Independent on Sunday 1,379 by Anglio

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We don’t see Anglio terribly often, and a quick search through the site suggests that bloggers, myself included, have not found this to be the easiest of setters.

Happily enough, this puzzle seemed a great deal more accessible, even where the cluing was inventive and the wordplay occasionally took me a bit of staring to figure out. There were some nice moments where things did fall into place though, and I think it’s fair to say this puzzle was great fun.

I liked things like 11 across in particular, while 25 across was my last one in, simply from being an unfamiliar word to me. One to try to remember for the future!

Anyway, many thanks for Anglio for a very enjoyable workout.

Across
1 SWEET PEA Climber saw Everest regularly when travelling around central Nepal (5,3)
A complicated anagram of (SAW + E[v]E[r]E[s]T + [ne]P[al])*.
6 APERCU Newspaper cutting includes brief summary (6)
Hidden in [newsp]APER CU[tting].
9 WELSH CORGI One growls – he’s nervous, biting Camilla at first? (5,5)
Another anagram with several bits to it: C[amilla] in (I + GROWLS + HE‘S)*. A lovely surface reading, and the royal reference is a nice touch too.
10 TWEE Little time to start 15 Across (4)
WEE with T at the start.
11 VELLUM Jacket needed for voyage – consider sheepskin? (6)
Lovely clue. It’s V[oyag]E + MULL<, as in “mull over”.
12 OPULENCE Old coppers having seized most of haul retired in luxury (8)
LU[g]< in (O + PENCE).
13 UNPICKED Removed stitching from uniform and cut around edge of pocket (8)
P[ocket] in (U + NICKED)*.
15 DAINTY Daughter is not, in conclusion, very elegant (6)
D + AIN‘T + [ver]Y.
16 SKATER Curry was a good one – odd bits of tikka cooked in spice, extremely rich, served for starters (6)
More complicated wordplay: (T[i]K[k]A* in S[pic]E) + R[ich]. The definition is no doubt John Curry.
18 TRACTION Ultimately smitten with old Italian car, beginning to think about purchase … (8)
([smitte]N + O + IT + CAR + T[hink]), all reversed.
20 TO AND FRO … grabbing key to new Ford Transit, it’s how you might travel when commuting (2,3,3)
(A in (TO + N)) + FORD*. The “A” is a key in the musical sense here.
22 LAY OFF Song’s out of tune – stop! (3,3)
LAY + OFF.
24 OKRA Plant has fine strand in the centre (4)
OK + [st]RA[nd].
25 MAINSPRING Watch driver have prang – I’m worried about insurance (10)
INS in (PRANG I‘M)*.
26 GRATED Good value Dutch cheese, processed thus (6)
G + RATE + D.
27 GANGSTER In short, one of the Krays, going around harbouring uneasiness? (8)
ANGST in REG< and I think that’s &lit too.
Down
2 WHEREIN In what respect is her wine fruity? (7)
Anagram of (HER WINE)*.
3 EASEL Initially moving to the end, let’s stand (5)
From LEASE, with the L moving to the end.
4 PACEMAKER Priest, at one with God, is leader by example, perhaps (9)
P + ACE + MAKER.
5 AIR-CONDITIONING Chilling in Rio, I relaxed with gin and tonic (3-12)
Anagram of all of (RIO I + GIN AND TONIC).
6 ADIEU It’s comparatively straight, Uncle’s side parting (5)
Straight as A DIE + U[uncle].
7 EXTREMIST Mr Long rebuilt extension at the front – that’s radical (9)
EXT + MISTER*. The long version of “Mr”, you see. Very surprised not to recall coming across that device before.
8 CREW CUT What might you have after being distressed? Tea? (4,3)
Nice sort of reverse cryptic thing: it’s TEA[m], so a crew that has been cut. “Distressed” for having your hair/tresses chopped off is a bit of an old setter’s chestnut, but still rather fun.
14 INTENDANT Nurse and soldier give support to popular public official (9)
IN + TEND + ANT.
15 DEADLY SIN Anger for one in England’s tail; delays unsettled batting (6,3)
[englan]D + DELAYS* + IN.
17 KNOCKER One belittles attention-seeker (7)
Two definitions, the latter nicely whimsical.
19 OFFENCE Coffee being splattered over front of newspaper shows discourtesy (7)
N[ewspaper] in COFFEE*.
21 FUMED Was angry having mishandled black-out? (5)
FUM[bl]ED. More clever stuff here: “bl” for “black”, which has been taken out.
23 YURTS Former employment program used to maintain old city dwellings (5)
UR in YTS.

 

* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition; Hover to expand abbreviations

 

4 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,379 by Anglio”

  1. This was fun but challenging in places. I haven’t heard of John Curry so SKATER took some guessing based on the wordplay. I have however heard of the Krays and particularly liked GANGSTER.

    CREW CUT had me completely stumped, so thanks for the explanation. Convoluted but clever.

    Thanks Anglio and Simon.

  2. After a second struggle with Anax (at another place) this morning, I was looking forward to breezing through a benign Sunday Indy in front of some sport on the TV in the afternoon. No such luck! Still, definitely no complaints as I enjoyed this as much as any crossword in the last few weeks. Failed on the hidden APERCU (v. annoying) and missed the subtlety in the the parsing of VELLUM and CREW CUT. So much to enjoy though including the clues for TRACTION, ADIEU, EXTREMIST (‘Mr Long…’) and my favourite WELSH CORGI which I thought was a real classic.

    A very big thanks to Anglio – let’s hope we see more of you in the future – and to Simon for such a helpful blog.

  3. Definitely taxing for a Sunday, but some clever stuff.

    15D Perhaps a nod to Derek Underwood, the England slow medium left-arm bowler, nicknamed “Deadly” and who always batted in the tail. Indeed, when he was batting, you could say “Deadly’s in”.

    15A could equally well be s{pice} e{xtremely] r{ich} for starters.

    Thanks to Anglio and Simon Harding.

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