Independent 9,546 / Serpent

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Serpent has provided today’s cruciverbal challenge, with what might be described as a semi-ghost theme.

The entry at 17 reveals a (ghost) theme running through all of the across solutions, not just 20, whose definition refers explicitly to a 17. It was about halfway through solving the puzzle that I realised what Serpent had done with the across entries, but given how obscure most of them were (no packs, herds or flocks!), this realisation didn’t actually speed up the solving process. That said, once the grid was completed, there was a lot of fun to be had tracing what these collective nouns referred to on Google.

Overall, I found this to be a fairly tough solve, especially in the SE corner of the grid: 19 was new to me and it took me a very long time to see what was happening at 28. My favourite clues today were 21, for making me smile when I understood the definition part; and the aforementioned 28, where the answer was literally staring me in the face all along but where the very smooth surface reading made cracking the cryptic so hard, at least for me.

P.S. I wonder what the collective noun is for serpents?!

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

Across  
   
09 CLAMOUR Uproar about start of love affair in Paris

C (=about, i.e. circa) + L<ove> (“start of” means first letter only) + AMOUR (=affair in Paris, i.e. French word for an affair, liaison); a clamour of rooks
   
10 ARSENAL Engineer learns atomic bombs could be stored here

*(LEARNS + A (=atomic, as in A-bomb)); “engineer” is anagram indicator; an arsenal of guns
   
11 TROOP Band having little time to make a comeback

POOR (=having little) + T (=time); “make a comeback” indicates a (here full) reversal; a troop of dancers, apes, dogfish
   
12 TITTERING Women playing no part in prattling and silly laughter

T<w>ITTERING (=prattling); “women (=W) playing no part in” means letter “w” is dropped; a tittering of magpies
   
13 CAST Throw // die, perhaps, // to select who takes part

Triple definition: to cast is “to select who takes (a) part”, role in a play, film; a cast of hawks, actors
   
14 SHREWDNESS Wit sends up harridan to begin with

SHREW (=harridan) + *(SENDS); “up” indicates anagram
   
17 COLLECTIVE NOUNS Gather setter has sense to include new across entries

COLLECT (=gather) + I’VE (=setter has) + [N (=new) in NOUS (=sense)]; all across entries in the grid are collective nouns, as explained after each of them
   
20 DISGUISING Bunch of tailors being scornful about adopting graphical user interface

GUI (=Graphical User Interface) in DISSING (=being scornful); a disguising of tailors
   
23 BALE Large bundle of notes perhaps paid to release suspect broadcast

Homophone (“broadcast”) of “bail” (=paid to release suspect from custody); a bale of turtles
   
25 OBEISANCE Honour lives with an ecclesiastical institution’s mark of respect

OBE (=honour, i.e. Order of the British Empire) + IS (=lives) + AN + CE (=ecclesiastical institution, i.e. Church of England); an obeisance of servants
   
26 CROWD Press dispute covered by digital medium

ROW (=dispute, argument) in CD (=digital medium); a crowd of people, onlookers
   
27 SCATTER Broadcast wreckage of test car

*(TEST CAR); “wreckage of” is anagram indicator; a scatter of ravers
   
28 THUNDER Rail lines beneath Underground

Hidden (“lines”, i.e. provides a lining for) in “beneaTH UNDERground”; to rail against is to thunder against, speak vehemently against; a thunder of dragons
   
Down  
   
01 ACETIC ACID Heard reclusive man-child regularly shunned rank compound

Homophone (“heard”) of “ascetic” (=reclusive) +<m>A<n> C<h>I<l>D (“regularly shunned” means alternate letters only are used)
   
02 CAROUSEL Briefly call round to wake up baggage handler

ROUSE (=wake up) in CAL<l> (“briefly” means last letter dropped); cryptically, carousels at airports are baggage “handlers”
   
03 CORPS Army unit overcoming resistance with police officers

R (=resistance) in COPS (=police officers)
   
04 CROTCHET Short bad-tempered one regularly found in bar

CROTCHET<y> (=bad-tempered); “short” means last letter is dropped; a crotchet is a musical note, i.e. “one regularly found in bar” (of music)
   
05 CASTLE Move king to safer place // in fortress

Double definition: in chess, to move (a) king to safer place is to castle
   
06 ASCENDING Sing and dance about being promoted

*(SING + DANCE); “about” is anagram indicator
   
07 INSIDE Home team’s position offering an advantage

IN (=(at) home) + SIDE (=team)
   
08 PLUG Boxer stopped by left jab?

L (=left) in PUG (=boxer; i.e. pugilist); to plug is to punch with the fist, i.e. to jab
   
15 SUSPENDERS English poet’s written about American method of keeping one’s pants on

US (=American) in SPENDER’S (=English poet’s); the reference is to English poet and novelist Stephen Spender (1909-95)
   
16 REQUISITE Particular requirement exists to fill out return

IS (=exists) in REQUITE (=return, e.g. someone’s love; to reciprocate)
   
18 VENDETTA Sell when one is expected to preserve tense and bitter rivalry

VEND (=sell) + [T (=tense, in grammar) in ETA (=when one is expected, i.e. “estimated time of arrival”)]
   
19 UNA CORDA Confused candour with a sign to soft-pedal

*(CANDOUR + A); “confused” is anagram indicator; una corda is a musical instruction to a pianist to use the soft pedal
   
21 SEESAW Witness observed pivotal childhood experience

SEE (=(to)witness) + SAW (=observed); cryptically, a seesaw offers a “pivotal” childhood experience!
   
