Vigo has always been marginally difficult: not horribly so, but significantly. This crossword I found almost as easy as anything the Independent ever produces, and amazingly so for a Tuesday, which is usually one of the harder days. Not that that is a bad thing: it’s a positive on blogging day, and in any case the crossword itself was a good one: simple clues, but all sound and enjoyable. My only carp is with the use (twice, I think) of ‘with’ as a link-word, something that I find almost impossible to justify on logical grounds, although I have seen people who know rather more about these things than I do making a case for it.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
No, I couldn’t see anything, but that means nothing much.
| Across | ||
| 1 | EAST SIDE | Disturbed sadist surrounded by drugs somewhere in Manhattan (4,4) |
| E(sadist)*E | ||
| 5 | SHADOW | Trail commercial during performance (6) |
| sh(ad)ow | ||
| 9 | CALLINGS | Careers about with head of little fish (8) |
| ca l{ittle} lings | ||
| 10 | BREEZY | Fresh beer brewed by two unknowns (6) |
| (beer)* z y | ||
| 12 | POSTERITY | Succeeding generations notice that thing on end of chimney (9) |
| poster it {chimne}y | ||
| 13 | INDIA | I help Northern Ireland after reversal (5) |
| (aid NI)rev. — the definition simply I, as in the NATO alphabet | ||
| 14 | PLAY | Quietly put down toy (4) |
| p lay | ||
| 16 | ERASURE | Long period of time certain to result in obliteration (7) |
| era sure | ||
| 19 | ALLEGED | Everything, say, European dictator initially claimed (7) |
| all eg E d{ictator} | ||
| 21 | CREW | Men used to brag (4) |
| 2 defs, one of them the same as crowed | ||
| 24 | COMET | Arrive with time to see one pulling 29? (5) |
| come t — ref Santa’s reindeer, since 29 is SLEIGH [thanks everyone who has pointed out my incompetent attempts to get this right. Hope OK now] | ||
| 25 | RUNABOUTS | Little cars surprisingly outran bus (9) |
| (outran bus)* | ||
| 27 | SPIRIT | Tears back to get vermouth and gin perhaps? (6) |
| (rips)rev. It. | ||
| 28 | DECANTER | Hesitation after famous Geordie duo swap places with bottle (8) |
| Dec Ant er — they’re known as Ant and Dec so they swap places — not sure about the ‘with’ | ||
| 29 | SLEIGH | This form of transport is murder to one’s ears (6) |
| “slay” | ||
| 30 | STRETCHY | Way to gag Yankee with elastic (8) |
| st retch Y — is this another use (some would say misuse) of ‘with’ as a link-word, or is the definition ‘with elastic’? I fear the former. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ESCAPE | Avoid regularly tense head (6) |
| {t}e{n}s{e} cape | ||
| 2 | SPLASH | Place in frame to display prominently (6) |
| s(pl)ash — window frame | ||
| 3 | SNIPE | Bird getting leg up in South East (5) |
| S(nip)E, the nip being (pin)rev. | ||
| 4 | DIGNIFY | Exalt if dinghy is wrecked having lost front of hull (7) |
| (if dinghy – h)*, the h being h{ull} | ||
| 6 | HURRICANE | Fly murderer, say, into storm (9) |
| “hurry Cain” | ||
| 7 | DREADFUL | Frightful child read full-length extract (8) |
| Hidden in chilD READ FULl-length | ||
| 8 | WAYFARER | Direction to get charge right for traveller (8) |
| way [= direction] fare R | ||
| 11 | BYTE | Storage unit in tomb many don’t use finally (4) |
| {tom}b {man}y {don’}t {us}e | ||
| 15 | LIGHTNING | Weather conditions providing illumination around the beginning of night (9) |
| light(n)ing, the n being n{ight} | ||
| 17 | NARCOSIS | Managed upset, cold, old relative in stupor (8) |
| (ran)rev. c o sis — I’ve never heard anyone seriously calling their sister ‘sis’, but the three letters often occur in that order so crossword setters are probably more familiar with the term than the general public | ||
| 18 | SLIMLINE | Nothing rises in ooze that’s thinner than usual (8) |
| slim(lin)e, the lin being (nil)rev. | ||
| 20 | DART | River in Dutch painting (4) |
| D art | ||
| 21 | CONCEPT | Charlie, on one occasion, exercises theory (7) |
| C once PT | ||
| 22 | RUSTIC | Simple citrus concoction (6) |
| (citrus)* | ||
| 23 | OSPREY | Very large game bird (6) |
| OS prey | ||
| 26 | BLAZE | Burn bottom off jacket (5) |
| blaze{r} | ||
*anagram
Thanks Vigo and John
I enjoyed this puzzle, and am not too fussed about the use of link words, but then I’m pretty happy to give setters leeway.
