We have a Wednesday without an Eccles crossword in the Independent. Instead, we have a Magus puzzle to solve..
There is a theme to this crossword as the grid displays the names of a number of characters from the Toy Story movie franchise. We have BUZZ LUGHTYEAR, WOODY, BO-PEEP, [Mr & Mrs] POTATO HEAD and ROCKY [Gibraltar]. There is also reference to’ to INFINITY and BEYOND‘, a slogan spoken by BUZZ LIGHTYEAR.
A little bit of internet research reveals that the first movie in the series premiered on 19th November 1995, 30 years to the day of the publication of this puzzle.
I think I have parsed all the entries except for VALANCE (or maybe VALENCE), where the wordplay defeats me totally. I can’t even begin to parse this. I look forward to having the wordplay explained to me.
The entry AYURVEDA was a new word for me. I think Magus was forced into a corner by the entries linking with the theme words and AYURVEDA was the only possible word that would fit the crossing letters.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Distance Raleigh dashed carrying a bit of tobacco back from colony (5-4)
LIGHT YEAR (the distance light travels in a year) Anagram of (dashed) RALEIGH containing (carrying) (T [first letter of {a bit of] Tobacco}] + Y [last letter of {back from} colonY]) LIGH (T Y) EAR* |
| 6 | Sullen Frenchman yielding to wife must be tough (5)
WOODY (resembling wood in hardness or texture; tough) mOODY (sullen) with M (Monsieur; form of address for Frenchman) replaced by (yielding to) W (wife) to form WOODY WOODY |
| 9 | Spirit leaves traitor midway through hanging (7)
VALANCE (a hanging border of drapery) I am defeated by the wordplay here. VALANCE |
| Drink drivers arrested by copper beside a roundabout (7)
CURACAO (liqueur flavoured with bitter orange peel; drink) RAC (Royal Automobile Club; drivers) contained in (arrested by) CU [chemical symbol for copper] + A + O [character shaped liked a roundabout) CU (RAC) A O |
|
| 11 | Past 007 George Lazenby finally splits (6)
BEYOND (on the farther side of; past) (E [last letter of [finally] GeorgE] + Y [last letter of [finally] LazenbY]) contained in (split) BOND (James Bond was known as Agent 007, George Lazenby featured as Bond in just one film) B (E Y) OND |
| 12 | Life Science‘s top hack to cut bad UVA rays almost completely (8)
AYURVEDA (traditional Indian medicine system, in which good health is seen as a balance of energies, achieved through detoxification, meditation, diet, yoga, astrology and herbal medicine; life science) ED (EDitor; head journalist; top hack[derogatory term for a journalist]) contained in (to cut) an anagram of (bad) UVA RAYs excluding the final letter S (almost completely) AYURV (ED) A* |
| 14 | King, inspired by Quiet American author, starts to eagerly read Steel? (9)
SHARPENER (one form of a knife sharpener is known as a steel) R (Rex; King) contained in (inspired by) (SH [quiet]) + A [American] + PEN [author]) + ER (initial letters of [starts to] each of Eagerly and Read]) SH A (R) PEN ER |
| 17 | Celebrity failing to finish Iron Man? (4)
STAR (celebrity) STARk (Iron Man is the alter ego of Anthony Edward Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) excluding the final letter K (failing to finish) STAR |
| 20 | NUT‘s general secretary? (4)
HEAD (nut) HEAD (chief administrator, such as a General Secretary) double definition HEAD |
| 21 | Spooner’s favourite source of protein is seeds (9)
CHICKPEAS (edible pea-like seeds of the plant of the same name) CHICKPEAS (Reverend Spooner would pronounce this as PICK [favourite] CHEESE [a source of protein]) CHICKPEAS |
| 24 | Isn’t it common to take motorsport trailer to Kentucky’s vast state? (8)
INFINITY (endless time, space or quantity; vast space) (INNIT [a commonly voiced form of ISN’T IT] containing (to take) F1 (Formula One; motorsport) + Y (last letter of [trailer to] KentuckY) IN (FI) NIT Y |
| 26 | Bear briefly capturing, from the outset, the heart of late British Queen? (6)
POTATO (British Queen is a variety of potato) POOh (reference the fictional bear Winnie the Pooh) excluding the final letter H (briefly) containing (capturing) (T [first letter of {from the outset] The] + AT [central letters of {middle of] lATe]) PO (T AT) O |
| 29 | Green Party’s pursuing a mission that’s only half complete (7)
AVOCADO (greenish colour) A + VOCA (first 4 letters of the 8 [half complete] in VOCAtion [mission]) + DO (party) A VOCA DO |
| 30 | Slinky blue trousers trimmed bottom? Handy! (7)
USEABLE (handy [easy to use]) Anagram of (slinky) BLUE containing (trousers) SEAt (buttocks; bottom) excluding the final letter T (trimmed) U (SEA) BLE* |
| 31 | Speckled cuckoo (5)
