Independent 11,565 by Tyrus

by

The puzzle is available here.

 

Hi all.  A pretty tricky one this, not unexpected given the setter.  I ended up resorting to an anagram helper in one place but like to think I would have been ok on another day.

There is a typical Tyrus political nina around the perimeter of the grid (shown at the bottom of the blog) which relates to this story.

I enjoyed the tussle; my favourite clue is 14a.  Thanks Tyrus!

 

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

8a    Cross – judge defending old queen exempt from tax (4-4)
ZERO-RATE
ZO (cross, the one also spelled zho, dso, dzho or dzo) and RATE (judge) around (defending) ER (old queen)

9a    Pornographer firstly has a rule about body part (6)
PLEURA
The initial letter of (… firstly) Pornographer + A RULE anagrammed (about)

10a   Harry arguing endlessly – language! (6)
UGRIAN
Make an anagram of (harry) ARGUINg without its last letter (endlessly)

11a   Dutch helping for as long as it takes (8)
DURATION
DU (Dutch) + RATION (helping)

12a   Cheese brought over in three napkins (6)
PANEER
Hidden reversed in (brought over in) thREE NAPkins

13a   Warehouse in French town rejected drinker (8)
ENTREPOT
EN (in French) + T (town) + in reverse (rejected) TOPER (drinker)

14a   Food served to us lacks taste to begin with – shameful! (13)
DISHONOURABLE
DISH ON OUR [t]ABLE (food served to us) lacks the first letter of (… to begin with) Taste

17a   Radiant young woman on the internet I have to follow (8)
EMISSIVE
E–MISS (young woman on the internet) with I’VE (I have) to follow

19a   Two countries flipped over the same newspaper feature (6)
SUDOKU
UK US (two countries) reversed (flipped) around (over) DO (ditto: the same)

21a   Peer at rich bloke’s lover (8)
NOBLEMAN
NOB (rich bloke) + LEMAN (lover)

23a   Take priest to outwardly conscious survivors (6)
RELICS
R (recipe: take) + ELI (priest) + the external letters of (outwardly) ConsciouS

24a   Current number (over 50) conforming with the rules (2,4)
IN LINE
I (current) + NINE (number) around (over) L (50)

25a   Sanctimonious type in pub a Republican, I understand (8)
PHARISEE
PH (pub) + A + R (Republican) + I + SEE (understand)

 

Down

1d    The last tight game you mentioned broke his record and his heart, maybe (6)
ZEUGMA
Z (the last) + an anagram of (tight) GAME and U (you mentioned).  The definition is an example of this figure of speech in which one word is applied to two others in a sentence but in different senses.  Collins gives this example from Dickens: “Mr. Pickwick took his hat and his leave”

2d    They made Spurs supporter finally smile … or panic! (8)
LORIMERS
An anagram of (… panic) the last letter of (… finally) supporteR + SMILE + OR

3d    Apprentice loses head but he brings home the bacon (6)
EARNER
[l]EARNER (apprentice) loses the first letter (head)

4d    Want massage reported (4)
NEED
Sounds like (… reported) KNEAD (massage)

5d    Worker and speaker taking exercise (8)
OPERATOR
ORATOR (speaker) surrounding (taking) PE (exercise)

6d    Way one stops little (Scottie) dog (6)
WESTIE
ST (way) and I (one) goes inside (stops) WEE (little (Scottie))

7d    Gutted – one sector struggling? This should stop the rot (8)
CREOSOTE
An anagram of (… struggling) without the middle letter (gutted) OnE and SECTOR

13d   Slowly destroy what a Norseman did, said East Ender (5)
ERODE
H-dropping sound-alikes on both sides here (… said East Ender): what AN ‘ORSEMAN did? ‘E RODE!

14d   Slander retracted at start – surprise (bigly) for Trump (8)
DUMFOUND
MUD (slander) reversed (retracted) + FOUND (start).
The definition indicates this is an American spelling, which is what I would have naturally assumed, but the main dictionaries just give it as a variant.  Seems a dum spelling to me, so I can’t quibble with the clue!

15d   I’m done with pub – virtually ruined smoking area (5,3)
OPIUM DEN
I’M DONE and all but the last letter of (virtually) PUb, all anagrammed (ruined)

16d   Bush‘s ideal running mate originally (8)
BUDDLEIA
An anagram of (… running) IDEAL, with BUD (mate) first (originally)

18d   Spit, slightly twisting plant (6)
SALVIA
SALIVA (spit) with two adjacent letters swapping places (slightly twisting)

19d   Riot – elite forces finally getting on top (6)
SCREAM
CREAM (elite) with the last letter of (… finally) forceS going above (getting on top)

20d   Got rid of king, conspiracy theorist ultimately admitted (6)
KICKED
K (king) + ICKE (conspiracy theorist) + the last letter of (ultimately) admitteD

22d   “Begin cycling!” “I won’t!” (4)
NOPE
OPEN (begin) cycling

 

 

16 comments on “Independent 11,565 by Tyrus”

  1. Thanks, Tyrus and Kitty!
    My faves: DISHONOURABLE, NOBLEMAN and ZEUGMA.

    DUMFOUND
    Will be good to know what Tyrus had in mind.
    As we know that it’s just an alternative spelling of DUMBFOUND, can we
    take surprise (bigly) and (to) trump (in the sense of ‘outdo’) as two defs?

