An Independent crossword landmark is reached today with the publication of puzzle number 10000
Phi provides the ten thousandth puzzle and he celebrates the event with 10 M (Roman numeral for 1000 – to give 10000) in the unchecked letters in both the outer columns and 10 K (letter often used to denote 1000 items – to give another 10000) in the unchecked letters in the top and bottom rows
I suspect many solvers spotted the Ms and Ks early on and filled in the perimeter even though many clues weren’t yet solved. For me, this helped solve many of the remaining clues. I wondered if there was something more but if there is, I can’t see it.
This was a fairly typical Phi challenge requiring a fair bit of general knowledge.
I reckon I won’t be the only person who wrote in MALADJUSTED for 19 across before realising I couldn’t parse and then seeing DONNA didn’t intersect with it properly.
Here’s to the next ten thousand Independent puzzles!
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 6 | Space between two notes often thought to contain it (5) |
TENTH (hidden word in [to contain it] OFTEN THOUGHT) TENTH
I initially started from the premise that EN was referring to the space as it is a space in printing terminology, but I couldn’t make anything out of the remaining T and TH. I am very poor at spotting some hidden words immediately. |
TENTH (In music and music theory, a TENTH is the note ten scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the TENTH; space between two notes) |
| 7 | Exaggerate recession for minister in this month (7) |
(A + REV [Reverend; minister]) reversed (recession) contained in (in) OCT (October; this puzzle is published originally on the last day of October 2018) O (VER A)< CT |
OVERACT (perform with exaggeration)
|
| 9 | Disciplinarian seeing some point in source of military skill (8) |
TINE (spike or point) contained in (in) (M [first letter of {source of} MILITARY] + ART [skill]) M AR (TINE) T |
MARTINET (strict disciplinarian) |
| 10 | Major upset after record stoppage (3,3) |
LOG (record of a ship’s, or other, performance and experiences) + MAJ (Major) reversed (upset) LOG JAM< |
LOG JAM (deadlock; impasse; stoppage) |
| 11 | I am surprised about work of a gloomy disposition (4) |
MY (expression meaning I am surprised) containing (about) OP (opus; work) M (OP) Y |
MOPY (listless; spiritless; of a gloomy disposition) |
| 12 | Hope to go round various towns nearer the coast (10) |
DREAM (to think [of] as possible, hope) containing (to go round) an anagram of (various) TOWNS D (OWNST*) REAM |
DOWNSTREAM (further down the river, consequently nearer the coast) |
| 14 | Satisfying sound of bacon, say, in frying, ultimately (7) |
MEET (sounds like [sound of] MEAT, of which bacon is an example) + IN + G (last letter of [ultimately] of FRYING) MEET IN G |
MEETING (satisfying [requirements]) |
| 16 | Bravery is evident in that woman’s honour (7) |
IS contained in (evident in] (HER [that woman’s] + OM [Order of Merit; honour]) HER O (IS) M |
HEROISM (bravery) |
| 18 | Plan to take in a boy – Edward – unable to fit in? (10) |
(MAP [plan] containing [to take in] [A + LAD {boy}]) + TED (Edward) M (A LAD) AP TED |
MALADAPTED (unable to be suitable or fit in)) |
| 21 | Success at cards? Small, and mostly unconvincing (4) |
S (small) + LAME (unconvincing) excluding the final letter (mostly) E S LAM |
SLAM (the winning of every trick in the card game of whist; success at cards) |
| 22 | The writer recalled variety in transport systems (6) |
ME (the writer) + SORT (variety) reversed (recalled) ME TROS< |
METROS (urban railway systems; transport systems) |
| 24 | Royal punched by 5 behind club toilet? (8) |
BAT (club) + (HM [Her / His Majesty [royal] containing [punched by] ROO [KANGAROO, the entry at 5 down]) BAT H (ROO) M |
BATHROOM (toilet) |
