Atrica fills the Wednesday Independent slot this week.
Wednesday’s in the Independent are often theme free, but Atrica puzzles often have a theme, so I wondered what would happen today. I reckon there is a them based on pairs of entries that can be joined together to form phrases with business or legal connotations. I found
TERMS and CONDITIONS;
FREE and CLEAR – refers to ownership of property in its entirety without any debt attached to the property. The term usually applies to real estate but can apply to other items like cars or appliances;
NULL and VOID; and
CEASE and DESIST – refers to a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the other party continues the alleged unlawful activity.
If you look at incomplete entries, there is also PART and PARCEL, but I don’t think that is a legal phrase.
I wondered if PAYABLE would be paired with ACCOUNTS somewhere and SOLE was crying out for TRADER, but neither were forthcoming. EXCLUSIVE could also be paired with other words, to form a legal or business phrase, but constraints of fitting words into a grid usually make it difficult to fill even half a grid thematically and we have a good set of phrases anyway.
The clues too have some business references with output. investors, and company all getting a mention. I wonder if a BEAR investor is entirely pessimistic as he/she is hoping to make a profit from their actions in a declining market.
It took me a while to relate CAN to half of a Norwich singer in the wordplay for CANTATA, but finally the penny dropped.
I enjoyed solving this. The definitions weren’t always straight out of the dictionary and required a bit of lateral thinking. Examples were ‘delinquent’ for OVERDUE in the wordplay for 17 across and ‘buried’ at 22 down.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Outstanding – practical for musicians after one trainee’s expelled (7)
PAYABLE (of a bill, due or outstanding) PLAYABLE (practical for musicians to PLAY) excluding (after … expelled) the first [one of] the Ls (learner) PAYABLE |
| 5 | Dated after fling husband overlooked? He’s been betrayed (7)
CUCKOLD (a man whose wife has proved unfaithful; a man who has been betrayed) CHUCK (fling) excluding (overlooked) H (husband) + OLD (dated) CUCK OLD |
| 9 | Charlie, king beyond doubt (5)
CLEAR (beyond doubt) C (cocaine; Charlie) + LEAR (reference King LEAR, a play by Shakespeare) C LEAR |
| 10 | Honesty: nice first of all, with less pain involved (9)
PLAINNESS (descriptive of something said without ambiguity; honesty) Anagram of (involved) N (initial letter of [first of] NICE] and LESS PAIN PLAINNESS* |
| 11 | Woman given large bill? Why, might you say? (4)
LADY (woman) L (large) + AD (advertisement; bill) + Y (sounds like [might you say] WHY) L AD Y |
| 12 | Virginia starts to languish and experience depression (4)
VALE (valley; depression) VA (abbreviation for the American State of Virginia) + LE (first letters of [starts to] each of LANGUISH and EXPERIENCE) VA L E |
| 13 | Dreams hide a secret when you look behind the surface (5)
IDEAS (aims; intentions; dreams) IDEAS (hidden word in [when you look behind he surface] HIDE A SECRET IDEAS |
| 15 | Vocal work Norwich singer cut in half? Thank you, thank you! (7)
CANTATA (choral work; vocal work) CANARY ([bird; singer] excluding the second three [of six letters, cut in half] letters, ARY – Norwich Football Club are known as The CANARIES) + TA (thank you) + TA (thank you) CAN TA TA |
| 16 | Want violin to be plucked occasionally by daughter (4)
VOID (lack; want) VOI (letters 1, 3 and 5 [occasionally] of VIOLIN) + D (daughter) VOI D |
| 17 | Delinquent? Scratching balls can be expected (3)
DUE (expected) OVERDUE (late; delinquent [of or concerning a bad debt or debtor]) excluding (scratching) OVER (a set of six balls in cricket) DUE |
| 20 | Only second shout of approval in Seville (4)
SOLE (only) S (second) + OLÉ (Spanish [Seville] exclamation of approval) S OLE |
| 21 | One that’s bright surprisingly learnt nothing at first (7)
LANTERN (light; one that’s bright) Anagram of (surprisingly) LEARNT + N (initial letter of [at first] NOTHING) LANTER* N |
| 24 | For example, sculpture broken by secretary into pieces (5)
APART (separately; [into] pieces) ART (sculpture is an example of ART) containing (broken by) PA (personal assistant; secretary) A (PA) RT |
| 25 | Not locked up for nothing (4)
FREE (not locked up) FREE (no charge; for nothing) double definition FREE |
| 26 | Invalid point papal decree initially rejected (4)
NULL (invalid) N (North, point of the compass) + BULL (an edict of the Pope with his seal affixed; Papal decree) excluding the first letter [initially rejected] B) N ULL |
| 28 | Times cuts silly clues ahead of setter’s special (9)
EXCLUSIVE (select; unique; special) (X [multiplication sign; times] contained in [cuts] an anagram of [silly] CLUES) + I’VE (I have; setter’s) E (X) CLUS* IVE |
| 29 | Names both sides of the Titanic? (5)
TERMS (names) TE (outer letters of [both sides of] THE) + RMS (Royal Mail Steamer; reference RMS Titanic which sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg in was contracted to carry mail) TE RMS |
| 30 | Registers in use in shops (5,2)
TELLS ON (betrays; shops) TELLS (has an effect on; registers) + ON (working; in use) TELLS ON |
| 31 | Fate – hers is occasionally entangled with mine (7)
