Independent crossword 9997 by Punk

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As the temperature plummets, the days shorten – it is always a pleasure to see a Punk puzzle.

As always, some lovely original clues. The mathematician in me liked 8ac, even if it took me a while to see it !

5dn was very original and 1dn made me chuckle.

4dn required a bit of lateral thinking, but was very ingenious.

The parsing of 11ac has me a little perplexed.

Many thanks Punk – must admit to not being aware of Emo as a form of punk.

Underline definition; * anagram; DD double definition; Rev. reverse

Across

8 Move to Africa, then Leatherhead! (9)

(to Africa)* + L = FACTORIAL (! is the mathematical symbol for it)

9 19 Down east, north or south, going west (5)

Rev. (E (east) + Pole (north or south) = ELOPE

10 Juvenile, as old player Alan? (7)

Alan Ladd like = LADDISH

11 Hatchet Henry arrested? (7)

h (Henry) in copper (as in arrested? – “taken in by policeman”) = CHOPPER

12 Behind Spanish car (4)

DD Seat / SEAT = SEAT

14 Northern Ireland overwhelmed by tiny advance of ancient civilisation (10)

Baby (Tiny) + load (advance) around NI (Northern Ireland) =  BABYLONIAN

15 Bare, stealing kiss, so deep in trouble (7)

(so deep)* around x (kiss) = EXPOSED

17 Better going through Odessa, Prussians in retreat (7)

Rev. Hidden odeSSA PRUSsians = SURPASS

18 Governor finding currency framework hit hard in recession (4,6)

Rev.(Yen (currency) + rack (framework) + ram (hit hard))= MARK CARNEY

20 March the first for David and Punk (4)

D (first for David) + emo(punk – as in music)= DEMO

21 A game where drawing may lead to defeat? (7)

Cryptic definition = HANGMAN

22 One after the other, keys let down (7)

order of keys D, E flat, E = DEFLATE

25 More accomplished Ibsen role needing no introduction (5)

Gabler (Ibsen role) – g = ABLER

26 More than one weakness is a trifle embarrassing (9)

(is a trifle)* = FRAILTIES

Down

1 As a cake may be the morning after St Andrew’s Day, thrown up (4)

Rev. (December 1st (Dec 1) ) = ICED

2 Native American tribe in Idaho, Piscataway (4)

Hidden idaHO PIscataway = HOPI

3 Picked up incorrectly, stray is harmed (8)

(is harmed)* = MISHEARD

4 Daring, in the manner of one stripping down? (6)

Plucky (strip down (feathers) like) = PLUCKY

5 Every second in bother? Time to begin operation (4,4)

bOtHeR = 0Hr = ZERO HOUR

6 Muddle a hundred Ptolemaic forms (10)

(a + c + Ptolemaic)* = COMPLICATE

7 Rate two persons high, as very tall twins (8,6)

(Rate two persons)* = PETRONAS TOWERS

8 Satisfied second crew leading with total enthusiasm and energy (4,5,5)

Full (satisfied) + s (second) + team (crew) + ahead (leading) = FULL STEAM AHEAD

13 A payment in use, on the face of it (10)

a rent (a payment) in apply (use) = APPARENTLY

16 US store raised deposit for large plant (8)

Rev. Macys (US store) + ore (deposit) = SYCAMORE

17 Sport spent a penny investing in power (8)

Peed (spent a penny) in sway (power) = SPEEDWAY

19 Trump buries negative comment in final electoral challenge (3-3)

ruff(trump) around no (negative comment) = RUN OFF

23 Touched cloth (4)

DD FELT

24 Almost wrong, authors’ name (4)

Amiss (wrong) – s = AMIS

7 comments on “Independent crossword 9997 by Punk”

  1. Loved this. Really struggled in places but completed, apart from not parsing DEFLATE. I saw DEF as consecutive notes then LA TE similarly but this didn’t work. Rats! So obvious once explained.

    Fortunately ‘ruff’ meaning ‘trump’ was in a recent cryptic and I haven’t had time to forget it yet.

    I’m a mathematician, so 8a was my favourite. Not sure EMO counts as ‘punk’ so much as something heavily influenced by punk but am willing to accept it.

    Parsed 11a as you did and don’t have any problems with it. Quite inventive I thought.

    Thanks to Punk and twencelas.

  2. Mark carney was a bit obscure for me although I somehow dug him up.

    But I loved DEFLATE-pretty much a perfect clue.

    A fine Punk but I enjoyed hi Graun Prize more still

    What with Julius alphabetical in FT, a good prile of puzzles.

  3. Couldn’t finish this unaided.    I was sure that 18ac was someone called Mary.   I couldn’t parse 22ac and thought emo and punk were different, but not my field of expertise in music (he said, listening to Handel’s Jephtha).

    8ac appealed to the mathematician in me, too.

    As to 23dn, there’s a slang meaning that may have been intended.  A few years ago Charlie Brooker did a series of spoof cop shows called A Touch of Cloth.  I was surprised to learn that to touch cloth means to be so in need of the lavatory that one has soiled one’s underpants.

  4. As it’s a Prize, there will be no current blog/comment on the FT puzzle today, so I’m presuming to use this space instead.  FT 16,000 is compiled by Julius,  who is not above kibitzing with the groundlings as Baer.  The Guardian erected a paywall against we Canadians and I very much miss his jovial input there, but he’s still around 15 sq, so I can pass along my congrats on having been chosen for a milestone publication.

  5. Tackled this after getting home from the York S&B and found it relatively gentle after some of the handouts there.  We didn’t parse DEFLATE properly, and couldn’t parse MARK CARNEY – all we could think was that the ‘currency framework’ meant the outer letters of ‘currency’ but how ‘arne’ fitted between them or ‘mark’ preceded them we (obviously) couldn’t see.

    We also liked the factorial, as well as Henry’s arrest.

    Thanks, Punk and twencelas.

  6. Similar to most of above, had to look up MARK CARNEY, didn’t parse DEFLATE properly.  Took a bit of work to finish, but that’s part of the fun.

    Minor typos in blog, 14A LOAD (not loan), 6D just “c”, not a + c, + Ptolemaic.

    Thanks to Punk and twencelas.

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