Independent 11,764 by Bard

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I've not seen much of Bard, who seems to be relatively new.

This was mostly solid rather than spectacular with lots of well-constructed clues, quite a number relying on initial or last letters of groups of words. The stand-out ones for me were 10A (very cleverly clued and with a good apposite surface definition) and 29, which was brilliantly simple.

ACROSS
1 DOSAGE
How much is taken from slipshod sea dog? (6)

(Sea dog)*
4 SCRABBLE
Winner gets 9 points and loser 5 in this game? (8)

&lit, the numbers being the points awarded for those words in Scrabble.
9 AMOUNT
Volume of band on radio unacceptable – about eleven in the end (6)

AM(=band on radio, short for amplitude modulation) + out(=unacceptable) around [eleve]n
10 CO-PILOTS
15 20 conference – one with many frequent flyers? (2-6)

COP(=term for climate change conference such as COP28 in Dubai) + i(=one) + lots(=many)
12 LIDO
Cover over pool (4)

Lid + o{ver} (abbrev in cricket)
13 DILIGENTLY
Drill bit used regularly, calmly and with attention to detail (10)

Odd letters of drill bit + gently(=calmly)
15/20 CLIMATE CHANGE
Can Michael get around existential crisis? (7,6)

(Can Michael get)*
16 GYRATE
Turn unknown informant in empty garage (6)

(Y(=unknown) + rat(=informant) in g[arag]e
20
See 15

22 DIAMOND
Jewel cleaner put back on side of dresser (7)

Maid< + on + d[resser]
24 ASSEMBLAGE
Message lab about a number of things (10)

(Message lab)*
27 ABLE
Gifted rare type of claret by the French (4)

AB(=rare type of blood, for which claret is slang) + le(=the in French)
29 REATTACH
Great tache! Trim sides and stick back on (8)

[G]reat tach[e]
30 AVENUE
Hail recent broadcast for traditional approach to country houses (6)

Ave(=hail, as in "Ave Maria") + hom of new
31 COLORADO
State maybe red according to its residents – all despite Obama’s leadership (8)

Color(=maybe red in US spelling) + initial letters of all despite Obama
32 FLASKS
Containers of flavourful Assams and kombuchas? (6)

&lit. F[lavourful] + A[ssam]s + k[ombucha]s
DOWN
1 DEADLOCK
Boring wrestling manoeuvre results in stalemate (8)

Not totally sure but I think it might just be dead(=boring) + lock(=wresting manoeuvre)
2 SWORDFISH
Swimmer sculls up and down fluidly, ignoring slight hiccup at first (9)

Rows<(=sculls up) + d[own] + f[luidly] + i[gnoring] + s[light] + h[iccup]
3 GONE
Good old Nell only half dead  (4)

G{ood} o{ld} Ne[ll]
5/11 CLOSING TIME
Mismanaging slight income – lush’s last to leave when the pubs kick out (7,4)

(Slig[h]t income)* (last letter of lush removed)
6 ALICE
She’s caught in a deceit (5)

C{aught} (cricket abbrev) in a lie
7 BOOST
Give a lift to old love in one hour from Greenwich? (5)

(O{ld} + O(=love in tennis)) in BST(British Summer Time, which is sometimes 1 hour different to Greenwich Mean Time).

8 ESSAYS
Oddly easy to articulate 25 pieces of prose (6)

E[a]s[y] + say(=articulate) + s{mall} (small being the answer to 25)
11
See 5

14 RAIN
Shower curtain not cut (4)

[Cu]r[t]ain (the word "cut" has been cut).
17 REAL
Folk dance recital unaffected (4)

Hom of reel(=folk dance)
18 TROMBONES
Starts to tearfully recite Buddhist mantra over remains – they’re in the pit (9)

T[earfully] r[ecite] + om(=Buddhist mantra) + bones(=remains). Def refers to an orchestra pit.
19 IDLENESS
Lied about head’s inaction (8)

Lied* + ness(=head in the sense of a headland)
21 ENLACED
Cleaned, tidied and covered in doilies? (7)

Cleaned*
22 DOGS
Party guys on vacation – they go where they like! (4)

Do(=party) + g[uy]s. I think the "go" here refers to dogs' propensity to urinate on anything suitable.
23 FABRIC
Material in half a brick (6)

Hidden in half a brick
25 SMALL
Poky numismatist’s centre with everything under sun (5)

([Numis]m[atist] + all) under s[un]
26 METER
Ultimately storm surge bent ‘indestructible’ weather gauge (5)

Last letters of [stor]m [surg]e [ben]t [indestructibl]e [weathe]r
28 EVIL
Wicked Bard has sent up Liberal (4)

I've< + L{iberal}

15 comments on “Independent 11,764 by Bard”

  1. Thanks Bard and NealH!

    Loved AMOUNT (for the special bandwidth), FLASKS (refreshing &lit), CLIMATE CHANGE (What a Mann!) and ABLE (My blood after all! Positive stuff!).

    DEADLOCK
    Parsed it as in the blog. I think it’s fine.

    SCRABBLE
    Isn’t it just a cryptic definition?

  2. Swordfish Trombone, Closing Time, Rain Dogs, Small Change… Mev Waits to hear if he’s spotted a theme… 🙂
    Edit: It’s okay, I asked Alice.

  3. KVa – no doubt it varies in different languages but the letter scores in Scrabble in English are:
    W=4pts, I,N,N,E,R=1pt each, total 9pts
    L,O,S,E,R=1pt each, total 5pts

    Clever clue, I thought, in an overall very tidy puzzle. Thanks, Bard and NealH.

    Mev – it’s a theme for no man (as in Tom Waits for no man)

  4. Widdersbel@3
    SCRABBLE
    Thanks for your response.
    The blog categorises it as &lit. However, I felt it was a single
    cryptic definition without any separate wordplay.
    [Of course, SCRABBLE unless qualified otherwise is SCRABBLE in English. No questions there!]

  5. Nicely spotted Mev@2 🙂 Unfamiliar with the works of Tom Waits, I got two earworms from 9a AMOUNT:
    Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers’ Roadrunner (Once) – “I got the AM radio on” – (1974, a 50th (Golden) anniversary) and…

  6. …Steely Dan’s FM – “No Static At All” – (1978, a youngster, only 46)
    AM radio is a US thing. In the UK we called it MW, before FM came along, followed by DAB.
    Thanks B&NH

  7. Thanks both. Enjoyed this, and agree with NealH regarding favourites. I had this thought about SCRABBLE the other day – I don’t think you can enter WINNER and only score 9 points as it will inevitably cross one of the ‘special’ squares and earn extra, although it it is perfectly clear what is intended.

  8. KVa – oh, I see! This is why I don’t worry too much about classifying clues – it only causes confusion. And it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s just a nice clue.

  10. FrankieG @6. That doesn’t seem right. I’m from the UK and remember AM, which comprised of MW and LW. I even taught Amplitude and Frequency Modulation to Engineers.

  11. Nice to see Bard back. Plenty to like here inc SCRABBLE, ASSEMBLAGE, ABLE, COLORADO, DEADLOCK, GONE and FABRIC. I’d agree with Hovis re AM; certainly don’t see it as a US thing.

    Thanks Bard and Neal H

  13. Enjoyed this, with CO-PILOT my LOI by a couple of minutes, but also my COTD.

    Thanks Bard & Neal.

  14. No complaints except about my own stupidity, looking for unneeded complications in homophones of bands, then misreading clue numbers, 26 for 25.. it all went in the end..
    I, too, worry little about, or indeed completely understand, clue classification… with Widdersbel@8
    Thanks Bard n NealH

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