Independent 11,639 / Wiglaf

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Wiglaf has given us quite a workout this morning with his puzzle on an old but rarely used grid.

I think that I have managed to solve and parse everything to my satisfaction, but please let me know if anything has slipped through the net. I also find puzzles set on this grid challenging, because owing in part to the large number of intersecting 6-letters in all four quadrants. Today’s puzzle was very much at the hard end of the Indy spectrum, especially in terms of vocabulary and cultural references.

My favourite clues today were 9, 13 and 17, all for smoothness of surface; 11, for the ingenious definition; the & lit. at 12, for concision; and 3 and 25, both for making me smirk!

Today is Tuesday, so theme day, and other than the mini-theme around Wagner, I suspect that I may be missing something involving all the female forenames that serve as grid entries. I await possible enlightenment – I am reliably informed that the grid contains a lot of one-word Beatles song titles, at 5A, 6, 9, 11, 12, 15, 20, 21, 22 …

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across  
   
05 JULIA Start of second half of year given a miss

JUL 1 (=start of second half of year, i.e. 1st of July) + A; Julia is a female forename, hence “miss”
   
06 MISERY A killjoy like Harpagon getting left out

MISER<l>Y (=like Harpagon, in Molière’s The Miser); “left (=L) out” means letter “l” is dropped
   
09 TAXMAN Government official put burden on staff

TAX (=put burden on, strain) + STAFF (=man, as verb)
   
10 LEHMANN The French king and queen once snubbed a singer of 2

LE (=the French, i.e. a French word for the) + HM (=king, i.e. His Majesty) + ANN<e> (Queen once, i.e. Anne Stuart; “snubbed”, cut means last letter is dropped); the reference is to German singer Lilli Lehmann (1848-1929), renowned for her performances of Wagnerian opera
   
11 ANNA Indian national eating stale Indian bread

Hidden (“eating”) in “indiAN NAtional”; an anna is an obsolete Indian coin, hence “stale Indian bread”!!
   
12 REVOLUTION Result of our violent rioting?

*(OUR VIOLENT); “rioting” is anagram indicator; & lit.
   
13 PORT MORESBY Left with additional bit of silver in reserve capital

PORT (=left, on ship) + MORE (=additional, extra) + S<ilver> (“bit of” means first letter only) + BY (=in reserve, as in money put by)
   
18 MYTHOPOEIC Mike discovered the old writer residing in backward town producing made-up stories

M (=Mike, in NATO alphabet) + {[<t>H<e> (“discovered” means external covers are stripped away) + O (=old, as in Old Testament) + POE (=writer, i.e. Edgar Allan Poe)] in YTIC (CITY=town; “backward indicates reversal)}
   
21 RAIN Now and then Croatians spit, possibly …

<c>R<o>A<t>I<a>N<s>; “now and then” means alternate letters only
   
22 BECAUSE … on account of us backing cases in competition

[CA (=cases) + US] in BEE (=competition, as in spelling bee)
   
23 ASHRAM A quiet crowd meditate here?

A + SH (=(be) quiet!) + RAM (=crowd, cram)
   
24 LITERS American volumes in Irish mostly

LIT (=in, alight) + ERS<e> (=Irish; “mostly” means last letter is dropped)
   
25 NYALA Horny type from New York state getting half-cut

NY (=New York) + ALA<ska> (=state; “getting half-cut” means 3 of 6 letters are dropped); a nyala is a South African antelope, hence “horny type”!
   
Down  
   
01 PLUMBAGO Lead poisoning primarily leads to backache

P<oisoning> (“primarily” means first letter only) + LUMBAGO (=backache); plumbago is graphite, hence lead, Pb
   
02 WAGNER Robert // Lindsay?

The reference here is not to English actor Robert Lindsay (1949-), but to US actor Robert Wagner (1930-) and to US actress Lindsay Wagner (1949-)!!
   
03 MICHELLE Woman’s nether regions bitten by rodents

HELL (=nether regions) in MICE (=rodents)
   
04 SECANT Function in which one’s inducted into religious group

AN (=one) in SECT (=religious sect); secant is one of six trigonometrical functions of an angle
   
05 JOANNA Girl played a banjo topless? Not initially

*(A +<b>ANJO + N<ot>); “topless” means that first letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “played”, and “initially” that the first letter only is used in it
   
07 YANGON A new government installed in that old Asian city

[A + N (=new, as in New Testament) + G (=government)] in YON (=that old, i.e. an old word for that); Yangon in Myanmar was formerly known as Rangoon in Burma
   
08 PLUVIOMETER Source of 21 data in much of volume 1, curiously safe outside

*(VOLUM<e> + 1) in PETER (=safe); “much of” means that last letter only is dropped from anagram, indicated by “curiously”; a pluviometer is a rain gauge, hence “source of rain (=entry at 21) data”
   