22 SENTRY Guard‘s arrival providing support for head of security

S<ecurity> (“head of” means first letter only) + ENTRY (=arrival)
   
24 SCRUB Withdraw credit involved in offshore vehicle

CR (=credit) in SUB (=offshore vehicle, i.e. submarine)
   
25 OUST Overthrow Socialist leader dividing public

S<ocialist> (“leader” means first letter only) in OUT (=public, open)
   
   

 

14 comments on “Independent 9,546 / Serpent”

  1. I too was about halfway through when I got 17ac and realised what was going on. I think, though, it’s a bit more than a ghost theme as some of the across answers were a bit obscure in their 17ac meanings.

    14ac, a SHREWDNESS, is apparently another term for a collection of apes.

    I liked the musical references, i.e. CROTCHET and UNA CORDA. Also CAROUSEL, musical in a slightly different sense.

    Thanks, Serpent and RatkojaRiku

  2. Really enjoyable crossword from Serpent, as ever immaculately clued.
    I am not going to single out any of the clues as the quality is so consistent.

    A nice find, the theme built around 17ac.
    However, to me it wasn’t helpful at all (like a nina sometimes is).

    Many thanks RR (there’s a ‘typo’ in the solution to 24d).

    Oh, and if I had to be picky [but I don’t have to], I think it was a pity that ‘requirement’ and ‘requisite’ are so close (in 16d).

  3. Lovely crossword of consistently high quality so no one clue singled out.

    Is it just me being cynical or are some of the collective nouns we see quoted not just here nothing more than cobblers someone once made up and shoved onto the internet? All the above are found on the wiki page https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_collective_nouns_by_collective_term but how dd they get there? A cluster of cats? A clashing of economists?

    Some of them rank in my book with the false etymology one sometimes finds for idioms, where someone’s pet and completely made up definition somehow gets treated as gospel on certain sites.

    grouch grumble moan…

    Thanks Serpent and RatkojaRiku

  4. Chalk me up as another who solved 17ac about halfway through but still struggled.

    And chalk me up as another who really enjoyed it. Great clueing as always from Serpent, who’s becoming something of a regular fixture (and deservedly so).

    Thanks to S&B

  5. Didn’t have a clue about most of the 17a and Doofs @3 may well have a point, but I still enjoyed this and wasn’t too fussed about whether all the across clues were thematic. Most musical terms are a mystery to me so I had to guess UNA CORDA (though not CROTCHET) and I’m glad I wasn’t alone in being fooled for ages by the hidden THUNDER. Yes, ‘pivotal childhood experience ‘ was good, and I also liked the triple def for CAST.

    I know coming up with invented collective nouns is a bit naff (well, more than a bit naff), but guilty as charged, so I’ll offer a ‘slithering’ of serpents.

    Thanks to Serpent and RR.

  6. Nice stuff, I thought. Bit tougher than the setter’s last outing, but not so hard I couldn’t do it (well, save for 4d which I missed). Lots of solid clueing throughout, but my honours today go to the well-implemented theme wot I thought very smoothly done. Cheers to The Snake for a nice puzzle and to RR for the blog.

  7. In the end, 23ac defeated me.

    Didn’t have my favourite, the collective noun for bankers, a wunch.

  8. Many thanks serpent

    Immensely enjoyable

    Same story, got 17a mid-solve with a resounding clang, and actually it did help me guess some of the remaining across clues. I missed 23a, though. And I wasn’t quite sure what was going on in 20a, should have googled – though it was a pre 17a entry.

    My favourites are 9a, 28a, and 21d, but they were all good and I’m really impressed with grid fill and surfaces

    Many thanks rr for the bog (esp 23a and 20a)

  9. Many thanks to RatkojaRiku for the excellent blog, and to everyone who has posted for the appreciative comments.

    Cheers

    Jason

  10. Brilliant stuff again from Serpent, theme went over my head and agree that some of the CNs are fatuous latter-day inventions. Delighted to finish – except, like @7Dormouse, couldn’t get the four letter killer _A_E, found this pretty annoying, but on re-reading clue should have got it.

    Minor parsing error at 1D, “regularly missed” from {m}A{n} C{h}I{l}D.

    Thanks to Serpent and RatkojaRiku.

  12. Thanks for pointing out the 2 typos, now corrected. I do say “SEMI-ghost theme”, to cater for the point raised by allan_c

  13. Sorry, I also meant to point out a minor error in 11a. The clue reads ‘having little’, rather than ‘have little’; and it is ‘having little’, rather than just ‘little’, that indicates POOR.

    Cheers

    Jason

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