Independent 10,728 / Skinny

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Skinny is occupying this Tuesday slot this week. He is a compiler whose work I am not that familiar with.

As Tuesday is theme day, I was on the look-out for one this morning, and 26 had gateway clue written all over it. Many of the other entries are words from titles of Carry On films: 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24 and 28 are the ones that I have spotted, but there may be more. My rather immature sense of humour allows me to endorse what Skinny says about this series of films at 26: “everybody loves you”!

Other than enjoying tracking down the films in the grid, I also enjoyed 23 and 24, both for surface.

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

Across    
     
07 GENRE Kind of green bananas

*(GREEN); “bananas” is anagram indicator
     
08 MANICURED Clean-cut doctor’s description of former patient?

“(the) man I cured” could be a doctor’s description of a former patient
     
10 SILICA Mineral component of fossil I catalogued

Hidden (“component of”) in “fosSIL I CAtalogue”
     
11 PREGGERS Publicity drive Queen’s informally expecting

PR (=publicity) + EGG (on) (=drive, impel) + ER’S (=Queen’s); “preggers” is an informal word for “pregnant (=expecting)”
     
12 STRICKEN Afflicted by rickets, misshapen bones, essentially

*(RICKETS) + <bo>N<es> (“essentially” means middle letter only); “misshapen” is anagram indicator
     
13 CLEO In short, former Queen’s Counsel finally taken on by company boss

<counse>L (“finally” means last letter only) in CEO (=company boss, i.e. Chief Executive Officer)
     
15 DOUGLAS Man’s town, // such as 9?

Double definition: Douglas is the chief town of the Isle of Man AND Jack Douglas is an English actor, best known for his roles in Carry On films
     
17 TEACHER Believe singer’s after a drink for instructor

TEA (=a drink) + CHER (=Believe singer, i.e. of the song Believe)
     
20 EMMA Novel introduction to extreme combat sport

E<xtreme> (“introduction to” means first letter only) + MMA (=combat sport, i.e. Mixed Martial Arts)
     
22 INDOLENT Doing endless exercises, fast and slow

*(DOIN<g>) + LENT (=fast, i.e. period of fasting); “endless” means last letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “exercises”
     
25 FAST FOOD Starvation diet?

Cryptic definition: “fast” means period starvation, not “quick, speedy”
     
26 COMELY Good-looking lead characters in Carry On movies – everybody loves you!

C<arry> O<n> M<ovies> E<verybody> L<oves> Y<ou>; “lead characters in” means first letters only; this is the gateway clue, inviting us to spot the names of Carry On films amongst the grid entries
     
27 LEMON DROP Guy pursuing French national, both of them short and sweet

LE MOND<e> (French nation (newspaper); “short” means last letter dropped) + ROP<e> (=guy; “short” means last letter dropped)
     
28 NURSE Centrepiece of running buffet sure is tender

<run>N<ing> (“centrepiece of” means middle letter only) + *(SURE); “buffet (=hit, strike)” is anagram indicator; cryptically, a nurse is a “tender”, i.e. a person who tends
     
Down    
     
01 MEDIATION Moderation in drugs (not cocaine)

MEDI<c>ATION (=drugs); “not cocaine (=C)” means letter “c” is dropped
     
02 CRUISING On a voyage, ship’s company is heard to chant

Homophone of “crew (=ship’s company)” + SING (=chant)
     
03 CAMPING Being theatrical // under canvas

Double definition: someone “being theatrical” is camping (it up) AND someone “under canvas” could be out camping
     
04 WISEACRE Clever 23, one deep in the midst of ground crew

[I (=one) + SEA (=deep)] in *(CREW); “ground (up)” is anagram indicator; a wiseacre is a clever dick (=entry at 23)
     
05 JUNGLE Starts to get lively during month of dance music

[G<et> L<ively>; “starts of” means first letters only] in JUNE (=month)
     
06 HENRY Lenny, perhaps his last part after ‘Chicken Run’?

HEN (=chicken) + R (=run, in cricket) + <lenn>Y (“his last part” means last letter only); the reference is to the British actor and stand-up comedian Lenny Henry (1958-)
     
09 JACK Sailor’s // small white bowl

Double definition: a jack is a sailor, a tar AND a small white bowl in the game of bowls
     
14 PENNILESS Poor writer on 13’s river boat

PEN (=writer, i.e. writing implement) + NILE (=Cleo’s river, i.e. Cleopatra of Egypt, entry at 13) + SS (=boat, i.e. steamship)
     
16 ANACONDA Working in Canada, drunk reveals a reptile

ON (=working) in *(CANADA); “drunk” is anagram indicator
     
18 COLUMBUS He famously explored // a state capital

Double definition: Christopher Columbus “famously explored” AND Columbus is the state capital of Ohio
     
19 WINDSOR Coils half of rope up, making a knot

WINDS (=coils) + OR (RO<pe>; “alf of” means 2 of 4 letters are used; “up” indicates vertical reversal)
     
