Hob has provided today’s cruciverbal entertainment.
I found this to be quite a challenging puzzle overall. It was certainly hard for me to finish it and to parse everything satisfactorily, even though it was not that difficult to make inroads into at the start. I think that I have nonetheless managed to explain all the clues, at least to my own satisfaction, although I would be grateful for confirmation from fellow solvers of my parsing of 22D and 24D.
My favourites today were 13, for making me smile when the penny dropped; and above all 14A, for smoothness of surface. I also appreciated the references to popular culture – in e.g. 2, 3 … – which distinguish the Indy crossword from some other crosswords in quality dailies.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 09 | OVULATION | Start to open vault around 10 November? It’s a monthly occurrence
O<pen> (“start to” means first letter only) + *(VAULT) + IO (=10) + N (=November, i.e. call sign); “around” is anagram indicator |
| 10 | ADORE | Love announcing an entrance
Homophone of “a door” (=an entrance) |
| 11 | TEA TRAY | Source of milk? Light drinks carrier
TEAT (=source of milk) + RAY (=light) |
| 12 | LEARNED | Genned up on King Edward
LEAR (=King, in Shakespeare) = NED (=Edward, i.e. familiar form) |
| 13 | BECKS | Flowers, a former footballer
Cryptically, becks, streams are “flow-ers”; the reference is to Man U and England footballer David Beckham! |
| 14 | HANDLEBAR | Composer voiced some music as part of cycle
Homophone of “Handel (=composer)” + BAR (=some music); the cycle of the definition is, of course, a bicycle! |
| 16 | USURPER | One forcibly taking powerful position in Peru’s rugby union game
*(PERU’S + RU (=rugby union)); “game” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | BULLIED | Intimidated by American pal that’s eaten “lost” pork pie
[L (=lost, e.g. on pools coupon) + LIE (=pork pie, colloquially)] in BUD (=American pal, i.e. US term for friend) |
| 20 | HORSESHOE | Drug’s 8? That’s lucky for some
HORSE’S (=drug’s) + HOE (=weed, in garden, i.e. entry at 8) |
| 22 | PIPED | One wearing a johnny recalled having said something in a high, shrill voice
I (=one) in DEPP (=a Johnny); “recalled” indicates reversal |
| 23 | CHEVRON | Caught bird bearing a little vertical stripe
C (=caught, on cricket scorecard) + [V<ertical> (“a little” means first letter only) in HERON (=bird)] |
| 24 | DENARII | Earn 11d in change (old coins)
*(EARN 11D); “in change” is anagram indicator |
| 25 | BLESS | Bishop prefacing “inferior wishing well” interjection?
B (=bishop, in chess) + LESS (=inferior); you can say “bless (him/her)” to wish someone well |
| 26 | NULLIPARA | Childless female invalid, with one jumper in service
NULL (=invalid, void) + I (=one) PARA (=one jumper in service, i.e. paratrooper) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | TOOTHBRUSH | Item to be packed in the boot? Pointless round – hurry!
*(TH<e> BOOT) + RUSH (=hurry); “point (=E, i.e. east)-less” means letter “e” is dropped; “round” is anagram indicator |
| 02 | FU MANCHU | Evil genius of female friend that’s lost marks without being topped
<h>UMAN (=being; “being topped” means first letter is dropped in [F (=female) + CHU<m> (=friend; “that’s lost marks (=M)” means letter “m” is dropped)]; the reference is to the evil genius in the novels by the British writer Sax Rohmer |
| 03 | WALRUS | Almost certain a Jude’s rejected what Lennon said he was
SUR<e> (=certain; “almost” means last letter dropped) + LAW (=Jude, the British actor); “rejected” indicates reversal; the reference is to the 1967 Beatles hit “I Am The Walrus” |
| 04 | TINY | Very small beginnings of tash, if nobbut young
T<ash> I<f> N<obbut> Y<oung>; “beginnings of” means first letters only |
| 05 | INCLINABLE | One new gas in chart, not initially ready for listing?
I (=one) + N (=new) + CL (=gas, i.e. chlorine) + <t>ABLE (=chart; “not initially” means no first letter); the “listing” of the definition is tilting, leaning |
| 06 | PARALLEL | Type of bars with no meeting places
Parallel lines do not come together, hence they have “no meeting places”; parallel bars are found in a gymnasium |
| 07 | HOBNOB | Mix socially with setter, a person of high standing
HOB (=setter, i.e. of this puzzle) + NOB (=a person of high standing) |
| 08 | WEED | With United out of Europe, started to get pissed
E<urope> (“started” means first letter only) in WED (=united, married) |
| 14 | HARSHENING | Making rough drawing from Potiphar’s hen in Genesis
Hidden (“drawing from”) in “potipHARS HEN IN Genesis” |
| 15 | RED ADMIRAL | Flyer embarrassed naval officer
RED (=embarrassed) + ADMIRAL (=naval officer) |
| 17 | PLEURISY | Surely pipe’s half at fault for lung complaint
*(SURELY PI<pe>); “half” means two of four letters only are used; “at fault” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | IMPERIAL | Hob’s a fairy having annual vacation in August
I’M (=Hob, i.e. the setter of this crossword) + PERI (=fairy) + A<nnua>L (“vacation” means all but first and last letters are “vacated”, i.e. dropped); imperial is stately, i.e. august with a lower-case letter! |
| 21 | REEFER | Jacket // in which one smokes 8
A reefer is a type of jacket AND a cigarette containing marijuana (=weed, i.e. entry at 8) |
| 22 | PENCIL | Small change, almost £1, put back in drawer
PENC<e> (=small change; “almost” means last letter is dropped) + IL (L=£ + 1 (=one); “put back” indicates reversal); a pencil is a “drawer”, a drawing instrument |
| 23 | CUBE | Signal for action, involving head of BBC One?
