Independent 11,812/Coot

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Well, that was fun. Hard fun, but fun.

I did enjoy the puzzle, mainly for its great surfaces, but it took two goes to finish it off. Some distant, but perfectly fair synonyms and some novel clue constructions put it into the ‘difficult’ category for this solver. I can’t see any theme, but then again I’m not gifted in spotting them, so I’ll leave that to others.

Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

Across

7 Information about hat creates upset
CAPSIZE
First one attempted (I am a creature of habit) and last one in. ‘Information about hat’, whimsically, is CAP SIZE.

8 Talking pompously, note “a lot of fruit’s round”
ORATING
An insertion of TI for the seventh note of the tonic sol-fa in ORANG[E]. The insertion indicator is ‘[i]s round’.

10 Sore student mentions DIY sheaths
RAWLPLUGS
Great surface, but a fairly left-field definition which is in fact a registered trademark. A charade of RAW, L and PLUGS.

11 Aldi cooking base stocked – just the job
IDEAL
An insertion of E, the mathematical ‘base’ in (ALDI)* The insertion indicator is ‘stocked’ and the anagrind is ‘cooking’.

12 Cheerio and see you later, possibly in food banks
FAREWELLS
A charade of FARE and WELLS.

14 Author aboard the SS Endurance
HESSE
Hidden in tHE SS Endurance and referencing the German-Swiss novelist and poet Hermann Hesse, best known perhaps for Siddharta and Steppenwolf.

15 Set out to mend taser that’s malfunctioning
DEMONSTRATE
(TO MEND TASER)* with ‘that’s malfunctioning’ as the anagrind.

19 On top, a win follows
AGAIN
A charade of A and GAIN.

20 Exhibits diary regularly in events at school
SPORTS DAY
A charade of SPORTS and the odd letters of DiArY.

23 Club‘s new boat vandalised
BATON
(N BOAT)* with ‘vandalised’ as the anagrind.

25 One who trades incense with old companion
EXCHANGER
A charade of EX for ‘old’, CH for ‘Companion’ [of Honour] and ANGER.

27 Management‘s massaging numbers to cover up billions
RUNNING
Coot is inviting you to substitute two Ns for two Bs in the middle of RUBBING.

28 Grease protecting a bit of security rope?
LANYARD
An insertion of ANY in LARD. The insertion indicator is ‘protecting’.

Down

1 Where to find drink after spelling Eyjafjallajökull perhaps
SPEWER
A charade of SP and EWER. The impossible to spell word (well, impossible unless you speak Icelandic) is the volcano which erupted in 2010 and produced an ash cloud which significantly disrupted air traffic.

2 Welsh policeman’s heading to seize Coot’s weed
WIMP
An insertion of I’M for ‘Coot’s’ in W and P for the initial letter of ‘policeman’.

3 What follows revolutionary French article tackling ‘European question’?
SEQUEL
An insertion of E and QU in LES, all reversed.

4 Kept property secure in stormy Southsea
HOUSE-SAT
(SOUTHSEA)* with ‘stormy’ as the anagrind.

5 When going round central Tokyo, I drink this?
SAKI
A charade of AS reversed, K for the central letter of ‘Tokyo’ and I, and a cad.

6 Who’s permitted chaotic scene found in lounge?
LICENSEE
An insertion of (SCENE)* in LIE. The insertion indicator is ‘found in’ and the anagrind is ‘chaotic’. Another cad.

7 Artist drawn in by coffee shop’s flask
CARAFE
An insertion of RA in CAFE. The insertion indicator is ‘drawn in by’.

9 Excellent joint objective discussed upfront
GOLDEN
A charade of GOL – aural wordplay for GOAL – and DEN.

13 Greta Thunberg and Isra Hirsi, maybe, with warning
WOMEN
A charade of W and OMEN. They are both young WOMEN, but the surface is referring to their credentials as environmental activists rather than to their gender.