14 TOP QUARK Harry quit pork? I must go out for a little bit

*(QU<I to A>T PORK); “I must go out for a means letter “i” is replaced by “a” in anagram, indicated by “harry”, harass; top quark is a particle believed to be one of the fundamental constituents of nuclear matter
   
15 BIRTHDAY By securing a third off, there’s reason to celebrate

*(A THIRD) in BY; “off” is anagram indicator
   
16 CYMBAL During audition, Mark traps instrument

Homophone (“during audition”) of “mark=symbol”, sign; the cymbals are a percussion (=traps) instrument
   
17 CICADA Bug used by US intelligence to catch blighter

CAD (=blighter, scoundrel) in CIA (=US intelligence (agency)); the “bug” of the definition is not a listening device but an insect!
   
19 HECATE Queen of the witches can’t stand going round the City

EC (=the City (of London)) in HATE (=can’t stand); Hecate is the goddess of magic and witchcraft in Greek mythology
   
20 CHAINS Charles invests in bonds

IN in CHAS (=Charles, i.e. diminutive form)
   

21 comments on “Independent 11,639 / Wiglaf”

  3. Thanks wiglaf and RR!
    Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog!
    Liked JULIA, LEHMANN, ASHRAM, LITERS, TOP QUARK and CYMBAL.
    ASHRAM
    Looks like an extended def/CAD.

    Thanks FrankieG for the enlightenment!

  4. Well done Frankie G! Although inclined to the classical end of the spectrum I do like the Beatles so should have spotted this. Found it fairly gentle on the whole, so much enjoyed. Thanks Wiglaf and RatkojaRiku.

  6. CHAINS
    CHAS invests IN
    Chambers has under ‘invest’
    ‘to surround, besiege’ (military).
    Possibly the setter had this sense of ‘invest’ in mind.
    Or the archaic sense of ‘to clothe’?

  7. Failed the parsings on several and GK gaps on several e.g. I’ve never heard of trap for percussion. Didn’t particularly like the Robert Lindsay clue. Is that even a cryptic clue in any sense of the word?

    Was looking for a Prince theme after RAIN and REVOLUTION, especially as it’s 40 years this year since Purple Rain was released. Obviously I didn’t spot the actual theme.

    Can anyone please give me an example of the use of LIT for IN? I’m struggling to see it.

    This was a bit of an unsatisfactory puzzle for me today for some reason. I think I must’ve got out of bed the wrong side or something.

    I’ll go for BIRTHDAY as fave clue today as I’d just finished a slice of the OH’s cake as I started the puzzle. Happy birthday to her.

    Thanks to RR for the blog and filling in all the parsings and FrankieG for the theme.
    Thanks also to Wiglaf for the workout.

  9. For those who prefer classical music there’s Roll Over Beethoven – ‘Tell Tchaikovsky the news’ – or The Rutles’ parody Blue Suede Schubert.
    They all go nicely with both Wagners, Lindsay and Robert – after Robert Lindsay has received the lift-and-separate treatment.

  10. rocket@7
    LITERS
    Collins has this example and explanation:
    ‘If a train, boat, or plane has come in or is in, it has arrived at a station, port, or airport.’

    arrived/landed=LIT.

  12. rocket@11
    RR says in the blog in=alight.
    Collins has this example:
    do you keep the fire in all night?

    I think there was a discussion on this topic some time ago.

  13. RatkojaRiku@8 – You’re very welcome – 🙂
    [Here’s where I learned that Rangoon is the capital of Burma, back in May 1962: Superman #153 – a COMIC – see row 9 in the grid.
    Thanks W&RR.]

  14. Tatrasman@4 – If you found that gentle in any way, you did better than me.

    I did get there in the end, but there was a lot of fairly obscure GK and involved parsing, neither of which I mind, just that I found it a serious workout. I liked CHAINS, ASHRAM, MISERY, BIRTHDAY, MISERY and REVOLUTION. I remain unconvinced by “in = LIT”, but I’ll grudgingly accept it. At least the theme was obvious to me for once.

    Thanks RatkojaRiku and Wiglaf

  16. Sorry, didn’t enjoy this one. I spotted the theme which helped a bit, but there was some questionable parsing (LIT as discussed above, Harpagon in 6), a lot of niche GK required here (Lotte Lehmann, Nyala, Port Moresby, Pluviometer, Yangon – I’m not counting Top Quark or Secant because I happened to be familiar with those but I’m sure they would be obscure to some);

    … and ‘Robert Lindsay?’ for Wagner is just ridiculous.

  17. Barely got started with this one. Either I’ve got out of bed on the wrong side or this was ludicrously hard.

  18. This was an insomnia solve for me. Some very elegant clues but others a bit too obscure for 3am. I needed a lot of parsing help and still remain slightly unconvinced.

    Thanks Setter and Blogger

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