Independent 11,896 by Vernon

by

New week and Vernon, who’s not been seen for a while returns

I found this tough in places, tricky to blog wordplay and a couple of unknowns, there’s a number of roads in the grid, ROAD, LANE, AVENUE, MEWS and so on but I don’t know if I’m missing a larger picture here, thanks Vernon

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Old photograph is a peculiarly absorbing record (5)
SEPIA

EP – record – absorbed by a peculiar [IS A]*

4. Contemplate announcing a comeback facilitated by this (9)
REFLECTOR

REFLECT – contemplate & A which we’re supposed to think sounds like OR, not convinced though

9. In that case the arbiter or umpire finally gives the answer (9)
THEREFORE

THE & REF – arbiter & OR & end of (umpir)E

10. Musical production inevitably contains this (5)
EVITA

Hidden in inEVITAbly

11. Where beginner in sports goes? (7,6)
LEISURE CENTRE

The centre of leiSure is S which what Sports begins with

13. Pet Sounds flyers (4)
MEWS

Double definition, I wasn’t aware of the seabirds however

14. Pitifully meek, oddly weird, and lacking in mental resilience (4-6)
WEAK-MINDED

A pitiful [MEEK odd letters of WeIrD AND]*

17. The latest intelligence about it leads to a South Pacific island (3,7)
NEW BRITAIN

IT in NEW BRAIN, again one I wasn’t really aware of.

19. See 24 Down

 

22. Selling treasures maybe, duke is wearing ceremonial dress (13)
DISINVESTMENT

D(uke) & IS & IN – wearing & VESTMENT – dress

25. Wander round Mediterranean island, taking in another one briefly (5)
AMBLE

M=Malta inside ELBA all reversed – round

26. Adjusts clothing worn by Welsh person (9)
REDRESSES

DRESS inside REES – a Welsh name

27. Insert the target for this important shot? (9)
KEYSTROKE

Not really convinced by this clue, KEY – important & STROKE – and a keystroke could be pressing INSERT

28. Stunning attacker rates high (5)
TASER

a high RATES*

DOWN
1. Resolution decided on: time to replace top of element (10)
SETTLEMENT

SET – decided on & T(ime) replacing the first E in (e)LEMENT

2. Old England manager apprehended by policewoman in taste of what’s to come (7)
PREVIEW

(don) REVIE ex England manager In PW – policewoman

3. Greeting oddly no use as line of approach (6)
AVENUE

AVE – greeting & odd letters of No UsE

4. Ex-President loves to restate empty smears (9)
ROOSEVELT

Surely not referring to Donald here, a smeared [LOVES TO empty R(estat)E]*

5. Uncommitted about Gauss, a German philosopher (5)
FREGE

Not heard of this one but it’s G – gauss in FREE – not committed

6. Pick Rice mainly — very exciting! (8)
ELECTRIC

ELECT – pick & most of RIC(e)

7. Be inclined to conceal distress in the last part (4,3)
TAIL END

AIL – distress inside TEND – inclination

8. British excluded from general course (4)
ROAD

British removed from (b)ROAD – general

12. Filling consultant starts to extend range through local newspaper (10)
ADVERTISER

Starts of Extend Range Through all filling ADVISER – consultant

15. Distressed kite feeding – it’s withdrawn and tense (5-4)
KNIFE-EDGE

IT removed from a distressed [K(it)E FEEDING]*

16. Waxing the top assumes endless money (8)
CRESCENT

Most of CEN(t) in CREST – top

18. Unscrupulous fellow, like Billy Bunter? (4,3)
WIDE BOY

Billy Bunter was famous for being fat

20. State of being sterile, as every poor sucker at first is (7)
ASEPSIS

AS & starts of Every Poor Sucker & IS

21. Urban square’s tree that sheds its outer parts (6)
STREET

hidden in squareS TREE That

23. Illegal runner, Croatian, without a time I suspect (5)
NARCO

No A, T(ime) or I in a suspect [CRO(ati)AN]*

24/19. Part of London Transport containing rescue centre (4,4)
PARK LANE

ARK – Noah’s rescue centre in PLANE – transport

 

22 comments on “Independent 11,896 by Vernon”

  1. Found this very taxing. Almost overran my alloted time before work (and the G was a write in). Unsure of the same answers / parsings as blogger. Also spent too long on trying to parse incorrect Hegel – groan

    Don’t remember this Setter but will look forward to their future challenges

    Thanks Vernon and flashling

  2. ROAD, LANE, STREET, AVENUE, CRESCENT…REFLECTOR…theme words?

    REFLECTOR
    Agree with the blogger. The OR in REFLECTOR sounds like ‘a’ but does the
    clue hint at that?

