Independent 11,861 by Tack

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This is Tack’s third puzzle in the Indy. His two other crosswords were themed – the last one had an amazing grid fill of numerous bands although Duncan managed to find a couple which Tack had never heard of. We’d enjoyed his two other puzzles so were looking forward to solving this one.

It’s Tuesday so it’s theme day – we were on the lookout for something. A quick google of some of the italicised entries revealed that it was probably something to do with the Pogues. Our knowledge of the band is sadly lacking but Bert had heard of Shane McGowan. Joyce noticed RIPS across the first row of unches but it wasn’t until we came back to the puzzle after a quick break that Bert noticed the NINA – RIP SHANE MCGOWAN who died on 30th November last year.

There were numerous references to band members and tracks throughout the clues. Please let us know if we have missed any.

Using some of the band names and tracks in the clues made a few of the parsings a little forced but overall it was a very entertaining and ingenious puzzle.

Well done Tack.

I have coloured all the references we could find in green. Apologies when some of these should be in purple as they are part of the definition – the definitions are however all underlined.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
5. Uncle Anselm’s eating puts weight on the shoulders (6)
CLEANS

Hidden (‘eaten by’) in UnCLE ANSelm – a weightlifting term

6. 60% of Sean O’Casey works showing little craft? (6)
CANOES

An anagram (‘works’) of SEAN O’Casey (60% of the letters)

9. Rhea‘s grandmother loves to go on date (6)
NANDOO

NAN (grandmother) + O O (loves) after or ‘on’ D (date)

10. Cut down tree somehow covering acres of farm (8)
RETRENCH

An anagram (‘somehow’) of TREE replacing or ‘covering’ ‘a’ (acres) in RaNCH (farm)

11. Make an excursion ignoring Jack’s relative (4)
AUNT

jAUNT (make an excursion) without or ‘ignoring’ J (jack)

12. Use tsarina to brew this? (7,3)
RUSSIAN TEA

An anagram (‘to brew’) of USE TSARINA

13. Swimming great’s been taking in Republic of Guinea island (11)
SPITZBERGEN

SPITZ (a swimming great – Mark Spitz) and BEEN taking in RG (Republic of Guinea)

18. One providing yarns in court left German over dispute (4-6)
WOOL-GROWER

WOO (court) L (left) GER (German) over ROW (dispute)

21. Daze caused by Stacy‘s first big barrel (4)
STUN

S (first letter in Stacy) TUN (big barrel)

22. What could create starter of escargots with cream (3-5)
OFF-WHITE

Cryptically, E (the starter or first letter of Escargots) and WITH could make WHITE with ‘off’ being the anagram indicator

23. Spooner’s payments reduce tension (6)
DEFUSE

A Spoonerism of FEES DUE FEE DUES (payments) Thanks to all those who noticed the error.

24. Scottish crime writer turning rector to new material (6)
NANKIN

rANKIN (Scottish crime writer) with R (rector) changing to N (new)

25. Discovers Fearnley almost naked cycling with son (6)
LEARNS

It’s a bit awkward but you have to make fEARNLEy ‘naked’ (take the first and last letters off) then lose the last letter (EARNLe) (‘almost’) before ‘cycling it’ (LEARN) – you then add S (son)

DOWN
1. Grass and cannabis elevated many pipes (4,4)
REED STOP

REEDS (grass) POT (weed) reversed or ‘elevated’

2. O’Riordan plays without a rook? What sort of game is this? (6)
INDOOR

An anagram (‘plays’) of O’rIORDaN without A and R (rook)

3. More Poor Paddy, without periodically dodgy line one hears (8)
PALTRIER

PAddy (missing the alternate letters in DoDgY or ‘periodically’ L (line) TRIER (one hears)

4. Serious scowl key man regularly produces (6)
SOLEMN

ScOwL kEy MaN (regular letters only)

5. Laura’s essentially supporting run through Kitty, being in Ireland (6)
CRATUR

laURa’s (middle letters only or ‘essentially’) under or ‘supporting’ R (run) in CAT (kitty)

