Independent 12,131 / Mev

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I’m covering for Quirister today, returning the favour she did me earlier in the month.


Mev is an infrequent Indy setter: I could find only half a dozen of his puzzles in the archive for the last two years.

I found this a reasonably straightforward puzzle, interesting and enjoyable, with a variety of clue types and smooth, witty surfaces. I enjoyed the whimsy in the clue for 1dn and the apt anagram indicators in the ‘pottery thrown’ in 6dn and the man in 20dn being ‘in a bad way’. My favourites were 11ac THESEUS, 17ac HAM, 22ac BREATHE IN, 25ac ANOTHER, 4dn GIVE OR TAKE and 25dn APSE.

When I agreed to this swap, I was aware that Tuesday is theme day in the Indy and that the themes are wide-ranging and often very well hidden but, since Indy bloggers receive the puzzles in advance, I was not unduly apprehensive. When I discovered that Mev was the setter, I immediately remembered the first puzzle of his that I solved – marking a new translation of The Iliad – and another on the theme of the plays of Aristophanes, both of which I’d really enjoyed. On further investigation, however, I was reminded that my ignorance of Prince songs and the 1989 film ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ had let me down, while the ingenious Nina in the grid of the most recent puzzle had completely passed me by. I decided to concentrate on solving the puzzle and wait to see what emerged. I’m afraid that, after several days spent staring and pondering, nothing has emerged and therefore it’s over to you. My apologies and thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Many thanks to Mev for the puzzle.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

 

Across

8 Watercraft in choppy ocean (5)
CANOE
An anagram (choppy) of OCEAN

10 She’ll start, constrained by that dodgy ratio (9)
INITIATOR
I’m not sure of the parsing here: I initially thought ‘constrained by’ was a containment indicator – an anagram of RATIO round NITI – but couldn’t make sense of that. I think it must be ‘constrained by that’ = IN IT, with ‘by’ indicating juxtaposition to an anagram of RATIO?

11 Article by short doctor who wrote for legendary figure (7)
THESEUS
THE (article) + SEUS[s] (doctor who wrote) cut short

12 Liquid dye penetrating tiny aperture – that’s revolutionary medicine (3,4)
EYE DROP
An anagram (liquid) of DYE in a reversal (revolutionary) of PORE (tiny aperture)

13 Unusual rig a ruler reconstructed (9)
IRREGULAR
An anagram (reconstructed) of RIG A RULER

16 Ring queen, then ring tech support? (5)
QUOIT
QU (queen) + O (ring) + IT (tech support)

17 Ark sailor who might be on the radio (3)
HAM
Double definition: HAM was Noah’s middle son

18 Part of ankle tag went around old prison (7)
NEWGATE
Hidden (part) reversal (went around) in anklE TAG WENt

19 Finally wholeheartedly agree thus? (3)
YES
Last letters of wholeheartedlY agreE thuS

21 Satiric comedian Bruce occasionally read clue in Indy (5)
LENNY
Alternate letters of cLuE iN iNdY – I don’t know why the name of this satiric comedian, who died in 1966, was lodged in my brain but it popped up somehow

22 Inspire a German next to the bar when soused (7,2)
BREATHE IN
EIN (‘a’ in German) after an anagram (when soused) of THE BAR

23 French sculptor sent us Saudi’s piece (7)
TUSSAUD
Hidden in senT US SAUDi’s

25 Different man got Cher to edit out intros (7)
ANOTHER
[m]AN [g]OT [c]HER minus the initial letters

28 Worker in South America who climbs chimneys? (5)
SANTA
ANT (worker) in SA (South America)

 

Down

1 Northern miners ultimately like somewhere to sleep, presumably? (8)
SCOTTISH
[miner]S + COTTISH (like somewhere to sleep, presumably?)

2 On the run, naked, for a bet (4)
ANTE
[c]ANTE[r] (run – I think)

3 At intervals join G.I.’s lively manoeuvres (4)
JIGS
Alternate letters of JoIn G i’S

4 Roughly translate first bits of Old Testament, via Greek (4,2,4)
GIVE OR TAKE
An anagram (translate) of O[ld] T[estament] VIA GREEK

5 Flier in back of book – it’s beside fourth entry in index (4)
KITE
[boo]K + IT, from the clue, plus the fourth letter of indEx

6 See pottery thrown for someone, just how you’d expect (10)
STEREOTYPE
An anagram (thrown) of SEE POTTERY

7 A jolly irrational time to show body part (6)
ARMPIT
A RM (a ‘jolly’  –  a slang nickname for a Royal Marine) + PI (irrational) + T (time)

9 Corps sent up info on cavalry’s flanks in dire situation (9)
EMERGENCY
A reversal (sent up, in a down clue) of REME (The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers – British Army corps) + GEN (info) + C[avalr]Y

