Independent 11,986 by Coot

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Sorry for the delay it’s now available on the Indy app, but I hope you enjoyed it, I did. As you’ll be aware the website is showing Eccles’ puzzle 10,735, blogged here Independent 10,735 by Eccles – Fifteensquared by Quirister  **** Fixed **** This puzzle is now available on the Indy’s website

Seems a good standard vanilla puzzle, thanks Coot

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Drink to accompany buns and toast (7,2)
BOTTOMS UP

BOTTOM – one’s buns & SUP – drink

6. Conviction for arson inevitably troubles Haberdashers’ principals (5)
FAITH

Initial letters of For Arson Inevitably Troubles Haberdashers

9. Try to suspend youngster often found in lake (7)
GOSLING

GO – try & SLING – suspend

10. Managed to decline bite of rendang (it’s relatively hot) (7)
RANDIER

RAN – managed & DIE – decline & a bite of R(endang)

11. Bring out Israeli citizens’ sandwiches (6)
ELICIT

Hidden in israELI CITizen

12. Nonsense regularly left in news round- up … (8)
BULLETIN

BULL – nonsense & alternate letters of lEfT & IN

14. … in Times – bewilderment reported (4)
DAYS

Sounds like DAZE

15. Reminders of past show-offs on the rugby pitch? (10)
FLASHBACKS

FLASH – showy & BACKS – rugby players

18. Make weak tea clumsily after young woman gets one drunk (10)
DEBILITATE

DEB(utante) – young woman at court & I – one & LIT – drunk & TEA* clumsily

20. Every now and then, middleman offers a thought (4)
IDEA

Alternate letters of mIdDlEmAn

23. Bill’s reliant on one meagre business concept finally flying (3,5)
GAS METER

[MEAGRE (busines)S (concep)T]* flying

24. Angelic character‘s turn of phrase (6)
SERAPH

PHRASE* turned

26. Spooner’s to take in crap liquid lunch, perhaps (3,4)
PEA SOUP

Spoonerism of SEE POOP

27. Sudden appearance of the King immersed in public work (7)
OUTCROP

CR – the King in OUT – public & OP – work

28. Rear small bird (5)
STERN

S(mall) & TERN

29. Seriously distasteful to eat black fruit (9)
GORBLIMEY

<sings> And he lives in a council flat.

GORY – distasteful around B(lack) & LIME

DOWN
1. Full of himself, he aged badly overwhelmed by venture (9)
BIGHEADED

[HE AGED]* badly in BID – venture

2. Irritable cops doubt witness (7)
TESTIFY

IF – doubt – in TESTY – irritable

3. Oxygen given by doctor at home birth (6)
ORIGIN

O(xygen) & RIG – to doctor & IN – at home

4. Function announced for board (for information) (4)
SIGN

Sounds like maths function SIN

5. Saleswoman reflects pretty clothing is benefit of the job (10)
PERQUISITE

Or perk commonly, REP – salesperson reversed & QUITE – pretty much – around – clothing – IS

6. Enthusiastic groups spread out near woods? (3,5)
FAN CLUBS

FAN – to spread out & CLUBS eg woods in golf

7. Witless old Ugandan, informally in charge, clutching religious texts (7)
IDIOTIC

IDI (amin) & Old Testament & IC – in charge

8. One who fishes in Rother only (5)
HERON

Hidden in rotHER ONly

13. After a wash, it helps fool roaming sheep back in outbuilding (7,3)
CLOTHES PEG

CLOT – fool & SHEEP* roaming & end of outbuildinG

16. Careless partner’s overturned hot waste container, displacing lid (4-5)
SLAP – HAPPY

PALS – partners reversed & H(ot) & the top removed from (n)APPY which is hard not to describe as a “waste container”

17. Indecent to drop trousers for a rare sighting? (4,4)
BLUE MOON

BLUE – indecent & MOON – to drop trousers

19. Ultimately, cars unable to travel here (3,4)
BUS LANE

An all in one clue here, [(car)S UNABLE]* travelling. Nicely done Coot.

21. Scheme spread assistance around (7)
DIAGRAM

MARG – spread & AID all reversed

22. Hospital department probing recalled boy’s concerning teeth (6)
DENTAL

ENT – hospital dept inside a reversed LAD

23. Good copy – the initiator of superior openings (5)
GAPES

G(ood) & APE – copy & opening of S(uperior)

25. Square little room lacking in taste (4)
FOUR

LAV for little room, toilet removed from F(lav)OUR – taste. My last one in by a mile, I just couldn’t see how it worked which is odd in hindsight.

17 comments on “Independent 11,986 by Coot”

  1. Enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks Coot. Neat blog. Thanks flashling.
    My top faves were: FLASHBACKS, ORIGIN, FAN CLUBS, BUS LANE and FOUR.

