Regular Independent setters are not in their usual place this week, so we have a Crosophile puzzle this Wednesday.
Crosophile often has themes in his puzzles, but I can’t see an obvious one today. There are a few mentions of the sky (clouds, stars, heaven [bliss]) in the clues, but not enough to constitute a theme for me.
I liked the surface of the clue for ALLOTMENT at 12 across. The clue for THUNDER at 21 down took me a while to parse before I spotted the reverse of ‘SAME‘ in the clue words thEM ASunder.
I enjoyed this puzzle with just a minor query about how SHEET relates to standard stratus clouds at 8 down.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | High stool is for an elevated player (7)
SOLOIST (a person who takes the lead in a choral or instrumental piece; a player elevated above the other performers) Anagram of (high) STOOL IS SOLOIST* |
| 5 | Defiles some taken in by scams (7)
CANYONS (narrow passages or gorges; defiles) ANY (some) contained in (taken in by) CONS (scams) C (ANY) ONS |
| 9 | Enter race and finish out of line (7)
COMPETE (engage in a contest; enter a race, for example) COMPlETE (finish) excluding (out of) L (line) COMPETE |
| 10 | From then on centre of area is not affected (7)
SINCERE (genuine; not affected) SINCE (from then on) + RE (middle letters of [centre of] aREa) SINCE RE |
| 11 | Picked up eau de Cologne perhaps? (5)
ODOUR (characteristic scent or smell; such as that emanating from a cologne [perfumed liquid or solid]) ODOUR (sounds like [picked up] EAU DE) – I’m not entirely convinced by this homophone. I tend to pronounce the R in ODOUR, albeit quielty ODOUR |
| 12 | Where many blokes with a little time hold trowel finally? (9)
ALLOTMENT (a piece of land rented by an individual for cultivation; where many blokes with a little time hold a trowel, possibly after they are retired [finally]) (A LOT [many] + MEN + T [abbreviation for {a little} time]) containing (hold) L (last letter of [finally] troweL) A L (L) OT MEN T – either L could be the one contained |
| 13 | Amateur writer tackles unfinished WI ballad in finale (10)
APOCALYPSE (the end of the world; finale) (A [amateur] + POE [reference Edgar Allen POE {1809 – 1849]} American writer]) containing (tackles) CALYPSo (West Indian [WI] ballad) excluding the final letter O (unfinished) A PO (CALYPS) E |
| 15 | Dangerous mount in Vietnam (4)
ETNA (reference Mount ETNA, an active volcano on the Italian island of Sicily; dangerous mount) ETNA (hidden word in [in] viETNAm) ETNA |
| 18 | Nimbus – a touch of highlight, behold, encircling angel’s head (4)
HALO (one of the definitions of NIMBUS is ‘an emanation of light surrounding a saint or deity’, therefore similar to a HALO) (H [first letter of {touch of} Highlight] + LO [behold]) containing (encircling]) A [first letter of {head} Angel]) H (A) LO |
| 20 | Astronomy scam takes in Arkansas Gazette (10)
STARGAZING (a basic form of astronomy) STING (trap; scam) containing (takes in) (AR [Arkansas] + GAZ (gazette]) ST (AR GAZ) ING |
| 25 | Policeman’s not able to hold back short engineer (9)
CONSTRUCT (to put together systematically; to engineer) CONSTable excluding (not) ABLE containing (to hold) (CURT [short] reversed [back]) CONS (TRUC<) T |
| 26 | Backing for Leonard enthralled by fifty karat ring (5)
KNELL (toll; ring) (LEN contained in [enthralled by] [L {Roman numeral for fifty} + K {karat}]) all reversed (backing for) (K (NEL) L)< |
| 27 | In two commercials private’s made fit (7)
ADAPTED (mad fit) PTE (private) contained in (in) (AD [ADvertisement; commercial] + AD [ADvertisement; commercial] giving two commercials) AD A (PTE) D |
| 28 | Vehicle stuck in storm of rain – bliss! (7)
NIRVANA (a blissful state; bliss) VAN (type of vehicle) contained in (stuck in) an anagram of (storm of) RAIN NIR (VAN) A* |
| 29 | Following achievement the lady’s down (a bit) (7)
FEATHER (a bit of the filling or down in a soft-feather duvet) FEAT (achievement) + HER (the lady) FEAT HER |
| 30 | Stellar astral variable with added luminance (3-4)