| 26 | Area of flat land turned more expensive after investment by former Australian (7) |
UP (more expensive) reversed (turned) containing (after investment by) (LATE [former] + A [Australian]) P (LATE A) U< |
PLATEAU (large level [flat] tract of elevated land) |
| 27 | Limitations of Skegness coastal feature (5) |
S (first letter of SKEGNESS) AND S (last letter of SKEGNESS) – the first and last letters can be described as the limitation S AND S |
SANDS (a feature of the coast) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Difficult year after Knight receives evidence of rejection? (6) |
(KT [knight] containing [receives] NOT [evidence of rejection]) + Y (year) K (NOT) T Y |
KNOTTY (difficult) |
| 2 | Asian leader in borders of Kurdish area, note (4) |
KH (first and last letters of [borders of] KURDISH) + A (area) + N (note) KH A N |
KHAN (in Central Asia, a title for a prince or chief) |
| 3 | Ends of bout? Expression of wonder about end of bout – it sees one kissing the dust (6) |
KO (knockout – example of an end to a bout) + (WOW [expression of wonder] containing [about] T [last letter of [end of] BOUT) KO W (T) OW |
KOWTOW (old Chinese ceremony of touching the forehead to the ground as a gesture of deference; kiss the dust) |
| 4 | Raised vegetable for member on ship (4) |
LEEK (vegetable) reversed (raised; down clue) KEEL< |
KEEL (the part [member] of a ship extending along the bottom from stem to stern) |
| 5 | Bounder overturned approval to accept a transplanted organ (8) |
OK (approval) reversed (overturned) containing (to accept) (A + an anagram of [transplanted] ORGAN) K (A NGARO*) O |
KANGAROO (animal that bounds’ bounder) |
| 6 | Flower opening one spring evening, at first (3,4) |
TEAR (rip; opening) + OSE (first letters [at first] of each of ONE, SPRING and EVENING) TEA R OSE |
TEA ROSE (flower) |
| 8 | Spanish aunt artist depicted in item of jewellery (5) |
TIA (Spanish for aunt) + RA (Royal Academician; artist) TIA RA |
TIARA (richly jewelled semicircular head-ornament worn by women)
|
| 12 | European noblewoman picked up an acknowledgement (5) |
(AN + NOD [acknowledgement]) all reversed (picked up;down clue) (DON NA)< |
DONNA (Italian [European] form of spelling for a noblewoman) |
| 13 | Shilling went in dispatch (5) |
S (shilling) + PEED (urinated; went to the toilet]) S PEED |
SPEED (rate; dispatch) |
| 15 | A lot of money invested in wood – time to stop work for a while (3,5) |
BREAD (money) excluding the final letter (a lot of) D contained in (invested in) TEAK (a type of wood) TEA (BREA) K |
TEA BREAK (time to stop work for a while) |
| 17 | Each young fellow comes on board for various times (7) |
(EA [each] + SON [young fellow]) contained in (comes aboard SS [steamship]. The phrase ‘comes aboard’ usually relates to enter a ship) S (EA SON) S |
SEASONS (various times of year) |
| 19 | Initially all her earrings are piled in a stack? Not any more (5) |
AHEAP (first letters [initially] of each of ALL, HER, EARRINGS, ARE and PILED) A H E A P |
AHEAP (in an unstructured mass of items; no longer in a neat stack) |
| 20 | Focus of interest in World War II to British and their country (6) |
TO + BR (British) + UK (country inhabited by British people) TO BR UK |
TOBRUK (Libyan port that was the site of an important battle in World War II) |
| 21 | Make smaller place to absorb heat, taking hour to fill (6) |
SINK (reference a heat SINK [something into which unwanted heat can be directed and absorbed]) containing (taking) HR S (HR) INK |
SHRINK (make smaller) |
| 23 | Look for overthrown strongholds yielding power (4) |
KEEPS (strongholds) excluding (yielding) P and then reversed (overthrows) SEEK< |
SEEK (look for) |
| 25 | Tense request for a piece of work (4) |
T (tense) + ASK (request) T ASK |
TASK (piece of work) |
Good fun. The perimeters certainly helped completion.
