Independent 10421 by Tyrus (Sat 7-Mar 2020)

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This one was very tough.
I seem to be saying this more and more – maybe it’s me and not so much the puzzles.

As ever I’m very happy to tackle a Tyrus puzzle but this one needed a great deal of mental effort.
Especially as I had this blogging duty, and because of that I took great care over each clue read in the first pass, so that took longer then usual …
… to little reward:  Only 8 answers in, most of them the very short ones, and more particularly not many ideas about the rest of the clues.
True, I was sure of the 26 letters of the anagram for the long answer starting 1d but with that many letters, and scant idea what it might be about, it didn’t take long before abandoning fiddling with all those letters till I had a few more crossers.  That came a few answers later from the K and H which helped find Knighthood – then the great pdm for the rest of the answer and laugh-out-loud when I re-read the clue properly.

So at this stage I had a theme and most of the puzzle still empty, so I hoped there was more to be built from the theme.  I had already got 14d and was keen to see more.  In truth I am a little disappointed there wasn’t more related material.  In the end I would call this a mini-theme.

Wordplay issues :
I have trouble understanding the wordplay for a few clues so “help” please.  The final pair of answers I entered, 7 AVIATION 2 VICTOR, both purely from crossing letters and (supposed) definitions are particularly troubling.  Actually so are the other two, 12 CAREGIVER and 24 ARSE.  My answers might not be right. I am keen to be illuminated but must stop worrying about them now.

Across
7 AVIATION Flying and deciding on route – no good leaving separately (8)
Wordplay has me fooled, assuming the answer is correct (I can’t see anything else)
If VIA is “route” then where does A…TION come from?
8 DAPHNE Woman close to return, a local admitted (6)
A PH (a local, Public House) in END< (close, to return)
11 NOT ON Time to stop 12? It’s unacceptable (3,2)
T[ime] in NOON (12).
First one in.  Couldn’t solve any lights crossing it.
12 CAREGIVER Going round, say, a touch ironically, “He’s made cuts but he is looking after you” (9)
Another wordplay issue here.  Answer is pretty definite from the crossing letters and I can see E.G. for “say” but if it is inside CAR…IVER.  What is an ironic touch? Stuck thinking “He’s made cuts” must refer to IDS or another Tory in power.
13 UNREALITY Agreement to keep country short of money? It’s not true (9)
REAL[m] (country, short) in UNITY (agreement)
14 BROOK Suffer – b—– man! (5)
B ROOK (man, chessman)
16 COS Henry not attending club function (3)
COS[h] (club cosh – H[enry]).  Second one in.  Couldn’t solve any lights crossing it (again).
18 ON GUARD Alert – run aground (2,5)
(AGROUND)*  AInd: run. Unusal anagram indicator which had me fooled for ages.  I did wonder if it were an anagram of (ALERT R[un] A)* indicated by “ground” but could make nothing of it besides LA TERRE which would mean “ground” was doing double duty
20 FBI Investigators fail to be honest (somewhat twisted) (1,1,1)
FIB* AInd: somewhat twisted. Bit if a write-in given the helpful 1,1,1 enumeration.  3rd one in.  Also couldn’t solve any lights crossing it (again).
21 NICHE Hospital in pleasant little corner (5)
H[ospital] in NICE (pleasant)
22 BABOONISH Favour one in party not of the highest intelligence (9)
BOON (favour) I (one) inside BASH (party).  This one was calculated my turning the handle on the wordplay.
24 ADULTERER 60% of teams ruled out by side one plays away (9)
(TEA[ms] RULED)* AInd: out,  R (side).  This one was solved from the definition, then confirmed from wordplay.
26 MOOCH Wander aimlessly around Low Countries at first, then Hungary (5)
MOO (low) C[ountries]  H[ungary]
28 JALAPENO Johnson takes a drink with nurse (hot stuff) (8)
A LAP (a drink) E.N. (nurse, Enrolled Nurse), all inside JO (Johnson).
Plenty of different Johnsons to choose from (and more on the way <groan>)
Down
1/27/15 IAIN DUNCAN SMITH’S KNIGHTHOOD Dim … thick … astonishing! Nah, undo travesty of this … (4,6,6,10)
Is this an &Lit ?  I’m often unsure what counts as that.
Never mind, it is a stonking clue involving:
(DIM THICK ASTONISHING NAH UNDO)* AInd: travesty.
2 VICTOR … fellow making people move pointlessly (and he was triumphant) (6)
Wordplay completely escapes me so the answer may be wrong. I am also somewhat undecided about the definition which might be “fellow” but I plumped for the underlined part as it defines a general noun rather than a name.
3 STAND-ALONE With being kept on lates, fancy working independently? (5-5)
AND (with) inside (ON LATES)* AInd: fancy. Not sure why the clue needs a question mark.
4 TOUCHING Moving about (8)
Double Definition
5 BANG Don’t allow publication of government report (4)
BAN (Don’t allow publication) G[overnment]
6 NEAR In town early just round the corner (4)
Hidden in In towN EARly
9 HIVE OFF Transfer profitable part of hotel to which the writer’s going (4,3)
H[otel] I’VE (the writer’s) OFF (going)
10 ARMY Head off crazy host (4)
[b]ARMY (crazy, headless)
14 BEDROOM TAX Government initiative causing trade boom? Sadly, that’s wrong (7,3)
(TRADE BOOM)* AInd: sadly, then X (that’s wrong).  One of IDS’s “brilliant” ideas that cost more misery than even he could possibly have wanted.  It destroyed the coalition’s pretence that “we are all in it together”
17 SUCCUBI “Spirits raised, one’s claiming Universal Credit from the start,” country not concluding! (7)
U[niversal] C[redit] CUB[a] (country, not concluding) all inside I’S< (one’s, raised (reversed))
19 ARBOREAL Free bar (and love) genuine high-living? (8)
BAR* AInd: free, O (love) REAL (genuine).  That’s a definition worthy of a question mark!
22 BARE Essential to save energy (4)
BAR (save) E[nergy]
23 IRONED One, and another in the way, getting flattened (6)
I (one), then ONE (one in a different way) inside RD (the way, Road)
24 ARSE Appear to be heartless prat! (4)
Wordplay completely escapes me, the answer may be wrong. I thought Arse/Prat suitable given A-S- and the IDS mini-theme
25 TAHR Hart is wild animal (4)
HART* AInd: wild

