Ringoe appears to be a new setter of Independent cryptic puzzles, so welcome!
Thursday’s Independent crosswords sometimes have a theme, but the only thing I can see here is that all four 10-letter entries in the outer rows and columns have three syllables and end in LAND. There is also LAND in ELAND at 3 down.
I made good progress in the top half of the grid, but slowed down considerably in the lower half.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Wearside city is buried? (10)
SUNDERLAND (city on the River Wear in the North East of England) ‘S (is) + UNDER LAND (beneath the surface; buried) S UNDER LAND |
| 6 | Madam Weisberg’s opening immoral houses? (4)
BAWD (female brothel-keeper; madam) W (first letter of [opening]) contained in (opening) BAD (immoral) BA (W) D |
| 10 | Some dhansak? Or madras? Something milder? (5)
KORMA (dhansak and madras are medium-hot curries. a KORMA is a milder one) KORMA (hidden word in [some] dhansaK OR MAdras) KORMA |
| 11 | Lawgiver hoarding metals prepares for war (9)
MOBILISES (call troops into active service; puts the country into readiness for war) MOSES (Biblical character who handed down the Ten Commandments; lawgiver) containing (hoarding) (BI [chemical symbol for Bismuth {a metal}] + LI [chemical symbol for Lithium {another metal}] giving metals) MO (BI LI) SES |
| 12 | Seconds served with fish and pomelo (8)
SHADDOCK (a pomelo) S (seconds) + HADDOCK (a fish) S HADDOCK |
| 13 | Sharp spines on this: son bloodied as it were? (5)
GORSE (a shrub with sharp spines) S (son) contained in GORE (blood) (bloodied as it were) GOR (S) E |
| 15 | Idealistic local one holding back seaworthy vessel (7)
UTOPIAN (idealistic) (UN [dialect {local} word for ‘one’] containing [holding] [AI {a one; excellent} + POT {vessel}] reversed [back]) U (TOP IA)< N |
| 17 | Extremely vocal about one group in bitter criticism (7)
VITRIOL (caustic [bitter] criticism) VL (outer letters of [extremely] VocaL) containing (about) [I [Roman numeral for one] + TRIO [group of three]) V (I TRIO) L |
| 19 | Fabulous group caught certain insects (7)
BEETLES (insects) BEETLES (sounds like [caught] BEATLES (reference the Fab Four group The BEATLES who dominated the music charts in the 1960s ) BEETLES |
| 21 | Breath so taken when hotel hosts raffle (7)
INDRAWN (descriptive of a breath. One draws in air to form an inward breath) INN (hotel) containing (hosts) DRAW (raffle) IN (DRAW) N |
| 22 | Bird needs dressing endlessly (5)
ROBIN (a bird) ROBINg (dressing) excluding the final letter (endlessly) ROBIN |
| 24 | Choose an ancient character, said witty sort (8)
PICAROON (a person who lives or dies by his or her wits; witty sort) PICAROON (sounds like [said] PICK [choose] + A + RUNE [ancient character]) PIC A ROON |
| 27 | Sober sailors can at last see holy work (9)
ABSTINENT (temperate; sober) ABS (Able Seamen – plural of AB [Able Seaman]) + TIN (can) + E (final letter of [last] seE) + NT (New Testament; holy work) ABS TIN E NT |
| 28 | Slow speech from medic, boring thing (5)
DRAWL (slow speech) DR (doctor; medic) + AWL (pointed instrument for boring small holes) DR AWL |
| 29 | Scandinavian Conservative leaving ballet? (4)
DANE (inhabitant of Denmark; Scandinavian) DANcE (ballet is a form of dance) excluding (leaving) C (Conservative) DANE |
| 30 | Surprise boy touring new fantasy world (10)
WONDERLAND (fantasy world) WONDER (surprise) + (LAD [boy] containing [touring] N [new]) WONDER LA (N) D |
| Down | |
| 1 | Reportedly look for religious adherent (4)
SIKH (member of an Indian religion; religious adherent) SIKH (sounds like [reportedly] SEEK [look for]) SIKH |
| 2 | No petrol spilled outside hot and cold location (5,4)
NORTH POLE (a cold location) NO + an anagram of (spilled) PETROL containing (outside) H (hot) NO RT (H) POLE* |
| 3 | Bounder dying to tour Californian city (5)
ELAND (antelope; an animal that leaps and bounds; founder) END (dying) containing (to tour) LA (Los Angeles; Californian city) E (LA) ND |
| 4 | Light working bathes one’s head in caricature (7)
LAMPOON (attack, satirise or attack in prose or verse; caricature) (LAMP [light] + ON [working]) containing (bathes) O (first letter of [head] One) LAMP (O) ON |
| 5 | Writer returning very fine Scottish port (7)
NABOKOV (reference Vladimir NABOKOV [1899 – 1977], Russian/American novelist) (V [very] + OK [okay; fine] + OBAN [port on the West coast of Scotland]) all reversed (returning) (NABO KO V)< |
| 7 | Gods above initially make progress to the north (5)
AESIR (The chief gods of Norse mythology dwelling in Asgard [the heaven of Norse mythology]) A (first letter of [initially] Above) + RISE (make progress) reversed (to the North; down entry) A ESIR< |
