Independent 12,099 by Twin

by

Hello, hello.  What have we got here then.
Detective Beermagnet is on the case and will reveal who done it below …
It was Twin! It says so at the top.
But the question is, what did he do?

Judging from the first and last across answers he’s gone and lived through another decade and is celebrating seeing off 50 years on this planet.
And if my sleuthing powers let me infer more, the same is likely true for his sibling. Do two half-centuries make a century if served concurrently. I’ll leave that for the prison authorities to decide.
What do you say?
Composing a decent crossword is not a crime?
Oh.
I might of been getting carried away.

Solving started quickly after getting 1a, 1d and 5a early on to get lots of first letters and fill in a lot of the top half.  But I could not solve 19d in the same speedy fashion – no idea why, I’m sure I have seen that exact wordplay before.  I thought the clues were reasonably accessible for a Saturday, but still only had about half filled in at the end of the first pass.   Discovered I did not know how to spell Piranha, which is silly given my upbringing <link to Monty Python Piranha Brothers>.

The rest was eventually filled in but slower than expected, and slower than I can explain now I know the answers and understand the wordplay (all but one).

Last one in was 27 Sidebar, mainly because I don’t recognise that definition as a supplement.  I presume that’s what the “sidebar of shame” is, that I’ve heard about on the Daily Fail website.  For me, a sidebar is the smaller bar where the locals know they can get served quickly.

Thanks Twin

One clue still unexplained 24a YIELD – Please help

Across
1 FIFTIETH Golden pants fit thief (8)
(FIT THIEF)* AInd: pants.   First read.  First solved.  Whose fiftieth is it?
5 OPENED Began to write in dictionary (6)
PEN (to write) in OED (dictionary)
10 APLENTY Cored fruit, nutty, regularly picked in quantity (7)
AP[p]LE (fruit, cored)  N[u]T[t]Y (nutty, regularly picked)
11 PIRANHA School member that may attack harp in a rage (7)
(HARP IN A)* AInd: rage.
12 LARVA Immature creature runs through hot rocks (5)
R[uns] inside LAVA (hot rocks)
14 DERANGERS People unsettling fringes of Dundee (Scottish football team) (9)
D[unde]E, RANGERS (Scottish football team)
15 REDACTION Striking, possibly left-wing manoeuvre (9)
RED (left wing) ACTION (manoeuvre)
18 INSET Creepy-crawly abandoning cold place inside (5)
INSE[c]T  (Creepy-crawly – C[old])
19 DUBAI Emirate to provide name for large language model? (5)
DUB (name) AI (large language model)
20 INSOLENCE Bad manners only seen in pub and church (9)
SOLE (only) inside INN (pub) CE (church)
22 SUNBATHES Sean, thus deployed, traps Black and Tans (9)
(SEAN THUS)* AInd: deployed, around B[lack]
24 YIELD Make over yard area, starting late (5)
I still have no good explanation of this wordplay.
Yard can be YD and L from L[ate] (starting late), but where does the IE come from?
Edit: Explained by Birdie at Comment #1 and others.
Y[ard] + [f]IELD (area, starting late) 
26 UTILISE Take advantage of some candles I lit up on the counter (7)
Hidden reversed in candlES I LIT Up
27 SIDEBAR Second newspaper to exclude supplement (7)
S[econd] I (newspaper) DEBAR (to exclude).   Last one in.
29 SIGNET Hallmark of small pen, say, announced (6)
Homophone “cygnet” young swan, whose mother is a pen
30 BIRTHDAY When orbit’s completed, approximately deviating by a third (8)
(BY A THIRD)* AInd: deviating.  Looks like it’s someone’s 50th birthday
Down
1 FRAILER More vulnerable artist found in 2 (7)
RA (artist) inside FILER (the answer to clue 2).
2 FILER Smoother advert promoting one (5)
FLIER (advert) move the ‘I’ up one place
3 ION Something charged in Helsinki, Oslo and Tallinn, ultimately (3)
Last letters of HelsinkI, OslO and TallinN
4 TOYED Flirted desperately, finally having digits to ring (5)
[desperatel]Y inside TOED (having digits)
6 PERENNIALLY Originally missed, one-nil replay broadcast throughout the year (11)
([o]NE NIL REPLAY)* AInd: broadcast.
7 NON-PERSON Nobody in navy working with a child (3-6)
N[avy], ON (working) PER (a) SON (child)
8 DEAD SET Absolutely broken television? (4,3)
Double Def.  the second mildly cryptic
9 OPERANTS Workers raised repurchase agreement with other workers? (8)
REPO< (repurchase agreement, raised) ANTS (other workers)
13 ACCLIMATISE Air conditioning with constant temperature around capital city is initially easy to adjust (11)
AC (air con), C[onstant] and T[emperature] around LIMA (capital city), IS E[asy]
16 DEBUNKING Exposing man beneath oddly dyed hairstyle (9)
D[y]E[d], BUN (hairstyle), KING (man)
17 IRISH SEA Flag book skipping over Isle of Man location (5,3)
IRIS (flag) H[o]SEA (book, of the bible, ‘skipping’ O[ver])
19 DISCUSS Sporting equipment’s debate (7)
DISCUS’S (sporting equipment with a possessive S)
21 ELDERLY Old tree likely to get hollowed out (7)
ELDER (tree) L[ikel]Y
23 SUSHI South American almost battered rice dish (5)
S[outh] US (American) HI[t] (battered, almost)
25 EMBED One coming out with me to rear plant (5)
DEB (One coming out) ME,  all reversed (to rear)
28 DOT Mark‘s long-running EastEnders character (3)
Double Def. second one is Ref. Dot Cotton  Wiki for Dot_Cotton

