Independent 10172 / Radian

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Radian is a regular Tuesday setter in the Independent series

 

 

 

I know from experience that Radian has a tendency to put words in the grid that are drawn from speeches in Shakespeare plays.  I have Google to thank for helping me to track down today’s example.

As far as I can see, fifteen of the twenty eight grid entries are words drawn from two speeches by Cassius in Act 1, Scene II of Julius Caesar.  These speeches are very close together and begin "I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus … …’ and ‘Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world…  One of the entries is an American form which, obviously, Shakespeare didn’t use himself.

I thought the clues today were very clear with no cause for ambiguity in parsing.  Perhaps the only one I thought about for a while was the one for GRADUAL at 15 across.  Although the A and the L come consecutively at the end of the clue and the entry, I reckon the whole thing is an anagram of GUARD, A and L, rather than an anagram of GUARD alone + A + L

I liked the wordplay for ACCOUTERED with its many constituent parts.

I also thought the clue for MIDDLE EAST was very good as an &Lit

Across
No Clue Wordplay Entry
8 VIP stirs souls in Greek island (8)

Anagram of (stirs) SOULS contained in (in) COS (Greek island)

CO (LOSSU*) S

COLOSSUS (person or organization of gigantic power and influence; VIP) 
9 Difficult storing energy that’s picked up (5)

HARD (difficult) containing (storing) E (energy)

H (E) ARD

 HEARD (caught; picked up)
10 Crook, third in line, involved in plot (4)

N (third letter in [third in] LINE) contained in (involved) BED (a flower BED is a plot of land)

BE (N) D

 BEND (crook)
11 Yankee’s equipped current disk to retain external echo (10)

AC ([alternating] current) + (CD [compact disc] containing [to retain] [OUTER {external} + E {Echo is the international radio communication codeword for the letter E}])

AC C (OUTER E) D

 ACCOUTERED (American [Yankee] spelling of ACCOUTRED [equipped])
12 Did Slough shut up a male in disgrace? (6)

SHED (cast [skin]; shedded; did shed) containing (shut up) (A + M [male])

SH (A M) ED

 SHAMED (in disgrace)
14 Not even people on street returned remnants (8)

ODD (not even) + MEN (people) + ST (street) reversed (returned)

ODD MEN TS<

 ODDMENTS (fragments)
15 Guard a lecturer infuriated by degrees (7)

Anagram of (infuriated) GUARD and A and L (lecturer)

GRADUAL*

 GRADUAL (advancing or happening by degrees)
17 Divide and increase column heading in Times (7)

(RISE [increase] + C [first letter of {heading}]) contained in (in) (T [time] + T [time] to give times)

T (RISE C) T

 TRISECT (divide into three, usually equal parts)
20 Old soap producer with sign in shower (5,3)

W (with) + (LEO [sign of the Zodiac] contained in [in] HAIL [a shower or bombardment of missiles, abuse etc])

W HA (LE O) IL

 WHALE OIL (an ingredient of soap in times past)
22 Put pieces on board for amateurs (6)

LAY (put) + MEN (pieces, on a chess board for example)

LAY MEN

 LAYMEN (non-professional people; amateurs)
23 Stresses where English must be replaced by German subjects (10)

UNDERLINES (stresses) with E (English) replaced by (must be replaced by) G (German)

UNDERLINGS

 UNDERLINGS (subordinates; subjects)
24 Locate what’s essential in Home Counties (4)

IT (exactly what one is looking for; something essential) contained in (in) SE (South East, location of the Home Counties of England)

S (IT) E

 SITE (position; locate)
25 Doctor catering for both genders, not one (5)

UNISEX (applicable to or usable by, etc, persons of either gender) excluding (not) I (Roman numeral for one).

UNSEX

UNSEX (to divest of the characteristics or of the qualities expected of one’s own sex; doctor,  in the sense of changing something) 
26 Brief mission to attempt knight’s occupation (8)

ERRAND (mission) excluding the final letter (brief) D + TRY (attempt)

ERRAN TRY

 ERRANTRY (a rambling about like a Knight Errant who travelled in search of adventure; knight’s occupation)
Down
1 Own goal breaks tie in league (8)

OG (own goal) contained in (breaks) TETHER (tie)

T (OG) ETHER

TOGETHER (with someone or something else, in company; in league)
2 Getting on after constant complaint (4)

C (example of a letter used to denote a constant value in mathematics) + OLD (aged; getting on)

C OLD

 COLD (example of a medical complaint)
3 One’s son acquires northern part of archipelago (6)

I (Roman numeral for one) + ‘S (indicating the possessive; I’S [one’s]) + (LAD [boy; must be a son of someone] containing [acquires] N [northern])

I S LA (N) D

 ISLAND (an archipelago is a group of ISLANDs)
4 Film society consists of antisocial types (7)

PSYCHO (title of a 1960 film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock) + S (society)

PSYCHO S

PSYCHOS (psychopaths [people suffering from a behavioural disorder resulting in inability to form personal relationships]; antisocial types)

