Independent 9,747 / Radian

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Radian has provided today’s crossword for our delectation.

After all the tough cruciverbal challenges of the festive season, I was glad to come up against this puzzle, which involved far less head-scratching but which was nonetheless highly enjoyable.

I think that I have parsed everything satisfactorily, perhaps with the exception of the precise number of definitions crammed into 2 – I have come up with five but I may be wrong. The organisation at 16A was new to me, but this can be attributed to my age and general ignorance. On 5, I think that this is the first time that I have encountered the “coat” device used when a different number of letters is dropped at each end of the word.

As for my favourite clues, I rather liked 1D, 18 and 26, all for surface. What I particularly like about Radian’s clues is the frequent shifts in grammatical function of words from the surface reading of the clues to their form when parsed: for example, in 27, “means” is a verb meaning “intends” in the surface reading, but it is to be read as a noun meaning “way, instrument” in the parsing.

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

Across    
     
01 SLOGAN Hospital nurses register The War Cry

LOG (=register, record) in SAN (=hospital, i.e. abbreviation of sanatorium); a slogan was originally a clan war cry
     
04 HERALD To cure duke, queen brought in paper

R (=queen, i.e. regina) in [HEAL (=cure) + D (=duke)]; e.g. the International Herald Tribune is a (news)paper
     
09 BEND Corner indefinite number engaged in plot

N (=indefinite number, in mathematics) in BED (=plot, e.g. for flowers); a corner is e.g. a bend in the road
     
10 CEREMONIAL Coal miner in dispute with energy official

*(COAL MINER + E (=energy)); “in dispute” is anagram indicator
     
11 CHARGE Attack burn, say, from the east

CHAR (=burn, scorch) + GE (E.G.=say, for example; “from the east” indicates reversal)
     
12 SINISTER Forbidding nun to ring home

IN (=(at) home) in SISTER (=nun); “forbidding” as an adjective means sinister, ominous
     
13 ADMITTING Acknowledging hand in a racket with government

MITT (=hand, colloquially) in [A + DIN (=racket) + G (=government)]
     
15 LILY The Italian stops extremely lovely girl

IL (=the Italian, i.e. an Italian word for the) in L<ovel>Y (“extremely” means first and last letters only)
     
16 ENSA Service entertainers each holding poles

[N S (=poles, i.e. north and south)] in EA (=each); ENSA is the Entertainments National Service Association was responsible for entertaining the troops in WWII
     
17 STATUS QUO Band‘s standing quota? No thank you

STANDING (=status) + QUO<ta> (“no thank you (=TA)” means letters “ta” are dropped); the reference is to the English rock band Status Quo, which was formed in the 1960s
     
21 PEDIGREE Poke about in wee tree

[DIG (=poke, as in to poke/dig around) + RE (=about, concerning)] in PEE (=wee, i.e. urine); pedigree is ancestry, lineage, hence (family) tree
     
22 IBERIA Current airline once covered Rhode Island peninsula

I (=current, in physics) + [RI (=Rhode Island) in BEA (=airline once, i.e. British European Airways)]
     
24 LIEUTENANT Tale by lodger gripping snooty officer

U (=snooty, i.e. upper-class) in [LIE (=tale, falsehood) + TENANT (=lodger)]
     
25 TOOL Excessively large puppet

TOO (=excessively) + L (=large, of clothing size); a puppet is a tool, instrument (of another)
     
26 CRESTS Tops summit in Cairngorms, then relaxes

C<airngorms> (“summit in” means first letter only) + RESTS (=relaxes); crests are the tops of e.g. waves
     
27 WEAPON Bairn grabbing potty means to hurt someone

PO (=potty, chamberpot) in WEAN (=bairn, i.e. child, in Scottish)
     
DOWN    
     
01 SEETHED Saw red article boring children

THE (=article) in SEED (=children, issue)
     
02 ORDER Maybe monks // will // organise // rule // book

Multiple definitions: an order of monks, will/bidding, to organise/order/sort, a rule/order, to book/order e.g. tickets!
     