  2. I took the definition of DUMFOUND as to surprise greatly, which would be surprise bigly for Trump. I got SALIVA AND SALVIA the wrong way round at first. I liked PHARISEE.

  3. As Kitty implies, Tyrus is always a challenge so I was pleased to navigate my way through this one. I spotted the nina coming together but, until the very end, had no idea what the SW corner was going to reveal so it didn’t help a lot, apart from giving me the initial Z for the nho ZEUGMA. DUMFOUND is a variant I don’t recognise but, if US, is sufficiently indicated by the surface for me.

    EMISSIVE, PHARISEE, WESTIE and NOPE earned the bigger ticks with the standouts being DISHONOURABLE and OPIUM DEN. I don’t think I’ve seen Town = T before: what would be the derivation for that? I’m not a football fan but is it how Town is represented in the results on TV? Curious.

    Thanks Tyrus and Kitty

  4. JT’s ninas particularly in his Tyrus puzzles help the solver along the way whilst at the same time allowing expats to catch up with UK things and above all stay away. And how many had heard of Dame Nadine champagne?
    Thank Tyrus and Kitty

  6. https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2004/01/nebula-zeugma-firebird.asp?m=1
    ‘Flanders and Swann’s song “Have Some Madeira M’Dear” employes (sic) quadruple ZEUGMA in each verse, which is dead impressive; the relevant lines are:
    And he said as he hastened to put out the cat, | The wine, his cigar and the lamps
    She lowered her standards by raising her glass, | Her courage, her eyes and his hopes.
    When he asked, “What in Heaven?” She made no reply, | Up her mind, and a dash for the door.’

  7. Thanks Tyrus and Kitty

    Superb puzzle and nina, then again I’m a big fan of JT in both his guises.

    And for another top notch nina, check out the Elgar Toryrag Toughie yesterday.

  8. Annoyingly, this was a dnf for me: I lazily used an anagram solver for 10ac and lazily, without checking it, stopped at GURIAN in the long alphabetical list, because it sounded as if it could be a language. I won my just deserts, because it stopped me getting ZEUGMA, which I did know, from A Level study of Milton’s ‘Comus’:
    … as when the wrath of Jove
    Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus
    To som of Saturn’s crew    .

    Tyrus was on good form today (but I don’t think he has off-days) with a highly amusing Nina, which I failed to see.

    I’ll go along with PostMark’s favourites, especially DISHONOURABLE, with the addition of 13ac ENTREPOT, 23ac RELICS, 2dn LORIMERS and 16dn BUDDLEIA.
    PM, re T = Town: this has caused discussion here more than once and, as far as I can remember, the general agreement has been that it’s from football results, as you guessed.

    Many thanks to Tyrus for a very enjoyable puzzle and to Kitty for a lovely blog.

  9. Thanks both. Regret too many unknowns for this to be enjoyable – I did spot a Nina forming but it’s political niche to which I guess we also owe ‘bigly’ was beyond me

  10. Gave it my best shot but eventually resorted to electronic help to cross the finish line. Think this setter is well out of my comfort zone! At least I found a favourite and it’s the same one our blogger chose – DISHONOURABLE.

    Thanks to Tyrus although I doubt that I’ll be in your company again, and thanks to Kitty for the review.

  11. Thanks Kitty and Tyrus.

    Brilliant piece of setting, with clinically precise clues that helped with unknown words as well!

    I had most of the top, bottom and right side of nina, I was able to work out the rest; helpful for four more solutions.

    Loved these:
    DISHONOURABLE
    EMISSIVE
    ZEUGNA
    SALIVA
    OPIUM DEN
    ZERO-RATE
    DUMFOUND

  12. Thanks Tyrus. Despite failing in the NW corner I generally liked this crossword. DISHONOURABLE alone was worth the price of admission. I also had PLEURA, WESTIE, and ERODE as favourites. I didn’t spot the nina nor would I have understood it if I had. Thanks Kitty for explaining everything and, of course, for including the expected “kitty” photo. That inspired me to write a clue. [Iron shortened sheets for cat (6)]

  14. Super hard puzzle from my perspective.

    Well over an hour and several trips to dictionary corner.

    Thanks To Setter and Blogger

  15. Thanks to Kitty for a lovely blog and to others who commented. T for Town is given in the ODE as a football abbreviation, as surmised.

  16. When I know the setter is playing several steps above my level I get very little enjoyment from the puzzle. Unfortunately today was one of those days. Lots of unknown words and GK. I never stood a chance. One of my poorest showings in a long time. I hope tomorrow is a little gentler.

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