You never know who will appear as a Tuesday Independent setter. Today it is the turn of Hippogryph
Tuesday is theme day in the Independent. I can’t see a strong theme, but there are a few large cats mentioned in the clues
In the ancient past, I a TREASURY wmay have been a source of gold and wealth, but I’m not sure a Government TREASURY [13 across] is really a source of riches for the nation these days. Most governments seem to have large debts.
The clue for LIONS at 20 across was probably referring to the British LIONS Rugby Union team, but other sports have Lions teams (Rugby League, the England ‘A’ team in cricket and Millwall Football Club are known as the Lions). There may be Lions teams in other sports as well.
LOW WINES at 2 down was a new term to me.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 7 | False hope develops around New Year (6)
PHONEY (counterfeit; false) (Anagram of [develops] HOPE containing [around] N [new]) + Y (year) PHO (N) E* Y |
| 8 | Brave call following positive response from Putin? (6)
DARING (brave) DA (Russian [Putin] word for ‘yes’ [positive response]) + RING (call) DA RING |
| 9 | So blue after first love’s gone off the boil (4)
SLOW (cooking gently; off the boil) So LOW (so blue) excluding the O [character representing zero; love score at tennis] of sO, this one being the first O in the phrase S LOW |
| 10 | Find fault with regularly sharing deeper arrangement (9)
REPREHEND (find fault with) Anagram of (arrangement) HRN [letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of sHaRiNg) and DEEPER REPREHEND* |
| 12 | Provides continuity in cat broadcast (5)
LINKS (connects; provides continuity) LINKS (sounds like [broadcast] LYNX [a large cat]) LINKS |
| 13 | River estuary flounders – a source of riches for the nation? (8)
TREASURY (a place where treasure is deposited; a store or collection of valued items; a department of a government that has charge of the finances) Anagram (flounders) of R (river) and ESTUARY TREASURY* |
| 15 | More alternative comedians ultimately follow the French (4)
LESS (reference the phrase ‘more or LESS‘; an alternative to more) LES (one of the French forms of ‘the’) + S (final letter of [ultimately] comedianS) LES S |
| 16 | Slovakia’s imprisoning number two spy (5)
SPOOK (spy) SK (International Vehicle Registration for Slovakia) containing (imprisoning) POO (number two [faeces] S (POO) K |
| 17 | Mass rejection of mouthpiece for computers perhaps? (4)
PILE (heap; mass) LIP (part of the mouth; mouth piece) reversed (rejection) + E (electronic; related to computer-based services) PIL< E |
| 18 | Vagrant seen with warm clothing from Savile Row? (8)
MENSWEAR (Savile Row is considered to be the most important location of men’s bespoke tailoring in London) Anagram of (vagrant) SEEN and [with] WARM MENSWEAR* |
| 20 | British team wears no ill-fitting trousers from the East (5)
LIONS (British first or second teams in some sports are known as the Lions) LIONS (reversed [from the east] hidden word in [trousers] wearS NO ILl-fitting) LIONS< |
| 21 | Worked notice after returning to clear order (9)
DIRECTION (an order) RID (free; clear) reversed (returning) + an anagram of (worked) NOTICE DIR< ECTION* |
| 22 | Royal has given up lying – finally? It’s true (4)
REAL (true) REgAL (royal) excluding (given up) G (last letter of [finally] lyinG) REAL |
| 24 | Everybody’s cribbing the day before examination (1,5)
A LEVEL (an examination generally taken after seven years of secondary education, especially in England and Wales) ALL (everyone) containing (cribbing) EVE (the day before) A L (EVE) L |
| 25 | Henry arises half-cut after stripping down Ford Mustangs? (6)
HORSES (mustangs are feralized HORSES of the American prairies) H + OR (letters remaining in fORd when the outer letters F and D are removed [stripping down]) + ariSES excluding the first three of six letters (half-cut) H OR SES |
| Down | |
| 1 | Milky white oil’s transformed each year in place of independence (4)
