Independent 11,913 by Bluebird

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With Christmas looming ever closer, Bluebird keeps the brain cells ticking over. And I’ve managed to get my blog out on time!

And a bit of a cinema theme this week – Pearl and Dean and popcorn and chocolate. Quite a few film titles dotted about too signposted by 13ac.

Thanks Bluebird and seasonal greetings to everyone

Key * anagram; underline definition;Rev. reversed

Across
1 One wearing a large decorative item (5)
per(one) around a + l (large) = PEARL

4 Story mother noted down about a king and queen (9)
native(mother noted down) about a + r(king) + r(queen) = NARRATIVE

9 Route north through Spain and Germany for hitchhiker? (9)
pass n (route north) about e (Spain) + ger (Germany) = PASSENGER

10 Church dignitaries and clergy members renouncing company (5)
deacons (clergy members) – co (company) = DEANS

11 Balls bowled at pens close to farmhouse to get pig out (7)
over(balls bowled) + at around e(close to farmhouse) = OVEREAT

12 Ariel, languishing underwater at first, breaks free and blooms (7)
(ariel + l+u)* = RUELLIA

13 Certain pictures – Dune, Rocky, and, finally, Kes (5)
(dune)* + s (finally Kes) = NUDES

15 Interested in taking good shots? You may want to get this dolly (4,5)
Cryptic definition (I think to the fairgorund game) = AUNT SALLY

18 Fellow politician backed Number Ten, exercising constituent (9)
co(fellow) + mp (politician) + RevNo (Number) + (ten)* = COMPONENT

19 Included among possessions – a bottle-opener, a wooden shoe (5)
possessionS A BOTtle = SABOT

21 Stiff examination of gold by Tim’s sister? (7)
au(gold) + topsy(Tim’s sister) = AUTOPSY

24 Hot, one-dimensional bores wear distressed leather (7)
h(hot) + id (one dimensional) in (wear)* = RAWHIDE

26 Spielberg’s West Side Story is hackneyed (5)
s(Spielberg’s west side) + tale (story) = STALE

27 Disney film capturing hearts with animated tale that can be bittersweet (9)
Coco (Disney film) around h(hearts) + (tale)* = CHOCOLATE

28 Tapes of actors wasting time on sofas, taking 8 (9)
cast(actors) – t (time) + settees(sofas) – e (8 down) = CASSETTES

29 Determined boy conceals alien (3,2)
son(boy) around et(alien) = SET ON

Down
1 Put my new food in buckets? (7)
pop(put) + cor(my) + n (new) = POPCORN

2 City boss lifting a Hoover? (9)
master(boss) lifter a + dam (Hoover?) = AMSTERDAM

3 Pork pie supported by, say, upstanding lord (5)
lie(pork pie) plus Rev eg(say) = LIEGE

4 Awful vision of mounted crusader getting beheaded (9)
knight mare (mounted crusader) – k (beheaded) = NIGHTMARE

5 In Predator, are rebels more difficult to find? (5)
Hidden predatoR ARE Rebels = RARER

6 Places he leaves hats? (9)
headdresses (hats) – he = ADDRESSES

7 One regularly dispatching letters – nearly 50 altogether (2,3)
I(one) + NeArLy + l(50) = IN ALL

8 See good woman overcome by simple pleasure (7)
c(see) + st(good woman) in easy(simple) = ECSTASY

14 One captivated by cow (mingling with sheep) that’s the best in field (9)
(I + cow + sheep)* = SHOWPIECE

16 Disreputable – no, dreadful – suitor stuck with ring (9)
no + (suitor+ o)* = NOTORIOUS

17 Large group of countries screening Universal Soldier and Grease? (9)
l(large) + bric (group of countries) around u(universal) + ant(Soldier) = LUBRICANT

18 Children perhaps in charge – could this be Lord of the Flies? (7)
class (children perhaps) + ic(in charge) = CLASSIC

20 James Bond character leaves remote-control device within that place (7)
theremin(remote control device) – M (James Bond character) = THEREIN

22 Rushes from Snatch shown before the end of Cannes (5)
tear(snatch) + s (end of Cannes) = TEARS

23 Rising river covering top half of chap’s boat (5)
Rev. Tay (river) around ch(top half of chap) = YACHT

25 Hong Kong filmmaker and director with small golf clubs (5)
Woo (Hong Kong filmmaker – John Woo one of cinema’s greats) + d(director) + s(small) = WOODS

11 comments on “Independent 11,913 by Bluebird”

  1. Thanks for the great blog twencelas.

    I must give credit where it’s due. The clue for 12a was not written by me but by the setter who goes by ‘Cigogne’ on mycrossword.co.uk. He kindly gave me permission to use it in this puzzle.

