Independent 11993 / Crosophile

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Crosophile challenges us in the Independent series today

This was an entertaining puzzle with a theme and a few interesting clues.

Firstly there were the two identical clues leading to two different answers – OAT and TEA.

Secondly there was the clue for SPONGE which gave us a change from the oft used ‘regularly’, ‘periodically’ or ‘occasionly’ when Crosophile used triads to split up a nine letter word into the triads and asked us to exclude the first letter in each.

The theme was quite clear with A PIECE OF CAKE appearing across the unchecked letters in rows 6 and 10.  I counted 11 varieties of cake in the grid.

SPONGE, FISH, XMAS, DAINTY, ROCK, CARROT, DUNDEE, OAT, TEA, MADEIRA and CHEESE.

RAINWASH at 24 across was a new word for me.

No Detail
Across  
1 Show appreciation of program with two-fold backing (7) 

APPLAUD (express approval; show appreciation)

APP (APPLlcation; a computer program) + DUAL (two-fold) reversed (backing)

APP LAUD<
5 Wipe out leaders of triads breaking from espionage (6) 

SPONGE (wipe out)

ESPIONAGE is made of three blocks of three letters (triads).  If you exclude (breaking from)  the first letter (leader of) of each block of three letters, ESP, ION and AGE you are left with SPONGE

SPONGE
8 Have a go at shifting seconds, selling wall cladding (10) 

PANELLINGS (wall cladding)

PAN (criticise; have a go at) + SELLING (with the S [seconds] moved to the end [shifting]) to form ELLINGS

PAN ELLINGS
9 Hot sun provided turning angle (4) 

FISH (what an angler does; angle)

(H [hot] + S [sun] + IF [provided]) all reversed (turning)

(FI S H)<
10 Rash complaint initially elicited, caught by winding maze (6) 

ECZEMA (a skin disease in which part of the skin is red, with numerous small papules that turn into vesicles [rash])

E (first letter of [initially] Elicited) + C (caught) + an anagram of (winding) MAZE

E C ZEMA*
11 Cut out about … about … about … and make trim? (8) 

EXERCISE (to exert the body to lose weight and make the body trim)

EXCISE (cut out) containing (about) (RE [with reference to; about] reversed [about])

EX (ER<) CISE
12 Gave another relation one half of secret antique (6) 

RETOLD (have another relation)

RET (second 3 of 6 [half] letters in secRET) + OLD (ancient)

RET OLD
14 An element of developing maturity though not absolute (7) 

YTTRIUM (metallic element [symbol Y; atomic number 39])

Anagram of (developing) MATURITY excluding (not) A (absolute)

YTTRIUM*
17 Perhaps the place to find dates in a computer (7) 

PALMTOP (small hand-held portable computer)

PALM TOP (the TOP of a PALM tree is a place to find dates)

PALM TOP
20 Blasted exams before start of summer seasons? (6) 

XMASES (Christmas seasons)

Anagram of (blasted) EXAMS + S (first letter of [start of] Seasons)

XMASE* S
24 Part of terrain was heavy accompaniment to run-off (8) 

RAINWASH (the washing away of earth, etc by rain; downward creep of superficial deposits soaked in rain; matter so transported; accompaniment to the run-ff from heavy rain)

RAINWASH (hidden word in [part of] TERRAIN WAS HEAVY)

RAINWASH
26 A tiny piece of delicately confected cake (6) 

DAINTY (a delicacy, especially a small cake)

Anagram of (confected) A TINY and D (first letter of [piece of] Delicately)

DAINTY*
27 Music by The Stones? (4) 

ROCK (type of music)

ROCK (stones are a form of ROCK)  double definition

ROCK
28 How to worship a sort of noble deity? (10) 

OBEDIENTLY (a way to worship)

Anagram of (a sort of) NOBLE DEITY

OBEDIENTLY*
29 Rusty subframe perhaps is an inducement (6) 

CARROT (an inducement)

CAR ROT (descriptive of the effect of a rusty subframe of a vehicle, for example)

CAR ROT
30 Retired white somewhere on vacation died, slipped away (7) 

ELAPSED (slipped away)

PALE (white) reversed (retired) + SE (letters remaining in SOMEWHERE when the central letters OMEWHER are removed [on vacation]) + D (died)

ELAP< SE D
Down  
1 Touring capitals, an artist’s song to the Chilean pine (9) 

ARAUCARIA (monkey-puzzle tree, also know as the Chilean pine)

(A [an] + RA [member of the Royal Academy of Arts; artist] + ARIA [song]) containing (touring) UC (upper case; capital letters)

A RA (UC) ARIA
2 Reorganise prep etc as a rule (7) 

PRECEPT (a rule of action)

Anagram of (reorganise) PREP ETC

PRECEPT*
3 A welcome forecast for bad weather? (7) 

ALL-HAIL (a greeting; a welcome)

ALL HAIL (if the weather forecast is simply ‘ALL HAIL‘, then there is going to be bad weather)