7. Revolutionary curses out-of-date bread in Ecuador (6)
SUCRES

An anagram (‘revolutionary’) of CURSES

8. Bolts are shot by these angry cockneys (11)
CROSSBOWMEN

CROSS (angry) BOW MEN (cockneys)

14. Huge mistake during match upset Ipswich captain initially (8)
TERRIFIC

ERR (mistake) in FIT (match) reversed or ‘upset’ and first letters of Ipswich Captain or ‘initially’

15. Sword-shaped object’s opening Finer‘s rent money (8)
ENSIFORM

An anagram (‘rent’) of O (first letter of object or ‘opening’) and FINERS followed by M (money)

16. Played very loudly in county home: it goes “Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go“ (6)
COFFIN

FF (played very loudly) in CO (county) IN (home)

17. Streams of Whiskey dropped from bangers – Rehab’s back at the top (6)
BURSTS

wURSTS (bangers) missing or ‘dropping’ W (whisky) with B (last letter or ‘back’ of rehab) at the top

19. Fluent though lacking force, maybe Galloway’s sounding off (6)
LOWING

fLOWING (fluent)without or ‘lacking’ F (force)

20. The deep wound seared (3,3)
RED SEA

An anagram (‘wound’) of SEARED

 

20 comments on “Independent 11,861 by Tack”

  1. Top faves:
    OFF-WHITE and BURSTS.
    Liked RETENCH too but was wondering if the surface was whimsical. Does it mean that the tree is soooo big or something else?
    LEARNS (a minor difference in reading)
    Fearnley almost=FEARNLE —>naked—>EARNL

    Thanks to the setter and the bloggers.

  2. Thanks Tack and BertandJoyce

    I really didn’t enjoy this too much. Both this I and omnibus’ in G were muddled yet overlyworked. Themes are fun but they should be either forewarned to solver or so light as to be easy to miss

    A few NHOs but no standout clues

    As I disliked both today’s puzzles maybe it’s me not them 🙂

  3. Thanks Tack and BnJ

    Tack has posted on it’s-still-twitter that this is a fortieth anniversary puzzle. A quick check showed that the Pogues’ debut album Red Roses For Me was released on October 15 1984.

  4. Similar sentiments as Matthew@2.

    Never liked this band and not thrilled by memories of leaders past in the G.

    New for me are ENSIFORM and the breed of cattle. Filed in memory in case they turn up again. I did like the island and the bolt shooters so I’ll content myself with fond memories of the moustachioed swimmer and The Golden Shot.

    Thanks Tack and B&J.

  5. Not a theme I know anything about and I never think to look for ninas – though I should. I would have recognised the singer’s name but not the references. I had wondered whether Tack might have been an Irish setter, given the Gaelic flavour of many of the clues. The blog was certainly helpful in setting me straight and explaining some of those I could not parse/solve like NANDOO, CRATUR, ENISFORM, the def for CLEANS and the parsing of OFF-WHITE and INDOOR.

    Thanks Tack and B&J

  6. Thanks both. Struggled with this for a combination of reasons. Mr Google did not assist greatly – when checking NANDOO it only wanted me to attend a chicken restaurant, and it appears to disagree with the spelling here of SPITZBERGEN. I remain confused about DEFUSE – for me, a Soonerism delivers ‘fee dues’ and I also query whether ‘fees due’ means payments or requests for payment.

  7. Felt a bit of a jerk for taking so long to see the weightlifting reference in CLEANS. Where’s FrankieG when there really is an anniversary? This is the first time a Nina has ever helped me solve a puzzle. Thanks, all.

  8. TFO@6 I think it’s a Spoonerism of “fee dues” too. A fee is a payment, and so are dues, so that’s multiple “payments”, so it’s slightly sneaky, but it works for me.

  9. Petert@7 – please don’t encourage him!

    Thanks for the comments about FEE DUES – you are all correct, Joyce was wrong and Bert didn’t get round to checking the blog…..

