Independent 12,091 by Quince

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Quince provides us with our Thursday challenge this week…..

…and quite a challenge it was! Some very crafty definitions and one or two liberties taken with clue construction, but all good surfaces and a lot to enjoy.

Thanks to Quince for testing the old grey matter on our 54th Wedding Anniversary!

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
8. Drug supplied by Debbie Downer? (10)
ANTIFUNGAL

‘Debbie Downer’ could fancifully be described as an ANTI-FUN (downer) GAL (Debbie?)

9. One serving up Whoppers in trouble over recipe (4)
LIAR

A reversal (‘over’) of AIL (trouble) + R (recipe)

10. Paul Mescal stripped off body parts (8)
SCAPULAE

An anagram (‘off’) of PAUL and mESCAl missing the first and last letters or ‘stripped’

11. One targeted by swingers at a party (6)
PINATA

We think this is a cryptic definition – we had to look this up but we couldn’t find anything that matched. However, when Joyce looked at the possibilities for P?N?T? she suddenly remembered PIÑATA – a decorated figure containing sweets that is suspended from a height and then broken by blindfolded children swinging sticks at a celebration. It is in Chambers but not when you search with missing letters.

12. Row belonging to us, after tip from Crystal Palace supporter (8)
COURTIER

OUR TIER (row belonging to us) after C (first letter or ‘tip’ of Crystal)

14. Quince’s entertained by part of Bottom’s hostility (6)
ANIMUS

I’M (Quince – the setter – is) in or ‘entertained by’ ANUS (part of bottom)

15. Ottolenghi’s cooking for cultural authority (11)
ETHNOLOGIST

An anagram (‘cooking’) of OTTOLENGHI’S

19. Quiet Olympian is not selfish (6)
SHARES

SH (quiet) ARES (‘Olympian’ – Greek god)

20. They’re stoned and shouting about that woman (8)
CHERRIES

CRIES (shouting) round HER (that woman)

22. Harbour designs current to recede in choppy sea (6)
ASPIRE

A reversal (‘to recede’) of RIP (current) in an anagram (‘choppy’) of SEA

23. Get Quince shot in the arm (4-2-2)
PICK-ME-UP

If Quince (the setter) wanted you to get him, he might say PICK ME UP

24. Hearts united by American city’s hippy movement (4)
HULA

H (hearts) U (united) LA (Los Angeles – American city)

25. Spooner’s assassin sticks out biscuits (6,4)
GINGER NUTS

A Spoonerism of NINJA (assassin) JUTS (sticks out)

DOWN
1. Keep rapping: it could play to your advantage (5-2)
KNOCK-ON

To keep rapping or ‘knocking’ you might KNOCK ON

2. Point of departure for Louis Armstrong and John Lennon? (7,8)
AIRPORT TERMINAL

A cryptic definition – Louis Armstrong and John Lennon are both AIRPORTS – for New Orleans and Liverpool respectively

3. Little bits involved in clue (6)
NUCLEI

An anagram (‘involved’) of IN CLUE

4. Republican pulled out of debate for illness (4)
AGUE

ArGUE (debate) with the ‘r’ (Republican) removed or ‘pulled out’

5. A couple of hits? Exactly! (4-4)
SLAP-BANG

SLAP and BANG are synonyms for ‘hit’

6. Stunt men blurt out about popular club? (5,10)
BLUNT INSTRUMENT

An anagram (‘out’) of STUNT MEN BLURT round IN (popular)

7. Apply bronzer to President, firing Pence in rage (7)
TANTRUM

TAN (‘apply bronzer’) TRUMp (President) missing or ‘firing’ ‘p’ (pence) (not the VP!)

13. Priest in church is thing of the past (5)
RELIC

ELI (priest) in RC (Roman Catholic – ‘church’)

16. Head nurses get back government savings (4,4)
NEST EGGS

NESS (head) round or ‘nursing’ a reversal (‘back’) of GET and G (Government)

17. One legendary cover from Suede breaking America (7)
THESEUS

SuedE (first and last letters or ‘cover’ only) in or ‘breaking’ THE US (America)

18. In Café Rouge, I am taking time to make order (7)
JESUITS

JE SUIS (‘I am’ in French as in ‘Café Rouge’) round or ‘taking’ T (time)

21. Deny the man won, following what’s left of F1 (6)
ESCHEW

HE (the man) W (won) after ESC (the escape key to the left of F1 on a computer keyboard) – a crafty bit of misdirection!

