Independent 11,613 by Rodriguez

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Last Saturday of the year and time for Rodriguez to set a puzzle.

And quite a tricky one it was. Some tricky clues to resolve, but at this time of year, very welcome difficulty.

Favourite clues 12ac (very neat) 4dn (surface reading) and 19dn (use of new year’s day)

Many thanks Rodriguez and a happy new year to all. Let’s hope it is a more just one, with less state sponsored murder.

Key bold definition; Rev reversed; * anagram

Across
8 Refined queen tucks into case of Rhone red twice (9)
r (queen) in [Re (case of Rhone) + che x 2 (red twice)] = RECHERCHE

10 Clumsy with a beer in moving forwards (5)
a pint (a beer) moving in forwards = INAPT

11 Party in Rio? A doctor gets involved in it (5)
sa (it) around a mb (doctor) = SAMBA

12 Awful factory exchanging article for English retailer (9)
sweat shop (awful factory) swapping e (english) for a = SWEETSHOP

13 They’re left in German cars reversed by engineers (7)
Re (engineers) + Rev (audis (German cars)) = RESIDUA

15 Opening of schnapps bottle – American’s going to get lashed with this? (7)
s (opening of schnapps) + courage (bottle) -a (american) = SCOURGE

16 Receiving protest, launch a trendy fashion line with many ups and downs (8,7)
rail (protest) in mount (launch) + in (trendy) + way (fashion) = MOUNTAIN RAILWAY

19 Overlook counterfeit clothing I see (7)
forge (counterfeit) around i v (I see) = FORGIVE

20 They think about number one rock song site, releasing number (7)
(song site – n)* = EGOISTS

22 Cuckoo let inside not even suffering after flight (3-6)
(let)* in jagged (not even) = JET LAGGED

24 Energy drink but not soft drink (5)
pep (emergy) + sip (drink) – p (soft) = PEPSI

26 Leader of pack seen in two lakes? (5)
Hidden lAKELAke = AKELA

27 Picked up topping cocktail (9)
Sounds like margherita (topping) = margarita

Down
1 Shandy tense teacher knocked back on transport (8)
t(tense) + Rev. sir (teacher) + tram (transport) = TRISTRAM {The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman}

2 Fleece coats from down under (4)
Rev macs (coats) = SCAM

3 Artist up for prize (6)
Rev. drawer(artist) = REWARD

4 Tory PM with lower energy in No. 10 (4)
Peel (Tory PM) moving e (energy) down = PELE {No 10 for Brazil}

5 Masters from university received by foreign visitor (8)
u in (visitor)* = VIRTUOSI

6 Dog’s breakfast before ex-PM’s breakfast, perhaps (4,6)
hash (dog’s breakfast) before Brown’s (ex PM’s) = HASH BROWNS

7 It’s used to fix useless tap, leaking internally (6)
Hidden uselesS TAP LEaking = STAPLE

9 Abandon group playing what should be popular song (4,5)
cast (group playing) + A-side (what should be popular song) = CAST ASIDE

14 Saucy wenches cry around you and me, needing a lift (10)
sob (cry) around u(you) + Rev. setter(me) = SOUBRETTES

15 Cave in Split? Slip up climbing inside it (9)
Rev. err (slip up) in sunder (split) = SURRENDER

17 Ornament by an inspiring artist displays craft (8)
trim (ornament) + ra(artist) in an = TRIMARAN

18 Agreed to keep revered Hindu in religious schools (8)
yes (agreed) around shiva (revered Hindu) = YESHIVAS

19 Polynesian island during loud New Year’s Day (6)
i(island) in F (loud) + 1 jan (new year’s day) = FIJIAN

21 E.g. Annie Oakley’s initial way of speaking Chinese (6)
o (Oakley’s initial) + rp (way of speaking) + han (Chinese) = ORPHAN

23 Sondheim gutted, say, after Rolling Stones (4)
Rev. sm (Sondheim gutted) + eg (say) = GEMS

25 Investigator arresting a nationalist giving French stick? (4)
pi (investigator) around a + n (nationalist) = PAIN

16 comments on “Independent 11,613 by Rodriguez”

  1. Thanks Rodriguez and twencelas!
    Liked INAPT (loved the surface), HASH BROWNS (idiomatic and literal breakfasts-nice) and FIJIAN (the island mislead).
    FORGIVE (a minor query:)
    Should we not consider I and V separately as vide (v) is an instruction
    to the reader?

