I have to admit that I found this tough (and I’m not even going to say ‘tough for a Monday puzzle’ because we’ve gone beyond that). But that could just be me not being on Alchemi’s wavelength. I’m interested in what others think, but I find this setter a bit clunky sometimes.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Strategy for Asian band to feature piano
GAME PLAN
An insertion of P in GAMELAN for the traditional Indonesian ensemble.
5 Soldiers are often needed by this recording featuring copper on horse
EGGCUP
An insertion of GG for ‘horse’ and CU in EP. You can’t have your dippy egg without your soldiers sat nearby on the plate, can you?
10 Leave too little experience
UNDERGO
I can only think that this is a (very) whimsical way of saying that if you leave (GO) too little, then you’d UNDER GO.
11 Shrink any salt heaped up
ANALYST
(ANY SALT)*
12 American state capital cut off service
SACRAMENT
The state is California, so it’s SACRAMENT[O].
13 Clean kill
DO FOR
A lovely concise surface. A dd, the first definition as in ‘Mrs Mopp comes and does for me every Friday’.
15 Charlie apparently looking for coal to chop finely
MINCE
It’s C for the phonetic alphabet ‘Charlie’ in MINE. I think, but only think, that if Charlie were ‘apparently looking for coal’, he’d be in the mine.
16 Seat for one quickly getting tough exterior
CARAPACE
A charade of CAR and APACE. Seat (pronouced say at) is a make of car. Animals like turtles or crabs have a CARAPACE.
19 Woman networking with Irish politician over Scottish territory
SHETLAND
I’m not sure that I’ve nailed this, but I’ll have a crack at SHE followed by LAN for ‘local area network’ in TD for Teachta Dála for ‘Irish politician’ (it’s the Gaelic equivalent of MP). SHETLAND certainly is part of Scotland, but has strong Norse heritage too. Known for ponies and fiddle playing, amongst other things.
20 Scientist I have to treat outside
CURIE
An insertion of I in CURE for Marie CURIE, the French scientist known (together with her husband Pierre, no relation) for her work on radioactivity. I have a problem with this clue, because I don’t think ‘treat’ and CURE are the same thing. A doctor may well treat you for a disease, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s going to cure you of it.
21 Position things for sale around university
LOTUS
An insertion of U in LOTS. Think auctions. A ‘position’ in yoga.
23 Bird, one in hand, has very little power
MICROWATT
An insertion of CROW and A in MITT.
25 Stop official drought relief
REFRAIN
A charade of REF and RAIN.
27 In church, union leader can see you cooking
CUISINE
A bit convoluted, perhaps, but all fair. An insertion of U for the first letter of ‘union’ and IS IN in CE. ‘Michael is in/Michael can see you.’
28 Crude but enthusiastic hours later
EARTHY
Alchemi is asking you to take the H from HEARTY and move it five places down the pecking order.
29 Negotiated cut round line
PARLAYED PARLEYED
An insertion of LAY LEY (line) in PARED. PARLEY is pirate-speak for ‘let’s stop trying to kill each other and have a chat about things’ and is derived from the French verb parler. Edited: thanks to Simon S.
Down
1 Frightening sound got a bit longer
GRUESOME
A homophone of GREW SOME.
2 News organisations carry film taking hours with event finishing in Canadian city
MEDICINE HAT
Possibly the most obscure clue so far this year in the Indy, imho of course. Anybody out there ever heard of this city? CINE for ‘film’ plus H for ‘hours’ inserted into MEDIA and followed by T for the last letter of ‘event’.
3 Fixed a fellow nurse on time
PERMANENT
A charade of PER for ‘a’ (‘£3.50 a/per kilo’) MAN, EN for ‘enrolled nurse’ and T for ‘time’.
4 Love alien’s first pole erected on earth
ADORE
A charade of A for the first letter of ‘alien’, ROD reversed and E for ‘earth’.
6 Country with no space for organ
GLAND
EN is the printers’ ‘space’ (along with EM), so it’s [EN]GLAND.
7 Shout about ridiculously young leaders
CRY
C for circa or ‘about’ and the first letters of ‘ridiculously’ and ‘young’.
8/21 Actor nearly let reporter go free
PETER LORRE
(LE[T] REPORTER)* Never heard of him personally, but once you had some crossers it had to be PETER something.
9 Resistance stops friendly socialist being put to death
MARTYRED
An insertion of R in MATY followed by RED.
14 Having eaten Rice Krispies, perhaps athletic unknown should stop dreaming
FACE REALITY
The elegance of the surface reading isn’t floating my boat, but it’s A CEREAL (definition by example) in FIT, followed by Y for a mathematical ‘unknown’.