03 ANCIENT Old area, nice ground saved by conservationists

A (=area) + [*(NICE) in NT (=conservationists, i.e. National Trust)]; “ground (up)” is anagram indicator
     
05 ERMINE Animal determined to shed coat

<det>ERMINE<d>; “to shed coat” suggests (here unequal number of) letters are dropped at beginning and end of word
     
06 AGNOSTICS For doubters, head of audit worked out costings

A<udit> (“head of” means first letter only) + *(COSTINGS); “worked out” is anagram indicator
     
07 DRAPERY Copier installed in dull clothing business

APER (=copier, i.e. one that copies, apes) in DRY (=dull)
     
08 ARMS AND THE MAN Play: diverting drama with anthems about knight

N (=knight) in *(DRAMA + ANTHEMS); “diverting” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the 1894 play by George Bernard Shaw
     
14 INSTITUTE Found truck following popular small bird

IN (=popular) + S (=small, of clothing sizes) + TIT (=bird) + UTE (=truck, i.e. utility truck/vehicle); to institute is to found, set up
     
16 ELEGIAC Sad English stage actor denied rise to tour India

I (=India, in radio telecommunications) in [E (=English) + LEG (=stage, phase) + AC<tor> (“denied rise (=tor, rocky height)” means letters “tor” are dropped)]
     
18 THISTLE Man’s replacing one in newspaper plant

TITLE (=newspaper); “man‘s (=his) replacing one (=I)” means letter “i” is replaced by “his”
     
19 UNICORN Wanting leader, Merseyside town brings in one fabulous creature

I (=one) in <r>UNCORN (=Merseyside town; “wanting leader” means first letter is dropped)
     
20 ARGENT White paintings, for example, full of information

GEN (=information) in ART (=paintings, for example); argent is white in heraldry
     
23 ESTOP European trophies over bar

E (=European) + STOP (POTS=trophies; “over” indicates vertical reversal); to estop is to bar, prevent
     
     

 

9 comments on “Independent 9,747 / Radian”

  1. All fairly straightforward though we had a few headscratching moments.  15ac came easily as it’s the name of our granddaughter.  As to the ‘coat’ device in 5dn, we thought it a bit odd at first but then decided it referred to the two words ‘determined to’, which just about works.

    Hands up who spelt 16dn as ‘elegaic’ before getting 24ac.

    Plenty to like, including SINISTER, IBERIA and THISTLE.

    Thanks, Radian and RatkojaRiku.

  2. Thanks Radian and RatkojaRiku

    At a loose end this morning, I had a go at this (I don’t usually attempt the Independent). Very pleasant, though not particularly exciting. UNICORN was favourite.

    I raised an eyebrow at ARGENT, thinking it meant silver. It does indeed in heraldry, but apparently is often depicted as white; I think Wiki said “argent and white are used interchangeably”.

  3. Very enjoyable at a pleasant canter.  I don’t know all the heraldry references, but there seem to be an impressive lot of them.

    Faves DRAPERY, WEAPON, and the neatly tragicomic ERMINE

    Thanks Radian, RR

  4. I really liked the heraldry theme which lead me to do some further reading. Almost a whole new language devoted to the subject, including the use of ‘difference’ as a verb. Fascinating.

    Missed those definitions for 2d. Very clever to have spotted them all.

    Thanks to Radian and RR.

  5. A straighforward solve with only my penultimate, ESTOP, stimulating the deepest recesses of my memory. BEND was my FOI and I proceeded round the grid from NW to NE and SW, finishing in the SE with WEAPON. Having been caught out by ELEGAIC in the past, I got it right first time here! Thanks Radian and RR.

  7. A few of elements were new to me (most notably like 16a) but all gettable and good fun. I remembered to look for a theme but can’t spot anything. Thanks to Radian and RatkojaRiku.

  8. Thanks for the blog, RR.

    I think Mr Anderson might have had a book on heraldry for Christmas: his Crucible puzzle in the Guardian on 29th December was on the same theme and I haven’t spotted any duplicates [apart from  WEAPON*, in the singular this time, which is quite a feat].  And I didn’t even see it until James @3 pointed it out – doh!

    * I loved this clue: I had the first three of my four children in Northern Ireland, where I got used to them being called weans. 😉

    I also really liked ARMS AND THE MAN: we performed this play at school while we were studying it for O Level.

    Many thanks, Radian, for an enjoyable puzzle and for happy memories.

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