Independent No. 11,967 by Wiglaf

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Good morning everyone

Solving this grid from Wiglaf and publishing the blog has provided me with a very welcome mental holiday from house moving admin, so I’m doubly grateful for the respite as well as the challenge

Wiglaf has been a relative newcomer for me on the Indy, so they aren’t a setter I can confidently predict in terms of level of difficulty. I think I’d have to put them in the “not too hard” category, given there are usually a few solves where the clueing is quite a challenge but having solved them you can appreciate the artwork in the construction rather than just being left scratching one’s head.

Top candidates in that category I’m giving to 1a, 16a, with 26a my favourite of all of them today. There’s also a couple of beautiful puns which I won’t spoil pointing out here.

Thanks to Wiglaf for the grid.

Definitions are underlined

 

ACROSS

1 One Greek character looks after money for those in a swing state (12)

MICHIGANDERS

One [I] Greek character [CHI] looks [GANDERS] after money [M]

 

8 Warriors from South Africa repelled in a battle (7)

AMAZONS

South Africa [ZA] repelled [backwards] in a battle [A MONS]

I have to confess to a slight uncertainty about “ZA” for “South Africa”. My understanding is ZA can be used from the Dutch Afrikaans “Zuid-Afrikaanse”. I’m not sure this applies to the more modern Republic of South Africa, which I can only find referred to as either: “SA” or “RSA”.

 

9 Jewish mystics head for home as it’s beginning to get dark (7)

HASIDIM

Head for home [H] as [AS] it’s beginning [I] to get dark [DIM]

 

11 RC group formed by pseudo intellectuals originally (4,3)

OPUS DEI

Anag [“formed by”] PSUEDO intellectuals originally [I]

 

12 Two men going back and forth to see prize- winning novelist (7)

NAIPAUL

Two men [IAN PAUL] going back and forth

 

13 Arkwright found returning to take degree was wearing (3,2)

HAD ON

Arkwright [NOAH] found returning [backwards] to take [around] degree [D]

 

14 Inspects school with childish spelling that’s rejected dividing (5,4)

LOOKS INTO

School with childish spelling [SKOOL] that’s rejected [anag] dividing [INTO]

 

16 Sailor given transfer out of Spain went AWOL (9)

ABSCONDED

Sailor [AB] given transfer [SECONDED] out of Spain [remove “E”]

 

19 Spot congregation getting energy for nothing (5)

FLECK

Congregation [FLOCK] getting energy for nothing [swap O for E]

 

21 William’s motto: “One should go to church and dine out” (3,4)

ICH DIEN

One [I] should go to church [CH] and dine out [anag DINE]

 

23 Distinctly without skill? (7)

NOTABLY

Without skill = “Not ably”

 

24 Rudely swearing after the escape of new bugs (7)

EARWIGS

Anag [“Rudely”] SWEARING after the escape of new [remove N]

 

25 Fresh delivery of gas consumed (7)

NEONATE

Gas [NEON] consumed [ATE]

 

26 Naughty Hugo carries on tucking into food in New York City (12)

POUGHKEEPSIE

Anag [“Naughty”] HUGO carries on [KEEPS] tucking into [inside] food [PIE]

 

DOWN

1 Poor dame with IOU asked for milk? (7)

MIAOUED

Anag [“poor”] DAME and IOU

 

2 Emulate Bing when crossing yard in London borough (7)

CROYDON

Emulate Bing [CROON] when crossing [around] yard [Y] in [ON]

 

3 Indiana Jones finally worked the land and sowed the seeds (9)

INSTILLED

Indiana [IN] Jones finally [S] worked the land [TILLED]

 

4 A small chicken pasty (5)

ASHEN

A small [A S] chicken [HEN]

 

5 Kiss off Diana’s girl (7)

DISMISS

Diana’s girl = DI’S MISS

 

6 Changed flipping guard close to Euston (7)

REDRAWN

Flipping [backwards] guard [WARDER] close to Euston [N]

 

7 Sharia police disrupted work in parish (12)

PAROCHIALISE

Anag [“disrupted”] SHARIA POLICE

 

10 Mr Friedman confronts his rival in the City (6,6)

MILTON KEYNES

Mr Friedman [MILT] confronts [ON] his rival [KEYNES = John Maynard Keynes]

 

15 Ruling class mostly constrains popular party in South Africa (9)

ORDINANCE

Class mostly [ORDER] constrains [around] popular [IN] party in South Africa [A.N.C]

 

17 Authors tortured by Asian dictator (7)

SUHARTO

Anag [“tortured”] AUTHORS

 

18 Supposing Oscar’s wasting away (7)

OPINING

Oscar’s [O] wasting away [PINING]

 

19 Makes out sounds made by at least 12 feet (7)

FATHOMS

Double definition: fathom is a nautical measure of depth equal to 12 feet

 

20 Welcome English married couple (7)

EMBRACE

English [E] married [M] couple [BRACE]

 

22 A place for Hindu pilgrims, formerly in a Sikh’s house (5)

NASIK

Hidden word [“house”] IN A SIKH’S

23 comments on “Independent No. 11,967 by Wiglaf”

  1. For 10D, I just had a charade of MILTON and KEYNES with “confronts” referring to the natural juxtaposition.

    For 8A, saw the ZA element as coming from the Internet domain name for South Africa – ZA following the final dot in the URL

    Nice puzzle. Thank you Wiglaf and Leedsclimber.

  2. I have frequently see za in crosswords referring to South Africa which is the ISO code or .za is the Internet domain. I checked fathom online and it gives 6 feet? “The standard British measurement for a fathom is 6 feet (1.83 meters)”. Maybe that’s why the solutiuon is plural? Nice puzzle. Liked the New York City and EMBRACE. Thanks LC and Wiglaf.

