Independent 11,838 by Knut

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Midweek entertainment from Knut today.

I found this mostly straightforward with the occasional tricky corner – though some clues might be easy if you know the reference and obscure otherwise. A crossword doesn’t need to be difficult to be enjoyable, though, and I enjoyed this one. Favourites include 12a for the surface (it turns out to have very little to do with football), 15a (simple when you know how), 3d (I can think of at least two for whom this is allegedly appropriate), and the sadly topical 6d in these days of no-fault evictions. New solvers might like to note the date in 9a, the agent in 24a, “peacekeepers” in 14d,”Scotsman” in 15d, and “jumper” in 21d – all of which are old favourites with setters. Thanks Knut for the fun.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 CHANNEL CROSSING
Opportunity to buy duty-free French perfume, new in, getting it in the box (7,8)
CHANEL (French perfume) with N (new) inserted, then CROSSING (in football, passing the ball sideways into the “box” in front of the goal so that a striker can score).

Duty-free shopping is typically available when crossing international borders, such as the English Channel between Britain and France.
9 NOVI SAD
All Saints’ day: miserable Serbian city (4,3)
NOV I (1st of November = All Saints’ Day) + SAD (miserable).

City in the north of Serbia; the name means “new plantation”. I’m sure it’s a much more pleasant place than the clue implies.
10 PRIMULA
Formal uniform lightened at the front with a flower (7)
PRIM (formal) + U (uniform in the radio alphabet) + first letter (at the front) of L[ightened] + A.

Family of flowering plants including the primrose.
11 MUSIC
Erasmus iconically bestrides this art form (5)
Hidden answer (. . . bestrides = stands across) in [eras]MUS IC[onically].
12 COINTREAU
Poor reaction by United; they bottle it in France (9)
Anagram (poor) of REACTION, then U (abbreviation for United, particularly in the names of football teams).

Liqueur produced in France.
13 TARANTULA
Hairy brute first to attend rave in Oklahoma city, second to leave (9)
First letter of A[ttend] + RANT (rave = shout angrily), all inserted into TUL[s]A (city in Oklahoma) without the S (abbreviation for second).

A large spider, most species of which are hairy.
15 VIOLA
Behold one getting advanced instrument (5)
VOILA (French word for “behold!”, now absorbed into English), with the I (one in Roman numerals) “advanced” one place towards the front of the word.

Musical instrument: the big brother of a violin.
16 GULLY
One set to catch Flashman according to a ventriloquist? (5)
Harry Flashman, in the novel Tom Brown’s School Days by Thomas Hughes, is a school bully. A ventriloquist’s pronunciation of BULLY, in which the sounds B and P are problematic and need to be faked, might sound closer to GULLY.

In cricket, a player standing in a catching position to the side of the batter.
18 PRESCRIBE
Order fresh, crisp beer (9)
Anagram (fresh = new) of CRISP BEER.
20 AFTER DARK
Drake set off with raft during the night (5,4)
Anagram (set off) of DRAKE + RAFT.
23 OBITS
Ordinary pieces which are published in the papers (5)
O (abbreviation for ordinary, as in the old O-Level school exams) + BITS (pieces).

Short for obituaries: summaries of the life of a recently deceased person, typically published in newspapers.
24 HANGMAN
Solo Fed agent’s guessing game (7)
HAN (the Star Wars character Han Solo) + G-MAN (slang for a US federal agent, or Fed for short).

Pencil-and-paper word guessing game.
25 TAILING
In pursuit of time, becoming sick (7)
T (abbreviation for time) + AILING (sick = unwell).
26 RAYMOND CHANDLER
Beginning to read Henry McDonald, a seedy crime writer (7,8)
Beginning letter of R[ead], then an anagram (seedy = disreputable, worn-out, or feeling ill) of HENRY MCDONALD A.

Well, there was a journalist called Henry McDonald who wrote at least one detective novel – but Raymond Chandler is a much better-known name as a crime writer.
DOWN
1 CINEMATOGRAPHER
One responsible for numerous shootings? (15)
Cryptic definition: the person responsible for “shooting” a motion picture (capturing it on film or the digital equivalent).
2 ADVISOR
Consultant initially against deploying face mask (7)
First letters (initially) of A[gainst] D[eploying], then VISOR (face mask).
3 NOSE CANDY
Inquisitive about leader of Conservatives and cocaine (4,5)
NOSY (inquisitive), around the leading letter of C[onservatives] + AND.

Slang for cocaine or other drugs taken nasally.
4 LUDIC
Playful daughter opens sluice after wiping walls (5)
D (abbreviation for daughter), inserted into (. . . opens) [s]LUIC[e] after wiping out the end letters (walls).

Latin-derived word: a bit obscure, but perhaps guessable if you think of the game “Ludo” (Latin for “I play”) or the word “ludicrous” (laughable).
5 REPLICATE
Copy cat enters answers not fully completed (9)
CAT inserted into REPLIE[s] (answers) without the last letter (not fully completed).
6 SKINT
Broke family thrown into street (5)
KIN (family) inserted into ST (abbreviation for street).

Skint = broke = slang for short of money.
7 IN UTERO
As a normal pregnancy, minutes from being discovered? (2,5)
[m]INUTE[s] [f]RO[m] without all the outer letters (covers) = dis-covered.

