Independent 9,532 / Radian

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Following the Bank Holiday, a colourful puzzle from Radian is exactly what I needed to get the working week off to a positive start.

I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle, in that I worked steadily through it but at no point did I dash off a string of a dozen clues in quick succession. Indeed, at the end I was left with 20, which kept me guessing for a good half hour after the other solutions had been filled in.

There is a ghost theme today around colours and the rainbow, and I have used a bigger font to highlight the themed entries in the solution column below. Incidentally, it was recognising this theme that allowed me to solve 5, since I realised that “violet” had not yet appeared in the grid. Like them or not, such themes have their uses!

My favourites today are 20 for ingenuity; and 25D and especially 29, both for the misdirection in their surface readings.

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

Across      
       
01 OBITUARY Passing comments about faulty lines I put in

I in [*(ABOUT) + RY (=lines, i.e. railway)]; “faulty” is anagram indicator; cryptically, an obituary is a set of “passing” comments, i.e. comments made when someone passes away

  
       
05 VIOLET Unnamed wild flower

VIOLE<n>T (=wild); “unnamed” means letter “n” (=name) is dropped

  
       
09 AB INITIO I obtain wound around eye, say, from scratch

Homophone (“say”) of “eye” in *(I OBTAIN); “wound” is anagram indicator

  
       
10 INDIGO Pea plant‘s doing badly, I gathered

I in *(DOING); “badly” is anagram indicator; indigo is a tropical plant of the pea genus

  
       
12 GREEN Ecofriendly engineers accessing data

RE (=engineers, i.e. Royal Engineers) in GEN (=data)

  
       
13 BELVEDERE Bred nearly 11 bananas in gazebo

*(BRED + ELEVE<n>); “nearly” means last letter dropped; “bananas” is anagram indicator

  
       
14 HAYMOW The way to keep fresh yam crop piled up in barn

*(YAM) in HOW (=the way to); a haymow is a mass of hay stored in a barn

  
       
16 EMPIRIC Houseman, one in Morecambe, relying on experience

[MP (=”houseman”, cryptically, i.e. member of House of Commons) + I (=one)] in ERIC (=Morecambe, i.e. English comedian)

  
       
19 PETUNIA Plant barrel, one hidden by vegetable

[TUN (=barrel) + I (=one)] in PEA (=vegetable)

  
       
21 PIRACY Hijacking plot to free prisoners

<cons>PIRACY (=plot); “to free prisoners (=cons)” means letters “cons” are dropped

  
       
23 COMMODORE Senior officer on board or in relief unit

OR in COMMODE (=relief unit, cryptically, i.e. toilet)

  
       
25 APPLE Fruit drink 8 swallowed

PP (=twopence, entry at 8, i.e. 2 x P=pence) in ALE (=drink)

  
       
26 RECOIL Sports ground approaches crude shrink

REC (=sports ground) + OIL (=crude)

  
       
27 BINOMIAL Discard old mail originally bearing two names

BIN (=discard) + O (=old) + *(MAIL); “originally” is anagram indicator

  
       
28 MOORED Tied up low tomato, for instance

MOO (=low, of cattle) + RED (=tomato, for instance, i.e. colour)

  
       
29 BRAND-NEW Mint concoction with last of gin thrown in

[AND (=with) + <gi>N (“last of” means last letter only)] in BREW (=concoction)

  
       
Down      
       
01 ORANGE African port, say, raised fruit

ORAN (=African port, in Algeria) + G.E. (E.G.=say; “raised” indicates vertical reversal)

  
       
02 ITINERANT One can spout about European traveller

E (=European) in [I (=one) + TIN (=can) + RANT (=spout)]

  
       
03 UNION College about to form alliance

UNI (=college, i.e. university) + ON (=about, regarding)

  
       
04 RAINBOW Iris drops Bob

RAIN (=drops) + BOW (=bob (down))

  
       
06 INNKEEPER Popular goalie entertains northern host

N (=northern) in [IN (=popular) + KEEPER (=goalie)]

  
       
07 LOIRE River left mineral deposit skirting island

L (=left) + [I (=island) in ORE (=mineral deposit)]

  
       
08 TWOPENCE Coin made from copper core

The core (=middle letters) of “co-PP-er” is “pp” (=twopence)

  
       
11 BLUE Squander ball user in odd positions

B<a>L<e> U<s>E<r>; “in odd positions” means odd letters only are used

  
       
15 MANDOLINE Staff work out course for cutter

STAFF (=man, as verb) + DO (=work out, e.g. a sum) + LINE (=course); a mandoline is a kitchen utensil for slicing vegetables, hence “cutter”

  
       
17 RECEPTION Wedding party // check in here

Double definition: people check in to a hotel in reception

  
       
18 SPECTRUM Small pick lacking length and range

S (=small) + P<l>ECTRUM (=pick, “lacking length (=L)” means letter “l” is dropped)

  
       
20 ATOM Bread supplier stocks nothing, or almost nothing

O (=nothing) in ATM (=”bread” supplier, cryptically, i.e. hole-in-the-wall, cashpoint)

  
       
21 PREMIER Top rock group blocks promenade

R.E.M. (=rock group, from US) in PIER (=promenade)

  
       
22 YELLOW What papers eventually do // for chicken

Double definition: papers eventually yellow with age AND yellow is cowardly, chicken

  
       
24 MICRO Miniature painter Joan tours clubs

C (=clubs, in cards) in MIRÓ (=painter Joan, i.e. the Spaniard)

  
       
25 ACORN American sailors grip firm piece of mast

CO (=firm, company) in [A (=American) + RN (=sailors, i.e. Royal Navy)]; mast is acorns, beechnuts that are fed to pigs

  
       
     

4 comments on “Independent 9,532 / Radian”

  1. baerchen
    #1 - Tue 2nd May 17, 10:16

    Very enjoyable puzzle from Radian. My experience was v similar to yours, RR, inasmuch as I solved VIOLET more through thematic suggestion than wordplay.
    I wondered if COMMODORE (APPLE, even) was added to complement SPECTRUM (hazy memory of early computing gadgets)
    Many thanks to both

  2. Simon S
    #2 - Tue 2nd May 17, 10:36

    Thanks Radian and RR

    baerchen @ 1: I think you may be onto something. There was also an early domestic MICRO computer called the ACORN ATOM.

    And who can forget the catchphrase from Captain Scarlet, “SPECTRUM IS GREEN”?

  3. allan_c
    #3 - Tue 2nd May 17, 14:19

    Got there without help, for the first time in a few days. Held up, though in the NW corner as I couldn’t remember any African ports with only 4 letters for 1dn, and was trying to justify ‘raillery’ (‘banter’, hence ‘passing comments’) for 1ac (‘lines’ could have been ‘ll’ or ‘ry’). Had I seen the theme, which was obvious enough, I might have got ORANGE a bit sooner. I did wonder where RED had got to out of the RAINBOW/SPECTRUM but of course it’s half the answer to 28ac.

    CoD has to be AB INITIO for its surface misdirection, with BRAND-NEW a close second.

    Thanks, Radian and RatkojaRiku

  4. Dormouse
    #4 - Tue 2nd May 17, 21:43

    I found this quite a slog but I did finish it, even if I couldn’t parse several, so thanks for the explanations.

    I totally failed to spot both themes. I had a Sinclair Spectrum.

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