21 MATRON EU leader has time for country’s first senior 28

MACRON (=EU leader, i.e. the French President); “has time (=T) for country’s first (=C)” means letter “c” is replaced by a “t”; a matron is a senior nurse (=entry at 28)
     
23 DICK Detective, one on crook’s case

DI (=detective, i.e. Detective Inspector) + C<roo>K (“case” means first and last letters only)
     
24 CAMEL Climate change – has it wiped out this beast?

*(CL<i>MA<t>E); “has it wiped” means letters “it” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “out”
     

 

15 comments on “Independent 10,728 / Skinny”

  1. What a lot of fun, with a theme that even I couldn’t fail to spot. In addition to the long list of film titles found by RR, we also have (Barbara) Windsor and (Jack) Douglas on show. I don’t suppose the woke brigade would let them make these films nowadays.

    I wasn’t familiar with the extreme combat sport acronym in 20a but it couldn’t have been anything else.

    My podium choice was MANICURED, MEDIATION and JACK.

    Many thanks to Skinny and to RR.

  2. For once, a theme I was able to spot and about which I knew something! The Carry On GENRE is well represented and I think I concur with RR on all of them with TEACHER, CLEO, NURSE, CRUISING, CAMPING, HENRY, JACK, MATRON, DICK, and COLUMBUS all lifted straight from the “Carry On …” title. There is also Follow That CAMEL, Carry On Up The JUNGLE and Carry On EMMAnuelle. Barbara WINDSOR is – fittingly – in there directly underneath CAMPING (although it could also refer to WINDSOR Davies who appeared in Carry On England) and, of course, JACK DOUGLAS, appeared regularly from 1972.

    The non-themed LEMON DROP was my COTD for its clever device though it was hard pressed by JACK for its cunningly misleading secondary definition. CLEO is a nice construction and PREGGERS made me smile.

    Thanks Skinny and RR

  3. We enjoyed this, not least spotting all the themed entries after we’d completed the grid. And then we spent some time trying to justify LEMON DROP as a themed entry – possibly the name of a character – but it turns out we were thinking of the old Bob Hope film, The Lemon Drop Kid.
    Favourite was JACK, but honourable mentions to PENNILESS and the clue it refers to, CLEO.
    Thanks, Skinny and RatkojaRiku.

  4. I’m afraid you can count me out of the ‘everybody loves you’ brigade, I’ve never been a fan – perhaps that explains why I found some of the clues a bit tricky!
    My top three were all outside of the theme – MANICURED, FAST FOOD & LEMON DROP.

    Thanks to Skinny (sorry for not appreciating the theme!) and thanks to RR for the review.

  5. Agree with Postmark @2. – A theme I could recognise (CLEO being the one that triggered my brain) slightly more lowbrow than last weeks Poetry theme but far more me 😉

    Slightly higher than usual completion for me due to the theme and enjoyed it all , for once the Double Definitions were my favourite JACK, DOUGLAS and COLOMBUS

    Thanks to Skinny (I think this is my first Skinny) and to RR for the explanations!

  6. It took me far too long to spot the theme, even though a couple of the answers reminded me of the theme as I got them. Lots of fun, and not too taxing.

  7. Thanks to RR and commenters. This was a lot of fun to put together. I like the creative aspect of making puzzles, and the challenge of thinking of new subjects to use. I will be back with more, that’s a promise.

    Thanks again

  8. Love a good Carry On film… however completely failed to spot the theme… despite almost everything pointing to that subject.. I think the penny should have dropped with Cleo… or maybe Matron.. or… 24ac even.. didn’t take away from fun..
    Thanks Skinny n RatkojaRiku

  9. One of my quickest solves in a while. helped by being a fan of the films in the sixties and seventiesl

  10. I’m with Jane@4. Not a fan, especially when the dreadful Sid James is around. And Kenneth Williams himself wasn’t always all that keen (‘It [Carry on Jack] was a lousy, badly made film. Really badly made….’). He repeatedly moaned in his diaries about how he was only doing it for the money.

    Another one (I used Wikipedia) might be Carry on Emma[nnuelle].

  11. MMA was new to us, and we certainly didn’t spot the theme, not my cup of tea at all. But all doable without the theme, thanks.

  13. I’m also with Jane@4, except for a very few moments. Although I still remember a one-liner from “Carry On Spying”, when the spymaster was instructing an agent (Bernard Cribbins?) over the phone, telling him to contact someone called “The Fat Man. Description: male, fat.”
    This was a fun puzzle.

  14. Like several others, not a fan of these dreadfully poor films and sailed through the clues with no need to look for a theme. LEMON DROP was my last in and a very clever clue. The clue for COLUMBUS was not cryptic – just two GK questions run together. I didn’t know Mixed Martial Arts but the answer was obvious anyway; as was the case for too many clues, which were largely solved from the definitions and crossers.

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