Independent 11,968 by Italicus

by

New week and Italicus provides the morning brain exercise

Seems to me a medium difficulty vanilla puzzle, nothing wrong with that. Thanks setter – I see I missed that it’s also a pangram – every letter of the alphabet appears at least once in the grid

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Certain varieties of grass will reportedly cause bewilderment (9)
BAMBOOZLE

Sounds like BAMBOOS (wi)LL [Typo fixed – thanks]

6. Fatuous paper written by attorney (4)
DAFT

DA – district attorney & newspaper the FT

8. Area behind factory occupied by church organ (8)
PLACENTA

CE – church inside PLANT – factory & A(rea)

9. Sucker turned to Russia’s foremost spiritual adviser (6)
PASTOR

SAP – sucker & TO – reversed & first letter of R(ussia)

10. Serious lesion checked by doctor (6)
SOMBRE

MB – doctor inside SORE – lesion

11. Soldier on manoeuvres not comprehending international language (3,5)
OLD NORSE

I(nternational) removed from a manoeuvring [SOLD(i)ER ON]*

12. Posts sentimental thoughts on vacation (6)
TWEETS

Although since Twitter is no more the definition is iffy. TWEE – sentimental & a vacated T(hought)S

15. Emaciated, wild elk eats leaves, primarily (8)
SKELETAL

A wild [ELK EATS]* & first letter of L(eaves)

16. Communist circles reasonably satisfied (8)
REQUITED

RED – communist around QUITE – reasonably

19. Vehicles covered by extra insurance (6)
TRAINS

Hidden in exTRA INSurance

21. Agent left in American vice squad finally revolted (8)
REPULSED

REP – agent as in sales rep & L(eft) in US – American & last letters of (vic)E (squa)D

22. Minor offence (6)
SLIGHT

Double definition

24. Fall from highest place and ultimately survive (6)
TOPPLE

TOP – highest & PL(ace) & end of (surviv)E

25. Drunk is serene in other-worldly atmosphere (8)
EERINESS

A drunk [IS SERENE]*

26. Heckle old-time entertainer heartlessly (4)
JEER

Middle removed from JE(st)ER

27. Prominent economist defending very accommodating model’s principles (9)
KEYSTONES

T – model of Ford car in SO – very – then all put in KEYNES = economist

DOWN
1. Spanish city banishes a character in popular tale (5)
BILBO

A removed from city BILB(a)O

2. Gruesome sailor runs into club (7)
MACABRE

AB – sailor & R(uns) both inside MACE – club

3. Old relative losing large amount of weight (5)
OUNCE

O(ld) & L(arge) removed from UNC(L)E

4. Intense, mad look regularly adopted by Olympian (7)
ZEALOUS

Alternate letters of mAd LoOk inside Greek god ZEUS

5. Former favourite welcoming study about setter’s stratagem (9)
EXPEDIENT

EX – former & (I – setter in DEN – study) in PET – favourite

6. Bare flesh is bound by quack with honorary title (7)
DISROBE

IS inside DR – doctor, quack & OBE – honorary title

7. French POW sang about tapioca pudding (9)
FROGSPAWN

F(rench) & [POW SANG]* about

13. Unhappy with one’s surroundings? Leave! (9)
WOEBEGONE

W(ith) and outsides of O(n)E & BE GONE! – leave

14. Tortured poet asks about love, in a way (2,2,5)
SO TO SPEAK

O – love, zero inside a tortured [POET ASKS]*

17. One taking over role of penny-pinching money lender (7)
USURPER

P(enny) inside USURER – money lender

18. Clapped-out part from cherry-red Dodge is recycled (7)
DODDERY

Hidden reversed in cherrY RED DODge

20. River crossing in captivating German cathedral city (7)
AVIGNON

G(erman) inside IN all in AVON – UK river

22. Prop essentially practises his sport in street (5)
STRUT

Middle of pracTises & RU – rughy union all in ST(reet). Prop is a position in Rugby

23. Catches extremely hideous constricting snake (5)
HASPS

ASP – snake in edges of H(ideou)S

 

14 comments on “Independent 11,968 by Italicus”

  3. Liked REQUITED for ‘reasonably‘ and also FROGSPAWN because it comes up in a different context in a book I’m reading about epigenetics. Thanks flashling and Italicus. Grr. Three of the last five words underlined in red by the spellchecker.