SIS also no problem, as my wife refers to both her sisters that way.
Minor point re 24 & 29: I think the reference is to Santa’s reindeer, not Snow White’s dwarfs.
Oh, and there seems to be a drink-related theme running through.
Thans Simon S. Of course. Blog amended.
Agree with everything Simon said (no pun intended). I did take the definition in 30a to include ‘with’ but don’t mind its linking use in 28a.
The theme isn’t drink-related – it is to do with types of dinghy, some of which I knew and others ….
Whoops! Now Snow White has reindeer. A second amendment needed methinks.
Indeed. I wondered who’d be the first to notice that. Blog yet again amended.
Most enjoyable – many thanks to John and Vigo.
My favourites today were BREEZY, POSTERITY, RUNABOUTS and STRETCHY.
As always, an enjoyable and well-written puzzle from Vigo albeit very much at the friendly end of the spectrum. On the other hand, yesterday’s Serpent was v tough, I thought, so perhaps Eimi is mixing up his deliveries (if I am permitted a cricketing metaphor, @Kathryn’s dad)
I thought the theme was likely to revolve around names like OSPREY, COMET, HURRICANE, BLAZE etc. which sounded a bit like comic book heroes but nothing came up in my search…now I know why, thanks @crypticsue!
Thanks to Vigo and John
Thanks Vigo and John.
Enjoyable, on the gentle side, but nothing wrong with that.
I didn’t much like the use of ‘with’ as a linker, but no real crime committed.
I didn’t see the theme, thanks crypticsue.
Easy but not a doddle. Surprised I didn’t spot the theme, especially with the hint dropped in the clue to 4dn and maybe 21ac. I’ve counted 6 thematic answers but there may be more unknown to me. Actually there might be more than one theme – how about weather with 10ac, 6dn and 15dn?
Plenty to like, including POSTERITY, DECANTER and SLIMLINE.
Thanks, Vigo and John.
Nice stuff, I thought. Vigo really knows how to set ’em nice and easy and I’d wager the deceptively simple construction she uses is a good place for beginners to get going in crossies and learn about the different bits in them.
Did this sub 30mins so very fast for me, but still had a good few to get my brain cell working. Didn’t spot the theme (add me as another who thought superheroes in the Marvel mould) and me fave clues were 27 and 29a.
Thanks to The Inflatable for the dinghy, but not at all dingy, puzzle and also to John for the blog. BTW, I’m happy with ‘with’ going both ways as a link, but only use it occasionally going from WP to def meself.
Straightforward but pleasant.
Like most fish species, ling in the plural is still ling, not lings.
Mr Crabtree @13: Yes, I and my apprentice solver thought most fish species to be the same in the plural – the only exception we could think of were dabs and anchovies (apart from kippers and bloaters but they’re processed anyway). But we checked in Collins which gives ‘ling or lings’ as the plural of ling, although Chambers doesn’t give either. Shellfish, of course, are different, e.g. crabs, mussels, oysters etc.
Thank you to John for the blog and to everyone who took the time to comment. In case anyone wants to know, the dinghies are: shadow, comet, spirit, escape, splash, snipe, hurricane, wayfarer, byte, lightning, concept, osprey, dart and blaze. I can see that many of these could be superhero names but not convinced OSPREY has much to offer on that front.., Maybe I just don’t know enough about Osprey/Ospreys?
Victoria