23. Auditor’s hurt one getting framed (4)
PANE

A homophone (‘auditor’s’) of PAIN (hurt)

19 comments on “Independent 12,091 by Quince”

  1. Ref the drug – which I didn’t get – Debbie Downer, it appears, was a Saturday Night Live character and epitomises the spoilsport or ‘party-pooper’: one determined to spoil the fun. I don’t think it needs to be broken down in the parsing? In rugby, following a KNOCK ON, some time is normally allowed before the ref blows for a scrum to see if the non-offending team might gain advantage from the error: that was how I interpreted it. JESUITS my stand out clue. I did need the blog to explain the ordering of the elements in COURTIERS which I was taking literally.

    Thanks Quince and B&J

  2. A DNF for me. Failed to get ANTIFUNGAL, KNOCK-ON or AGUE.
    Congrats to the bloggers on their Wedding Anniversary. You got married on my 15th birthday. I’ll let you work out how old I am today but no lewd comments, thank you.

  4. A Goldilocks puzzle for me, despite needing help for ANTIFUNGAL – in retrospect a lovely clue. What a wonderful spot for the ETHNOLOGIST anagram!
    Thanks to Quince, B&J

  5. The bottom half put up more of a fight than the top. I loved the anti fun gal in 8a

    Thanks to Quince and B&J and Happy Anniversary 🎉

  6. I agree, DP@4, everything just about right. I’m not fond of self-reference clues, they’re a bit “knowing”, so two in one puzzle was cold porridge.
    ESCHEW, at 21(d), seemed askew, from “DENY”: I think of it more as “to abstain from”, or “avoid”; but I’m the one that’s awry….. it extends to “denying responsibility for” , so the setter wins.
    6(d), BLUNT INSTRUMENT, always makes me laugh. I may be inventing it, but I seem to recall a comedy Sherlock movie, in which the victim gets murdered by a blow to the head from a fossilised dinosaur dropping. Killed with a BLUNT EXCREMENT!
    I’ll get me coat.
    I loved this crossword, it’s witty, crafty, and fun, plus I had no brain-strain completing ( for once ).
    Big thumbs-up, Quince & BJ

  7. I always enjoy Quince on his occasional appearances, and this was no exception. ANTI FUN GAL indeed!

    Thanks, and congratulations to Bert & Joyce.

  8. Took me a while to think of pinata – it looks and sounds wrong without the wiggle on the n. (I didn’t resort to a missing-letter search though!) Also it’s the piñata that swings, not the people who are bashing it.

    Nice crossword though. It’s understated but I thought SHARES was the best clue. Thanks Quince, thanks Bert, thanks Joyce.

    (As always, marks off for a spooner but maybe that’s just me.)

  9. Thanks Quince & BnJ (and congratulations)

    Digger @ 8 presumably the people bashing the piñata are swinging whatever they are bashing it with.

  10. Fond memories forgave the two self-reference clues, as stewed quince was a much-loved dessert chez the young ginf [simmer only, should be deep-coloured and still a bit leathery. With clotted cream — heaven!]

  11. What a great spot for ETHNOLOGIST! I needed a word search for ANTIFUNGAL and then vaguely remembered people being told not to be a Debbie Downer

  12. Fun puzzle from Quince, as usual. I liked the rude mechanicals link in the self-referential surface of 14a and then THESEUS turned up too. ANTIFUNGAL is a lovely spot and as others have said, so is ETHNOLOGIST. Thanks Quince and B&J and congratulations!

  13. I was defeated by AIRPORT TERMINALS, unfortunately, needed to reveal the first letter in addition to all the crossers for the penny to drop…

    I took PINATA as a semi-&lit: “swingers” (i.e. golfers) target the PIN, with AT A from the surface.

    The marvellous ETHNOLOGIST anagram was my favourite. Thanks Quince and Bertandjoyce!

  14. Thanks both. Still too much Greek in this for me (both of ‘em!) but then my more contemporary GK let me down, entering ANTIFUNGAL unparsed, and knowing the direction of the clue for PIÑATA but needing to use AI to find what I was describing – good to know there’s something else to send post-party parents to A&E alongside wobbly slides and unfenced trampolines.

  16. Thanks Quince, that had the right amount of challenge for me as well as great entertainment. My top picks were ANTIFUNGAL, TANTRUM, NEST EGGS, JESUITS, and ESCHEW. My only question concerns CHERRIES – ‘shouting’ in the clue seems incongruous with ‘cries’ in the solution. Thanks B&J and congrats on the anniversary.

  17. Yes, Debbie Downer–played by Rachel Dratch–became the canonical NO-FUN GAL. It’s kind of amazing how quickly that phrase permeated the culture from there (the first Debbie Downer sketches can’t be more than 30 years old, and are probably more like 25). Anyway, “she’s such a Debbie Downer” is now a set phrase.

    The French in JESUITS is so basic that even I know it, but I still didn’t solve that one–I was out of time.

  18. Tony @16 – “their shouting could be heard across the park”/”their cries could be heard across the park” works, I reckon.

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