 

15 comments on “Independent 10421 by Tyrus (Sat 7-Mar 2020)”

  1. NAVIGATION – N & G for 7a. EVICTOR – E for 2d. E.G. + I (touch of ironically) in CARVER for 12a. ARISE heartless for 24d.

  2. That was very tough. A DNF for me since I entered AVIATING for 7a leaving an unparsed KNOCKING for 4d. Should have spotted my error. Not a fan on long anagrams but the penny eventually dropped once I guessed KNIGHTHOOD and then DUNCAN.

    Thanks to Tyrus and beermagnet.

  3. Thanks, beermagnet. I must admit to agreeing with the sentiments expressed in the mini-theme.

    The ones you had trouble with are mostly letter removals: [n]AVI[g]ATION; EG + I – first letter “a touch” of ironically in CARVER; [e]VICTOR; AR[i]SE.

  4. Sorry, Hovis. Took too long typing (interrupted by a call) and should have hit refresh before posting!

  5. Thanks Tyrus and beermagnet

    What a tremendous puzzle. Very tough, but worth all the effort. And the long anagram must be a contender for Clue Of The Year.

  7. Clap, clap. Got 1d very late, all the more enjoyable for that.  Typically plenty of clues that appear pretty messy until you get the message, then look bang on, 12a favourite among those.

    Thanks Tyrus, beermagnet.

  8. Thanks to beermagnet and Tyrus

    I never try to unravel the fodder in a clue like 1/27/15 – unless my arithmetic’s off, I could have begun considering all the possibilities at end of the last ice age at a rate of 1/min,and still be at it.

    I rely on something jumping out at me when a few crossers go in but on this occasion I was held up by putting THAR instead of TAHR at 25d.

    A minor technicality, but I think “somewhat twisted” in 20a refers only to “IB”, thus avoiding an indirect anagram.

  9. Yes, a bit too tough to be enjoyable for me.  I finished it only by using the online version with checking switched on.

  12. Bizarre thing is, I finished the Paul prize puzzle in The Guardian with a lot less trouble (and no check button in the paper version) and I usually can’t do Paul’s puzzles.  Didn’t even have to do a word search.

  13. Sadly, the nonsensical ‘bedroom tag’ for 14d was wrong, my one mistake after a bruising battle over a couple of (long) sessions. I thought this was harder than the Vlad earlier in the week, not helped by those simple looking four letter answers at 24d and 25d taking a long time to figure out, particularly as I’d never heard of the animal.

    I was hoping for a bit of lighter relief today, but looking at PeeDee’s introduction for today’s blog, seems there’ll be no such luck!

    Thanks to Tyrus and beermagnet

  14. Extremely testing, thought about giving in a couple of times, persisted with slow increments until I gave up on the 5D/8A intersection – hardly the most difficult, but couldn’t wait any longer for the solution.  It’s good to be tried in this way with such a tough one (so long as it’s not every day).

    Amazing anagram and endorse others’ commendations supra.

    26A, “around” is part of the definition.

    Thanks to Tyrus and beermagnet.

  15. It didn’t help that I also found an animal called a thar. A great challenge but perhaps a bit too contrived in places for my taste. I too entered aviating at first with an unparsed enacting at 4d. The light dawning at 4d led to the correction to aviation, though aviating seems to fit the definition better.

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