  2. That was quite a challenge but one I really enjoyed.

    I’m not entirely convinced by the definition for 11a even with the question mark.

    I’ve never heard of YESHIVAS but the wordplay was clear and a quick dictionary check confirmed it.

    I had a lot of ticks with HASH BROWNS, FIJIAN and ORPHAN my top picks.

    Many thanks to Rodriguez and to twencelas.

  3. Ouch! Too hard for me. Had to cheat on a few to finish and, even then, couldn’t get 4d. Of course, I’ve heard of Pele but didn’t know he played no. 10. Put in an unparsed DENE (Eden with E moved down).
    Had the same misgivings as Rabbit Dave on 11a.
    Didn’t know SOUBRETTES or the spread MARGHERITA and only vaguely remember YESHIVAS.

  4. Really tough today and I was beaten by nho SOUBRETTES and the interlinked FORGIVE and had the same unparsed DENE as Hovis. Wrt FORGIVE and KVa’s comment, I took the see = V as a reference to the Vatican. Either is difficult.

    I’m the third commenter to highlight FIJIAN as a fave with ORPHAN my other standout clue.

    Thanks Rodriguez and twencelas

  5. I really didn’t enjoy this today but then I do have a flu-y and bad weather based grump this morning.

    Why does v = see?

    I do wish setters would stop using SA = it. It feels ridiculously outdated somehow and makes my teeth itch. And (as Rabbit Dave @2 and Hovis @3) I’m not at all convinced about the definition for 11ac.

  6. JWW@5
    I took v as vide (see-an instruction to the reader to refer to a particular passage, page etc.,)
    PM@4 took it as V as Vatican (The Holy See). That looks plausible too.

  8. I’m in the unparsed DENE/EDEN set. 11A had to be SAMBA, and I get ‘doctor’, ‘in Rio’ and ‘it’, but didn’t like ‘party’ for a dance – or does it appear in some dictionary or other as a synonym? All in all, very enjoyable, so thanks Rodriguez and Twencelas.

  9. I think the idea is that the samba is often done at parties and the question mark indicates a certain looseness. If so, as said earlier, it doesn’t quite work for me. Maybe the setter will clarify.

  10. Done by EDEN/DENE too. I should have searched “four-letter words for Prime Minister names”. Who knows what might have turned up.
    Thanks Rodriguez and twencelas.

  12. ilippu @11. Regarding 10a, I agreed with you when I was solving this but decided to look it up in Collins. This gives one of the definitions of INAPT as “lacking skill, inept”.

  13. Another double pirate day, which is always a pleasure, though I struggled with this one. Trying to work out why DENE should be No 10, I went as far as checking the spelling of Dixie Dean, which caused the penny to drop. My other favourites are those already mentioned.

  14. Excellent blog and wise wishes for 2024, twencelas!
    Oh, OK, I’ll explain the samba thing, just this once…
    To party = to “enjoy yourself doing things such as going out to parties, drinking, dancing, and talking to people” (Collins) . Therefore, to samba is an example of an activity you might do in Brazil if you party – both words just need to be read as verbs.
    Happy New Year to everyone!

  15. This seemed to take me much longer than it should have and in the end it was a DNF as I couldn’t for the life of me understand 4d PELE. Of course there are very few four-letter British PMs, but as Pete HA3@10 has said, I could have looked up a list to find PEEL when I couldn’t think of any. I needed enlightenment for this one from the blog, as well as a few others like A-SIDE for “popular song” in CAST ASIDE at 9d. Nevertheless a good brain work-out. Thank you to Rodriguez and twencelas. (Particular thanks for your thoughts on 2024, twencelas.)

  16. I’m late to this puzzle as I didn’t even know there was a Rodriguez out. Like others have said this was tough. Too many words that I didn’t know e.g. soubrettes, Yeshivas and recherche. Also not sure how I see becomes I V.

    BTW Fijians are Melanesian and not Polynesian.

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