14 Hydrogen rises through soil and grit
HEART
Since it’s a down clue, the setter is inviting you to raise the H in EARTH from bottom to top.

15 Activity for writer‘s daughter: a water sport
DRAFTING
A charade of D and RAFTING.

16 Goal at the start gets overturned stopping three points for reserves
NEST EGGS
An insertion of G for the initial letter of ‘goal’ and GETS reversed, and inserted into N, E and S for three ‘points’ of the compass. The reversal indicator is ‘overturned’ and the insertion indicator is ‘stopping’.

17 “Could I vaccinate you?” “Go on”
JABBER
A cd cum dd.

18 Cross at cast shunning birthday working
HYBRID
We need to remove an anagram (‘cast’) of AT from BIRTHDAY, and then make an anagram of it (‘working’). So it’s (BIR[T]HD[A]Y)*

21 Concerning cry reveals status of GP at home?
ON CALL
A charade of ON and CALL.

22 One might revisit this corner to take drugs
DOG-EAR
A charade of DO GEAR. If you commit the mortal sin of turning a corner of a page down in a book to keep your place, then you might well revisit it the next time you pick up the volume. But just don’t do that. Books don’t like it.

24 Spike Milligan’s finale: to be ill
NAIL
A charade of N for the final letter of ‘Milligan’ and AIL, and surely making reference to the epitaph on Milligan’s gravestone, which has the inscription (in Gaelic) ‘I told you I was ill’.

26 Principally adolescent curse, requiring prescription medicine ultimately?
ACNE
The initial letters of the second and third words of the clue, and the final letters of the fifth and sixth words. Another cad.

Many thanks to Coot for starting off the Independent crosswording week.

32 comments on “Independent 11,812/Coot”

  1. Good surfaces and nice defs. Great puzzle on the whole. Thanks Coot.
    Neat blog. Thanks Pierre.

    Top faves: CAPSIZE, EXCHANGER, RUNNING, LICENSEE, HEART, DOG-EAR and ACNE.

  2. I didn’t find this quite as tricky as our blogger, but then I am used to Coot from another place so perhaps familiarity was my extra weapon. I do agree that the surfaces were nicely done. Faves inc CAPSIZE, EXCHANGER, RUNNING, HOUSE-SAT, LICENSEE (COTD), JABBER, HYBRID and DOG-EAR.

    Thanks Coot and Pierre

  4. Couldn’t see DOG EAR so DNF. I agree with Pierre about some distant synonyms but fair enough. Thanks Coot and Pierre.

  5. I enjoyed but agree with blog introduction that some stretches required and a few novel constructions.

    Liked Hybrid a lot and Capsize for brilliant misdirection

    Thanks Coot and Pierre

    Still not sure why again is on top

  6. It must be someone’s BIRTHDAY (or 50th (GOLDEN) anniversary).
    24d NAIL – There’s an egregious error on Spike Milligan’s headstone. Zoom in close to see it.
    The !rish “Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite” translates word by word into Yodaspeak as “Told I you that was I ill”
    But the inscription has missed out the word raibh (“was”), so it’s “Told I you that I ill”, or in English “‘I told you I ill”.

  8. Thanks Pierre and agree about dog-ears but I’m forever losing bookmarks. Agree about rawlplugs too; even though they do surround the screw, sheath is not something I’d ever call them. Fun puzzle though, thanks Coot.

  9. That was fun – JABBER and DOG-EAR were my favourites. Another slightly stumped by the def for AGAIN, but it had to be.

    Thanks Coot & Pierre.

  10. Great fun – I just couldn’t see DOG EAR, but it’s obvious now you say it. Thanks both.

    I think SEQUEL is QUE (Spanish for “what?” = European question) in a reversed LES (French article).

  11. I like that call on SEQUEL, Quirister. My parsing works, just – but yours is better and probably what the setter intended.

  13. DOGEAR was cotd for me. I agree with KVa about AGAIN but I find it hard to think of a way you could us on top and again interchangeably.

