Independent 11,587 by Coot

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This is Coot’s third puzzle in the Indy. We enjoyed the first two and were pleased to see that we were blogging this one.

The first two were themed around sport although no specialist knowledge was required to complete the crosswords – in fact we missed each theme. We were on the look-out for something and noticed a number of ‘weathermen’ in the clues. It wasn’t until we had filled the grid that we realised that there was also a perimeter Nina – CLIMATE EMERGENCY

Some delightful clueing including a number of well hidden definitions which on a couple of occasions featured the first name of the weatherman in the clue

Thanks Coot – good to see another puzzle of yours – keep ’em coming!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
4. Cry, sad, having left common looking ill (6)
YELLOW

YELL (cry) and LOW (sad) but sharing an L (left) or ‘having left common’

7. Haphazardly deploy money to split atom (2,6)
AT RANDOM

RAND (money) inside or ‘splitting’ ATOM

10. One in, one out amongst anarchist’s assembled followers (10)
CHRISTIANS

An anagram (‘assembled’) of ANaRCHIST’S and I (one in) but missing an ‘a’ (one out)

11. Request scoop of maple affogato (4)
PLEA

Hidden (‘scoop of’) in maPLE Affogato

12. Ripped trousers not suitable for all holiday spots (7)
RESORTS

An anagram (‘ripped’) of TROuSERS without ‘u’ (suitable for all)

14. For fix, perch here perhaps, curt and tense (5)
RIVET

RIVEr (‘perch here perhaps’) missing last letter or ‘curt’ + T (tense)

16. Jack Scott’s initial distress given first signs of oceans rising (6)
SAILOR

S (first or ‘initial’ letter of Scott) AIL (distress) and O R (first letters or ‘signs’ of Oceans Rising)

18. John Kettley’s focus on a hydrocarbon veto uncovered (6)
TOILET

T (middle letter or ‘focus’ of Kettley) OIL (hydrocarbon) vETo (middle letters only or ‘uncovered’)

21. Low, corrupt and irresponsible Republican leaders (5)
NADIR

An anagram (‘corrupt’) of AND plus I R (first letters or ‘leaders’ to Irresponsible Republicans)

22. Gulf hosts to condemn outdated fossil fuel use? (3,4)
GAS LAMP

GAP (gulf) around or ‘hosting’ SLAM (condemn)

26. Westward course is correct (4)
EDIT

A reversal (‘westward’) of TIDE (course)

27. Finish off musical featuring Hello! (last seconds skipped) (10)
ANNIHILATE

ANNIE (musical) around or ‘featuring’ HI (hello) and LAsT without or ‘skipping’ S (seconds)

28. Introducing Bill Giles, right about melting ice? (8)
GLACIERS

AC (bill) in or ‘introduced’ into an anagram (‘about’) of GILES and R (right)

29. You made a point that hurt amidst heartless tirade (6)
TOUCHE

OUCH (that hurt) inside or ‘amidst’ TiradE missing the middle letters or ‘heartless’

DOWN
1. Ian McCaskill periodically organised petitions (6)
CLAIMS

An anagram (‘organised’) of alternate letters (‘periodically’) in iAn McCaSkIlL

2. The French imam’s abroad, finding worship in Tibet (7)
LAMAISM

LA (French for the) and an anagram (‘abroad’) of IMAM’S

3. Aching heart consumes Simon King returning from “green country“ (5)
IRISH

A reversal (‘returning’) of acHIng (middle letters only or ‘heart’) around SI (short for Simon) R (King)

5. Implore the registrar withholding anaesthetic drug (5)
ETHER

Hidden (‘withholding’) in implorE THE Registrar

6. Alert performing in court battle (8)
WATERLOO

An anagram (‘performing’) of ALERT inside WOO (court)

8. On the up in Paris, milk joke about marriage (7)
NUPTIAL

A reversal or ‘up’ as it is a down clue of LAIT (French for milk) PUN (joke)

9. Done! Team outside shed finally let pig out (7)
OVEREAT

OVER (done) tEAm (middle letters only or ‘shedding outside’) and T (last or ‘final’ letter of let)

13. Greek character who struggled in Spain? (3)
ETA

Double definition, the second being the Basque separatist organisation

15. Call for a motion to dismiss? (4,4)
HOWS THAT

Cryptic definition relating to a call in cricket for the batsman to be declared out

16. Glance at withdrawn boy to see injustice (7)
SCANDAL

SCAN (glance) and a reversal (‘withdrawn’) of LAD (boy)

17. Goofy expression curtailed time in charge (7)
IDIOTIC

IDIOm (expression) missing last letter or ‘curtailed’ + T (time) IC (in charge)

19. Big plant needs large space outside (3)
ELM

L (large) with EM (space – used in printing) outside

20. Silver touching eyes said to feel highly uncomfortable (7)
AGONISE

AG (silver) ON (touching) and a homophone (‘said’) of EYES

23. Lily pad torn for removal from London venue (6)
ALLIUM

The London venue is the pALLadIUM which is missing (‘torn for removal’) ‘pad’