ALL-HAIL
4 Nude swimming round banks of divine coastal city (6) 

DUNDEE (Scottish city, on the shores of the Firth [arm of the sea] of Tay which flows into the North Sea; coastal city)

Anagram of (swimming) NUDE containing (round) DE (outer letters of [banks of] DivineE)    

DUN (DE) E*

5 Maybe he’s wanted distinctive feature to be adopted by cult (7) 

SUSPECT (a person wanted by the police)

USP (Unique Selling Point; distinctive feature) contained in (to be adopted by) SECT (a form of cult)

S (USP) ECT
6 Cop runs off with diamonds, which is out of order (7) 

OFFICER (a policeman [cop] is often referred to as OFFICER)

Anagram of (out of order) R (runs) OFF and [with] ICE [diamonds)

OFFICER*

Alternatively R OFF and ICE in a different order to form OFF ICE R
7 Lots of wind beginning to surge in bowels (5) 

GUSTS (lots of wind)

S (first letter of [beginning to] SURGE) contained in (in) GUTS (bowels)

GU (S) TS
13 It’s associated with meal cooked at one end of office (3) 

OAT (a crop that generates seeds used in cookery – OATmeal; it’s associated with meal)

Anagram of (cooked) AT and O (letter at the beginning [one end of] OFFICE)

OAT*
15

It’s associated with meal cooked at one end of office (3) 

TEA (something associated with a meal, or even a meal in its own right)

Anagram of (cooked) AT and E (last letter of [one end of] OFFICE)

TEA*
16 Unoccupied land is so outstanding (9) 

UNSETTLED (descriptive of land that is unoccupied)

UNSETTLED (descriptive of a payment that has not yet been paid; outstanding)  double definition

UNSETTLED
18 Overheard girl’s nickname (7) 

MONIKER (nickname)

MONIKER (sounds like [overheard] MONICA [girl’s name])

MONIKER
19 Vaguely inferior oats for getting mashed (2,1,4) 

OF A SORT (vague; inferior; vaguely inferior)

Anagram of (getting smashed) OATS FOR

OF A SORT*
21 Rich wine produced on island right by top of Africa (7) 

MADEIRA (rich fortified white wine produced in the archipelago of Madeira)

MADE (produced) + I (island) + R (right) + A (first letter of [top of] Africa)

MADE I R A
22 Slides across the snow, kissing ground (7) 

SKIINGS (slidings across snow)

Anagram of (around) KISSING

SKIINGS*
23 Beneath heading in Chambers he’s about to look up ‘mousetrap’ say (6) 

CHEESE (bait that could serve as a trap for a mouse)

C (first letter of [heading] Chambers) + (HE containing [about] SEE [look] reversed [up; down entry])

C H (EES<) E
25 A not quite high-bridged nose (5) 

AROMA (nose)

A + ROMAN (round and bold [high-bridged] description of a nose) excluding the final letter (not quite) N

A ROMA

 

10 comments on “Independent 11993 / Crosophile”

  1. Hi Duncan, the grid part of your blog has two letters reversed at the start of ‘ intended ARAUCARIA ‘ in 1d !
    I wondered since XMAS of XMASES was a ‘partial’ for a cake, could PAN of PANELLINGS and ASH of RAINWASH also be under consideration.

    Ta Duncan and Crosophile

  4. I’m happy not to have known that acronymic bit of commercespeak USP. Other than it, and cakes ntwst, pretty plain fare, thanks Cros and dunc.

  5. Spotted the theme fairly early on a) having done a cake themed puzzle at the end of last year with some of the same entries and b) having sat between two folk at an event last night, both of whom having recently holidayed in MADEIRA. Neatly done. I enjoyed the two identical clues, along with OBEDIENTLY, GUSTS and CHEESE. I was thrown a bit by ALL-HAIL being enumerated as a straight 7-letter word: it appears in Chambers as hyphenated – as it does in the blog – and in Collins as two words.

    I think Flea makes a good point about PANcake; I’m not familiar with ASHcake – there’s hash cake and hash cookies though …

    Thanks Crosophile and duncan

  6. I was relieved it wasn’t a setter’s themed puzzle. I failed to spot how eia were leaders of triads. Glad if the EXERCISE after all that cake.

  7. Sensational crossword spoiled only by the fact that I couldn’t see the theme even after completing the puzzle (with the help of 3 revealed letters).

    Crumbs!

  8. Thanks for the blog, Duncan, and the comments.
    It’s very tempting to pretend that Xmas, Pan and Ash were all deliberate but sometimes you just get a bit of serendipity. Equally the two identical clues were an unforeseen opportunity. I love it when puzzles do that for the setter.

  9. Thanks both. Spotting the theme helped on this occasion. SKIINGS as a plural didn’t feel natural at all, so I held back before entering it, and I was even more hesitant over ALLHAIL as the clue seemed incomplete, and misleadingly enumerated as already observed here.

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