letter or ‘bit’ of lemon) separately in SANGRIA (Iberian beverage)

28. Very precise sonnet he translated about love (2,3,4)
ON THE NOSE

An anagram (‘translated’) of SONNET HE round O (love)

29. Releasing son, force lock (5)
TRESS

sTRESS (force) missing or ‘releasing the first ‘s’ (son)

DOWN
1. Might dating sites promote these close shaves? (4,6)
NEAR MISSES

Umpire is suggesting that dating sites might promote MISSES (young ladies) who live NEAR enough for a date

2. Broadcast about child raised originally in run-down area (4,3)
SKID ROW

SOW (broadcast) round KID (child) R (first or ‘original’ letter of raised)

3. Secure hollowed-out large tree (5)
LEASH

LargE missing the middle letters or ‘hollowed out’ + ASH (tree)

4. Shape a ringlet that’s out of control (8)
TRIANGLE

An anagram (‘out of control’) of A RINGLET

5. Scavenger‘s apartment close to sewer (6)
CONDOR

CONDO (condominium – ‘apartment’) R (last letter or ‘close’ of sewer)

6. Practical experiment in which inspector goes over the edge? (9)
EXPEDIENT

EXPErimENT with ‘rim’ (edge’) replaced by DI (Detective Inspector)

7. Some rugby players hold jobs in retirement getting degree at college first (4,3)
BACK ROW

A reversal (‘in retirement’) of WORK (hold jobs) after BA (Bachelor of Arts – ‘degree’) C (college). We puzzled over the use of ‘hold’. Joyce felt work = jobs and that ‘hold’ was a linking word between the definition and parsing. She was not keen on it but couldn’t come up with a better one!

8. Heat base of flask to produce sticky substance (4)
GUNK

GUN (‘heat’ – US slang) K (last letter or ‘base’ of flask)

12. Many labels misplaced? Certainly! (2,3,5)
BY ALL MEANS

An anagram (‘misplaced’) of MANY LABELS

14. Embarrassed, one Liberal departed HQ topless (3,2,4)
ILL AT EASE

I (one) L (Liberal) LATE (departed) bASE (HQ) missing the first letter or ‘topless’

17. Lecturer troubled after growth discovered in deer, perhaps (8)
UNGULATE

L (lecturer) ATE (troubled) after fUNGUs (growth) without the first and last letters or ‘discovered’

19. Blade that Earl concealed in club (7)
BAYONET

YON (that) E (earl) ‘concealed’ in BAT (club)

21. Get rid of a cat that is eating waste, essentially (7)
ATOMISE

A TOM (cat) IE (that is) round or ‘eating’ S (middle or ‘essential’ letter of waste)

22. Overcharge labourer from the South for work on a wall (6)
FRESCO

A reversal (‘from the South’) of O/C (overcharge) SERF (labourer)

24. Greedily eat starters of halved olives grown in Turkey (3,2)
HOG IT

First letters or ‘starters’ of Halved Olives Grown In Turkey

25. Remove skin of some cured meat to find slugs (4)
AMMO

gAMMOn (cured meat) missing the first and last letters or ‘removing skin’

 

14 comments on “Independent 11,496 by Umpire”

  1. I agree with your parsing at 7D, though it seems a little clunky. I didn’t understand 8D as gun = heat is so obscure. Very enjoyable overall so thanks Umpire and B&J.

  3. Thanks, Umpire and B&J. I thought TUCKERBAG and MARCHING ORDERS very neat.

    Re 7d, “Hold a job” could mean WORK, and I think it’s ok in the plural too. I’m less keen on “at” to join BA and C, but it’s a fairly standard crossword convention.

  4. I liked ‘helping’ for ‘ration’ in AGITATION, ‘yon’ for ‘that’ in BAYONET and MARCHING ORDERS. I agree that ‘heat’ is somewhat obscure but I agree that it is American slang, not only for guns but also, more strongly in my version, for the police, which is what what obfuscated me but then very obvious with the crossers and fair. Solved on the train from Wellinton to Waikenae in the rain. Lovely. Thanks B&J and thanks Umpire. Great puzzle.

  6. MARCHING ORDERS was my favourite, though NEAR MISSES produced an appreciative groan. Like Sofamore, I liked the YON in BAYONET, too. Thanks, all three.

  7. Thanks both. My first thought was ‘gun’ for ‘heat’ – please don’t judge me on that – and I find GUNK a pleasantly unpleasant word. I assume NASAL simply refers to the nasal bridge i.e. a part of the nose?

  10. Thanks Umpire for an enjoyable crossword. I liked EXPEDIENT, UNGULATE, and ATOMISE, the latter for its surface. I couldn’t fully parse BAYONET, not seeing YON=that. Thanks B & J for the blog.

  11. Ridiculous time to be posting but it’s been ‘one of those days’! Anyway, just wanted to record how much I enjoyed this one with my stand-out favourite being NEAR MISSES – really made me laugh.

    Many thanks to Umpire for a fun solve and to B&J for the comprehensive review.

  12. A pleasant and not too difficult solve. We had an incompletely parsed ‘mystic mushroom’ (a possible variant of ‘magic mushroom’?) at first till FRESCO put us right. Favourites were MARCHING ORDERS and SHANGRI-LA.
    Thanks, Umpire and B&J.

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