Mog is an Independent setter whose puzzles appear about once a month.
Tuesday is theme day in the Independent. Today’s theme was fairly clear. We have several big cats in the grid. There are also a couple of dogs – AKIBA and BEAGLE, but that’s not enough to form another theme.
I doubt if I was the only solver trying to fit CUB (little fox) into the wordplay at 12 across. I have probably come across KIT as another word for young fox before, but it must have been a long time ago.
I didn’t quite see exactly which words formed the definition for FRACTION at 14 down, but it was fairly clear what the entry was.
Puma is a sports kit manufacturer, so I wondered if they made the kit for Manchester United (reference the clue at 1 down) but I see that United’s kit supplier is Adidas.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Keep parts for sailor appealing to film’s producers (8)
CASTABLE (suitable for selection to play a part in a film; appealing to film’s producers) CASTLE (fortified building; keep) containing (parts for) AB (Able Seaman; sailor) CAST (AB) LE |
| 5 | Fit au pair periodically used car (6)
JAGUAR (car marque) JAG (fit, of irritation, for example) + UAR (letters 1, 3 and 5 [periodically] of aU pAiR) JAG UAR |
| 9 | Whisper “need to run off” (9)
UNDERTONE (hushed tone of voice; whisper) Anagram of (off) NEED TO RUN UNDERTONE* |
| 11 | Fact spinning commercial corporation (5)
DATUM (single piece of information; fact) AD (ADvertisement; commercial) reversed (spinning) + TUM (stomach; corporation) DA< TUM |
| 12 | Breed a little fox with koala’s tail (5)
AKITA (a large, powerful Japanese breed of dog) A + KIT (young fox) + A (last letter of [‘s tail] koalA) A KIT A |
| 13 | Animal one-piece papa slips into for tango (7)
LEOPARD (an animal) LEOTARD (one-piece skintight garment worn by dancers, acrobats, etc, sleeveless or long-sleeved) with P (papa is the international radio communication code words for the letter P) replacing (slips into for) T (tango is the international radio communication code words for the letter T) LEOPARD |
| 15 | One in audience stuck behind singular coat taker (7)
SHEARER (person who takes the coat of a sheep); S (singular) + HEARER (person in the audience who HEARs what is said on the stage) S HEARER |
| 16 | Pronoun initially bandied about somewhere biblical (5)
SHEBA (Sheba was a real, powerful ancient kingdom in South Arabia (modern-day Yemen). The area is mentioned in the Bible in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles when the Queen of SHEBA visits King Solomon) SHE (example of a pronoun) + B (first letter of [initially] Bandied) + A (about) SHE BA |
| 19 | Strands thespian without air conditioning (5)
TRESS (strands of hair formed into a plait or braid) acTRESS (thespian) excluding (without) AC (Air-Conditioning) TRESS |
| 21 | Spotted one philanderer getting caught (7)
CHEETAH (an animal with spots) CHEETAH (sounds like [getting caught) CHEATER (philanderer [one who has casual affairs with other women]) CHEETAH |
| 24 | Germanic singer learning luau piece (7)
LORELEI (in German legend, a siren [seductive singer] of the Rhine who lured sailors to their death) LORE (learning) + LEI (garland, especially of flowers, shells or feathers. It is often worn at a luau [Hawaiian feast or party]) LORE LEI |
| 26 | 14 bettered in seconds: two cheeky dogs plus felines (5)
WHOLE (something better than FRACTION [entry at 14 down]) WHOLE (word constructed from the second letters [seconds] of each of tWo, cHeeky, dOgs, pLus, fElines) W H O L E |
| 28 | Woods perhaps line outside of garden’s entrance (5)
TIGER (reference the American golfer TIGER Woods [born 1975]) TIER (line) containing (outside of) G (first letter of [‘s entrance] Garden) TI (G) ER |
| 29 | Swirling, as yin and yang, showing opposition (9)
NAYSAYING (contradicting; showing opposition) Anagram of (swaying) AS YIN and YANG NAYSAYING* |
| 30 | Group chasing retreating green carnivore (6)
OCELOT (a carnivorous animal) ECO– (prefix suffix denoting ecology or support for environmental issues [green]) reversed (retreating) + LOT (a group of items, at an auction, for example) OCE< LOT |