B<bc> (“head of” means first letter only) in CUE (=signal for action); one is the cube of the number one, i.e. 1 x 1 x 1 |
| 24 | DALI | Painting of Welshman, about 50
L (=50, in Roman numerals) in DAI (=Welshman, i.e. a man’s name in Wales); e.g. a Dali (painting) was sold at auction for a million pounds |
Very entertaining. Knew 24D but the form of the word “painting” had me puzzled, so thanks for that. Also 2D, where got the answer but missed the parsing with “being topped” right at the end.
Slip in 17D where it’s the first half of PIpe that is used and the spelling is PLEURISY.
Thanks to Hob for a fine puzzle and to RatkojaRiku for the blog and parsings above.
Thanks Hob, RatkojaRiku
Good fun. IMPERIAL favourite, + CUBE, WEED, OVULATION. A bit of a Movember thing going on?
Good stuff. NULLIPARA was new to me and needed a word fit to get it. Wondered what IMPERIAL had to do with August. D’oh! Thanks to S&B.
Thanks to Gwep for pointing out my error – I have clearly been spelling “pleurisy” incorrectly all my life, not helped by the French spelling “pleurésie” ….
A tricky challenge. NULLIPARA was a new one on me and constructed from wordplay. Lots of well disguised definitions kept me guessing for a while. I was well fooled by HORSESHOE and spent ages looking for a Shoe at 8d which I never did completely parse. Inclinable was my LOI after finally spotting our tragic king, although I didn’t get a complete notice as I’d also misspelled PLEURESY. A proof read spotted the error. Thanks Hob and RatkojaRiku
http://www.brainjet.com/random/5466/13-official-types-of-mustaches/
Hob’s research?
Sorry, I’m trying in vain to post a link to a moustaches website
Will someone please tell me they also entered Gordon BANKS for 13ac and therefore bollocksed up that corner of the grid?
Thanks to S&B.
James @8
Your original comment was intercepted by the spam filter because it contained only a link and no text. I have now retrieved it from the spam folder. I have deleted your subsequent comment that was empty.
Anybody else have a problem with loading the puzzle? I started OK before 8a.m., a quick first pass but haven’t been able to load it on the iPhone app since, and pc version hangs after 2 or 3 clues.
iPhone was same on pub wi-fi so not my home router this time
To Paul A @11
I’ve had problems with extremely slow response through my web browsers. I use Firefox, Chrome and Edge with preference for Chrome, but recently I’ve had 15 or more second delays between selecting a clue and seeing the cursor move to the selected square. Even then if I don’t make an entry for a few seconds while I’m thinking, nothing happens when I make an entry and I have to select the grid position again. On Sunday the browser crashed completely and reset my desktop to lowest resolution to boot. Extremely frustrating! I mainly use a laptop over wi-fi(50meg) to a 100meg Virgin router, but even when I use my desktop over wired LAN I have the same issues. I used Firefox to complete Harry’s puzzle on Sunday, but it exhibited the same symptoms today so I went back to Chrome.
Thanks John@12, Firefox worked and it took no time at all to complete, largely thanks to having scrolled through this blog and picked up random answers on the way, e.g. NULLIPARA, which I hadn’t come across before. Thanks to S&B as well.
Mostly went in quickly, but there were several at the end, mainly in the top left, where I had to resort to word searches and even when I’d got them, I couldn’t parse them, so thanks for all the explanations. I couldn’t even decide if 7dn was WEED or PEED, which didn’t help with 20ac.
Quite a stiff challenge, but we got there in the end after a much racking of brains. We even got NULLIPARA having a vague recollection of coming across a word for a childless female, fortunately there are very few words beginning N-L… so it was easy to check in the dictionary. Presumably there’s also an adjective, nulliparous, related to viviparous (bearing live young) and oviparous (laying eggs).
But we missed the theme – had we spotted it we might have got the NW corner a lot quicker than we did. Lots to enjoy, though, including the 8/20/21 link using three different meanings of WEED, and the write-ins of HOBNOB and RED ADMIRAL.
Thanks, Hob and RatkojaRiku – and James for the tache link.
I have just been trying to load this one and after 5 attempts the Independent’s software has given me today’s eXternal every time, so something there is broken again…
Hi, beery hiker. E-mail me at exit[dot]xword[at]virginmedia.com and I’ll e-mail you a hard copy.
Sorry Allan – I have only just seen your reply, I did manage to print it myself later in the day, but I have only just finished it. All very Puckish.
Thanks to Hob and RR