  5. A very enjoyable pangram to start the week, which I found less challenging than usual for this setter.

    I needed a quick dictionary check to confirm that EXPEDIENT can be a noun.

    My top picks were BAMBOOZLE, PLACENTA, SOMBRE, SLIGHT, JEER and ZEALOUS.

    Many thanks to Italicus and to flashling.

  6. I spotted the pangram in the closing stages -but discovered I already had instance of every letters it did not help with the remaining clues. DISROBE was LOI as I was sure I was inserting a synonym for ‘flesh’ into something. WOEBEGONE immediately preceded that and I was pleased to find I had the right parsing ideas but in the wrong order – the use of ‘begone’ is nice. Other likes include FROGSPAWN, SO TO SPEAK, BAMBOOZLE, OLD NORSE, SOMBRE and USURPER.

    Thanks Italicus and flashling (flash, a comma has crept into the answer for MACABRE in your blog. No big deal but I know you like to be precise!)

  8. 13d reminded me of Garrison Keillor, strange dude but prolific.
    Good puzzle, thanks Italicus and flashling.

  9. A new setter for me, and this puzzle was a struggle, but no fault of Italicus; “tough but fair” sums it up.

    skt@1, I agree that “recycled” (18d) would not be my choice for a reversal indicator, due to its application in a different type of letter manoeuvre; I’ve not seen it used this way, but the wordplay here was accessible, so not a major quibble.

    1(ac) parsing….BAMBOOS – slip of the pen in BAMBOS.

    I was cheered up, by completing this puzzle, and one can ask no more.

    Good stuff, Italicus & flashling

  10. A very satisfying solve thank you for that Italicus. My favourite was FROGSPAWN, I wonder if tapioca is referred to as such other than by people of a certain age in the UK – possibly AUS/NZ? I haven’t had it for decades. Thanks too to flashling.

  11. I would doubt anyone below a certain age would be familiar with tapioca in general, let alone the likeness to frogspawn, I haven’t come across it since my schooldays. And perhaps only POWs would be happy singing about it, I certainly wasn’t.

    Aside from that, liked BAMBOOZLE, DISROBE and PLACENTA.

    Couldn’t parse KEYSTONES fully, having decided Prominent was Key, leaving Nes as an obscure economist.

  12. I remember when this setter was a ‘new kid on the block’ and his puzzles were enjoyable and relatively simple. Not any more, he now makes us work for almost every answer. I guess that’s the reward for constant practice! Particular answers that stood out for me today were BAMBOOZLE, DAFT, SLIGHT, TOPPLE & FROGSPAWN. I remember the last of those only being vaguely edible if mixed with a good dollop of jam!

    Thanks to Italicus and to flashling for the review.

  13. Thanks both. My single query was the absence of a question mark in the clue for FROGSPAWN; like others, instant memories of school dinners back in the day, but i’m intrigued as to whether it is listed anywhere as a definition.

  14. TFO@13, oed.com has “… 2.c. 1949– British colloquial (chiefly School slang). Tapioca or sago pudding.” last cited in “Western Daily Press (Nexis) 9 September 13″:
    “2005 What happened to that mainstay dessert of yesterday’s school dinner, tapioca pudding—or FROGSPAWN as our class of 1942(?) called it. ”
    My LOi, by quite a way, was 13d WOEBEGONE. — [1d In Euskera (Basque) you don’t have to banish the “a” in BILBO – it wasn’t there in the first place. “¡Aúpa Athletic!“]

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