OPAL (a milky white colour) OiL with the I replaced by (transformed) PA (per annum; each year) O PA L |
| 2 | Weak spirit left over weeks in ewers lacks body (3,5)
LOW WINES (the weak spirit produced from the first distillation of substances containing alcohol) L (left) + O (over) + (W [week] + W [week] giving weeks) + IN + ES (letters remaining in EwerS when the central letters wer are removed [lacks body]) L O W W IN ES |
| 3 | Two teachers picked up rubbish (6)
DEBRIS (rubbish) (SIR [form of address to a male teacher] + BED ([Bachelor of Eucation; qualification held by many teachers]) all reversed (picked up; down entry) (DEB RIS) < |
| 4 | Cuckoo pecked at recorder? (4,4)
TAPE DECK (machine for recording sound on tape; recorder) Anagram of (cuckoo) PECKED AT TAPE DECK* |
| 5 | Cats touch hearts from time to time (6)
TIGERS (large cats) TIG (touch) + ERS (letters 2, 4 and 6 [from time to time] of hEaRtS) TIG ERS |
| 6 | Old impressionist releases second retrospective (4)
AGED (old) DEGAs (reference Edgar Degas [1834 – 1917], French impressionist artist) excluding (releases) S (second) and then reversed (retrospective) AGED< |
| 11 | Uproot and rip out air freshener (9)
POTPOURRI (a fragrant mixture of dried petals, leaves, spices, etc used to scent a room, etc; air freshener) Anagram of (out) UPROOT and RIP POTPOURRI* |
| 12 | Fake news about East German subject (5)
LIEGE (loyal vassal or subject) LIE (untruth; fake news) containing (about) (E [East] + G [Ferman]) LI (E G) E< |
| 14 | Regulates decoys changing hands (5)
RULES (regulates) LURES (decoys) with the L (left hand) and R (right hand) changing places to form RULES RULES |
| 16 | Talks of speed chess finishing early (8)
SPEECHES (talks) SPEEd excluding the final letter D (finishing) early + CHESs excluding the final letter S (finishing early) SPEE CHES |
| 17 | Iron doesn’t begin to support type of rock passage (8)
PROGRESS (passage) PROG (reference the genre PROG rock [A style of rock music originating in the 1970s and characterized by large-scale compositions, often on epic themes, in which musicians display instrumental virtuosity]) + pRESS (iron clothes) excluding the first letter P (doesn’t begin) PROG RESS |
| 19 | Special Branch’s home? Far end of Petticoat Lane (6)
STREET (lane) S (special) + TREE (home of a branch) + T (last letter of [far end of] petticoaT) S TREE T |
| 20 | Diver guarding North Dakota’s capital (6)
LONDON (a capital city) LOON (a diving bird; diver) containing (guarding) ND (North Dakota) LO (ND) ON |
| 21 | Completely out of order (4)
DEAD (completely, as an intensifier in DEAD loss [completely useless]) DEAD (not working; out of order) double definition DEAD |
| 23 | Unlimited trips for section of church (4)
APSE (a semicircular or polygonal recess, especially at the east end of a church choir; sectiojn of church) lAPSEs (blunders; trips) excluding the the outer letters (unlimited) L and S APSE |
I agree with everything Duncan has said. Thanks to him and to Hippogryph.
There were many clever surfaces, My top picks were DARING, LINKS, REAL, DEBRIS, RULES & PROGRESS.
Is there a slow horses theme?I haven’t watched enough to be sure
@2 = We haven’t read or watched any Slow Horses, but we wondered that too. It’s about SPOOKS, and set in LONDON, but that’s all we can offer
Yes, the theme is Slow Horses – several of the book titles (specifically the first five in the series) are in the grid:
SLOW HORSES
DEAD LIONS
REAL TIGERS
SPOOK STREET
LONDON RULES
Helps that I’ve read them all recently – spotted the theme quite early for once!
The theme is not familiar to me, but Wiki says: ‘The first five series have adapted the novels Slow Horses, Dead Lions, Real Tigers, Spook Street, and London Rules…..’
Despite completely failing on the theme front, I was thoroughly entertained by the puzzle, with its wide variety of imaginative and occasionally tricksy clueing.
Thanks to Hippo and DS
Sorry Widdersbel #4 – we crossed. I’m guessing you’d recommend the books?
I’ve a recollection that this theme cropped up in the Grauniad not so long ago.