Independent 9624 / Anglio

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This is Anglio’s 9th Indy puzzle and the fourth of his that we’ve blogged.

 

As with his previous offerings, there are excellent surfaces, crafty definitions and plenty of misdirections. The grid was slightly off-putting at first, as there are effectively four puzzles in the corners, each connected to the adjacent ones by only one entry. We ended up struggling to get into the SE corner, but it all fell into place in the end.

We’re still out of the country – now with a 7-hour time difference, and moving around a bit, so there may be a bit of a delay in responding to any comments.

Across
1   Youngsters boxing on ship – or training for it? (5-3)
PRESS-UPS PUPS (youngsters) round or ‘boxing’ RE (on) SS (ship)
5   One might be agile, diving around and letting nothing in (6)
GOALIE  Is this a cryptic definition or an &lit? It’s an anagram of AGILE – the anagrind is ‘diving around’ round or ‘letting in’ O (nothing) and the clue describes what a goalie might do
9   Conservative leaves criminal court – day one of hearing (8)
AUDITORY An anagram of cOURT without the ‘c’ (Conservative) and DAY I (one) -anagrind is ‘criminal’
10   Intense, raging fire in which five died (6)
FERVID An anagram of FIRE (anagrind is ‘raging’) round V (five) + D (died)
12   Predator exists thanks to natural adaptation (9)
TARANTULA TA (thanks) + an anagram of NATURAL – aground is ‘adaptation’
13   Trunks, we hear, in which Jack’s the centre of attention (5)
BOWLS A homophone of BOLES (trunks – of trees)
14   Ominous rainclouds beginning to appear – peg out clothes? (4)
DIRE R (first letter or ‘beginning’ of ‘rainclouds’) in or ‘clothed by’ DIE (peg out)
16   It’s right to be in love – not entirely a requirement for successful mating? (7)
ADAPTOR APT (right) in ADORe (love) without the last letter or ‘not entirely’
19   Chap takes a cab – one going off duty (4,3)
ROAD TAX ROD (chap) round or ‘taking’ A + TAXi (cab) with the ‘i’ (one) ‘going off’
21   Unclear about current music technology (4)
MIDI DIM (unclear) reversed or ‘about’ + I (current in Physics)
24   Port where two rivers converge (5)
DOVER DOVE (river in the Peak District) R (river)
25   Need extra key to gain entry (9)
ADDICTION ADDITION (extra) with C (key in music) ‘gaining entry’
27   Writer comes over to tour Britain, beginning in Edinburgh with iconic landmark (3,3)
BIG BEN NIB (writer) reversed or ‘coming over’ round or ‘touring’ GB (Britain) E (first letter or ‘beginning’ of Edinburgh
28   Skip cold, hard bit of enchilada that’s covered in cheese – no thanks! (8)
RICOCHET C (cold) H (hard) E (first letter or ‘bit’ of enchilada) ‘covered in RICOTta (cheese) without ‘ta’ (thanks)
29   Spielberg movie about South Africa, next to Zulu, is an inferior remake (6)
ERSATZ ET (Spielberg movie) round RSA (Republic of South Africa) + Z (Zulu in the phonetic alphabet)
30   Grant’s about to get reduced, unfortunately, for family (8)
CATEGORY CARY (Grant – film actor) round an anagram of TO GEt (without the last letter or ‘reduced’) – anagrind is ‘unfortunately’
Down
1   Factories left rubbish outside (6)
PLANTS L (left) with PANTS (rubbish) outside
2   Written another way, 8 – 2s = 7 (6)
ENDURE An anagram of END UsERs (8 down) without or minus the two ‘s’s – anagrind is ‘written another way’ – a synonym for ‘live with’ (7 down)
3   Assault witnessed in Sunday School (3,2)
SET ON S (Sunday) ETON (school)
4   In Cologne, force agent to lift essential documents (7)
PERFUME F (force) REP (agent) reversed of ‘lifted’ + docUMEnts (middle or ‘essential’ letters)
6   Futuristic transport heading off into the sea? (9)
OVERBOARD hOVERBOARD (futuristic transport as seen in the ‘Back to the Future’ films) without the first letter or ‘heading off’
7   Tolerate ridiculous view held by drunken husband (4,4)
LIVE WITH An anagram of VIEW (anagrind is ‘ridiculous’) in or ‘held by’ LIT (drunken) H (husband)
8   Rudeness irritated customers, finally (3,5)
END USERS An anagram of RUDENESS – anagram is ‘irritated’
11   Have eight pints at a party (4)
GALA GAL (gallon – eight pints) A
15   Cross delivered by Italian players, time and time again (9)
INTERSECT INTER (‘players’ Inter Milan – Italian football club) SEC (time) T (time ‘again’)
17   Reliable car, losing hub, can be taken in (8)
CREDIBLE CaR (‘losing’ the middle letter or ‘hub’) EDIBLE (‘can be taken in’)
18   City girl somehow gave in (3,5)
LAS VEGAS LASS (girl) with an anagram of GAVE ‘in’side – anagrind is ‘somehow’
20   Telling picture of men with guns and axes, embracing (1-3)
X-RAY RA (Royal Artillery – ‘men with guns’) ’embraced’ by X and Y (axes on a graph)
21   Served up endless dry cheese and fortified wine (7)
MADEIRA ARId (dry) without the last letter or ‘endless’ EDAM (cheese) all reversed or ‘served up’
22   Okay then, extremists have left town (6)
RIGHTO BRIGHTOn (town) without the first and last letters or ‘extremists’
23   Group captured in truck not typically problematic (6)
KNOTTY Group (of letters) hidden or ‘captured’ in trucK NOT TYpically
26   Job centre has opening, internally (5)
CHORE CORE (centre) with H (first letter or ‘opening’ of ‘has’) inside

 

8 comments on “Independent 9624 / Anglio”

  1. Thanks B&J for blog. I found this tough but pretty good-I’m still a little non-plussed on 13 and 16-I get the parsing but not the defs.
    And thanks Anglio.

  2. Copmus @1:
    Bowls is a game where the ‘Jack’ is the target for players to aim at -we’re not sure about the rules, but the player whose bowl (ball) is nearest the jack wins the ‘end’
    An adaptor is used to enable non-matching plugs and sockets to fit together or ‘mate’.
    Slightly dodgy definitions, but they do work!

  4. A bit of a toughie but not impossible. The interdependence of 2,7 and 8 was a bit daunting but one we’d got 7 and the crossing letters for 2 they all fell into place nicely. We’d agree that ADAPTOR is a bit of a dodgy definition also CATEGORY – our LOI – for ‘family’ although our thesaurus has some synonyms common to both.

    Plenty of good stuff. RICOCHET and MADEIRA were our favourites, but the we know our cheeses!

    Was the topicality of 27 just coincidence or did eimi allow it to jump the queue?

    Thanks, Anglio and B&J.

  6. The version I got of this puzzle had a different clue for 6 down: Balls bowled with old guard taking wicket — poor catch dropped here.

    How does that parse, how does “with old guard taking wicket” become BOARD?

    Thanks

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