| 8 | Theme park designated driver’s insanely drunk inside (10)
DISNEYLAND (name of a number of theme parks located in America, Europe and Asia) Anagram of (drunk) INSANELY contained in (inside) DD (designated driver) D ISNEYLAN* D |
| 9 | Spoiled plot enclosing land (8)
BLIGHTED (injured; destroyed; spoiled) BED (plot of soil for flowers) containing (enclosing) LIGHT (to land on something) B (LIGHT) ED |
| 14 | Over days tribe consumes brown sausage variety (10)
CUMBERLAND (type of sausage) (CLAN [tribe] containing [consumes] UMBER [shade of brown]) + D (days) – this being a down entry, the letters CUMBERLAN are placed over the D C (UMBER) LAN D |
| 16 | Laid up in old island state (8)
ILLINOIS (American State) ILL (laid up) + IN + O (old) + IS (island) ILL IN O IS |
| 18 | Lover, a Catholic raised in Italian area (9)
INAMORATA (female lover) (A + ROMAN [Catholic]) reversed (raised) and contained in (in) (IT [Italian]) + A (area) I (NAMOR A)< T A |
| 20 | Drink on tick for boss (7)
SUPREMO (person in overall authority; boss) SUP (drink) + RE (with reference to; about; on) + MO (moment; second; tick) SUP RE MO |
| 21 | Pushed home, spoke of having vision (7)
INCITED (provoked; urged; pushed) IN (home) + CITED (sounds like [spoke of] SIGHTED [having vision]) IN CITED |
| 23 | Chuck lassoes very large animal (5)
BISON (a large bovine animal) BIN (throw; chuck) containing (lassoes) SO (very) BI (SO) N |
| 25 | Cyclist free here in the middle (5)
RIDER (cyclist) RID (free) + ER (central letters of [in the middle] hERe) RID ER |
| 26 |
One was Rosebud, burned in Bois-le- Duc (4) SLED (The “Rosebud” SLED is an iconic wooden SLED from the classic film Citizen Kane) SLED (hidden word in [burned in] BoiS LE Duc) SLED |
Rosebud is shown burned at the end of Citizen Kane, so “burned” is part of the definition. I initially thought it was a misprint for “buried” AESGIR was a Jorum for me..
Deeply sheepish to admit to never having seen it, so sled went in with a shrug. Otoh, have streamed a few Viking series, but Aesir was still a nho. Otherwise all sweet, thanks and welcome Ringoe and thanks duncan.
My quickest solve for a long time, and I think that the definitions were possibly just too easy to spot and convert?
Ditto, many wordplays were slightly too obvious.
May be, I’m just on the setter’s wavelength. And, I enjoyed it.
Is CATHOLIC = ROMAN? (18d).
Re ROSEBUD, I just took it that “burned” was a 2-card trick: the sled was indeed burned, but also the hidden word was “burned into” Bois le Duc….a Dutch city, but as it’s known in French. ( courtesy of Google search!)
Welcome Ringoe, a fine debut, cheers too, duncan
19ac ties in loosely with setters name. Beetles (Beatles) & Ringoe (Ringo)
Thanks both. Also solved this in close to record time, though parsing took/would have taken longer e.g. SLED which is very niche unless you’ve watched the movie in the last few decades. ROBIN slightly slowed me down as the superfluous/misdirecting ‘needs’ had me looking for a shortened synonym for a state of nakedness.
Yes, all of the above. Straightforward-ish with several nhos for me, to give pause for a little research. Knowing nothing of Citizen Kane I cheerfully bunged in SLED imaging that Rosebud was one of Santa reindeer. Doh. (accidental pun. Sorry) Highlight was SUNDERLAND where I worked in 1973. Happy memories – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_FA_Cup_final
Thanks both and welcome Ringoe
SUNDERLAND was my favourite here.
BAWD was new to me. I’d heard of Bawdy houses and the like, but it never occurred to me that it could be used in that way.
The setter gets a mild slap on the wrist for putting the homophone indicator for BEETLES in the middle, leaving it ambiguous without the crossing letter. But otherwise, a fine, fun puzzle. I do of course have to give a nod to ILLINOIS, my domicile for the last quarter-century. Also a great clue–“island state” makes you think of Malta or Barbados or whatnot. I was unfamiliar with CUMBERLAND the sausage, but it couldn’t have been anything else. (And if I’d noticed the x-LAND theme, I probably would have guessed it sooner…)
Also, the clue for MOBILISES is fun, since lithium is the lightest metal by atomic number, and bismuth was formerly thought of as the heaviest non-radioactive one. (It turns out to be very mildly radioactive, with a half-life longer than the age of the universe.)
Done all but BAWD; liked the reference to Citizen Kane, the four LAND words in the corners and quite a few others incl. INCITED, INAMORATA, SUPREMO, BEETLES. AESIR and GORSE were jorums. For BISON, I’d thought that “very large” was OS and that there’s been a mistake, but Duncan’s explanation made perfect sense. Bravo Ringoe and thanks Duncan for the blog!