Independent 11,593 by Filbert

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An enjoyable challenge as usual from Filbert.

Nothing too obscure here, I thought; 14a isn’t in my usual vocabulary but I’m sure I’ve seen it in crosswords before, and 16a is perhaps a slightly contrived term but guessable. I liked the plausible surfaces of 1d, 2d and 27d, but my favourites were 9/26 for the clever anagram and the misleading “can’t play”, and the delightful cryptic definition of 29a. Thanks Filbert for the fun.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 CAPABLE
Competent assistant cuts wire (7)
PA (abbreviation for personal assistant) inserted into (cutting) CABLE (wire = electric cable).
5 HAGGARD
Witch costume for TV returned looking the worse for wear (7)
HAG (witch), then DRAG (costume for TV = transvestite = cross-dresser) reversed (returned).
9/26 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
Working tea lady with apron on can’t play (6,3,9)
Anagram (working) of TEA LADY + APRON ON CAN’T.

Play by Shakespeare.
10 ENEMA
Injection treatment partly using same needles in recession (5)
Hidden answer (partly . . .), reversed (in recession), in [s]AME NE[edles].

Well, it is an injection of sorts, though perhaps not the type you’d first think of.
11 SWEETHEARTS
Mini in street brought to suit couple (11)
WEE (dialect word for small = mini) in ST (abbreviation for street) + HEARTS (a suit in playing cards).
13 YUM
From behind, Juan’s very tasty! (3)
MUY (“very” in Spanish, as spoken by someone called Juan) reversed (from behind).

Yum! = expression meaning “that tastes good!”.
14 ORMER
Fellow leaves first of two shellfish (5)
[f]ORMER (the first of two) without the F (abbreviation for fellow).

A mollusc also known as abalone.
16 BEBOPPER
Jazz musician possibly bitter accepting work in oil company (8)
BEER (possibly bitter), containing (accepting) OP (abbreviation for Latin opus = a work of music or literature) inserted into BP (oil company).
18 UNDERFED
On short rations as commanded by Iron Duke (8)
UNDER (commanded by) + FE (Fe = chemical symbol for iron, from Latin ferrum) + D (abbreviation for duke).
19 OVERT
Deliveries trainee’s left in full view (5)
OVER (in cricket, a sequence of “deliveries” = balls bowled) + leftmost letter of T[rainee].
21 RIM
Old Russian satellite turns in outermost circle (3)
MIR (Russian space station, 1986 – 2001) reversed (turns).
22 AHEAD OF TIME
Answer magazine’s boss gives prematurely (5,2,4)
A (abbreviation for answer) + HEAD OF TIME (boss of Time magazine).
25 TWEET
Sound chirpy pretty close to defeat (5)
TWEE (pretty, but said in a disparaging way) + last letter (close) of [defea]T.
26
See 9
28 CATERER
Whip near Keir regularly is party manager (7)
CAT (short for cat o’ nine tails = a whip) + alternate letters (regularly) from [n]E[a]R [k]E[i]R.

Someone who provides food for parties.
29 SCROOGE
Employer of Bob Marley visits (7)
Cryptic definition, referring not to the musician Bob Marley but to Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol. Scrooge is the employer of Bob Cratchit, and the ghost of Jacob Marley visits him.
DOWN
1 CHAT SHOW
Hot wash runs after cold programme (4,4)
Anagram (runs) of HOT WASH, after C (abbreviation for cold, as in hot and cold water taps).
2 PATHE
French film company of course European (5)
PATH (course = route) + E (abbreviation for European).

Pathé = French company, active from the early days of the motion picture industry in the late 1800s.
3 BUN
Rabbit that’s divided for burger (3)
Double definition. Shortened form of “bunny” = rabbit; or a bread roll split to hold a hamburger.
4 ELATE
Earth dead? Cheer up (5)
E (abbreviation for earth, in electrical wiring) + LATE (euphemism for dead).

Elate = to make happy.
5 HYDERABAD
US lawyer uncovered case of youth uprising in state capital (9)
DA (abbreviation for District Attorney = US lawyer) + BARED (uncovered) + outer letters (case) of Y[out]H, all reversed (uprising = upwards in a down clue).

Capital of the Indian state of Telangana.
6 GREASEPROOF
Gross affluence meets demonstration stopping oil (11)
GR (abbreviation for gross = without deductions) + EASE (affluence) + PROOF (demonstration, in science / mathematics = proof that something is true).

As in greaseproof paper for food preparation.
7 ACETYLENE
Gas surprisingly clean yet ultimately non-renewable (9)
Anagram (surprisingly) of CLEAN YET + last letter (ultimately) of [non-renewabl]E.

Gas used for welding; generally derived from fossil fuels, so it is indeed non-renewable.
8 DEAR ME
How awful finding limb in river (4,2)
ARM (limb) in DEE (there are several rivers of that name in the UK and elsewhere).