NEMESIS (fate) Anagram of (entangled) ESS (letters 2, 4 and 6 of [occasionally] HERS IS) and MINE NEMESIS* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Burglar caught by king in irrational bolt (8)
PICKLOCK ( a person who PICKs LOCKs; a burglar) (C [caught, in cricket scoring notation] + K [king]) contained in (in) (PI [an irrational number] + LOCK [a bolt]) PI (C K) LOCK |
| 2 | Abandoning output in government (8)
YIELDING (abandoning) YIELD (product; output) + IN + G (government) YIELD IN G |
| 3 | Bald, pessimistic investor with lower energy (4)
BARE (bald) BEAR (a person who sells stocks for delivery at a future date, anticipating a fall in price; pessimistic investor) with E (energy) moved further down (lower) in this down entry to form BARE BARE |
| 4 | Drunk and asleep in walkway (9)
ESPLANADE (level space for walking or driving in, especially by the sea) Anagram of (drunk) AND ASLEEP ESPLANADE* |
| 5 | About to relax and fizzle out (5)
CEASE (end; fizzle out) C (circa; about) + EASE (to relax) C EASE |
| 6 | Company supported by interpretations with regard to deleted small print (10)
CONDITIONS (the CONDITIONS of a contract are often shown in small print) CO (company) + RENDITIONS (translations; interpretations) excluding (deleted) RE (with regard to) CO NDITIONS |
| 7 | Followed rules former pupil observed (6)
OBEYED (followed rules) OB (old boy; former pupil) + EYED (observed) OB EYED |
| 8 | One who drills clients, given direction to replace books, quit (6)
DESIST (stop; quit) DENTIST (a person who drills teeth) with S (South; a direction) replacing NT (New testament; books) to form DESIST DESIST |
| 14 | Storytellers of course rant wildly (10)
RACONTEURS (storytellers) Anagram of (wildly) COURSE RANT RACONTEURS* |
| 16 | Eleven weaves lining check fabric (9)
VELVETEEN (a cotton, or mixed cotton and silk, fabric similar to VELVET) Anagram of (weaves) ELEVEN (containing) lining VET (check) – LINE can mean ‘form a border to’ as well as indicating a material inside, so ELEVEN forms a lining for VET VEL (VET) EEN* |
| 18 | Demands a lot of paper to support divinity lessons (8)
REQUIRES (demands) RE (Religious Education; divinity lessons) + QUIRES (1/20th part of a ream of paper [originally 24, now more likely to be 25 sheets]; a lot of paper) As this is a down entry, QUIRES is supporting RE RE QUIRES |
| 19 | Coops up in humid spaces? No, the reverse (8)
ENCLOSES (coops up) CLOSE (humid) contained in (in) ENS (printers spaces equivalent to the width of a letter N) – this is the opposite of the construction set out in the clue EN (CLOSE) S |
| 22 | Dead? Case of not being buried (6)
LATENT (hidden, being buried) LATE (dead) + NT (outer letters of [case of] NOT) LATE NT |
| 23 | Package average egg, maybe one left aside (6)
PARCEL (package) PAR (average) + CELL (egg – egg is given as an example of a cell in Bradfords Crossword Solver’s Dictionary. Also, Collins states that egg CELL is an equivalent term to egg) excluding (aside) one of the Ls (left) PAR CEL – either L could be the one excluded |
| 25 | Make a pretence of being willingly overheard (5)
FEIGN (make a pretence of) FEIGN (sounds like [overheard] FAIN [gladly, willingly]) FEIGN |
| 27 |
Couple having sex with the people I was talking about informally (4) ITEM (a couple in a relationship) IT (sex) + ‘EM (informal term for them [the people I was taking about]) IT EM |
Well-spotted on the theme. I needed the blog for CANary in CANTATA and that was a nho in terms of the football team. CONDITIONS is a good clue, IMO, and the clue for DUE, albeit a little risque, at breakfast, is my top. Thanks duncan and Atrica.
A pleasant mix of accessible and slightly chewier clues. I liked BARE and DUE, though it took a while to see the “overdue” “delinquent” connection.
I didn’t spot this particular theme. Not sure it would have helped me. I ended up with a filled grid and it pretty much parsed with a few head scratchers along the way. CLEAR took me longer than it should have with a surfeit of possible C’s, R’s and CR’s to sort out. CUCKOLD, CANTATA, LANTERN, DUE, ENCLOSES and LATENT were my favourites today.
Thanks Atrica and duncan
Loi DUE – liked it
Thanks A&D
No theme spot for me.. also was having problems with definitions… 17ac, 29ac, 30ac (gave up looking for shops called TELLSON), even 2d.. didn’t fathom how the homophone of ‘why’ worked either in 11ac.. definitely needed CAN explaining..
Thanks Atrica n duncansheill
Thanks for the comments and to duncansheill for the excellent blog. There are actually another two of the “legal doublets” in the grid. For anyone interested see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_doublet.
Atrica@6
Thanks for the link to the extra doublets. I’ll claim a little success by at least suggesting that PAYABLE, SOLE and EXCLUSIVE seemed likely entries for some kind of expansion. I missed DUE though.
Tough but fair, so thanks to Atrica, and Duncan for the blog. I was looking for a way to make 30 across TILLS… given the reference to shops and registers, so a neat misdirection. Missed the theme, of course. Nothing makes my heart sink like references to cricket, especially in crosswords, but I’ll – graciously! – forgive those today.
Thanks A and D.
Always like to hear something new and today it was ‘Irreversible Binomials’. An interesting read on Wiki.
I was born (long ago) in a village near Norwich so canary was not a problem for me. The football team is so named because of a bird called a Norwich Canary.