Independent cryptic No. 11,877 by Methuselah

Good morning fellow solvers

A themed grid from Methuselah, with working out the theme arguably more fiendish than the crossword itself. Never have I been more grateful to be part of the Indy blogging team, who have the pleasure of receiving these a bit in advance of publication!

The grid itself was a bumper one: 33 clues in total, but a real pleasure to complete, with only a few GK stumbles requiring online assistance. As I’ve come to expect from Methuselah, there were some lovely surfaces and wordplay, although (to my personal taste) a little over-reliant on hidden word clues.

The first two across answers gave the theme: the BBC quiz show Only Connect. As I’m not a watcher of this show I’m at a slight disadvantage, but I am aware of it and most importantly for this part, the concept of the show. I’ve put my attempt at this extra puzzle below too avoid early spoilers.

Thanks to Methuselah for the hard workout.

Definitions are underlined

 

ACROSS

1 Never miss quiz show which inspired four in this grid (4,7)

ONLY CONNECT

Double def

 

9 Lump of something turning young horse’s stomach (9)

CLOT

Young horse [COLT] with central characters [“stomach”] turned around

 

10 Avoid the missing vowels round? Great resolution! (1,1,1,1)

HDTV

Avoid the missing vowels [AVOID THE] round [rearrange]

HDTV an acronym for High Definition Television

 

11 Excuse getting both Caliban and Cain out of prison (5)

ALIBI

Removing CAN [“prison”] from CALIBAN and CAIN

 

13 Something in your eye when drinking last of precious wine (7)

RETSINA

Something in your eye [RETINA] when drinking [around] last of precious [S]

 

14 Two informants – one going underground (4,3)

MOLE RAT

Double def

Mole-rat – Wikipedia

 

15 Several points covered in oddly airy response (6)

ANSWER

Several [compass] points [N S W E] – covered in oddly airy [odd letters in AIRY = A R]

 

16 Footballer put off outside goal (8)

DEFENDER

Put off [DEFER] outside goal [END]

 

18 Politician’s lying finally finished – and also not (8)

GOVERNOR

Lying finally [G] finished [OVER] and also not [NOR]

 

21 Dahl character – a Salt knocked back after seeing some geese? (6)

VERUCA

a Salt [A CURE] knocked back [reversed] after seeing some geese? [V]

Quite a lot going on in this clue. Salt curing is a way of preserving meats, often ham, fish and beef. The V = geese is a reference to the commonly observed formation flocks of geese (and other birds) adopt when flying together as a way of saving energy. Definition reference here is to Veruca Salt, a character in the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

 

25 Foot spy dipped into water? On the contrary (7)

SPONDEE

Spy [SEE] dipped into water [POND]? On the contrary [POND put into SEE]

I think setter is using FOOT SPY as a spondee: a phrase of two equally stressed syllables.

 

26 Unprofessional cop openly pockets a little drink (7)

ALCOPOP

Hidden word [“pockets”]: UNPROFESSIONAL COP OPENLY

 

28 Organs of state heartlessly start on immigrants (5)

UTERI

State heartlessly [UTTER] start on immigrants [I]

 

29 One bouncing off the walls ultimately became lethargic couch potato (4)

ECHO

Last letters of [“ultimately”] BECAME LETHARGIC COUCH POTATO

 

30 Get shot of initially agreeable relative (4)

PAPA

Get shot of [PAP = “paparazzi”] initially [first letter of] agreeable [A]

Being photographed by the paparazzi now so well known it hasbecome a verb: to be “papped”

 

31 Students of French enthralled by derrieres (7)

READERS

Of French [DE] enthralled [surroundedd by] by derrieres [REARS]

 

32 Pop art? (4)

DADA

Double definition [POP = DADA = Dadaism]

Dada – Wikipedia

 

DOWN

 

1 Prestigious award presented by no-mark? (5)

OSCAR

No [O] mark [SCAR]

 

2 Shakespearean king determined by Christmas must be overturned (7)

LEONTES

Determined [SET] by Christmas [NOEL] must be overturned [backwards]

 

4 Maybe Methuselah cracked almond (3,3)

OLD MAN

Anag [“cracked”] ALMOND

 

5 Happening around the fifth, something burning this month (8)

NOVEMBER

Happening [ON] around [backawards] the fifth [V = Rom Num] something burning [EMBER]

 

6 King casually calls for toast with pork pie (7)

CHARLIE

Casually calls for toast [CHAR] with pork pie [LIE]

 

7 Legendary hunter mounting leopard or minotaur hides (6)

NIMROD

Hidden word [“hides”]  backwards [“mounting”]: LEOPARD OR MINOTAUR

 

8 Leading lady disseminating OC trivia (8)

VICTORIA

Anag [“disseminating”] OC TRIVIA

 

12 Top spy replaces lead for fancy audio equipment (4)

MIKE

Top spy [M] replaces lead for [replace first letter of] fancy [LIKE]

 

15 One who founded dynasty in America after gold rush (8)

AUGUSTUS

America [US] after gold [AU] rush [GUST]

 

17 After bungling order, he’d be on a plank (8)

BONEHEAD

Anag. [“after bungling order”] HED BE ON A 

 

19 No end of nutrition for wild flower (6)

VIOLET

No end of nutrition for wild [VIOLENT]

 

20 Socialist policy which may be a deal breaker (3,4)

RED LINE

Socialist [RED] policy [LINE]

 

22 I could go on horse to make an impression (4)

ETCH

I could go on [ETC = etcetera] horse [H]

 

23 Slap-up spread somewhere in Scandinavia (7)

UPPSALA

Should be an anag. [“spread”] of SLAP UP but can’t work out where the extra A is coming from?

