Phi is ushering in the weekend with his latest Friday puzzle.
Today’s grid accommodated a large number of clues of different lengths (from 3 to 15 letters), although it did seem to be a slightly odd shape. In any case, I don’t think that I have seen it before.
I found this crossword to be of medium difficulty and I made steady progress through it. I am fairly happy with my parsing, although it took me a while to tease out a couple of the clues, e.g. 14 and 21.
My favourite clues today were 1D, 6, 8, 11A, all for overall construction and/or smoothness of surface reading.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | STRIPLING | Young fellow to clear patch of heather?
Cryptically, “(to) strip ling” could mean “to clear patch (=strip) of heather (=ling)” |
| 06 | PLAID | Pict’s head covered in local cloth
P<ict> (“head” means first letter only) + LAID (=covered) |
| 09 | ARCHIMEDES SCREW | Water extraction device semi-crashed in operation, with workers attending
*(SEMI-CRASHED) + CREW (=workers); “in operation” is anagram indicator |
| 10 | DOUBT | Suspect regular data on forms about university training initially
[U (=university) in DOB (=regular data on forms, i.e. date of birth)] + T<raining> (“initially” means first letter only); to suspect is to doubt |
| 11 | JUDICIOUS | A lot of gravy, very tasty, but without the Spanish sage
JU<s> (=gravy; “a lot of” means last letter is dropped) + D<el>ICIOUS (=very tasty; “without the Spanish (=el, i.e. a Spanish word for the)” means letters “el” are dropped) |
| 13 | KITCHEN | Family coming round, about to enter the cookhouse
[C (=about, i.e. circa) in THE] in KIN (=family) |
| 14 | MADEIRA | Cracked sign, end missing, swinging back, indicating wine
MAD (=cracked, crazy) + EIRA (ARIE<s> (=sign, i.e. of Zodiac; “end missing” means last letter is dropped; “swinging back” indicates reversal) |
| 15 | DESKTOP | Iconic display of Parisian – no longer continue to include King
DE (=of Parisian, i.e. the French word for of) + [K (=king, in cards) in STOP (=no longer continue)]; cryptically, a desktop could be described as an “iconic display”, i.e. computer screen displaying various icons |
| 17 | HALIBUT | Harry one returning boat for fish
HAL (=Harry, as a diminutive) + I (=one) + BUT (TUB=boat; “returning” indicates reversal) |
| 19 | THROW | Deliberately lose most of the argument
TH<e> (“most of” means last letter is dropped) + ROW (=argument, quarrel); to throw a match, say, is to deliberately lose it |
| 20 | REPUTEDLY | Truly deep, possibly – or only ostensibly?
*(TRULY DEEP); “possibly” is anagram indicator |
| 21 | PETER AND THE WOLF | Piece for children badly threatened after piano course rejected
P (=piano, i.e. soft, in music) + *(THREATENED) + WOLF (FLOW=course, stream; “rejected” indicates reversal); “badly” is anagram indicator |
| 24 | SCHEDULER | Small pleasure being interrupted by most boring programmer
S (=small, in sizes) + [DUL<l> (=boring; “most” means last letter is dropped) in CHEER (=pleasure, entertainment)]; Peter and the Wolf is a symphonic tale for children composed by the Russian Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 |
| 25 | YOKEL | Bumpkin agreed to occupy pastureland after reflection
OK (=agreed) in YEL (LEY=pastureland; “after reflection” indicates reversal) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | SHARD | Bit of broken stuff in river swallowed by fish
R (=river) in SHAD (=fish) |
| 02 | RECRUIT | Novice in misdirected row about vineyards
CRU (=vineyards) in REIT (TIER=row; “misdirected” indicates reversal) |
| 03 | PAINT THE TOWN RED | How artist would celebrate left-wing control of council?
Cryptic definition: to celebrate is to “paint the town red”, while if there is left-wing control of (the) council”, then the city has turned red politically |
| 04 | ICE | Risk offloading diamonds to find diamonds
<d>ICE (=risk, as in to dice with death; “offloading diamonds (=D) in cards” means letter “d” is dropped) |
| 05 | GEEKDOM | Style, say, kept up around latest of crack IT guys?
