Independent 9,963 / Radian

Radian’s latest puzzle has been published today for our stimulation and entertainment.

I notice that it uses a grid that was originally just a Telegraph grid, from what I can remember. Overall, I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle, the most challenging aspect of which was some more unusual vocabulary, e.g. at 13 and 22. It also took me a while to fathom out what was happening at 11, as this is not the most obvious meaning of “disarm”.

My favourite clues today were 17, 18 and 28, all for smoothness of surface. I was a little intrigued by the inclusion of the article in the grid entry at 12, where the omission of the article might have been expected.

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

Across

01	DOWNFALL	Ruin county initially for everybody DOWN (=county, in Northern Ireland) + F<or> (“initially” means first letter only) + ALL (=everybody)

05	FATHER	Corpulent woman’s old man FAT (=corpulent) + HER (=woman’s); “old man” is slang for father

09	INCREASE	Augment batting? Cryptically, a cricketer who is batting could be described as being “in (his) crease”

10	SACRUM	One in meeting at Murrayfield needs backbone A (=one) in SCRUM (=meeting at Murrayfield, i.e. in a rugby match); the sacrum is a triangular bone formed of five fused vertebrae

12	THE THRONE	Put monarch ultimately thereon, unsteadily <pu>T <monarc>H + (THEREON); “ultimately” means last letter only is used; “unsteadily” is anagram indicator; semi- & lit.*

13	HAULM	Spoils first of Maggie Thatcher’s material HAUL (=spoils, e.g. of war) + M<aggie> (“first of” means first letter only); haulm is a kind of straw, hence used by a thatcher!

14	USES	Does exploit dwellings abandoned by Home Office <ho>USES (=dwellings); “abandoned by Home Office (=HO)” means letters “ho” are dropped

16	TRIREME	Announced attempt with soldiers in old boat Homophone (“announced”) of “try (=attempt)” + REME (=soldiers, i.e. Royal Engineers and Mechanical Engineers)

19	POSSESS	Sits still at first, absorbing son’s entrance S (=son) in [POSES (=sits, for artist) + S<till> (“at first” means first letter only)]; here “entrance” is a verb meaning to captivate, possess

21	FLAT	Jack may be needed to fix this // note Double definition; a jack might be needed to fix a flat tyre

24	EARTH	Conductor’s // lair Double definition; earth is a conductor of electricity

25	LOADSTONE	There’s nothing in boy’s mood that’s attractive O (=nothing) in [LAD’S (=boy’s) + TONE (=mood)]; loadstone is an alternative spelling of lodestone

27	IGNORE	Slight Roman gent scratching head <s>IGNORE (=Roman gent, i.e. an Italian man); “scratching head” means first letter is dropped; “slight” here is a verb meaning to ignore, snub

28	FLEAPITS	Grubby theatres bound to be acquired by suits LEAP (=bound) in FITS (=suits, as verb)

29	EVEN SO	All the same group of characters taken from Stevenson Hidden (“group of characters taken from”) in “stEVENSOn”

30	HYPERION	Hire pony groomed for Titanic figure *(HIRE PONY); “groomed” is anagram indicator; Hyperion was one of the twelve Titans in Greek mythology

Down

01	DAINTY	It’s pretty and it changed by end of July *(AND IT) + <jul>Y (“end of” means last letter only); “changed” is anagram indicator

02	WICKED	Naughty wife chose to go topless W (=wife) + <p>ICKED (=chose; “to go topless” means first letter is dropped); “wicked” can be mischievous, naughty

03	FLESH	This writer’s neglected himself, running up fat FLES<mi>H; “running up” indicates vertical reversal; “the writer (I’m)’s neglected” means letters “im” are dropped; “flesh” can mean excessive weight, hence “fat”

04	LESSONS	The Parisian children’s schoolwork LES (=the Parisian, i.e. a French word for the) + SONS (=children)

06	ARACHNIDA	Class with mites in it had arnica cultivated *(HAD ARNICA); “cultivated” is anagram indicator

07	HERCULES	Labour strongman, he’s stashed money raised ERCUL (LUCRE=money; “raised” indicates vertical reversal) in HE’S; the reference is to Hercules in Greek mythology and his twelve labours

08	REMEMBER	Don’t forget scripture branch R.E. (=scripture, i.e. Religious Education) + MEMBER (=branch, of tree)

11	MELT	Disarm group of upstanding gentlemen Hidden (“group of”) in reversal (“upstanding”) of “genTLEMan”; to melt can be to disarm, neutralise opposition, win over