 

24 Clergyman’s a bit of a booby, possibly dropping a tablet (6)

FATHER

A bit of a booby, possibly [FEATHER] dropping a tablet [remove an “E”]

 

27 Frolic on adult beach in Spain (5)

PLAYA

Frolic [PLAY] on adult [A]

 

THEME

We’re looking for four sets of four connected answers, and here’s my attempt at it:

1 Sequential NATO phonetic alphabet:

MIKE, NOVEMBER, OSCAR, PAPA

2 Names for fathers

FATHER, PAPA, DADA, OLD MAN

3 Rulers

VICTORIA, LEONTES, AUGUSTUS, NIMROD

4 Terms for someone stupid

BONEHEAD, CLOT, CHARLIE, NIMROD

13 comments on “Independent cryptic No. 11,877 by Methuselah”

  1. Hi Leedsclimber, reckon you have to take the PAPA out of the phonetic alphabet group and replace it with ECHO. Under the rules of ONLY CONNECT you are not allowed repeated words in two groups
    Thanks Methuselah and LC

  2. I had “King casually” as definition for CHARLIE. My printout has ‘A slap-up …’ in 23d. In 19d, I had “flower” as definition with ‘wild’ = ‘violent’ (missing last letter of nutrition).
    Plank meaning bonehead isn’t in Chambers. Guess it can be found elsewhere.

  3. Another group could be characters from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Charlie Bucket, Veruca Salt, Augustus Gloop and Violet Beauregard. They do like a bit of misdirection on Only Connect. Many thanks to LC and Methuselah

  4. My take on the connections:

    CHARLIE, NIMROD, BONEHEAD, CLOT – words for an idiot

    AUGUSTUS (Gloop), VERUCA (Salt), MIKE (Teevee), VIOLET (Beauregarde) – Charlie and Chocolate factory characters

    OLD MAN, FATHER, DADA, GOVERNOR – father/elder

    NOVEMBER, ECHO, OSCAR, PAPA – NATO Alphabet

  5. One of the features of Only Connect relies upon finding groupings of four words – but, as here, some of those could appear in more than one category. As Flea points out, PAPA is duplicated and so is NIMROD in the fools section. I am struggling to find a fourth fool.

    I do also note that CHARLIE, AUGUSTUS, VERUCA and VIOLET are all Roald Dahl characters. Which complicates things.

    Cracking puzzle. Methuselah on great form. I will even forgive him the rather disconnected grid he needed to get them all in. And a very nice interlinking with the TV programme.

    Thanks Methuselah and leedsclimber

  6. [Yes, JP@4, that’s the wall that VICTORIA gives us three minutes to solve. (There’s an extra clue for MIKE in HDTeaVee.)]

  7. Reckon JP has it right. The four ‘tour of the chocolate factory,’ characters are the eliminated ones and so makes for a more logical grouping. Charlie has to go into the “fools’ category rather than alphabet as there appears not to be another fool in the puzzle solution.

  8. [1a should read “Never miss quiz show which inspired four groups of four in this grid (4,7)”]
    It’s clever that CHARLIE isn’t a Chocolate Factory character, and PAPA isn’t a dad. Great fun! 😉 Thanks M&LC

  9. Lovely puzzle. I got the groupings as per JP – though was almost bamboozled by the words for idiot, appropriately enough.

    For those who don’t know, Methuselah’s day job is being one of the question researchers on Only Connect.

  10. This was fun, though I struggled in the SW corner and so had to reveal a couple to keep moving.

    Favourites were ETCH and GOVERNOR for the two lovely misdirections, and ALIBI for the ingenuity.

    I vaguely know the Open Connect thing from the puzzle in my mum’s Radio Times… I tend to skip over it as it’s not my cup of tea – which I confirmed here when I failed to spot the Chocolate Factory characters! It was a clever feat to set up a good wall like that.

    Thanks both

  11. I’m a day late but I should clear up the intended solution. ONLY CONNECT is a BBC Two quiz show hosted by VICTORIA Coren Mitchell. In the third round of each episode each team gets a Connecting Wall, a set of 16 jumbled up words which must be sorted into one perfect solution comprising four groups of four (with no overlaps). The wall hidden in this grid can be resolved into the following groups of four:

    AUGUSTUS / MIKE / VERUCA / VIOLET – Children from ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’

    BONEHEAD / CHARLIE / CLOT / NIMROD – Words for a fool

    DADA / GOVERNOR / FATHER / OLD MAN – Words for one’s father

    ECHO; NOVEMBER; OSCAR; PAPA – Letters from the NATO phonetic alphabet

    So well done JP. 🙂

    But also well done to Leedsclimber for spotting an unintentional group of 4 rulers in AUGUSTUS, LEONTES, NIMROD and VICTORIA, which would allow an alternative solution with VIOLET/VERUCA/CHARLIE/MIKE for the kids, DADA/OLD MAN/FATHER/GOVERNOR for the daddies, ECHO/NOVEMBER/OSCAR/PAPA for the phonetic alphabet, and no group of fools necessary. On the real show if you spot a solution the question setters didn’t intend then you’re given the chance to put your case – luckily that’s a rarity with the walls!

    I hope people enjoyed the slightly different challenge. Thanks everyone

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