<crac>K (“last of” means last letter only) in GEEDOM (MODE=style + E.G.=say, for example; “kept up” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 06 | POSTCODE LOTTERY | Closed to making changes in China’s geographical inequality
*(CLOSED TO) in POTTERY (=china); “making changes” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | A PRIORI | Excellent to involve religious leader, thinking from first principles
PRIOR (=religious leader, i.e. head of priory) in A1 (=excellent) |
| 08 | DEW | Deposit, exudation, wet, primarily
D<eposit> E<xudation> W<et>; “primarily” means first letters only; & lit. |
| 11 | JUNIPER | Panel cut to include blend of pine and shrub
*(PINE) in JUR<y> (=panel, of jurors; “cut” means last letter dropped); “blend of” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | SWARTHY | Dark skin blemish – reticent about that
WART (=skin blemish) in SHY (=reticent) |
| 13 | KID | Pretend nationalist is out of race
KI<n>D (=race, i.e. related people; “nationalist (=N) is out of” means letter “n” is dropped) |
| 16 | SCRATCH | Casual scoundrel about to break into school
[RAT (=scoundrel) + C (=about, circa)] in SCH (=school); e.g. a scratch meal is casual, improvised |
| 17 | HIPSTER | Hot priest reimagined as cool type
H (=hot, as on tap) + *(PRIEST); “reimagined” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | BEDROCK | Foundation to flex, repelling new swaying motion
BE<n>D (=(to) flex, bow; “repelling new (=N, as in NT)” means letter “n” is dropped) + ROCK (swaying motion); e.g. the bedrock of society is its foundation |
| 19 | TAPAS | Place to serve beer and, also, regularly appetisers
TAP (=place to serve beer, i.e. taproom, brewery tap) + A<l>S<o> (“regularly” means alternate letters only) |
| 22 | NIL | River running short, offering nothing
NIL<e> (=river; “running short” means last letter is dropped) |
| 23 | FAL | River cascade running short
FAL<l> (=(water)fall; “running short” means last letter is dropped) |
The grid is unusual as it only has top/bottom symmetry and not left/right symmetry. Does anyone know if the Independent has standard grids or just have rules about symmetry, unches etc?
I didn’t parse MADEIRA so thanks RatkojaRiku. Ta also Phi.
Couldn’t parse DOUBT, I was looking for an anagram of D T O (regular DaTa On) and U T which was never going to work so thanks for the clarification RatkojaRiku.
Otherwise very nice and straightforward, thanks Phi
Solid Phi stuff. Enumeration and definitions helped tremendously with the long ones. Funnily enough, my four faves are all 5 letter words – PLAID, THROW, YOKEL and TAPAS. All very neat.
Thanks Phi and RR
[11a ‘…sage‘]
Had 21ac PATW on vinyl at a very young age, nice memories. Needed a few crossers to remind me which ancient Greek had the screw. And yes, birth postcode is a predictor of well-being. [Our kids were public schooled, buy it’s Freo, benignly diverse]. Thanks Phi and RR.
I liked HIPSTER for the Fleabag reference. I hope Peter and the Wolf is not an entry in the Wellington burger festival. Thanks, both.
A very nice puzzle with a mixture of the straightforward and the tricksy. PETER AND THE WOLF came to me from my dad having Classic FM on in the car when I was younger. I wasn’t far off inventing ARCHIMEDES’ STRAW, but thankfully came to my senses.
TimC – I’m not aware of any particular rules about Indy grid, although there might be some. Unlike many places, they don’t have a set library.
Thanks both.
Bemused by the grid, so looked (fruitlessly) for some theme or other significance. Enjoyed the whole thing, and the long answers in particular. I too couldn’t parse MADEIRA, so thanks to Ratkojariku and to Phi, as ever.
A wonderful Phiday as usual – just the right amount of resistance (for me…I understand that others’ mileage may vary) and a great way to start my day. Many thanks to Phi and RR!
There was a grid a few weeks ago which made me think: ‘Nice grid, but wouldn’t it be nicer if the words interlocked slightly differently…but you’d need top-bottom symmetry’. And this is the result, which isn’t quite what I intended so I will probably have another go in due course. The Independent does not have set grids, and I have come up with more than 600 over the years,
I have never seen Fleabag, though I’m vaguely aware of it, and even more vaguely aware that one of the characters is a priest. Certainly not aware enough to insert a deliberate reference.
That was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the unusual grid as well as the micro-theme Mony Python’s Life of Brian, featuring HALIBUT and JUNIPER. Good enough for Jehovah? Good enough for me, certainly. Thanks both!