Independent 10,599 / Serpent

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A puzzle by Serpent is always a treat, and today’s offering is no exception to that.

This puzzle was a bundle of fun from start to finish. I found it less taxing than a good many of this setter’s other puzzles, but that is appropriate for a mid-week slot.

I think that I am happy with my parsing overall, but I would appreciate confirmation of 17, where I want to be sure that I have correctly alluded to two different senses of “throttle”, and of 25, where I want to be sure that I have got the split between definition and wordplay right, i.e. before “credit”. Incidentally, 10 was a new word for me, and 12 was not part of my active vocabulary.

Picking favourite clues today is no mean feat, as I enjoyed so many. If pressed to do so, however, I would plump for 6, for the definition part; 13, for the truly ingenious use of M20; 29, for smoothness of surface and for the inclusion of two London boroughs; and 21, for an original way of cluing this word.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 USABLE American expert is ready for action

US (=American) + ABLE (=expert)
     
05 SECOND Transfer // unit // back

Triple definition: to second a member of staff is to “transfer” them to e.g. another office AND a second is a “unit” of time AND to second a proposal is to “back” it
     
10 LEMMA Start to like novel proposition

L<ike> (“start to” means first letter only) + EMMA (=novel, by Jane Austen); a lemma is a preliminary proposition in mathematics
     
11 PROMISING Vocalist’s autobiographical sketch after concert’s likely to be good

PROM (=concert) + I SING (=vocalist’s autobiographical sketch)
     
12 SKITTERED Equipment in desert manoeuvres moved quickly

KIT (=equipment, gear) in *(DESERT): “manoeuvres” is anagram indicator; to skitter is to scamper lightly, hence “moved quickly”
     
13 DODGE Electric car avoid M20

DODGE<m> (=electric car, at fairground); “avoid M” means letter “m” is dropped; to dodge is to “evade (=entry at 20)”
     
14 ANTIC Father’s not taking part in mad prank

<fr>ANTIC (=mad); “Father (=Fr)’s not taking part” means letters “fr” are dropped
     
16 ATTRACTED Appealed to court about leaflet putting Democrat last

TRACT (=leaflet) in ATED (DATE=court, go out with; “putting Democrat (=D) last” means letter “d” is moved to end of word)
     
19 RACONTEUR Someone who relates swimming race to run

*(RACE TO RUN); “swimming” is anagram indicator
     
20 EVADE Avoid woman who was tempted to grab publicity

AD (=publicity, i.e. advert) in EVE (=woman who was tempted, in OT)
     
22 AMBLE Walk before 12 ran briefly

AM (=before 12) + BLE<d> (=ran, of paint or dye; “briefly” means last letter is dropped)
     
24 CATHARSIS Purification of medieval Christians’ lives

CATHARS (=medieval Christians, i.e. a sect in S France and N Italy) + IS (=lives, exists)
     
26 ILLOGICAL I left soldier in pub without any reason

I + L (=left) + [GI (=soldier) in LOCAL (=pub)]
     
27 DRIFT Meaning of two papers written by doctor

DR (=doctor) + I (=paper, i.e. the i) + FT (=paper, the FT)
     
28 MEDDLE Interfere with gong’s sound

Homophone (“sound”) of “medal (=gong)”
     
29 DITHER Show Havering and Barking tried closing hospital

H (=hospital) in *(TRIED); “barking (=mad)” is anagram indicator; to haver is to dither, hesitate
     
Down    
     
02 SYMBIOTIC Is icy tomb built for everyone’s benefit?

*(IS ICY TOMB); “built” is anagram indicator
     
03 BEAST Gambled on stealing contents of cash cow?

<c>AS<h> (“contents of” means middle letters only) in BET (=gambled)
     
04 EXPURGATE Censor piece probing former virgin?

GAT (=piece, i.e. gun) in [EX (=former) + PURE (=virgin, as adjective)]
     
05 SCOLD Lecture promoted outside college

C (=college) in SOLD (=promoted, plugged); to lecture is to rebuke, admonish, hence “scold”
     
06 CHILDCARE Unorthodox cleric had way of coping with issue

*(CLERIC HAD); “unorthodox” is anagram indicator
     
07 NAIAD Diana represented female spirit

*(DIANA); “represented” is anagram indicator
     
08 PLASMA Line feeding father’s mother vital fluid

L (=line) in [PA’S (=father’s) + MA (=mother)]
     