Dear me! = how awful! = an expression of sympathy or concern.
12 THREE-MASTER
Article captain holds on sailing ship (5-6)
THE (definite article in grammar) + MASTER (captain), holding RE (on = on the subject of).
15 MINIM REST
Tiny male spider, say, causing hiatus at concert (5,4)
MINI (tiny) + M (abbreviation for male) + REST (in snooker, a device to support the cue; for example the “spider”, a taller rest for reaching over the top of another ball).

A break of a certain length between musical notes.
16 BUFFET CAR
Train service runs after strike, more or less (6,3)
R (abbreviation for runs in cricket scoring), after BUFFET (as a verb = strike = hit) + CA (ca = abbreviation for Latin circa, about = approximately = more or less).

Food-service area on a train.
17 STEERAGE
See great changes in cheap accommodation (8)
Anagram (changes) of SEE GREAT.

The cheapest class of acommodation on a ship.
20 ARCTIC
Perishing with convulsive twitch after electrical discharge (6)
TIC (convulsive twitch = involuntary movement) after ARC (electrical discharge = spark).

Perishing = arctic = slang for very cold, when describing weather.
23 DRESS
Leaving university, compulsion becomes habit (5)
D[u]RESS (under compulsion = under duress = forced to do something against one’s wishes) without the U (abbreviation for university).

As in a monk’s or nun’s habit = clothing.
24 INTRO
Lead in paint Rothko has absorbed (5)
Hidden answer (. . . has absorbed) in [pa]INT RO[thko].

Short for introduction.
27 PAR
A year ending in December is what you’d expect (3)
PA (abbreviation for Latin per annum = a year, as in “£100 a year”) + last letter (ending) of [decembe]R.

In golf scoring, par = the expected number of strokes needed for a hole or for the whole course.

15 comments on “Independent 11,593 by Filbert”

  1. Is it my imagination or are more and more foreign words creeping into clues? There are at least 3 in the ones I’ve tackled today and since Spanish isn’t one of the tongues I know, 13a was unknown to me. Otherwise a nice little puzzle with 29a easily being the pick. Thanks to Filbert & Quirister.

  5. SCROOGE, as has been said was brilliant. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA was very good, too. I was held up by getting MIR and RIM the wrong way round.

  6. Quite a few of these went in totally unparsed and then got a “yep, fair enough” nod from me. Wouldn’t have got ORMER without a word finder which lead to filling in THREE MASTER as my LOI which really I should have worked out.

    Wasn’t sure that a CATERER “manages” a party per se?

    Lots of clever wordplay on offer today but I got to the last 2 in pretty much record time for me.
    Very enjoyable.

    Thanks Filbert and Quirister.

  7. I found this hard work today – but I fear that is me rather than Filbert. I think I’m fighting something off and it is remarkable how it can affect the mind. Woolly thinking is not at all what one needs when taking on this setter. I did get to the end eventually, and with no reveals. Held up – exactly like PeterT – by stupidly entering MIR rather than RIM.

    I’ll join the general adoption of SCROOGE as COTD with ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, HAGGARD and UNDERFED as other podium solutions. I understand Deezza’s gripe at 1a – I know very little Spanish. But MUY is one of those words you don’t think you know and then discover you have encountered so it’s not too outrageous.

    Thanks Filbert and Quirister

  8. Oops. The system reverted to the pseudonym I used yesterday when commenting. Back to PM for the foreseeable.

  9. Great mix of entertainment, SCROOGE a clear winner

    Is it just me or does anyone else squirm when you see PAR described as “what you’d expect” or. “average”. ?

    Thanks F & Q

  10. Thanks both. I didn’t think I would be alone in my admiration of SCROOGE and it combines my favourite Christmas story with a much adored musician – we recently visited the Bob Marley museum in his former house in Kingston, which like the Dickens story was pleasantly spiritual

  11. Thanks Filbert and Quirister.
    Found this hard, but worthwhile.

    Favs:
    ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
    SWEETHEARTS
    BEBOPPER
    HYDERABAD

  12. Xmac @9: that’s a well made point. I view PAR as an unattainable goal – and I’m somehwat sorry for the folks who regularly achieve it. I get at least twice as many chances to swing a club as they do.

  13. I quite like the expectation among setters that solvers will have picked up a smattering of several (exclusively European, in my limited experience) languages. Because we jolly well should have! My best Filbert yet, with 29a as top clue, though I was gratified to get Bebopper, having never understood the music.
    Thanks to Filbert and Quirister

  14. The clue for 29a first featured in a puzzle in Big Dave’s Rookie Corner some years ago, not come up with anything better since (for anything).
    I have some French and less German. The number of Spanish words I know can probably be counted on …
    those trays

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