 
5 Bear ought to explore river sources (8)

SHOULD (ought to) + E R (first letters of [sources] each of EXPLORE and RIVER)

SHOULD E R

 SHOULDER (bear)
6 Carlyle disputed describing eastern ship sloppily (10)

Anagram of (disputed) CARLYLE containing (describing) (E [Eastern] + SS [{steam}ship])

CAREL (E SS) LY*

 CARELESSLY (sloppily)
7 Notice doctor adopting new approach (6)

AD (advertisement; notice) + (VET [{animal} doctor] containing [adopting] N [new])

AD VE (N) T

 ADVENT (coming; drawing near; approach)
13 Where millions face deadliest bombing? (6,4)

M (millions) + an anagram of (bombing) DEADLIEST

M IDDLE EAST*

 MIDDLE EAST (scene of ongoing military activity and bombing)
16 Bloke close to penury nursing dad’s incapacity (8)

(ALEX [man’s name, bloke, although it could also be a lady’s name] + Y [final letter of {close to} PENURY]) containing (nursing) POP (dad)

A (POP) LEX Y

APOPLEXY (sudden loss of sensation and motion; incapacity)
18 Curate tormented about soul (8)

Anagram of (tormented) CURATE + RE (with reference to; about)

CREATU* RE

 CREATURE (human being; soul)
19 Dove in US quietly thrust forward (7)

P (piano; quietly) + LUNGED (thrust forward)

P LUNGED

 PLUNGED (‘dove’ is an American form of ‘dived’ [PLUNGED])
21 Time to accept running award (6)

HOUR (time) containing (to accept) ON (running)

H (ON) OUR

 HONOUR (award)
22 Polish saint admitted to temptation (6)

ST (saint) contained in (admitted to) LURE (temptation)

LU (ST) RE

 LUSTRE (polish)
24 Drop wrong Kent opener (4)

SIN (wrong) + K (first letter of [opener] KENT)

SIN K

 SINK (drop)

 

10 comments on “Independent 10172 / Radian”

  1. Independent + Tuesday + Radian = Shakespeare. That’s about as far as I got in identifying the theme, so thanks for the further details.

    ACCOUTERED took a bit of working out. I thought it was just an example of a term used more commonly in America, but of course the difference in spelling makes much more sense. I didn’t immediately associate APOPLEXY with ‘incapacity’ and would normally use the word more specifically for a stroke (especially a cerebral haemorrhage), or ‘fit of infuriation’ as Chambers so nicely puts it. It was almost the easiest clue, but PSYCHOS was my last in.

    Try as I might, I couldn’t find room for (Chris) Tavaré at 24d.

    Thanks to Duncan and Radian

  3. My spirits lift when I see Radian on a Tuesday – but how much longer can he keep it up?

    This one leaped out at me from the first clue:

    [‘Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world

    Like a] COLOSSUS …’

    closely followed by ACCOUTERED [sic – deftly clued] and

    [‘The fault, *dear Brutus is not in our stars,

    But in ourselves, that we are] UNDERLINGS [clever wordplay].

    *used by J.M. Barrie as a title for this play

    I’m fortunate to be well acquainted with ‘Julius Caesar’, from O Level [which, as I’ve said before, I remember so much more readily than some things I learned last week].

    Apart from the themed UNDERLINGS and PLUNGED, my favourites were the brilliant &lit MIDDLE EAST and APOPLEXY.

    Many thanks to Duncan for the blog and Radian for another hugely enjoyable puzzle.

    Nice one, copmus. 😉

  4. Nice one. I admit that I cheated with a word fit to get PSYCHOS. Just couldn’t see it – drat!

    Not a Shakespeare fan, I’m afraid. In fact, I have only read one of his plays for O’level. Like Eileen, this was Julius Caesar but unlike Eileen I don’t remember the relevant speeches. Ah well, ghost themes like this are just there to add to the enjoyment for those in the know but not needed for solving.

    Thanks to Radian and Duncan.

  5. Right, it’s Tuesday, it’s Radian – reach for our Complete Shakespeare, and off we go.  Actually it took us quite a while to track down the relevant passage as we didn’t immediately get COLOSSUS – it was UNDERLINGS which put us on the right path.  We agree with Duncan that there are 15 references in the grid.  And, possibly coincidentally, the definition in the clue for SHOULDER is ‘bear’ which also occurs in the passage.

    We also liked several of the non-themed entries, including TRISECT, WHALE OIL and ERRANTRY.

    Eileen@3: “how much longer can he keep it up?”  Well, there are quite a few plays to choose from – although he might struggle with the likes of Titus Andronicus.

    Thanks, Radian and Duncan

  8. Geoff@7: No, it’s not just you.  I’ve just tried and Firefox has refused to access it due to a security issue.

  10. Thanks to Duncan and Radian

    I had no idea this had anything to do with Shakespeare. I blame my English teachers.

    23a Is an example of one of my least favourite types of clue (at least 2 too many words in a 9 word clue)

    25a Isn’t much better UNSEX = DOCTOR is about as loose as you can get.

    Others , 11a, 13d, 16d e.g. I liked a lot.

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