Latin for “in the womb” – as distinct from in vitro = in glass, referring to test-tube procedures.
8 GRANULATED SUGAR
Salute guard at sea carrying older lady – that’s sweet! (10,5)
Anagram (at sea) of SALUTE GUARD, after (below, in a down clue = carrying) GRAN (short for grandmother = older lady).
14 UNPLANNED
Peacekeepers under attack left boxed in without a strategy (9)
UN (abbreviation for United Nations: often “peacekeepers” in crosswords, though that’s a slightly narrow definition of their remit) + PANNED (criticised harshly = under attack, as in “the film was panned by almost all the reviewers”), with L (abbreviation for left) inserted (boxed in).
15 VICTORIAN
Champion Scotsman from the late 19th century? (9)
VICTOR (winner = champion) + IAN (a frequent substitute for “Scotsman” in crosswords).
17 LATENCY
Non-explicit quality of 10 with frilly clothing (7)
TEN (10: for once this isn’t a reference to a numbered clue elsewhere in the puzzle), with LACY (frilly) around it (clothing).
19 INITIAL
First mark made on page of official document (7)
Double definition. First, especially preliminary, as in “give me your initial thoughts before we discuss it further”; or an identifying mark written on an official document to confirm that someone has read it.
21 ROMEO
Lover boy Knut sporting little jumper (5)
ME (Knut, the setter of this crossword) inserted into (sporting = wearing) ROO (short for kangaroo = jumper = an animal that jumps). “Roo” doesn’t necessarily mean a small kangaroo, but Knut may be referring to the baby kangaroo called Roo in the Winnie the Pooh stories, or simply using “little” to mean a short form of the word.
22 KETCH
Draw son disembarking sailing vessel (5)
[s]KETCH (make a drawing), without the S (abbreviation for son); disembarking = getting off.

A type of sailing boat with two masts.

15 comments on “Independent 11,838 by Knut”

  1. Really enjoyed this, all went in easily except 1d which held out for ages and a head/table moment when I twigged. Knut crosswords are often themed but I can’t see anything today. Thanks Knut/Q

  2. Thanks Knut and Quirister!

    COTD: CHANNEL-CROSSING.
    Other faves: GULLY (I am seeing the ventriloquist reference for the first time), IN UTERO and ROMEO.

  3. A very enjoyable tussle this morning – the long ones did not fall immediately; it was clear two were anagrams and Knut has a real talent for those so I decided to wait for crossers. I seem to make speedier progress as I worked my way down the grid and, yes, that left me with the crossers I needed to sort out GRANULATED SUGAR and RAYMOND CHANDLER plus enough letters to confirm that 1d was some kind of …TOGRAPHER but, like flashing, it took a minute or two for the penny to drop.

    COINTREAU, AFTER DARK, REPLICATE and VICTORIAN were my faves with COTD for the lovely HANGMAN. If Rabbit Dave drops by today, he should be delighted with the correct use of G-MAN! The GULLY/BULLY device is neat – but I find I pronounce the U differently in the two words so it didn’t work quite as smoothly as it might have done but it’s a clever idea: I don’t think I’ve seen a ventriloquism indicator before.

    Thanks Knut and Quirister

  4. A gentle solve, with the booze cruise being my favourite. I had to wait for the checkers before deciding between VIOLA and VOILA… “advancing” is moving towards the finish, to me, but I suspected that the opposite was intended.

    GULLY didn’t really work for me, though – but that’s homophones for you.

    Thanks both

  7. Very enjoyable, though I arrived at several answers by what I have always understood was known as Cook’s Law, i.e arriving at the correct solution by the wrong method. However, Microsoft Copilot assures me this is Shapley’s Law. Any other suggestions? Thanks anyway to Knut and Quirister.

  8. Absolutely perfect way to start the morning – just the right amount of resistance but all eventually went in. As with AP@4 the GULLY clue was lost on me, but with crossers that was all that seemed to fit. Many thanks to Knut and Quirster for the lovely early morning treat!

  10. 12a COINTREAU contains “bottle”, and 18a PRESCRIBE contains “beer”. Here’s Sir Ken Dodd doing a vent act with Dicky Mint:
    SKD: “Well if you if you walked all the way, Dicky, you must be very tired and very thirsty” — DM: “Yes”
    SKD: “Would you like a big bottle of brown beer – watch my lips – a big bottle of brown beer and some brown bread and butter, or a shandy?” — DM: “A shandy”
    SKD: “Good. Good. I’m very pleased to hear that”
    [16a GULLY works for me, in my !rish accent.]
    Thanks K&Q

  11. What Quirister said. Felt very apposite as we happen to be sitting in the Loire Valley at the moment, with a bottle of duty-free Cointreau in the kitchen! Thanks Knut. Nice easy start with the long ones, and GULLY made me laugh too.

  12. All good fun.. slightly intimidating grid, with the long clues all round, but they weren’t too obscure… was delighted to find a lot of my favourites in the answers, eg the liqueur, n the gully, being much squarer to the wicket than the slips.. and the ventriloquism works fine if one understands English pronunciation north of Watford…
    Thanks Knut n Quirister

  13. Thanks for the blog, dear Quirister, and thanks to those who have left a comment.
    A very sad day today as I learned from her daughter Charlie that dear Sue Taylor – dirkybee to those of us who post on the G thread – has died. Sue was a very special person and will be much missed.
    Best wishes to all, Rob/Knut

  14. Think that’s the fastest I’ve ever solved an Indy cryptic. the results box tells me it was 18 minutes and 49 seconds.

    Don’t think I had to return to a clue more than once after an initial blank.

    I did understand the technique being used in GULLY/BULLY but didn’t know what a flashman is and due to the difference in pronounciation for me I didn’t know what word the ventriloquist was attempting. Was a write in for a cricket fan with the 1st and last letters already entered though.

    Thanks for the ego boost Knut!

    Sad to hear of the passing of a member of the community even if I don’t recognise the name.

    Thanks Quirister for the blog today.

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