ALL-STAR (having a cast or team ALL of whom are STARs; stellar [relating to star performers]) Anagram of (variable) ASTRAL and L (luminance) ALL STAR* |
| Down | |
| 1 | He’s not a people person and lost his cool mostly over caress (9)
SOCIOPATH (a person with severe antisocial personality disorder; he’s not a people person) (Anagram of [lost] HIS COOl excluding the final letter L [mostly]) containing (over) PAT (caress) SOCIO (PAT) H* |
| 2 | Drooping heads of orange petals on African flower (7)
LIMPOPO (African river [something that flows; flower]) LIMP (drooping) + OPO (first letters of [heads of] each of Orange, Petals and On) LIMP OPO |
| 3 | Last of trifle in a sort of ceramic dish for dessert (3,5)
ICE CREAM (dessert) E (final letter of [last of] triflE) contained in (in) an anagram of (sort of) CERAMIC ICE CR (E) AM* – either E could be the one contained |
| 4 | A way to treat those people involving informal talk (7)
THERAPY (a form of treatment) THEY (those people) containing (involving) RAP (a slang [informal] term for voluble talk) THE (RAP) Y |
| 5 | Throw line into water by the French chateaux (7)
CASTLES (English translation of the French word ‘chateaux’) CAST (throw a fishing line into the water) + LES (one of the French forms of ‘the’) CAST LES |
| 6 | Only ten individuals retired part-time – the rest out of 100? (6)
NINETY (the remainder [rest] from 100 when 10 are retired) NINETY (reversed [retired] hidden word in [part-time] in onlY TEN INdividuals) NINETY< |
| 7 | Become too warm but not hot? – get stuffed! (7)
OVEREAT (stuff oneself with too much food) OVERhEAT (become too warm) excluding (but not) H (hot) OVEREAT |
| 8 | If foggy these could indicate stratus (5)
SHEET (I think this is referring to a SHEET of rain that could be produced from a nimboSTRATUS cloud. A STRATUS is likely to produce drizzle rather than a SHEET of rain) I’ve probably missed something in this clue SHEET (anagram of [foggy] THESE) SHEET* |
| 14 | Small veg, penny each (3)
PEA (a small vegetable) P (penny) + EA (each) P EA |
| 16 | Pasta in a large potty, keeping hot (5,4)
ANGEL HAIR (a type of pasta in the shape of very long strands) Anagram of (potty) IN A LARGE containing (keeping) H (hot) ANGEL (H) AIR* |
| 17 | Smacks merely for skinning fish (8)
MACKEREL (fish) sMACKs excluding the outer letters S and S (skinning) + mERELy excluding the outer letters M and Y (skinning) – skinning applies to the two words in the phrase ‘sMACKs mERELy’ MACK EREL |
| 19 | Deadheaded plant’s an Australian flowery shrub (7)
LANTANA (a shrub) pLANT excluding the first letter P (deadheaded) + AN + A (Australian) LANT AN A |
| 21 | It blasts them asunder but not same in return (7)
THUNDER (a loud cracking or deep rumbling sound that blasts) THem asUNDER excluding (but not) SAME reversed (in return) THUNDER |
| 22 | Decay for all to see and crumbling in domed building (7)
ROTUNDA (building or room having a circular plan, especially one with a dome) ROT (decay) + U (film classification meaning that the film is suitable for all to see) + an anagram of (crumbling) AND ROT U NDA* |
| 23 | Rough during performance about Exodus (7)
INEXACT (approximate; rough) (IN [during] + ACT [performance]) containing (about) EX (the Book of Exodus) IN (EX) ACT |
| 24 | Small undersized person’s a pain on the run (6)
STITCH (a sharp pricking pain in the side brought on by running, etc.) S (small) + TITCH (term sometimes used to refer to a small [undersized] person) S TITCH |
| 25 | Which affair in large part is worthless rubbish? (5)
CHAFF (worthless rubbish) CHAFF (hidden word [in large part – it’s actually the smaller part of the 11 letters] in whiCH AFFair) CHAFF |
STRATUS
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
a type of cloud that forms a continuous grey sheet covering the sky
KVa @ 1
Thanks – I now see the word ‘sheet’ in the Chambers definition as well, which is ‘a wide-extended horizontal sheet of low cloud’.
Collins just refers to a ‘a grey layer cloud’. I thought I read once somewhere that Collins is the reference for Independent crosswords. I accept though that ‘layer’ is equivalent to ‘sheet’ in this context.