In 19d, I took “not any more” to refer to the word being obsolete with “in a stack” as the definition.
I’m intrigued to know how you managed to initially enter an 11 letter word into the 10 spaces of 18a?
Many thanks to Phi and Duncan. Here’s to the next 10000.
All is explained now, including Phi appearing on a Wednesday.The theme sped the solve up although I was wondereing who this MK geezer was.MALADAPTED is not the most elegant of words but the wordplay provided the instructions(a lot better than Ikea do)
Thanks Phi and duncanshiell.
Very nice indeed. In 19d I thought “not any more” meant the word was archaic.
Many thanks to Phi and to Duncan, particularly for the parsing of 26a which I couldn’t quite nail.
Very enjoyable, but over rather quickly as the nina helped solve many of the clues; we thought something might be afoot as soon as we saw the grid pattern.
Favourites were MARTINET (our first one in), DOWNSTREAM, and TEA ROSE (an actual flower and not a flow-er). We parsed AHEAP as Duncan did.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan, congratulations to the Indy on the 10,000th and here’s to the next 10,000 (though we probably won’t be around then!)
Good fun with a perimeter Nina that even I noticed. Lots to enjoy – I had the DONNA before I got 18a so didn’t fall into the trap
Thanks to Phi and Duncan – RIP to our long-standing Wednesday crossword provider
After the first two I entered started with M in the very suggestive grid, I went on my way confidently, waiting to see what the top and bottom unches showed.
All good fun and congratulations to the Indy, all its setters, bloggers and commenters.
I’m with Duncan and allan_c on the parsing of 19D.
Thanks to Phi and duncanshiell
I see the NW corner gives us TENTH.O + U.SANDS is in the bottom right. Congrats to all on this auspicious occasion!
That’s a great spot, Grant! Well done.
Nice spot GB.
Thanks for blogging, Duncan. A lovely anniversary puzzle by Phi (on a sad Wednesday for Indy crossword fans in another way).
Just a chance to say well done to eimi and all the Indy team over many years for keeping me entertained, amused and challenged with the daily cryptics. A great team of imaginative setters, all different, with some new faces recently introduced to make sure that the future of the Indy crossword is in good hands too.
Spotting the nina certainly helped to move the solve along at a steady pace although I still struggled to satisfactorily parse 14a&1d.
20a was my favourite in this enjoyable anniversary puzzle.
Thanks to Phi for filling the brief and to Duncan for the blog. Also, well done Grant for picking up on the hidden extra.
Enjoyed this despite being utterly frazzled after a lot of travelling and a lot of catching up with extended family. Had a blind spot somewhere and made one reveal, but can’t remember where now. Was looking carefully at the perimeter, waiting to see what it would say, and that helped me too. Missed the TENTH.O + U.SANDS though, of course. Well done Grant.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan, plus I’d like to second Kathryn’s Dad’s comments about Eimi and the whole Indy team. Many thanks. *raises glass*
I was expecting something today and 25dn was my FOI and somehow the layout of the grid and that single K immediately suggested the Nina of the top and bottom row. Took me a bit longer to get the sides but it certainly helped with the ssolving.
I did start to enter MALADJUSTED into 18ac but as Hovis says, I quickly ran out of squares.
For some reason, I thought 13dn was SPEND. Could almost parse it, too.
May I add my congrats to all concerned on reaching the landmark. Having bought issue 1 and wrestled with the weekday puzzles on my daily commute until the DTV ceased the week before I retired, it’s still a pleasure to come home from the pub and fiddle around until midnight brings a new challenge on my little phone (sometimes more app-related than i’d like). Fitting that it should fall to Phi to do the honours, and yes I saw the perimeter stuff early but not the hidden message. Plus ca change….
I was puzzled by the Nina until I came here. The app on the iPad says it is #10094
A fitting celebration despite the sad news about Dac. Thanks Grant – we hadn’t spotted the TEN THOUSANDS in the grid.
We think we have probably completed every one of them (apart from yesterday’s which we will tackle tomorrow!). Cingratulations to Eimi and all the setters.