09 AGREED Corresponded about grey seals

RE (=about, regarding) in AGED (=grey, as in old and grey); to correspond is to match, tally, hence “agreed (with)”
     
15 CONVERGED Met new limit introduced by company director

[N (=new) + VERGE (=limit, boundary)] in [CO (=company) + D (=director)]
     
17 THROTTLED Cut back duty originally capped by fuel regulator

THROTTLE (=fuel regulator) + D<uty> (“originally” means first letter only); to throttle is to cut back, suppress, silence
     
18 THAT’S LIFE Announcement of resignation disrupted late shift

*(LATE SHIFT); “disrupted” is anagram indicator; the “resignation” of the definition refers to acceptance, stoicism
     
19 ROADIE After losing cases Iron Maiden drops one crew member

<i>RO<n> <m>AIDE<n>; “after losing cases” means first and last letters are dropped); “drops one (=I)” means letter “i” drops to a lower position in the word
     
21 ERSATZ Keepers at zoo looking after cod

Hidden (“looking after”) in “keepERS AT Zoo”; as an adjective, “cod” means sham, mock, hence “ersatz”
     
23 BELLE Lovely rose without red exterior

<re>BELLE<d> (=rose, revolted); “without red exterior” means outside letters “re .. d” are dropped; a lovely is a beautiful woman, hence “belle”
     
24 CACHE Secretly deposit funds in reporter’s account

Homophone (“in reporter’s account”) of “cash (=funds)”
     
25 AUDIT Check credit rating that’s out of place

Cryptically, a plaudit could be described as a “credit rating”, i.e. a praiseful comment; “out of place (=Pl, in addresses)” means letters “pl” are dropped
     

 

 

14 comments on “Independent 10,599 / Serpent”

  1. Less taxing, maybe but still a struggle in places, notably the SE corner.  There is a nina, as Serpent often has – start half way down the right hand side unches and work clockwise.  No, we hadn’t heard of it either till we googled what we thought the words were.

    We liked the tie-up between 13ac and 20ac.  23dn was good, too, remiding us of “Pretty girl in crimson rose (8)”

    Thanks, Serpent and RatkojaRiku.

  2. Another great Serpent with another clever nina. This time it’s Diffie-Hellman key exchange and, yes, I had to look it up. Thanks to Serpent and RatkojaRiku.

  5. It must have been a bit less taxing than Serpent’s usual, because I finished it! So proud, and my thanks to Serpent. A couple still went in unparsed, so respect and thanks also to RatkojaRiku.
    13a was very neat.

  6. Like c_sue i failed to see the Nina despite looking for it. Oh well. Thanks RR and serpent whose setting ability I’m really begining to appreciate.

  7. I had no idea what the Nina meant, but I could see “exchange(d)” was part of it and that helped confirm at least one answer.

    I liked DODGEM and PLAUDIT. Good to see GAT make an appearance again for ‘piece’ or gun after what seems like a long absence.

    Thanks to Serpent and RR

  8. I did this at 2:30am this morning when I couldn’t get back to sleep.
    Only looked for the nina after I’d completed the grid, but knew where to look and saw hellman key exchange. Google confirmed the diffie part. Thought I might manage to drop off while reading about it, but I didn’t.
    Thanks Serpent and RatkojaRiku.

  9. Thanks Serpent. We looked for a nina but failed to see it. Even when prompted by the blog to look for one we had to check what it meant – still none the wiser! You understand each word but the sense of it all is completely lost.

    Thanks RR.

  13. Very nice. The nina is up my street in a nerdy way. Really puzzles by 13A and the M20 thing but enjoyed the penny drop moment. Also enjoyed the allusion to Pretty girl in crimson rose (8) at 23D.

    Thanks for the crossword and blog, Serpent and RatkojaRiku

  14. I was looking for a Nina too, and I also failed to find it (although I did do a bit of work in crypto so knew the phrase when I saw it, which makes it more of a d’oh! moment) . It’s awsomely clever to have fitted that in, Serpent.

    Loved a lot of the clues here, but especially the def in 6d and the M20.

    The crimson rose tribute in 23 was sweet too – made me go and check to see if there was an anniversary (there isn’t, that I cansee)

     

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