  3. Agree with Flea@1 on 10d MILTON KEYNES and 8a AMAZONS’ ZA
    Saw 19d FATHOMS as a triple definition: “Makes out” = deciphers the meaning of; “sounds” = ascertains the depth of. Fun puzzle.

  4. FATHOMS
    Looks like ‘makes out’ and ‘sounds’ are two separate definitions (Edit: FrankieG@3 has said that already).
    Read (as sofamore@2). ‘at least 12 feet’ as ‘two FATHOMS or more (therefore FATHOMS)’.

    Thanks Wiglaf and Leedsclimber.

  5. ZA is very much a crossword staple for South Africa. Unusual to encounter the country twice in the same puzzle.

    I have scoured the grid for a theme, without success, but felt there might be a reason for some of the unusual entries like SUHARTO, NASIK, MIAOUED, PAROCHIALISE, POUGHKEEPSIE, MICHIGANDERS, ICH DIEN, KISS OFF and even HAD ON … All solidly clued but a couple were nho and the others certainly not front of mind.

    Thanks to Wiglaf for the workout and Leedsclimber for the blog

  6. Gosh! If this is classed as “not too hard”, I would hate to try a tough one.
    I found it very difficult to get into, and an uphill struggle from there.
    The “ZA” in 8(ac) is still beyond my ken.
    My WHY LIST usually has one or two new entries, but my pen ran out of ink, here: NASIK/SUHARTO/NEONATE/HASIDIM/MICHIGANDERS…..et al.

    On the plus side, ARKWRIGHT = NOAH is a lovely play, as are some others.
    I will look forward to the next Wiglaf, in the hope that I just had one of those “senior moments” today.

    Thanks to setter & blogger

  7. Well, it was too hard for me.
    Not helped by 2 incorrect answers. I guessed NAIMARK for 12a and then googled to find that he is an author. Also entered LOOKS INTO as INTO as ‘dividing’ works for me. (Just realised, this is correct and the blog is in error.) Also just realised I put in NOTABLE. All of which made 10d impossible. Quite a few unknowns. Didn’t know SUHARTO and guessed HASIDIM from HASIDIC. PAROCHIALISE was also new to me and have never seen MIAOWED spelled with a U. ICH DIEN another unknown and I doubt I have ever seen 1a before.

  8. Thanks both. Must disagree – that was NOTABLY hard, for me perhaps owing to English words taking a back-seat in many of the answers, including MIAOUED which is in cat and hence has about 34 optional spellings. Many unknowns too, so I’ve tried to gain knowledge after the event, however NASIK has still evaded me unless it is Nashik again in a variant form.

  10. I’m in the “nicely do-able” camp on this one. In fact, it half made me wish I timed my crossword- solving, but I never do. Loved POUGHKEEPSIE, NAIPAUL and the trick pronunciation
    of PASTY. Thanks to Wiglaf and Leedsclimber

  11. Hard but I liked it a lot. All the factual solutions were got from wordplay and it was nice that for all of those there was a detailed enough definition to save having to go and look for further explanation. Cryptic quiz is what I expect/hope for from Wiglaf.

  12. Wiglaf is quite an occasional treat – is he/she seen elsewhere? – but I enjoyed this a lot. I did find it quite challenging, and ended up crossing my fingers for ICH DIEN and NASIK, neither of which are familiar to me but made sufficient sense. POUGHKEEPSIE and PAROCHIALISE were both lovely.

    Thanks both.

  13. That was “not too hard” only in the very literal sense that I managed to complete it. I agree that Arkwright is a great way to clue Noah.

  14. Good challenge but technically a DNF here, as I’d never heard of Suharto, although I had all the correct crossers, so I could only guess at a couple of plausible answers. Thanks L and W.

  15. Definitely not in the “not too hard” bracket! Was definitely on the tougher end of the spectrum, with some obscure words, although they were all derivable from the clueing. Had to google some of the answers, once derived, to confirm them though.

  16. NASIK was the only one here I had never heard of, but the wordplay was clear enough. Dim recollections of ICH DIEN caused me to get there eventually on that one, so that doesn’t count.

    Poughkeepsie took me longer than it should have, I guess because of the misleading capitalization (New York City instead of New York city). [Factoid: Opinions differ widely about where Upstate NY starts, but the average opinion is that it’s everything north of Poughkeepsie, which is the farthest north that the NYC commuter trains go.]

    MICHIGANDER started out (in the early 19th century) as a joking word for a native of the Wolverine State (as opposed to Michiganian or Michiganite; the implication being they were silly geese), but it’s become standard usage over the years and had lost any negative connotations by the 20th century.

  18. Ong’ara@17 yes, there is a glitch in the blog ( Hovis mentions this @7. )
    “dividing” is INTO, as in our Skooldays……..” 5 into 10 is 2″.

  20. Tricky in places but enjoyable as others have said. Felt like a slight religious theme in a few clues.

    For the benefit of future crossword historians, the blog title has the number of the puzzle wrong – it should be 11,967 not 11,697.

    Thanks W + LC

  22. Leedsclimber@19…….one of those days.
    SKOOL rejected, is a reversal, though I wouldn’t shoot the piano player on that……it’s an anagram, if one looks into it.

    Wiglaf @ 21, no offence intended .
    Let’s go again, soon.

  23. For 2d, ‘yard’ provides YD as an insertion in CROON, not Y as it’s currently listed in the blog.

    Thanks, Wiglaf – challenging but fun; appreciated the general knowledge elements

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