Independent 9,354 / S.Park

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This was my first experience of solving, let alone blogging, a puzzle by S.Park, although a quick trawl through the site reveals that this is the third Indy puzzle published under this pseudonym.

On reading the blogs of the two previous puzzles, both bloggers seem to be asking S.Park for something a tad more challenging. Unless I am having a very bad day, then that is exactly what we have before us today. I feel that I have probably completed the grid correctly, but the wordplay of a number of clues eludes me, either entirely or in part. Rather than take up space with my own dubious theories, I have similar indicated these clues with ??? in the list below and will complete the blog later, when others have pointed out what S.Park intended but what I couldn’t work out. Where I need most input from fellow solvers is at 6, 8 and 15, although I would appreciate some confirmation (or otherwise) of my parsing at 5 and 23A. Thanks to everybody for their input – the blog has been amended accordingly!

This is a puzzle that displays a great deal of ingenuity and flair, e.g. the use of “housekeepers” in 17 and the “No 1 tar” at 13. There are also some more unusual anagram indicators, e.g. “architecture” at 1 and “metaphysical” at 26, which some solvers might quibble with. As mentioned above, some of the wordplay was rather hard for me to tease out, although I need to reserve judgement until I have heard about the missing parsing before deciding if I was having a bad day or if the wordplay here was bordering on the abstruse.

My favourite clues at this juncture are 14, for the homophone and its indicator; and 2 and 4, both for their surfaces.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clue

Across  
   
01 CIVIL ENGINEER Telford’s an example in vile generic architecture

*(IN VILE GENERIC); “architecture” appears to be the anagram indicator; the reference is to Scottish civil engineer Thomas Telford (1757-1834)
   
10 LYRICISTS Notable wordsmiths?

Cryptically, a lyricist would be a wordsmith whose words are “notable” in the sense that they are set to music!
   
11 WAVER Quail say, following first of wrens

W<rens> (“first of” means first letter only) + AVER (=say, declare); “quail” in the definition is a verb
   
12 YETIS Beasts that aren’t real but are singular

YET (=but) + IS (=are singular, i.e. the singular form of are)
   
13 NARRATION Ship’s captain went quickly over audiobook for instance

NO1 TAR (=ship’s captain, cryptically) + RAN (=went quickly); “over” indicates (here full) reversal
   
14 NITRATE Fertiliser delivered close to individual property

Homophone (“delivered”, of an actor’s lines) of “nigh (=close) + trait (=individual property, characteristic)”
   
16 CHORTLE Cohort drops ball and the French laugh

C<o>HORT (“drops ball (=O, pictorially)” means letter “o” is dropped) + LE (=the French, i.e. the French word for the)
   
18 FIDDLES Cheats‘ nonsense losing marks

FIDDLES<ticks> (=nonsense); “losing marks (=ticks, in a student’s book)” means letters “ticks” are dropped
   
20 AURORAS Illuminations in gold, or in radium and sulphur

AU (=gold, i.e. chemical formula) + {OR in [RA (=radium) + S (=sulphur)]}
   
21 EDINBURGH Dine out on fancy grub – Heston’s starter is capital

*(DINE) + *(GRUB) + H<eston> (“starter” means first letter only); “out” and “fancy” are both anagram indicators
   
23 IRATE Hot & bothered – Caroline & company stripped

<p>IRATE<s> (=Caroline & company, i.e. pirate radio stations); “stripped” means first and last letters are dropped
   
24 DELHI Did Edwin Lutyens have it laid out initially?

D<id> E<dwin> L<utyens> H<ave> I<t> (“initially” means first letters only are used); semi &-lit; the reference is to British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, who designed the layout of New Delhi
   
25 CHARIVARI Arriva involved in theoretical energy row

*(ARRIVA) in CHI (=theoretical energy, i.e. in Chinese medicine); “involved” is anagram indicator
   