  10. I’d agree with a lot of the criticisms above… disappointed I didn’t spot the nina/theme as I admired the singer and the band, and it would have helped for sure… Merriam-Webster refused to recognise NANDOO, but it had to be from wordplay… annoyed at self for filling CROSSBOWERS for the cockneys, n attempting an anagram from “greats been r” (indicator swimming), which amazingly did not reveal any island in any of the Guineas… really still don’t get the parsing of PALTRIER, but fully acknowledge it fits better than FAULTIER… I took the essential of Laura to be U which left an R to be desired.. I still liked a lot..
    Thanks Tack n Bertandjoyce

  11. In creature oed.com has 1d ‘CRATUR: …1.d. 1638– humorous. Usually with the. Alcoholic drink, esp. whisky. Now chiefly Scottish and Irish English, esp. in form cratur.’ …

  12. I found this to be a mixed bag, somewhat inconsistent in difficultly (although there’s no obligation to be consistent, of course). Some nice devices; but some things overworked. The spoonerism doesn’t work for me on any level. I liked CROSSBOWMEN but it was pretty hard; impossible for me without checkers.

    SimonS@3, I did wonder about where the roses that I spotted might fit, after reading the blog and finding out about the theme. (I just thought it was gaelic-related, like PostMark@5 ;-). Hence there’s the other nina RED ROSES FOR ME in the rows which don’t contain answers.

    Thanks all

  13. … Jonathan Green’s Dictionary of Slang redirects ‘crater/crathur/cratur(e) n.‘ with ‘see creature, the n. (3)‘: ‘In phrases – drop of the creature (n.) (also cup of the creature) – a drink of strong liquor, usu. (Irish) whisky [sic]’.
    Here are a couple of Irish quotes: ”
    1925 L. Mackay Mourne Folk 29: Ye must have a drop of the cratur with us afore ye go.
    1943 ‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Faustus Kelly in ‘Flann O’Brien’ Stories & Plays (1973) 161: Yerrah, Captain, wait till you get a drop of the good ould crature into you.”

  14. 11a [J]AUNT is a word I first heard as a child during summer holidays in Ireland, thinking it was spelt jant, because that’s how the Dublin kids pronounced it:
    “Hey, young one, give us a jant on yer bike.” — [Petert@7: “… 1984, (a 40th (Ruby) anniversary).”] Loved the puzzle. A fitting tribute.
    Thanks T & B&J

  15. … Continued from @13 … and here’s a Scottish one: ”
    1992 I. [n>R]ANKIN Strip Jack 102: A drop of the cratur wouldn’t go amiss though, if it’s not too much trouble.”

  17. FrankieG@16 A quick check on Google states that a spoonerism is – a verbal error in which a speaker accidentally transposes the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to humorous effect. So, it’s not about swapping vowels or consonants – it’s first letter(s) whatever they are.

  18. One of our occasional forays into Indy territory – and we wish we hadn’t bothered. Right from the off we got CLEANS as a hidden but had no idea what it was supposed to mean. We did get NANDOO but had to check it online (not in our dead tree Chambers). We guessed 15dn ended ___IFORM by analogy with ‘securiform’ (axe-shaped) but needed a wordfinder to discover it. As for BURSTS we thought that was totally unfair requiring the solver to make the connection bangers -> sausages -> Wursts before replacing the first letter (and the plural of Wurst is Würste anyway).
    Sorry, Tack, this didn’t float our boat – but thanks, Bert and Joyce for the enlightening blog.

  19. Bertandjoyce@17: “…transposes the initial sounds or letters..”. In this case it’s the sounds, i.e. the vowels.
    Here’s oed.com’s definition of spoonerism:
    ‘An accidental transposition of the initial sounds, or other parts, of two or more words. Known in colloquial use in Oxford from about 1885.’
    The only one of the three citations that includes an example is:
    “1976 I am not going to put on any weight until I’m fifty, when I shall allow myself to become matronly, ready to be a follower of ‘soda and gobbly matrons’, as enjoined by the marriage service. (A good Spoonerism that, created quite involuntarily by my mother some years ago.) Oxford Diocesan Magazine July 15/1″
    It took me a while to work out that what was being mangled was ‘soBer and goDly‘. Not the first letters, or even the sounds, but the third letters.

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