    KEYSTROKE
    Liked it.
    Also liked LEISURE CENTRE

    Thanks Vernon and flashling

  3. Quite enjoyed this, apart from REFLECTOR. Wondered if ELECTRIC AVENUE might point towards a theme but couldn’t see one.

  6. I know this has come up before on 225 but I cannot recall when; I’m a little confused by REDRESSES. If the Welsh person, Rees, is wearing the clothing, I really can’t understand why it goes inside him.

    Otherwise, thanks to Vernon and flashling

  7. Took a long time to complete this but no esoteric vocabulary apart from mews which I think is gapfill. I guess the wordplay in the clues was the difficult part so kudos to Vernon. I don’t mind reflecta. It’s similar to the schwa sound, although the vowel is o rather than e. Then again my English is not exactly RP. LEISURE CENTRE deserves three ticks, imho, and big likes also for the 20d clueing, the anagram in KNIFE EDGE and KEYSTROKE which I thought was great, keystroke meaning the pressing of any of the keyboard keys including insert. Thanks for the blog flashling (for the m in AMBLE, mews, and 26a. I thought perhaps Welsh people like wearing red). Oh, and New Britain was pretty much a write in for me. Thanks Vernon for a good workout.

  9. Thanks Sofamore but my problem is I’m seeing it as a container the other way around. If Rees wears a dress, is it not on the outside of/covering him? Which would surely put DRESS around REES?

  11. This had nice ideas but was too tough for me; I struggle when there are imprecise definitions or constructions, such as CRESCENT = waxing (since a crescent and indeed gibbous moon can be waxing or waning), contemplate = REFLECT instead of reflect (up)on, selling treasures (which works, but almost anything else would have been an easier pointer to an “investment”), and REDRESSES (which fortunately I could biff once I had the R and D but which could easily have been confusing since it seemed wrong even when back-parsing). Similarly, LEISURE CENTRE was a brilliant idea, but surely the S is the centre of “leisure”, not goes there, so wouldn’t “where beginner in sports can be found” be more accurate?

    [I’ve no doubt that PW is an abbreviation of policewoman, though I’ve only heard of WPC… but is there a PM or MPC to match? Well inevitably not – but I’m pleased to see that the dictionaries now say it’s outdated!]

    There were also a number of clues in which parts of the surface appear literally in the answer, which tends to catch me out. Not a criticism though.

    Personally I liked KEYSTROKE and think it works perfectly, and also ASEPSIS.

    Thanks both

  12. Thought REDRESSES was OK given we’re in Crosswordland and not the real world 🙂 Doesn’t ‘Wearing’ or ‘worn by’ usually mean the word or letters referred to are on the outside?

  14. ele @12 – one of the differences between Crosswordland and the real world is that things do have to make sense in the former! 🙂

  16. Double hmm. Well 26a makes sense to me and apparently Vernon and ele@12. The use of ‘worn’ is ambigious. Can we live with ambiguity (and misdirection) in crosswordland as we do in the real word?

  17. sofamore @16 — yes but this is neither ambiguity nor misdirection, it’s simply the wrong way round (unless there is a wholly different parsing that I and others are missing…)

  18. This ‘worn’ matter is exercising people a lot. I’ve seen A wears B both as A is inside B and as A is outside B. You wear an overcoat, so you’re inside the coat; you wear a brooch, so you surround it. And I also stand by reflecta. That’s just how one says ‘reflector’; one doesn’t say ‘reflect or’, where the or rhymes with soar.

  22. John/Vernon @18 You don’t ‘surround’ a brooch when you wear it. The brooch is on you.
    I can’t think of any instance where wearing something means it is inside you or has you round the outside of it (if you prefer).

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