We haven’t blogged a Maize puzzle for over a year and a half, so we looked forward to this Tuesday challenge.
The gateway clue at 1/4 across was fairly straightforward, and raised a smile when we realised that the 1/4s were all made by scariest world leader ever, who is always claiming that he delivers on his promises, but is 20d enough to 8d the truth as ‘fake news’
We enjoyed the challenge, with no particularly unusual words, many smooth surfaces and crafty wordplay. Our only real hiccup in parsing the clues was not knowing the abbreviation in 7d.
We will be on the train most of the day today, heading to Scotland to walk the West Highland Way over the next eight days. Internet access will be limited, so we probably won’t be able to respond quickly to any comments.
Across
1/4 Words not delivered as intended could cause spoonerism on being expressed (6,8)
BROKEN PROMISES
An anagram of SPOonERISM without or ‘expressing’ ‘on’ – the anagrind is part of the solution – BROKEN – the gateway to the theme
10 One of those across the top goes forward hard then straight back (4,3,2)
LOCK HER UP
LOCK (forward – in a rugby team) H (hard) + PURE (straight) reversed or ‘back’ – one of Trump’s 1/4 – about Hilary Clinton
11 Both robot’s shoulders vibrate (5)
THROB
Hidden in or ‘shouldered by’ boTH ROBots
12 Deflected opening shot following kick-off to Manchester United (7)
MARRIED
pARRIED (deflected) with the first letter or ‘opening’ omitted or ‘shot’ following M (first letter or ‘kick-off’ of ‘Manchester’)
13 To improve matters soldiers risk deposing leaders (7)
ENHANCE
mEN (soldiers) cHANCE (risk) with the first letters or ‘leaders’ omitted or ‘deposed’
14 Excuse me leaving meal before I begin its starters (5)
ALIBI
meAL with ‘me’ omitted or ‘leaving’ + I and B I (first letters or ‘starters’ of ‘begin its’)
16 Maintenance work on hole in the wall in shelter (9)
TREATMENT
RE (on) ATM (hole in the wall) in TENT (shelter)
18 Reason for chiropodist’s attentions to be tentative (9)
PUSSYFOOT
If you had some pus in your FOOT it could be described as PUSSY and it might require the attention of a chiropodist
19/23 One of those across the top had blue twill pants (5,3,4)
BUILD THE WALL
An anagram of HAD BLUE TWILL – anagrind is ‘pants’ – another of Trump’s 1/4
21 There’s nothing odd in warmonger’s viral illness (7)
AMNESIA
Even letters only (‘nothing odd’) of wArMoNgErS vIrAl
23 See 19
25/27 In wet, wet weather, wet and extremely hazardous moving one of those across the top (5,3,5)
DRAIN THE SWAMP
DAMP (wet) round RAIN (wet weather) and an anagram of WET H S (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of ‘hazardous’) – anagrind is ‘moving’ – another of Trump’s 1/4
26 Persuaded home under cover around middle of night (9)
INVEIGLED
IN (home) VEILED (under cover) round G (middle letter of ‘night’)
27 See 25
28 Let all the viola players fiddle behind their backs (6)
LEASED
Last letters or ‘backs’ of alL thE violA playerS fiddlE behinD
Down
1 I’m replacing fish in country – a problem for some consumers? (7)
BULIMIA
IM replacing ‘gar’ (fish) in BULgarIA (country)
2 Ancient city supports no capacity to exist (5)
OCCUR
UR (ancient city) after or ‘supporting’ (in a down clue) O (no) CC (cubic centimetre – measure of ‘capacity’)
3 Northern Ireland and Belfast maybe underwrite the cycling race (9)
ETHNICITY
NI (Northern Ireland) CITY (Belfast, maybe) under THE with the ‘e’ moved to the front or ‘cycling’
5 US politician unwrapped free gift; former president’s wife’s upset (14)
REPRESENTATIVE
fREe (middle letters or ‘unwrapped’) PRESENT (gift) + EVITA (wife of the former president of Argentina) reversed or ‘upset’
6 Marriage witness’s cap is upside down! (5)
MATCH
wATCH (witness) with the ‘w’ (first letter or ‘cap’) turned upside down to become ‘M”
7 Search for aliens around weirdly green wildlife area (9)
SERENGETI
SETI (abbreviation for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or ‘search for aliens’ – a new one for us) round an anagram of GREEN – anagrind is ‘weirdly’
8 Corrupt payment to half of upright characters (7)
SUBVERT
SUB (payment) + half of the letters or ‘characters’ of VERTical (upright)
9 Militant’s radio broadcast reveals old-fashioned values (14)
TRADITIONALISM
An anagram of MILITANTS RADIO – anagrind is ‘broadcast’
15 Hint at batting with declaration of 22/8 (9)
INSINUATE
IN (batting) + a homophone (‘declaration’) of SINEW (22d) EIGHT (8)
17 Suddenly arrived during nosh-up with appropriate drink (5,4)
TABLE WINE
BLEW IN (suddenly arrived) in or ‘during’ EAT (nosh) reversed or ‘up’
18 Place German vehicle on top of Triumph Acclaim (7)
PLAUDIT
PL (place) AUDI (German car) + T (first letter or ‘top’ of ‘triumph’)
20 Judge filling in legal document is mistaken (7)
DELUDED
LUD (judge) ‘filling’ in DEED (legal document)
22 Strength of card players holding one over their opponents (5)
SINEW
S N (south and north – card players) round or ‘holding’ I (one) over E W (east and west – ‘their opponents’)
24 Expression of woe about temperature range (5)
ATLAS
ALAS (expression of woe) round T (temperature)
Very tremendous!
