Independent 11,638 by Methuselah

by

I found this a puzzle of two halves, with the top half being very easy but some of the clues in the bottom half were a bit of a struggle.

There were quite a few pop culture type references in the bottom half which made working out some of the parsings quite difficult. The surface definitions though were generally excellent – 15, 27 and 32 for example.

ACROSS
1 ACADEMICAL
Scholarly rascal consumed by a terrible malice (10)

Cad(=rascal) in (a malice*)
6 STUD
Boss getting apprentices half-cut (4)

Stud[ents]
9 ALSO RAN
Loser‘s lesion oddly covered in distinctive sort of stitches (4-3)

Odd letters of lesion in Aran(referring to Aran stitches, the different types of stitches used to make Aran jumpers)
10 ISOTOPE
I like this drink which may be radioactive (7)

I + so (=like this) + drink(=tope)
12 SINNED
Twisted menace behaved wickedly (6)

Dennis< (as in Dennis the Menace)
13 ANTIPHON
Words recited in panto, perhaps, when horse enters (8)

(In panto)* around h{orse}
15 SELF
Second XI from Bundesliga showing personality (4)

S{econd} + elf(=German word for 11)
16 VOLUNTEERS
Unpaid workers sadly lost most of revenue (10)

(Lost revenu[e])*
19 SUNCATCHER
Star baseball player’s decoration hung by window (10)

Sun(=star) + catcher(=baseball player). I've never really heard of this but it seems to be something you hang near a window to cast the light in different forms.
21 TROT
Communist right to reject books mentioning Methuselah (4)

R{igh}t< + OT(=Old Testament where Methuselah is mentioned). Trot is short for trotskyike.
25 LAUNCHER
Pea shoots or rocket leaves from this? (8)

Not sure but possibly DD referring to a pea shooter and space rocket launch pad.
27 BAZAAR
Market leaders in zero alcohol ale stocked by boozer (6)

(Z[ero] a[lcohol] a[le]) in bar

29 MERCIAN
Old person and resistance spies abducted by Martians, allegedly (7)

(R{esistance} CIA(=spies)) in men(=Martians). The latter is a reference to the 1992 John Gray book, "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus". Mercia was an old kingdom of England, so someone living there would be an "old person" in the sense of a dweller in ancient times.
30 MIDRIFF
What belly dancer reveals during guitar solo? (7)

CD/DD. A belly dancer exposes the midriff and during guitar solo = mid riff.
31 NELL
Toll from dictator’s a little Dickensian (4)

Hom (indicated by dictator) of knell(=toll). Refers to Little Nell from the novel The Old Curiosity Shop.
32 VIDEO NASTY
Controversial content to save Indy cryptic (5,5)

(To save Indy)*
DOWN
1 AMASSES
Gathers American is supported by fools (7)

Am{erican} + asses(=fools)
2 ARSENAL
Gunners behind on table at regular intervals (7)

Arse(=behind) + even letters of on table
3 EERIER
Stranger with additional lager possibly losing head (6)

[B]eerier (beerier being a possible way of saying someone has extra lager)
4 INNS
Drinking establishments popular with empty nesters (4)

In(=popular) + n[ester]s
5 ALIEN
Area 51 ultimately wore down extraterrestrial (5)

A{rea} + LI(=51 in Roman numerals) + [wor]e [dow]n
7 TROCHEE
A couple of syllables to cheer when throwing up a drop of red (7)

(To cheer) with r[ed] moving up to second place
8 DUENNAS
New nans due to become responsible older women (7)

(Nans due)*
11 OPIATE
Drug cops did lates with absolutely no cover (6)

[C]op[s] [d]i[d] [l]ate[s]
14 TORC
Baccarat or cribbage entertaining old metal band (4)

Hidden in baccarat or cribbage
17 USED
Crossword setters and their boss like an old chestnut (4)

Us(=crossword setters) + ed{itor}(=crossword editor)
18 TAI CHI
Eastern practice and spicy beverage mentioned by Spooner (3,3)

Hom of Chai tea spoonerised
19 SOLOMON
Wise guy‘s parting words briefly interrupted by doctor (7)

(So lon[g]) around MO(=Medical Officer)
20 NEUTRAL
Conductor not getting involved in dispute (7)

DD. The first def refers to the neutral conductor wire in a standard 3 pin plug.
22 ROADIES
Crew of sycophants giving up time for king (7)

Toadies(=sycophants) with t{ime} replaced by r{ex}
23 THRIFTY
Economical fee about to be deducted from £3.50 (7)

Thr[ee f]ifty (reversed fee removed from £3.50)
24 GARDEN
Pull up by space and park? (6)

Drag< + en(=space in printing)
26 ENNUI
Retro graffiti unnervingly captures discontent (5)

Hidden, reversed in graffiti unnervingly
28 SMEE
Duck pirate aboard the Jolly Roger (4)

DD. A smee is a type of duck and Smee is the right-hand man of Captain Hook, whose ship in Peter Pan is called the Jolly Roger.