24. Hollow crutch supports animated postman delivering parcel (5)
PATCH

CrutcH (missing the middle letters or ‘hollow’) underneath or ‘supporting’ PAT (Postman Pat features in a children’s cartoon). Our son was a great fan of the stories and characters when he was younger – he also had a guinea pig called Patch

25. She cooks black pears every now and then (5)
BAKER

Alternate letters (‘every now and then’) in BlAcK pEaRs

 

17 comments on “Independent 11,587 by Coot”

  1. Thanks, Coot and B&J!
    Liked YELLOW, ANNIHILATE and AGONISE.

    On the theme:
    COP28 begins today in Dubai.
    ELM: Environmental Land Management
    Eta atmospheric model is something I find online (not sure if ELM and ETA
    were intended to convey these senses/contexts).
    ANNIHILATE GLACIERS? Hopefully, we will not.

  2. Very enjoyable indeed Coot, with inventive clueing throughout and a cleverly worked theme and Nina
    I liked several including YELLOW CHRISTIANS (one in one out…very smart) GAS LAMP, GLACIERS and HOWS THAT but could have mentioned several more.
    Thanks and thanks to B&J for a top puzzle and blog.

  4. A DNF for me as I couldn’t see 15D. Also missed the nina as was in too much of a hurry. Much enjoyed anyway so thanks Coot and B&J.

  5. I felt a bit Nero-like, enjoying a crossword while the world burns. Let’s hope the world’s leaders are as inventive as Coot. Thanks to Coot, Bert and Joyce,

  6. I SAW THE NINA! Filled it in after I had about half the letters in it. That was helpful.
    LOI was HOWS THAT. Spent far too long missing that it was a CD. Kept wondering if _ H _ T could possibly be the reference to motion in the clue.

    Had an unparsed SLANDER in at 16D for a while until I could get any words to fit at 28a.

    Like yesterday’s TEES this was just about the right level of difficulty and invention for me. So thanks to Coot for my morning workout.

    Thanks also to B&J for the blog. Reading through it I realised I had entered a few answers not completely parsed through wanting to get on to the next clue.

  7. Glad I left this for later in the day as I’m now stuck with an ear-worm I’d really prefer to have done without! Clever piece of compiling which I found rather more difficult than our setter’s previous puzzles.
    Particular favourites were GAS LAMP & WATERLOO.

    Thanks to Coot and to B&J for the review.

  8. Many thanks to B&J for an impeccable blog and the kind words, and to everyone who has commented. I do love the way in which commenters are able to spot additional thematic solutions; KVa @1 – neither ETA nor ELM was intentional! The preponderous of downbeat surfaces and solutions was intentional, though, in keeping with the gravity of the climate crisis. I had been worried that the rather gloomy tone might attract a negative response but thankfully not (yet, anyway). One thematic answer that I didn’t expect anyone to spot was BAKER – Trevor Baker being another weather forecaster, sadly no longer with us. And the perch in 14a was as close as I could get to involving Michael Fish!

  9. Good one, Coot! Thanks.
    Enjoyed this…saw the nina at the end.
    Liked:
    YELLOW
    SAILOR
    GAS LAMP
    ANNIHILATE
    HOW’S THAT
    Thanks Bertandjoyce.

  10. Not too tough for me.

    Although I had to stare at 3D for a while to understand what was going on.

    Also I had WATERLOG written in and trying to backsolve it… and i had just seen Napoleon the other day!

    Enjoyed YELLOW. But IRISH was probably the best clue!

  12. Late to comment having spent the day behind the wheel though I had the pleasure of solving the puzzle together with a fellow setter/solver this morning. We both enjoyed it a lot: plenty of clean clues, reasonably accessible and we spotted the nina, having noted the naturalists and meteorologists. PATCH, OVEREAT, CLAIMS, GLACIERS, GAS LAMP and TOILET were my favourites today.

    Thanks Coot and B&J

  13. Tidy puzzle, thanks, Coot and B&J. I’m another who found the Nina helpful once spotted, and I liked the weathermen running through the clues. Particularly liked RESORTS – a nicely inventive take on an oft-clued word.

  14. Thanks both. The perfect level of challenge for me. Once I had spotted the climate change theme, I barely looked for a Nina other than regarding the letters on the left as spelling nothing of consequence! My only uncertainty remains PATCH derived from the definition parcel, and my device thesaurus doesn’t list them as synonyms (which is quite normal)

  15. Hi TFO@14

    We wondered about your query too, but eventually took PATCH and parcel as both referring to small areas of land.

    Thanks Coot, and to B&J too.

  16. Still looking for a Doctor Who 60th anniversary theme, I spotted a Time Lord – 25d BAKER crossing with a Dalek catchphrase – 7a ANNIHILATE. It first appeared on 22 May 1965 making a nice change from the usual suspect.
    Thanks C & B&J

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