  2. Thanks for your patience and perseverance, flashling and, ultimately, the blog (hurrah!), especially for 1ac, which flummoxed me: it had to be BOTTOMS UP but I didn’t know buns = buttocks (both dictionaries say it’s US), so thought it must be a misprint for ‘bums’, which, of course didn’t make sense. I had the same long journey to FOUR as you did but got there eventually.

    Favourites much the same as KVa’s, with the addition of DEBILITATE and GORBLIMEY. (I thought of Lonnie Donegan, too – once served him lunch, when he was doing a gig at Great Yarmouth and I was waitressing as a summer vac job.)

    Many thanks to Coot for an enjoyable solve.

  3. Thanks Coot for an excellent crossword. My favourites included BULLETIN, BUS LANE, OUTCROP, PEA SOUP, DIAGRAM, and TESTIFY. I used a word finder to get PERQUISITE (I only knew ‘perk’ as a job benefit) and GORBLIMEY (I only knew ‘blimey’ as an expression). I needed the blog to understand FOUR. Thanks Quirister for the blog.

  4. Haven’t done this crossword from Coot yet and have no access to it but I have the crossword for Tuesday from the American website and it’s showing Rodriguez 10,736 which is a puzzle from March 11, 2021 blogged by duncanshiell and Monday’s puzzle remains Eccles 10,735 from March 10, 2021 blogged by Quirister so … summat’s up …

  5. Many thanks to flashling for the blog, and to those who have been able to solve the puzzle/comment so far. Hopefully, those who don’t have access to the app will have the opportunity via the website before too long. There is a problem loading new puzzles onto the system, which is why Tuesday’s puzzle on the American website will also be affected.

    Eileen @2: looking back at the dictionary definitions of ‘buns’ I see that Collins says ‘mainly US’. I don’t recall now as this was set about 6 months ago, but I suspect I was putting rather a lot of stall by the word ‘mainly’!

  7. Better late than never – this was a gentle but enjoyable solve, with FOUR, PERQUISITE, and BLUE MOON my picks. Hopefully the issue’s resolved for the week’s later puzzles.

    I enjoyed Eccles’ puzzle as well.

    Thanks both.

  8. FWIW: I downloaded the Indy app but when I clicked on crosswords I got a paywall. I then used their search function, typed in ‘cryptic’, and that brought me to today’s crossword which I solved on my phone.

  9. Great stuff. Who doesn’t love a GORBLIMEY? Especially liked FOUR and BLUE MOON. Fun Spooner too. Very Coot! Ta lots both.

  10. Nice (mostly!) very gentle crossword, thanks, and very enjoyable. My favourites were TESTIFY, BUS LANE, BLUE MOON, FLASHBACKS, PEA SOUP with ORIGIN my COTD. Thanks flashling and Coot.

  11. Well done flashling!

    We struggled to parse FOUR for quite some time.

    Thanks Coot – we hope that the crossword is available on the website soon. Thankfully we use the app so hadn’t appreciated the fact that the Indy website was not picking up the correct puzzle.

  12. I subscribe to the Indy and when I heard there was a problem with the puzzle site, I checked there.
    I hate doing crosswords online.

  13. I liked that a lot – mostly towards the accessible end of things but it got a little chewier towards the end, and I failed on GORBLIMEY.

    Faves: GOSLING, SERAPH, BUS LANE, CLOTHES PEG and FAN CLUBS.

    Many thanks to Coot and flashling!

  15. Nice gentle puzzle. I was not able to solve earlier but a friend sent me a copy that I’ve just been able to do. I needed the blog to see the parse for FOUR. Everything else solved and parsed pretty much in order with only CLOTHES PEG requiring a revisit with crossers. I knew what elements I was playing with but could not see what def I was working towards: ‘After a wash it helps’ is not a definition that was going to lead me straight there. I felt somewhat strung out to dry …

    FLASHBACKS, BUS LANE and BOTTOMS UP are my podium (I see the setter’s defence of ‘buns’ – I suspect Rabbit Dave would’ve had a view on that. I smiled as I solved, anticipating his robust response. Doesn’t bother me, though I have rarely encountered the word in this way outside of a US context.)

    Thanks Coot and flash

  16. I enjoyed solving the Eccles but I hope new puzzles aren’t falling through the cracks due to technical mishaps. Like sofamore I’m seeing the 2021 Rodriguez puzzle as Tuesday’s puzzle so I wonder if the Indy has decided to keep the new crosswords app-only without making clear this is what’s happened or actually directing people to the app.

  17. Solved this a day late. Especially liked my L3i: 13d CLOTHES PEG, 29a GORBLIMEY, and 25d FOUR – Also “My last one in by a mile”. — [typo? 4d: “sine”]

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