15	SHEPHERDS	Pieces of ceramic protect hard disk guides [H (=hard) + EP (=disk, i.e. extended play record)] in SHERDS (=pieces of ceramics, an alternative spelling of shards)

17	APPETITE	Priest admitted to a slight desire P (=priest) in [A + PETITE (=slight, of figure)]

18	ESTRANGE	Distance at greens varies *(AT GREENS); “varies” is anagram indicator

20	SALT	Ancient Mariner‘s way to haul in a line [A + L (=line)] in ST (=way, i.e. street)

21	FRAILTY	Flaw in trial ordered in case of felony *(TRIAL) in F<elon>Y (“case of” means first and last letter only)

22	SOLIDI	Slashes independent firm first SOLID (=firm, robust) + I (=independent); a solidus is a stroke, oblique, slash, such as is used in fractions

23	REASON	The point of About a Boy RE (=about, concerning) + A + SON (=boy)

26	STALE	Hackneyed introduction to short story S<hort> (“introduction to” means first letter only) + TALE (=story)

12 comments on “Independent 9,963 / Radian”

Thanks for the blog, RR.

HAULM was a new word for me but I liked the clue.

This is the third puzzle in two months from Radian with the same theme. I won’t say any more just now but I counted eighteen references. Huge thanks to him for a super puzzle, which was right up my street.

PS: I think the clue for 11ac is also a clever oblique reference to the theme.

Sorry if this is a repeat. My first attempt seemingly vanished into the ether but I guess may reappear.

Couldn’t get the theme, even with Eileen’s hint (?11d), but there are quite a few ‘moral related’ words and it’s a Tuesday.

Overall I found this tricky, and was held up in the SW by clues such as POSSESS. Didn’t know HAULM and had only come across SOLIDI in the ‘librae, solidi, denarii’ sense. In my ignorance I thought ARACHNIDA only referred to spiders but clearly not.

I look forward to thematic enlightenment.

Thanks to Radian and RR.

Wordplodder @3 – I did mean 11ac, although 11dn is one of the theme words – my last one in, after I saw the theme.

We looked for a theme, but couldn’t see one, certainly not one with 18 references. Two characters from Greek myth (30ac, 7dn) hardly make a theme; we did wonder, though, if having a 1dn 17dn would make the 3dn 11dn off you, leaving you in a state of 21dn.

But the theme wasn’t needed to solve the puzzle, although we didn’t quite get it all; we had ‘flag’ for 21ac, as in ‘Union Jack’ and thinking that you might flag up something by means of a (foot)note in a document, although it obviously didn’t parse properly.

Nice puzzle, though. Thanks, Radian and RatkojaRiku.

PS: Eileen – unless there’s some subtlety in the unches I’ve missed, don’t you mean either 10ac or 12ac?

Thanks, allan_c – yes, I did mean 12ac [sorry, Wordplodder. 🙁 ] You’re on the right track with 3dn, 11dn . And the Greek myth characters do come into it.

I really wasn’t trying to be enigmatic @1 – I just didn’t want to spoil the fun too early. You only have to look up Radian’s last two puzzles. 😉

“Loadstone” isn’t an alternative spelling for “Lodestone”. Proceeding further with solving the crossword was pointless.

Dan Sutton @7 – Chambers, Collins and SOED all give this alternative spelling.

Hi Wordplodder and allan_c [and anyone else who thought it worthwhile proceeding] – presumably, you’ll have got there by now. If not, try

Hamlet I ii 133. 😉

Second occurrence of LOADSTONE in recent weeks. That spelling, which I didn’t know, was in a Sunday puzzle last month. (It doesn’t appear to be part of the Hamlet speech.)

Thanks Eileen. Yes, I had a look at the previous Radian puzzles/themes and guessed it must be something to do with Hamlet, though my knowledge of Hamlet and the works of Shakespeare in general is sadly lacking I’m afraid. Anyway I’ll be on the lookout when the next Radian puzzle appears.

Thanks again.

Thanks, Eileen, we did find it. Wordplodder, if Murphy’s Law holds good, the next Radian WON’T be themed on a Hamlet speech!

Collins:

loadstone [‘lEUd,stEUn] noun
a variant spelling of lodestone

Chambers:

lodestone or loadstone n a form of magnetite which exhibits polarity, behaving, when freely suspended, as a magnet; a magnet

OED:

loadstone
n noun variant spelling of lodestone.

I still remain surprised when people parade their lack of knowledge for all to see, making claims without any justification, but after Brexit and Trump maybe I’ll just have to get used to it.

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