| 31 | Swap old purse’s contents? (8)
EXCHANGE (swap) EX (former; old) + CHANGE (coins that you might find in a purse) EX CHANGE |
| Down | |
| 1 | Puma company mockup to clothe United (6)
COUGAR (a puma) (CO [company] + RAG [ridicule, mock] reversed [up; down entry]) containing (to clothe) U (United) CO (U) GAR< |
| 2 | Child supports team that hardly matters (4,5)
SIDE ISSUE (something incidental or secondary; something that hardly matters) SIDE (team) + ISSUE (a child) – as this is a down entry, the letters in ISSUE support the letters in SIDE SIDE ISSUE |
| 3 | Trouble with flight time after AI emptied register (3,4)
AIR RAGE (aggressive behaviour by an airline passenger that endangers the safety of the crew or other passengers; trouble with flight) AI + RR (letters remaining in RegisteR when the central letters egiste are removed [emptied]) + AGE ([period of] time) AI R R AGE |
| 4 | Charged piece prefaced by liberal pride figure? (4)
LION (a member of a pride [of LIONs]) L (liberal) + ION (electrically charged atom or group of atoms; charged piece) L ION |
| 6 | Tough Americans embracing Republican couple (7)
ARDUOUS (tough) (A [American] + US [from the United States; American] giving Americans) containing (embracing) (R (Republican] + DUO [couple]) A (R DUO) US |
| 7 | Cult rapper, somewhat extreme (5)
ULTRA (extreme, especially in beliefs of positions) ULTRA (hidden word in [somewhat] cULT RApper) ULTRA |
| 8 | Doctor almost cuts actual curative (8)
REMEDIAL (curative) MEDIc (doctor) excluding the final letter C (almost) contained in (cuts) REAL (actual) RE (MEDI) AL |
| 10 | Remix of Al Green record ultimately blew up (8)
ENLARGED (blew up) Anagram of (remix) AL GREEN) + D (last letter of [ultimately] recorD) ENLARGE* D |
| 14 | Maybe 8 out of 10 Cats ended prematurely, in for broadcast (8)
FRACTION (I think the clue is suggesting that 8 is a FRACTION of 10) Anagram of (broadcast) CATs excluding the final letter [ended prematurely] S and IN FOR FRACTION* |
| 17 | Person from country mostly values quiet cycling (9)
ETHIOPIAN (person from the country of ETHIOPIA) ETHIcs (values) excluding the final two letters CS leaving 4 of 6 [mostly]) + PIANO (quiet) with the final O cycled to the front to form OPIAN ETHI OPIAN |
| 18 | Blade glowing when lifted in fight (8)
STILETTO (small dagger; blade) LIT (glowing) reversed (lifted; down entry) contained in (in) SET TO (fight) S (TIL<) ET TO |
| 20 | Italian place selling starter of ramen? Surely not! (7)
SALERNO (town in Italy; Italian place) SALE (the rate of selling or being sold) + R (first letter of [starter of]) + NO! (expression of surprise suggesting surely not) SALE R NO |
| 22 | Walk along canal with top hat wobbling (7)
TOWPATH (walk[way] alongside a canal) Anagram of (wobbling) W (with) and TOP HAT TOWPATH* |
| 23 | Pet bird bachelor’s sat on (6)
BEAGLE (breed of dog kept as a pet) B (bachelor) + EAGLE (bird) B + EAGLE |
| 25 | Villain originally concealing accent (5)
ROGUE (villain) bROGUE (broad, gentle-sounding accent) excluding the first letter (originally concealing) B ROGUE |
| 27 | Creature reported where golf’s played (4)
LYNX (a creature) LYNX (sounds like [reported] LINKS (an area where golf is often played) LYNX |
Very nice! Thanks Mog (appropriate theme!) and duncanshiell.
It only occurred to me when reading the blog that the wording of 26a, “two cheeky dogs plus felines” is a description of the theme.
The theme showed itself early on, which was a help. SHEBA is a brand of cat food, which might add to the thematic material?
Thanks Mog and DS
Re: 14d. Perhaps it is worth mentioning that, for the surface reading, ‘8 out of 10 cats’ is the name of a TV programme that may be unfamiliar to some here.
And 8 out of the 10 animals are cats! Clever stuff.
Roger. I missed that! Nice.
Thanks for standing in for us Duncan. We have intermittent WiFi here and have about 5hrs time difference. We thought we had downloaded today’s puzzle and then struggled to find a theme. It wasn’t until we managed to log on again later today that we realised we had completed yesterday’s puzzle instead!