16 Prince‘s companion handing out weapons
CHARMING
Cinderella’s amorato. CH for ‘companion’ of honour and ARMING.
17 Irrational about test containing nothing graphic
PICTORIAL
A charade of PI, C for circa (again) and O in TRIAL. PI is certainly an irrational number, but can you clue PI with just ‘irrational’? You decide.
18 Two articles about drink? Contrariwise, dimwit!
MEATHEAD
It’s ‘drink’ or MEAD around THE and A.
22 Hit band impresses millions
SMASH
An insertion of M in SASH.
24 Drink about to overwhelm old commander
COCOA
An insertion of O CO in CA for circa or ‘about’ (again).
26 Remote just lacking current
FAR
The setter is asking you to take I for the symbol for ‘current’ out of FAIR for ‘just’.
Many thanks to Alchemi for this morning’s puzzle. Don’t forget to put Marmite on those soldiers next time you have a dippy egg.
I found this pretty tough too without being that enjoyable.the last few were a struggle. I had heard of Medicine Hat but as cities I would bet its pretty small. Peter Lorre is pretty familiar in my memory-but the SE was a real struggle.
Thanks for blog.
Yes, have heard of Medicine Hat and thought everybody had heard of Peter Lorre (perhaps Pierre is trop jeune).
20A you can treat meat, bacon etc by curing it.
Blog reasonably draws attention to the clunkiness of some of the clueing, which I usually don’t notice when solving, but agree there a couple of fairly ghastly examples.
On the whole though, enjoyable and did like MINCE and UNDERGO.
Thanks to Alchemi and Pierre.
Thanks Chalmie and Pierre
I thought this was quite tough too.
Aside from 10 there are two others (at least) that I don’t think quite work.
15: If you are ‘apparently looking for coal’ you would surely be MINING. I can’t in a few seconds think of an instance where ‘looking for coal’ and ‘mine’ would be interchangeable.
19: as you say, LAN is short for Local Area Network, and again I can’t think of where that and ‘networking’ could be interchanged.
29 I think is PARLEYED: it’s definitely a LEY LINE. For PARLEY Chambers gives the definition you give, but a very different set of definitions for PARLAY, and suggests that the two have different roots.
Of course it’s PARLEYED. Silly error – thanks Simon for putting me right. Blog amended.
Obviously a puzzle for afficianados of cryptic puzzles – as opposed to routine predictable word-substitution and letter fiddling ones – and certainly a surprise on a Monday – although the Indy in particular has been giving us a few recently. Quite a few little tricks to keep you on your toes – nothing “clunky” here that I can see.
Eg if “asleep” can be (as it frequently is) in b…ed (even though it’s perfectly possible to sleep elsewhere) then surely looking for coal can be in MIN…E.
Also things like A CEREAL (not just CEREAL) for Rice Krispies – it’s actually better – just as THE QUEEN is better than QUEEN for ER – try substituting them in sentences.
Great stuff – ALCHEMI is on my watch-out-for list.
Peter Lorre was a Hungarian film actor in Hollywood. He played the role of a minor villain in “Casablanca”
Never heard of Peter Lorre, and for that matter never heard of Bill Hicks (27ac in yesterday’s IoS). I know, where have I been all this time? At least both said persons were gettable from the wordplay. But otherwise I must have been on Alchemi’s wavelength today as the rest came fairly easily. EGGCUP, though, was one of my last in, and a real groan-inducer. GAME PLAN, CARAPACE and MICROWATT were my favourites.
Thanks, Alchemi and Pierre.
Thanks (-ish) Pierre and others. Unsurprisingly, I lean more to Jolly Swagman’s interpretation – for which many thanks, JS.
A mixed bag of responses, certainly. As to the obscurities, Peter Lorre has always been one of my favourite character actors, and I’ve watched The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca a million times each. I have no idea why the Canadian city of Medicine Hat is one that’s stuck in my mind, but when filling the grid, I saw the C and the H in the light and said “Ah, MEDICINE HAT”, and so put it in. I have a vague rule of thumb that if a word pops into my head to fill a light rather than me having to search for something, then it probably isn’t obscure.
Apologies to those who didn’t like it.
We’re with Jolly Swagman on this one. Medicine Hat is such a weird name that it lodges in the memory.
I knew about Medicine Hat but no idea it was in Canada. Still, H*T …..
Also missed the min…e stuff but no change there.
You never can tell on a Monday now
I used to have nightmares about Peter Lorre. Is it me, is the I print quality diminishing?