26 PROGNOSTICATE Metaphysical poets caring to predict the future

*(POETS CARING TO); “metaphysical” appears to be the anagram indicator, perhaps in the sense of fanciful, which is listed in Chambers
   
Down  
   
02 IRRITATED Sore bathed with last of ointment for onset of goitre

IRRI<t for g>ATED (=bathed, watered); <ointmen>T (“last of” means last letter only) for G<oitre> (“onset of” means first letter only) means letter “g” is replaced by letter “t”
   
03 INCAS Old people if caught short

IN CAS<e> (=if); “caught short” means last letter is dropped
   
04 ESSENCE What epitomises drugs scene perhaps?

Es (=drugs, i.e. ecstasy) + *(SCENE); “perhaps” is anagram indicator
   
05 GASTRIC Fool nearly following hippy’s good-time band of sorts

GAS (=hippy’s good time, from to have a gas) + TRIC<k> (=fool; “nearly” means last letter is dropped)
   
06 NEW LABOUR More work for old Greek faction in crisis?

Cryptically, a new labour for Hercules in Greek mythology would involve “more work for (an) old Greek”! New Labour, the UK political party, could be described as a “faction in crisis” at the moment.
   
07 ENVOI Final verse captured in golden voice

Hidden (“captured”) in “goldEN VOIce”; the envoi is the concluding part of a poem or book
   
08 PLAYING FIELDS Pitch setting wrecks broadcast

Recs (=playing fields) is a homophone (“broadcast”) of “wrecks”; playing fields can be the “setting” for a football “pitch”, for example.
   
09 PRINTER’S DEVIL Voting system buries Nick Caxton’s lad for one?

PR (=voting system, i.e. proportional representation) + INTERS (=buries) + NICK (=devil, i.e. Old Nick); a printer’s devil is a printer’s youngest apprentice or errand-boy, hence “(William) Caxton’s lad”
   
15 AD-LIBBING Wyndham’s invention?

Cryptic definition: the Wyndham’s in question is the West End theatre and not the author John Wyndham! The ad-libbing is thus that of the actors on stage.
   
17 TERMAGANT Shrewish Hilary’s one, followed by official housekeepers

TERM (=Hilary’s one, e.g. at Oxford University) + AGA (=official, in Turkey) + NT (=”housekeepers”, i.e. National Trust, the caretakers of many stately homes)
   
19 SIROCCO A wind measurement system primarily recording volume in glasses

SI (=measurement system, i.e. système international d’unités) + R<ecording> (“primarily” means first letter only) + [CC (=volume, i.e. cubic centimetre) in O O (=glasses, i.e. pictorially)]
   
20 ATHWART Position of 1A?

Cryptically, the solution at 1A runs across the top is grid, so is “athwart” the grid!
   
22 IDLER Lazybones pruned top of creeper

<s>IDLER (=creeper, i.e. one creeping up); “pruned” means top letter is dropped
   
23 ILIAC Paraphilia churning in part of a pelvic area

Hidden (“in part”) in “paraphILIA Churning”
   
   

21 comments on “Independent 9,354 / S.Park”

  1. Very nice indeed- was there a Wyndham in Game of Thrones who ad-libbed? Just wondering.
    But only got Playing fields from def and crossers
    Thumbs up!

  2. thanks to S.Park for a great puzzle and RR for the blog.
    8d can be explained by “Recs.” (abbr. for recreation grounds) homophone=playing fields.
    I confess to thinking about Rex Harrison bizarrely cast as Gracie Fields when I solved this

  4. Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle.

    Thanks S.Park and RatkojaRiku.