Tough but absolutely brilliant! There were too many great clues to try to pick a favourite. Thanks very much, Maize.
Thanks too to B&J, particularly for explaining the “search for aliens” bit of 7d and why the answer to 18a has nothing to do with cats.
Yet another brilliant but tough Independent crossword. Made heavy weather of this taking far too long to get 1/4, but enjoyed every minute. Thanks to Maize and Bertandjoyce.
I eventually solved the gateway clue but only after getting 10a and 25/27a, neither of which I immediately associated with The Donald. I missed the device for the old ‘W’ to ‘M’ trick in 6d and the parsing of the clues mentioned by Rabbit Dave @2, so all in all, quite a challenge.
Yes, plenty of good clues, but I especially liked the double/mixed homophone in the wordplay for INSINUATE.
Thanks to Maize and to B&J (and enjoy your walk – hope the weather is kind)
A good challenge but we finished unaided, although we too missed the W to M trick in 6dn – we took “mat” to be a reversal of “Tam [o’ Shanter]” but of course couldn’t explain the “ch”.
Liked the reference to Spooner that wasn’t a spoonerism, also INSINUATE and PUSSYFOOT (but thought you might need more than a chiropodist for the latter).
Thanks, Maize and B&J.
Thanks BERTrAND JOYCE (well that’’s how I think of you ever since Phi’s philosopher puzzle) – accurate in every detail as ever.
First met SETI in Carl Sagan’s book & film ‘Contact’, which comes highly recommended.
The exclamation mark at the end of the clue for 6d is supposed to indicate something a bit unusual is going on, but I’ve no idea how widely understood that is.
Lots of good clues and entertaining solve.
I was another TAM = cap and wondered if HC [Holy Communion] could represent witness, doh!
I particularly liked MARRIED, PUSSYFOOT and INSINUATE.
More news about the US administration …US objections to wording on climate change prevented Arctic nations signing a joint statement at a summit in Finland, delegates said.It is the first time such a statement has been cancelled since the Arctic Council was set up in 1996. On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the forum in Rovaniemi, northern Finland, with a speech welcoming the melting of Arctic sea ice, rather than expressing alarm about it.”Steady reductions in sea ice are opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade,” he said. “This could potentially slash the time it takes to travel between Asia and the West by as much as 20 days.”
Go, I come here to get away from news of that ghastly man. Trump and Brexit should be off limits in crosswords
“God”, not “Go”.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. What I especially like about Maize is the completely blind tasting… ie I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to get, but am pretty sure I’m going to like it.
Thanks to Maize and happy yomping to B&J
Geoff@8/9: Well, we’ve been celebrating Trump’s great acheivement – but not that Trump!
Thanks to Bertandjoce and Maize
First of all I’d like to wish our bloggers an enjoyable walk. I walked that route north to south a few years ago in January and I’m still trying to get warm. Well worth it though.
This was a smashing puzzle. Witty,accessible and innovative (I can’t recall SETI being used before).
Just one thing though – I think you might be giving the orange one too much credit when you say WORDS………….. AS INTENDED.
A thoroughly enjoyable offering from Maize. I wasn’t familiar with most of the phrases, and so struggled to get started – first in was somewhere to the SW. But progress from that point on was rapid, even if not fully parsed, with the gateway clue one of my last ones in based on checking letters and a lucky guess. I don’t like to make these things easy for myself.
Overall not as tough as it first looked, finish time well under par for the Indy.
Too many good clues to list, my favourite was 7d, as nicely done and smooth as you’d like. More Maize please.
Just been catching up with this one, which I really enjoyed.
Thanks to Maize, B & J