23 comments on “Independent 11,638 by Methuselah”

  1. Thanks Methuselah and NealH!
    Liked SELF, MERCIAN, MIDRIFF and THRIFTY.
    LAUNCHER
    I think the clue has to be read thus:
    Pea shoots from this? Def1
    Rocket leaves from this? Def2.

  2. Got held up a little in the NE. Fortunately, I remembered TROCHEE and then had to check ANTIPHON was a word.
    So, ALIEN begins with A + LI (Area 51). Coincidence? … more than likely.

  3. Liked MIDRIFF and TROCHEE for their imagery – ‘throwing up a drop of red’ – as if juggling. Thanks both.

  4. That’s the most weirdly disconnected grid I’ve ever seen in a newspaper’s crossword. Taking out the C of ACADEMICAL, the N of VOLUNTEERS, the T of SUNCATCHER and the D of VIDEONASTY would leave 5 separate chunks. It’s a long thin crossword wrapped into a square.

  5. James @4: I very much agree. I found NealH’s intro about a puzzle of two halves quite amusing: to me, it was a puzzle of two quarters and the long thin diagonal you mention – which, in turn, was split in half with just two lights connecting it. I managed to complete the solve – and Methuselah is a good setter who has included some super clues – but the grid gets a definite thumbs down from me. (Mind you, I can’t say I’m particularly fond of the grid in today’s FT either! A day for oddities, it seems)

    SINNED, VOLUNTEERS, VIDEO NASTY, TROCHEE, SOLOMON and THRIFTY were my faves today

    Thanks Methuselah and NealH

  6. PostMark, yes, the FT one is equally disconnected, with removal of four cells leaving five separate parts, but certainly less weird. But the FT has stock grids, quite a lot of which are unsatisfactory in some way, rather like the Guardian’s. This one must be home-made. Maybe it’s a Z – controversial content?

  7. Really enjoyable stuff from a reliably tricky but fair setter. I was held up a bit by DUENNAS and ANTIPHON, partly because I didn’t know either word well, and ‘due’ appears unaltered in fodder & anagram for DUENNAS which I was assuming it wouldn’t. I did notice the grid, although there were enough footholds in each corner for me not to mind.

    VIDEO NASTY, SINNED, and THRIFTY were my favourites.

    Thanks Methuselah and NealH.

  9. Ah. Too clever for me, then. I have scanned for ninas and other connections but am not seeing it for now. So will await enlightment.

  10. Can’t see the theme either. I did spot (maybe just coincidence though) that starting from TORC and going a bit zigzag, you can get “torched Gaza dies”.

  11. I see on the Twit thing Methuselah says “something extra if you can only connect the dots” Just coincidence it’s the Only Connect grand final tonight? Well actually there seem to be a few team names in the grid

  15. The ACADEMICALs, the ALSO-RANs, the ANTIPHONs, the GARDNERs, the ISOTOPEs, the MERCIANs, the ROADIES, the SOLOMONs Family, the SUNCATCHERs, the THRIFTers, the VIDEO NASTies, and the VOLUNTEERS all competed in this series of Only Connect. The final is on at 8:00pm tonight. The other four teams in this year’s competition (Cribbagers, Drop of Red, Gunners and Stitchers) are mentioned in clues.

  16. Thanks Methuselah for explaining the theme and why the grid was so un-friendly. We are amazed that you managed to include so many themed entries. Joyce tries to complete ‘Connections’ each morning after Wordle and Spelling Bee but neither of us watch Only Connect.
    We had SKYCATCHER at one point which we obviously couldn’t parse as we struggled in the SW corner.
    Thanks NealH.

  17. An excellent crossword with lovely surfaces

    Thanks Setter and Blogger.

    Don’t watch Only Connect but almost wish I had in order to justify in a tiny way the masterly theme placement.

  20. Methuselah@15 – I used to find that a clue would seem a bit off to me right up to the point when I was shown the correct parsing, when I would suddenly consider it very clever indeed. I’m increasingly finding the same with grids, and this is a very good example of that. A very impressive thematic link, and a worthy topic. It was an excellent final.

  23. Always nice to see ALSO-RAN in a puzzle – this time cluing the jumpers – my aunt made me one – rather than the !rish archipelago or Galway barony.
    And no mention of The London Symphony Orchestra.
    I watched Only Connect on the iPlayer a day late. The final is terrific.
    SPOILER ALERT – Here’s the last decisive question in the Missing Vowels round: “Demonyms and what else they can be” – THR SH MNN DF LM
    The team that should have got it, based on the wordplay at 9a, instead succumbed to its definition.
    Great stuff! Thanks M&NH

Comments are closed.