DOTTY (with dots or specks; speckled) DOTTY (crazy; cuckoo) double definition DOTTY |
| 32 | Grazia’s head of printing excitedly secures InStyle’s core territory (4,5)
GAZA STRIP (the smaller of two territories that together form Palestine) (Anagram of [excitedly] GRAZIA and P [first letter of {head of} Printing]) containing (secures) ST (letters within [core] inSTyle) – usually ‘core’ refers to the middle letters, but not in this case GAZA (ST) RIP* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Australia’s tail-ender, bowled in Test ground, chucked up in sink (6)
LAVABO (fixed basin or washstand; sink) (A [final letter of [tail-ender] AustraliA + B [bowled]) contained in (in) OVAL (reference, for example, The Oval Test Cricket ground in London – I know there are other Test grounds with Oval in the name) reversed (chucked up; down entry) LAV (A B) O< |
| 2 | Brace of 50s bagged by male cricketer (5)
GULLY (position of a cricketer in the field|) (L [Roman numeral for 50] + L [Roman numeral for 50] giving brace of 50s) contained in (bagged by) GUY (a male) GU (L L) Y |
| 3 | Lodgers attempt to adopt French child female abandoned (8)
TENANTRY (body of tenants or lodgers) TRY (attempt) containing (to adopt) ENfANT (French word for ‘child’) excluding (abandoned) F (female) T (ENANT) RY |
| 4 | PM‘s somewhat divided England (4)
EDEN (reference the 1st earl of Avon, Antony Eden [1897 – 1977], former Prime Minister of the UK from 1955 to 1957) EDEN (hidden word in [somewhat] dividED ENgland) EDEN |
| 5 | Boxer underwear brand purchased by hipster down under (5)
ROCKY (reference the boxer Rocky Balboa played by Sylvester Stallone [born 1946] in a series of films released between 1976 and 2006) CK (underwear brand logo for Calvin Klein) contained in (worn by) ROY (a fashion-conscious, young, Australian male; hipster down under) RO (CK) Y |
| 6 | Suspicious about Catholic’s fighting talk? (3,3)
WAR CRY (a cry used in battle for encouragement or as a signal; fighting talk) WARY (suspicious) containing (about) RC (Roman Catholic) WA (R C) RY |
| 7 | Killer crossing street when visiting the woman that plays music (9)
ORCHESTRA (a group of instrumentalists that plays music) ORCA (killer [whale]) containing (crossing) (ST [street] contained in [visiting] HER [the woman]) ORC (HE (ST) R) A |
| 8 | The old country in Middle East tracks former militia (8)
YEOMANRY (a cavalry volunteer force in Great Britain formed during the wars of the French Revolution, later mechanized as part of the Territorial Army; militia) YE (old form of ‘the’) + OMAN (country in the Middle East) + RY (railway tracks) YE OMAN RY |
| 13 | Network saved by Showtime’s Homeland (4)
MESH (network) MESH (hidden word in [saved by] showtiME’S Homeland) MESH |
| 15 | Desperate for a short? It’s a sign of winter! (9)
HOARFROST (rime or white frost; it’s a sign of winter) Anagram of (desperate) FOR A SHORT HOARFROST* |
| 16 | Get topless to make an impression (4)
ETCH (design on metal, glass, etc by eating out the lines with an acid; an impression – could also be defined as verb ‘to design’, ‘to make an impression’) fETCH (get) excluding the first letter F (topless) ETCH |
| 18 | Henry needs to separate dog and Siamese once here (8)
THAILAND (country once known as Siam) H (henry, unit of inductance) contained in (needs to separate) TAIL (follow; dog) + AND T (H) AIL AND |
| 19 | They’re against work performed in theatre by models (8)
OPPOSERS (ones who are against) OP (operation; work performed by a surgeon in an operating theatre) + POSERS (models) OP POSERS |
| 22 | Scandal created by popular football managers on motor yacht (6)
INFAMY (disrepute; scandal) IN (popular) + FA (Football Association; governing body [managers]) + MY (motor yacht) IN FA MY |
| 23 | Game to go into disco? (2-4)
BO-PEEP (a children’s game in which one peeps from behind something and cries Bo!) PEE (urinate; go) contained in (into) BOP (type of dance music; disco can be defined similarly) BO (PEE) P |
| 25 | Strip of tuna niçoise on base of veg (5)
THONG (thin strip of leather or other material) THON (French [niçoise] for tuna) + G (last letter of [base of] veG) THON G |
| 27 | Warning sign Gascoigne initially ignored (5)
AMBER (colour of a warning sign) bAMBER (reference the forename of Bamber Gascoigne [1935 – 2022], original question master on University Challenge) excluding the first letter (initially ignored) B AMBER |
| 28 | Fly close to drone (4)
BUZZ (fly close to) BUZZ (to drone) double definition BUZZ |
VALANCE
Valiance (spirit) less i (the middle letter of traitor)
Thanks Duncan & Magus. I only parsed VALANCE afterwards – VALIANCE (spirit) minus (leaves) I (midway through traitor ie middle letter). Edit: pipped @ the post by KVa!