 

16 comments on “Independent 12,099 by Twin”

  1. Thanks for the blog, Beermagnet – I think 24a is Y + (f)IELD – i.e., field “starting late”.

  2. Thanks, BM, for clearing up the 50th birthday: I confess I had a google after completing, but I didn’t find anyone or anything that seemed relevant.
    24(ac), I had (F)ield, starting late ( first letter dropped).

  3. I thought this was going to be my first clean sweep solve of a Twin but found the three solutions in the far SE somewhat resistant. Like our blogger, I was not thinking SIDEBAR for supplement and had BAR at the end so wasn’t thinking of extending it to DEBAR. When DOT finally dropped, the supplement became clear enabling me to focus on LOI BIRTHDAY. I did not spot the anagram! Or, it turns out, the definition. Fortunately, FIFTIETH chimed in at that point. Congrats to the setter on his milestone.

    Thanks Twin and beermagnet

  4. Also had Y + (F)IELD. In 29a, the “say” is indicating that the young swan is female. I think any reference to the mother is a bit of a red herring.
    Minor error in blog for 9d – should have ANTS (plural).

  5. SIDEBAR
    Collins online
    A sidebar is a short article that is placed beside a longer one in a newspaper or on a website, and provides other relevant information.

    Thanks Twin and beermagnet.

  6. Edit, I see Birdie beat me to it, on 24(ac), which ironically was the only clue I sniffed at…..although yield can refer to the return on an investment, MAKE , not the best definition, though not “wrong”.
    SIDEBAR 27(ac), was ditto, my last one in; my brain said, “exclude = bar”, so “debar” must be the opposite? It makes sense, although I hadn’t heard the word in the context: supplementary notes/ comments/ additional data, printed alongside a newspaper article.
    An enjoyable and solid puzzle from Twin, some well-constructed surfaces, no obscurities.
    ( It would take more letters to spell out my next birthday – fifty is a very distant memory).
    Happy Returns Twin, cheers BM

  7. Thanks for the blog, as always. Just dropping to say that the birthday is not mine (my 40th is later this year) – so I hope everyone will pardon the message for a friend. There are more clues…

  10. Thanks for popping in to set me straight. I took a punt saying it was your birthday. But that leaves us with a hunt for who is your friend … After looking far too long, I cannot see anything in the clues or answers or grid that help me. Can any other commenters see more?

    The YIELD explainations – thanks to all; and ANTS.

  11. I was another held up by the SIDEBAR. A very pleasant crossword though. Thanks. Grasping at straws for the birthday, there are a few vaguely editorial references????

  12. Hmmm. DOT Cotton first appeared Ruth July 1985. Episode 40 apparently, and 40 years ago. Anything else..?

    Enjoyed the challenge today and the entertainment. Like others, slowed down in the southeast corner.

    Thanks both.

  13. Like a few others, sailed through till the SE corner where I really struggled. Got there in the end though. As Celtic are my Scottish football team, I struggled to insert 14a. 😁

  14. A fun puzzle, as usual from Twin. I spotted FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY but couldn’t figure out who it referred to, although having met Twin earlier this year I was pretty sure it couldn’t be him!

    @ Croc, “strike” on its own can mean to redact. Think “strike from the record” or “strike that”.

  15. Whoever is 50 today (and I think it must be a person) they share their birthday with Hatton Cross underground station which opened its doors for the first time on 19-July-1975.

  16. Very late but I thought this was an excellent puzzle. Solved between rounds of the Dubois vs Usyk fight.

    Big ticks for ACCLINATISE and FILER.

    Thanks Twin and Beermagnet

Comments are closed.