    I thought

    6 “More work for Old Greek” A ‘New Labour’ (for Hercules)

    8 ‘Pitch Setting’ def’n and ‘Recs’ – homophone

    15 Ad Libbing – Invention…but I came here for the ‘Wyndham’ bit !!!

  5. Sorry baerchen – crossed.

    Took too long working out the Captcha and the blogger’s spelling 🙂

  6. Several I didn’t understand; some explained here but like others I’m still in the dark about NEW LABOUR.

    You couldn’t call it an &lit (or even &lit-ish?) but I thought the clue to 1ac had another layer of meaning, Telford being also a new town carved out of Shropshire several years ago. New towns generally aren’t noted for outstanding architecture, although from what I’ve seen of it Telford is rather better than some I’d better not mention.

    And talking of 1ac, the clue to 20dn was brilliant!

    Thanks, S.Park and RatkojaRiku.

  8. I thought this was hard, and almost gave up at one stage with only about half in. Had the same parsing problems as our blogger and ended up missing out on a few in the SE corner, none of which I would have solved, particularly CHARIVARI, one of those mysterious words whose meaning I’ve never taken the trouble to learn. I thought I was being pretty clever putting in ‘atheist’ for 20d (‘1A’ = ‘a the ist’), ignoring the minor point that it had little to do with ‘position’, so that didn’t help either. There were some v. good clues, my favourites being LYRICISTS, SIROCCO and NARRATION.

    Thanks to S.Park and RR.

  9. Another “surface” that counts for me, apart from that of each clue, is the overall look of the grid, in this case crammed with interesting words. Here we have a fine cornucopia drawn from many sources, which is pleasing to the solver on completion of the puzzle. Well done, SP. And thanks for an indispensable blog, RR.

  10. I’m still not sure about 8 – how does “setting” come into it?

    Thank you very much for the explanation of NEW LABOUR, morphiamonet – I should have worked that one out! Great clue.

  11. Thanks for the blog RatkojaRiku.

    In 8d ‘setting’ is used as a synonym for location. The setting of playing fields (plural) being where a pitch (singular) might be found.

    In 20d, 1a. should be read as ‘one across’ where one = a person. The position of one who (lies) across is athwart.

    Allan_C @6: The surface reading was a deliberate attempt to create a vivid image but it doesn’t represent a personal view of Telford, which I first visited when it was merely Wellington, in 1963. Telford New Town is in parts quite attractive.

    Thanks all for your comments. This puzzle was indeed set in response to the vague notion pervading the blogs of my previous puzzles that I should present something more demanding.

  12. Thanks S.Park and RR

    I thought this was an excellent puzzle, progress was very slow but the quality was such that I had to persevere.

    RR @ 10: Recreations grounds (Recs) are the setting/location for PLAYING FIELDS.

  14. Thank you for the explanation of PLAYING FIELDS, S.Park – all is clear now on that front.

    Can you also clarify 15? A couple of ideas have been mooted above.

  15. Baerchen @3 is correct. It is meant to be invention ‘on-stage’ at Wyndham’s Theatre (note the apostrophe). I thought Wyndham’s as a West End Theatre with a quirky, and thus perhaps memorable, name, would rise above the London-centric. I might have reconsidered if the enumeration 2(hyphen)7 hadn’t been so suggestive of the answer, especially once the intersecting letters from any of 14, 18, 21 or 24 , were established.

  16. I really enjoyed this. Lots of excellent surfaces and some really ingenious wordplay. Completely thrown by Caroline and I loved the metaphysical poets.

    Nice one S.Park!

  17. Well, after three defeats in a row, I actually completed this, although there were several I couldn’t parse, so thanks for all the explanations. 15dn, I was too fixated with John Wyndham to think of theatres, even though I’d just got back from a (different) London theatre.

  18. On the tough end for me but excellent. I had ‘Incan’ for 3 down thinking if you were caught short, you’d hopefully end up in the can.

  20. Thank you very much for the feedback on the blog, S.Park – and many thanks for confirming baerchen’s interpretation of 15.

    I think that the blog has now been fully amended to take all the comments and corrections into account.

  21. I couldn’t finish this. I want to point out that the enumeration for 15d on my iPad is given as 2-2-7.

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