  2. Just the smallest of tweaks needed for the blog, twencelas, and that’s only really for the sake of consistency – you need to include the solution for 25d right at the end.

    As usual, a very satisfying solve from Bluebird with a nice gentle theme running through the surfaces and, indeed, some of the solutions. PASSENGER is a smooth Lego assembly, AUTOPSY – I had to guess at the existence of a children’s programme and was pleased when it turned out to be correct, CHOCOLATE has a lovely surface, AMSTERDAM for the nice opportunity for movement within fodder, IN ALL for the variety in one short clue and CLASSIC for the super surface. I misled myself with an initial entry of TAKES for TEARS but crossers, fortunately, set me right.

    My only quibble – and it’s rare for me to quibble about this setter: I do have an issue with ‘wearing’ being used as a container. Various commenters on different 225 threads have attempted to defend it when I have raised the issue in the past – someone suggested you wear a pacemaker on the inside and someone else, recently, suggested you wear a brooch meaning that you surround it. I am yet to be convinced that wearing can mean other than putting something on the outside of something else. And that is not what is happening to the A being inserted to get PEARL.

    Thanks Bluebird and twencelas

  3. A very enjoyable puzzle. My top clues are AUTOPSY (for ‘stiff examination’ and because I found out who Tim’s sister is), CHOCOLATE (bittersweet), NIGHTMARE (wordplay) and CLASSIC (for the ‘children’). Nho AUNT SALLY or the ‘blooms’ but have now, and they they were solvable through pattern recognition in the former and clear wordplay in the latter. Thanks for the blog twencelas and for the very entertaining puzzle Bluebird.

  4. Thanks for an enjoyable solve Bluebird, and a very nice blog twencelas. As is to be expected, I didn’t see the theme at all, but in hindsight it’s nicely done!

    PM@2 – is this not the lesser-spotted ‘one’ = A, and the surface ‘a’ is PER?

  5. PostMark. Here it is one (A) wearing PER + L, so no quibble.

    Some minor differences to the blog. For PASSENGER, I had PASS + N inside E + GER; for LIEGE, I had LIE + EG<; and for 14d, I don’t think I is part of the anagram fodder but is included.

    For NIGHTMARE, I assume you are taking it as KNIGHT on top of MARE minus the K.

    I had TAKES for 22d for a while until I eventually saw STALE.
    Lovely challenge.

  6. Thanks Amoeba and Hovis. Yes it is, you are right, Bluebird is right, his test solver (I think I know who that is) is right and I am a numpty. Guilty of reading the A as A! Always happy to admit to my stupidity amongst friends and relieved that, after all, there isn’t a quibble with a Bluebird puzzle.

  7. @Bluebird

    It’s nice to know even the pros struggle sometimes. Not sure many of us would be able to clue that one!

  8. Thanks both. A nice blend of clues today, I thought. I came here partly for illumination as to how ‘native’ = ‘mother noted down’ in NARRATIVE, and also to see if there was more going on in AUNT SALLY, so grateful for any thoughts on either.

  10. Thanks Bluebird, I enjoyed this with my top picks being NARRATIVE (liked mother=native), RAWHIDE, STALE (nice surface), CHOCOLATE, and ECSTASY. I had no chance at solving AUNT SALLY — with CD’s either you know it or you don’t. Thanks twencelas for the blog.

  11. TFO@8 I also wondered about mother/native so thanks for asking the question and Amoeba for elucidating. Aunt Sally – from Wiki “Aunt Sally is a traditional English game usually played in pub gardens and fairgrounds, in which players throw sticks or battens at a ball, known as a ‘dolly’, …” So that’s where the dolly comes from! I got the game from the crossers, but had never heard of the dolly. Thanks Bluebird and twenceslas.

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