  14. Jaunty, as ever – towards Coot’s gnarlier end, I’d say. Cunning def for AGAIN, EXCHANGER’s smart, SEQUEL tickled me and DOG-END is chucklesome. RUNNING’s peachy surface wins for me. Ta lots to Coot and Pierre.

  15. [I prefer P’s intended parse of SEQUEL to Q’s — (E + QU) in (LES<) — (apart from the "all", which would give SEUQEL or SUQEEL)]
    Thanks C&P

  16. A few ‘off the wall’ constructions on display but nevertheless an enjoyable solve. Tops for me were CAPSIZE, RAWLPLUGS & SEQUEL.

    Thanks to Coot and to Pierre for the review.

  18. Nice.
    I think 6d can work as a regular clue as well, with “Who’s permitted” being the definition.

    What clues “den” in 9d?

    Thanks to Coot and Pierre

  20. Many thanks to Pierre for a great blog and to everyone who has solved and/or commented. I promise that I don’t put dog-ears in books! Just to pick up one or two points:

    No theme intended but well done to KVa @3 for identifying an unintentional mini-theme!

    Parsing of SEQUEL: my intention was as per FrankieG @15 although I do rather like the alternative put forward by Quirister @10!

    Petert @13 – how about “she charges £100 for the initial consultation and £100 on top/again for any subsequent treatment”?

    strobelite @18 – yes, I intended the def for LICENSEE to be simply “Who’s permitted” as you have identified.

  21. Thanks both. Many similar sentiments to those already expressed here. For me, the intersecting RAWLPLUGS and SPEWER held out the longest, the latter because I didn’t think of spelling simply being SP though I now have a vague recollection of seeing it certainly for spelling mistakes, and perhaps also that it’s a while since I specifically turned to a ewer when thirsty.

  22. @19 Ah TIL, thanks. Though I encountered such usages of those words separately, somehow I never thought they could (approximately) be synonyms because of that.

  23. In fact the unspellable, n unpronounceable icelandic place is an icecap, so my first entry was ICEBAR. Seemed reasonable at the time, but was gradually whittled away by other entries, annoying.. very much as the seemingly unnecessary insertion of ‘cast’ in 18dn, taking AT out of BIRTHDAY is clear enough I feel, almost as if Coot were trying to confuse…
    Thanks Coot n Pierre

  24. Undrell @23: true, the first few words of the Wikipedia entry for the Icelandic place says icecap. As one who was caught up in the ensuing travel chaos, I can assure you it is a volcano. Read a line or two further and you would have found Eyjafjallajökull consists of a volcano completely covered by an ice cap which I feel puts Coot on solid ground (!) As for anagramming AT, there are plenty of solvers who would complain if an indicator were missing – the letters AT are neither in that order nor together. Personally, I agree that solvers ought to be able to cope with that degree of complexity (!) but one is rarely criticised for belt ‘n’ braces …

  25. Thanks Coot. That took some work and I ended up revealing WIMP and the nho RAWLPLUGS but all else was quite satisfying. My top picks were HESSE, RUNNING, WOMEN, and ACNE. I was another who had difficulty seeing AGAIN = on top but ‘additionally’ works well enough. Thanks Pierre for the blog.

  26. Great fun – well done Coot – 14a, 17d and 22d my favourites with 10’s surface deserving an honourable mention!

  30. Super puzzle. NW corner gave me a lot of trouble, with SPEWER and CAPSIZE holding out longest.

    I had the unintended parsing of SEQUEL and the intended version is much the more elegant, so thanks to Coot, Pierre, and the crowd in here.

  31. @29 thank you, that makes sense. It’s just this..

    “but the surface is referring to their credentials as environmental activists rather than to their gender.”

    I don’t get what’s meant at all

  32. bbfire @31 the point Pierre was making is that the fact that they are both environmental activists is irrelevant to solving the clue. (That simply relies on them both being women). However, the wording of the clue (its ‘surface reading’) may suggest to the solver that them being environmental activists is relevant.

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