14 Recalled small cars involved in retreat stopping abruptly (10)
REMINISCED
MINIS (small cars) in RECED[e] (retreat)

15 Obedient City side accepts an offer (3-7)
LAW-ABIDING
LA (city) + WING (side) round A BID (an offer)
Just for fun, I googled ‘Obedient City’ and found this

16 Posers cut second drug for stoned Otis in NY borough (9)
QUESTIONS
An anagram (stoned) of OTIS in QUE[e]NS (NY borough) minus the second e (drug)

20 Light blocked with this cures man in a bad way (8)
SUNCREAM
Anagram (in a bad way) of CURES MAN

21 Rubbish bed (6)
LITTER
Double definition

24 Teacher’s suppressing something that’ll trouble the head? (4)
ACHE
Hidden in teACHEr – as a former teacher, I was tickled by the surface

25 Couples in the middle of unwrapping presents in recess (4)
APSE
Middle two letters of unwrAPping preSEnts

26 Worker dealt cards
HAND
Double definition

24 comments on “Independent 12,131 / Mev”

  1. I parsed INITIATOR as did our blogger, with IN IT = ‘constrained by that’. Also, like our blogger, I failed to spot a theme. A relatively swift solve with THESEUS my COTD for the short doctor. I look forward to seeing fellow commenters explain what I have missed.

    Thanks Mev and Eileen

  2. I had a very slightly different parsing, IN = constrained, by (next to), IT = that. Prefer the blogger’s version though.

  3. I think the theme may be the comedian Richard Herring and his EMERGENCY QUESTIONS, one of which involves ARMPITS, SUNCREAM and a HAM HAND

  4. Many thanks, Andrew. It’s mightily reassuring to hear that it’s something completely beyond my ken and would never have emerged in a month of Sundays!

  11. As Eileen in her intro… no hope of spotting the theme, altho giggled on seeing ARMPIT SUNCREAM in the vertical. I only know Richard Herring from Taskmaster, where he was indeed a funny man.
    Thanks Mev n Eileen

  13. Awkward Pauses

    
I wasn’t sure this would get a Tuesday slot, so sorry to any baffled theme-seekers. But well done Andrew @#3.



    Richard Herring wrote a book of EMERGENCY QUESTIONS that he sometimes uses in his podcast. They include:

    Would you rather have a HAND made out of HAM or an ARMPIT which can dispense SUNCREAM?
    Why do ELEPHANTS have such low rates of cancer?
    Have you ever flown a KITE?

    Have you ever been in a CANOE?
 SANTA or Jesus?
    (And his SCOTTISH accent is really quite the thing.)

    My intent for 10A was indeed “constrained by”=”IN IT”, + RATIO*. And [w]ANTE[d] for 2D, as Hovis said.



    Thanks to Eileen for the splendid blog, all solvers/commenters, and the boss. I’m off now to hang out with all the other cool kids who call it RHLSTP.

    (Suncream armpit, obviously.)

  15. Our experience was much the same as Eileen’s – an enjoyable solve, but no idea of the theme. Thanks to Andrew for enlightenment and to Mev for dropping by. We have never heard of Richard Herring, so we don’t feel too bad about missing the theme!
    Thanks to Eileen for the blog – nice to see you on an Indy puzzle!

  16. British comedians, until very recently, were famous (notorious?) for not translating into American very well, and thus for being unfamiliar here. You can find plenty of counterexamples, but Herring isn’t one of them. So…no theme for me, and I am glad I only spent a minute or so looking. But the puzzle itself was an enjoyable bit of fun. Thanks as always to Mev and Eileen.

    (British and American senses of humor seem to have converged somewhat in the 21st century. A subject worth studying, if one is in that field of study.)

  17. I did wonder if the theme was Richard Herring’s Emergency Questions. A huge fan right back to the Fist of Fun days and I do own the book in question. I assumed the setter would have made use of his surname being a noun though. I saw him at the Old Vic in Bristol, a mid size venue which was sold out but he is far from a household name so I did doubt myself.

    Not too many troubles with this. Liked the hiddens and anagrams.

    Thanks Eileen and Mev.

  19. Eileen, thanks for the explanation for ARMPIT – I always forget that meaning of “jolly”, though it comes up often enough. I too mistakenly thought “canter” in 2d.
    I know very little about Richard Herring, so I wouldn’t have got the theme in a million years!
    I’m probably being dense, but what does Mev mean by RHLSTP?

  23. Thanks for that list Eileen @20. That’s a very interesting list of guests – I may have to investigate further. I only know Richard Herring from his work with the great Stewart Lee. It was a tough choice for a themer, but fair to say that hardly anyone would have spotted a theme if it wasn’t on a Tuesday.

  24. Stood next to Mr. Herring earlier this year at Finsbury Park station when all trains North had been cancelled and we’d all been detrained. 😁

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