This appears to be the third puzzle by this compiler in the Indy, and it is certainly the first one that I have solved and blogged.
I was excited at the prospect of tackling work by a new-to-me compiler, and Jeemz certainly did not disappoint. I thought that there was a good variety of clues in terms of difficulty, from accessible anagrams, at 7 and 31, which offered lots of first and/or crossing letters, to clues that needing a lot more teasing out, at 15, 21, etc.
I have to admit that Jeemz came out on top today, as I fell foul of the intersecting entries at 15, 20 and 21, and I am glad that I admitted defeat fairly quickly by my standards, as I don’t think that I would have worked them out – I didn’t know the back formation at 15, nor the slang word for a talking-to at 20. Incidentally, there were quite a few other colloquialisms in this puzzle, e.g. “snow” at 5 and “gets a load of” at 12. Maybe this will prove to be a regular feature of this compiler’s work.
My favourite clues today were 1D, 3, 4, 11, 17 and 18, all for smoothness of surface; and 22, for splitting up “wage war” in the wordplay. I would appreciate confirmation of my parsing at 13 (brief?) and 22 (definition).
I look forward to future outings with this setter so that I can become more familiar with his style.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
|
||
| 1 | LEFT STANDING |
Sinister reputation’s surpassed (4,8)
|
| LEFT (=sinister, in heraldry) + STANDING (=reputation, status) | ||
| 9 | UNCIVIL |
Ill-bred university lecturer embraces endless twisted debauchery (7)
|
| CIV (VIC<e>=debauchery, immoral behaviour; “endless” means last letter is dropped; “twisted” indicates reversal) in [UNI (=university) + L (=lecturer)] | ||
| 10 | REPLICA |
Copy detailed response by art institute (7)
|
| REPL<y> (=response; “de-tail-ed” means last letter is dropped) + ICA (=art institute, i.e. Institute of Contemporary Arts) | ||
| 11 | BAND |
One could have groupies excluded from audition (4)
|
| Homophone (“from audition”, i.e. listening) of “banned (=excluded, barred)” | ||
| 12 | VIEWS |
Gets a load of contest points (5)
|
| VIE (=(to) contest, compete) + W S (=points, i.e. of compass); in slang, “to get a load of something” is to look at it, view it | ||
| 13 | TONG |
Chinese society‘s brief clothing capturing centre of attention (4)
|
| <atte>N<tion> (“cente of attention” means middle letter only) in TOG (=brief clothing, i.e. short word); a tong is a Chinese guild or secret society, especially one associated with organised crime | ||
| 16 | NICE WORK |
Great job making French bread? (4,4)
|
| Since Nice is in the south of France, “Nice work” could entail “making French bread”, be that bread baguettes or euros! | ||
| 17 | GEMINI |
A sign car vacated garage earlier on (6)
|
| G<arag>E (“vacated” means all but first and last letters are dropped + MINI (=car); Gemini is a sign of the Zodiac | ||
| 18 | ORDEAL |
Ordinary Democrat going through unimagined nightmare (6)
|
| O (=ordinary, as in O level) + [D (=Democrat) in REAL (=unimagined)] | ||
| 20 | TWIGGING |
Getting tense – what for? (8)
|
| T (=tense, in grammar) + WIGGING (=what for, scolding, dressing down); in slang, to twig is to understand, hence “getting” | ||
| 24 | EBBS |
Withdraws books probing core elements of Einsteinian physics (4)
|
| BB (=books) in <einst>E<inian> <phy>S<ics> (“core elements” means middle letters only) | ||
| 25 | SABLE |
Valued creature‘s partially disabled (5)
|
| Hidden (“partially”) in “diSABLEd”; sables are martens valued for their fur | ||
| 26 | SCAT |
Improvised performance on your bike! (4)
|
| Double definition: scat is “improvised performance” in jazz AND an interjection meaning shoo, go away, hence “On your bike!” | ||
| 29 | CRINKLE |
Cold arena leads the French to screw up (7)
|
| C (=cold, on tap) + RINK (=arena, for skating) + LE (=the French, i.e. a French word for the); to crinkle is to screw up, crumple | ||
| 30 | SEISMIC |
Crib most ideas going round – oddly that’s ground breaking (7)
|
| C<r>I<b> M<o>S<t> I<d>E<a>S; “oddly” means alternate letters only are used; “going round” indicates reversal; both literally and figuratively, “seismic” means ground-breaking, earth-shattering | ||
| 31 | UGLY CUSTOMER |
Gym culture so unorthodox it produces dangerous opponent (4,8)
|
| *(GYM CULTURE SO); “unorthodox” is anagram indicator | ||
| DOWN
|
||
| 1 | LACONIC |
Brief result of amateur boxing scam (7)
|
| CON (=scam, fraud) in LAIC (=amateur, non-professional, of cleric) | ||
| 2 | FIVE |
Number first to forage on river with its banks cleared (4)
|
| F<orage> (“first to” means first letter only) + <r>IVE<r> (“with its banks cleared” means first and last letters are dropped) | ||
| 3 | SOLDIER |
Join compiler coming in commando? (7)
|
| I (=compiler) in SOLDER (=join, fuse, of metal); a commando is a soldier serving in a special service brigade | ||
| 4 | ARROWS |
Husband steers clear of upsets and quarrels (6)
|
| <h>ARROWS (=upsets, distresses); “husband (=H) steers clear of” means letter “h” is dropped; quarrels are square-headed arrows for crossbows, say | ||
| 5 | DUPE |
Snow on to higher ground penetrating outskirts of Dundee (4)
|
| UP (=on to higher ground) in D<unde>E (“outskirts of” means first and last letters only); in US slang, to snow is to mislead, deceive with persuasive talk, hence “(to) dupe” | ||
| 6 | NAIROBI |
Dreadful rain over British Island’s capital city (7)
|
| *(RAIN) + O (=over, on cricket scorecard) + B (=British) + I (=island) | ||
| 7 | DUMB INSOLENCE |
Disrespect demonstrated by unsilenced mob surprisingly! (4,9)
|
| *(UNSILENCED MOB); “surprisingly’ is anagram indicator | ||
| 8 | LAUGHING STOCK |
Aunt Sally‘s happy family? (8,5)
|
| LAUGHING (=happy) + STOCK (=family, as in from good stock); an Aunt Sally is the butt of everyone’s jokes, hence a “laughing stock” | ||
| 14 | TWEAK |
Provocative dance’s vulgar ending succumbs to a minor adjustment (5)
|
| TWERK (=provocative dance); “vulgar ending (=last letter) succumbs to a” means letter “r” is replaced by “a” | ||
| 15 | HENGE |
Woman say from the South Circular area (5)
|
| HEN (=woman) + GE (E.G=say, for example; “from the South” indicates vertical reversal); as a back formation from Stonehenge, a henge is a circular area surrounded by large upright stones | ||
| 19 | DABBING |
Lothario initially’s avoiding flirting or touching (7)
|
| DABB<l>ING (=flirting (with), toying (with)); “Lothario‘s initially (=first letter) avoiding” means letter “l” is dropped | ||
| 21 | WELL-SET |
Fine service, hard and fast (4-3)
|
| WELL (=fine) + SET (=service, of crockery); “well-set” means firmly fixed, strongly built, hence “hard and fast” | ||
| 22 | INCOMER |
Wage war ultimately with extraterrestrial visitor? (7)
|
| INCOME (=wage, pay) + <wa>R (“ultimately” means last letter only) | ||
| 23 | GATEAU |
Meal taken by most of old France constitutes cake (6)
|
| TEA (=meal) in GAU<l> (=old France, i.e. historical name for France; “most of” means last letter is dropped) | ||
| 27 | OKAY |
Sweet Fanny Adams upsetting pack animal engenders sanction (4)
|
| O (=Sweet Fanny Adams, i.e. nothing at all, zero) + KAY (YAK=pack animal; “upsetting” indicates vertical reversal; to okay something is to sanction, approve it | ||
| 28 | FIRM |
Beginnings of friendship in rough male company (4)
|
| F<riendship> I<n> R<ough> M<ale>; “beginnings of” means first letters only |
RR is correct, this puzzle encompassed an enormous range of difficulty. It was certainly challenging overall and mostly good fun.
I didn’t finish courtesy of 5d (American slang needed! 😯 ) and 15d. I’m not fully convinced by the definition for 12a.
Thanks to Jeemz and to RR.
Regarding 13a, I took this as abbreviated ‘togs’ slang for clothing. I’m not sure if this is what you had in mind. I can’t see the extraterrestrial reference in 22d either, is it maybe a term used in a presumably well known SciFi film I’m unaware of?
Also a dnf, for whatever reason I just didn’t see SABLE!
Otherwise a nice stretch of the grey matter, thanks Jeemz and RR
Very tricky. 13(ac), I took it the “clothing” = TOGS, and brief = drop the last letter.
12(ac), the idiom ” get a load of this xxxx ” doesn’t seem to lend itself to pluralisation?
21(d), WELL-SET, also seems a bit stretchy.
DUPE, a bizarro. Does ” snow on to” actually work?
I don’t think I’ve met DUMB INSOLENCE but I presume it’s a known saying?
I know a few interpretations of AUNT SALLY, but not LAUGHING STOCK.
It’s an accomplished puzzle, but personally I wasn’t totally in tune with the setter.
Thanks Jeemz & Riku