Gila is an Independent setter who appears every two or three months.
There is a bit of a food and drink theme to this puzzle with sweet items in three of the outer rows and columns. We also have TAPAS, DURUM and ARABICA.
I have never been to Portugal but I ate quite a lot of PASTEL DE NATA on a day trip from Hong Kong to the former Portuguese settlement of Macao.
There was some quite complex wordplay in this puzzle as indicated by the number of colours I have used in the detail of the blog below.
I thought some of the clues were very good, especially those for PASTEL DE NATA, BIRTHDAY CAKE and RESIDENCY.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Spaghetti, perhaps – mostly cooked al dente – followed by a custard tart (6,2,4) PASTEL DE NATA (Portuguese egg custard tart pastry dusted with cinnamon) PASTA (spaghetti is a type of PASTA) excluding the final letter A (mostly) + an anagram of (cooked) AL DENTE + (followed by) A PAST EL DE NAT* A |
| 9 |
Collective quote initially made out for sport equipment (4,3) POOL CUE (piece of sports equipment, if you consider pool to be a sport rather than a game) POOL (collective stakes of a number of people who combine in a betting arrangement) + CUE (sounds like [made out] the letter Q, first letter of [initially] QUOTE) POOL CUE |
| 10 |
Country’s king essentially favours disorder (7) ROMANIA (European country) R (Rex; king) + O (central letter of [essentially] FAVOURS) + MANIA (disorder) R O MANIA |
| 11 |
Most free facilities bedsit’s occasionally lacking (7) LOOSEST (most slack; most free) LOOS (toilets; facilities) + EST (letters 2, 4 and 6 [occasionally] BEDSIT) LOOS EST |
| 12 |
How mate can be made to provide commission (7) MANDATE (charge; instruction; commission) M AND ATE together make the single word MANDATE M AND ATE |
| 13 |
Snacks are covered in bugs (5) TAPAS (light savoury snacks) A (abbreviation for ARE, a metric land measure) contained in (covered in) TAPS (devices, which when attached to a telephone line, enable, eg the police, security forces, etc secretly to listen to conversations; bugs) TAP (A) S |
| 14 |
Welcome guys inside following a deal (9) AGREEMENT (contract; treaty; deal) A + (MEN [guys] contained in [inside] GREET [welcome]) A GREE (MEN) T |
| 16 |
Two soldiers possibly entertained by Liverpool FC stars (3,6) RED GIANTS (RED stars of high luminosity) (GI [American soldier] + ANT [reference soldier ANTs]) contained in REDS (Liverpool Football Club play in RED shirts and are unofficially known as the REDS) RED (GI ANT) S |
| 19 |
I am absorbed by a new electronic form of Japanese art (5) ANIME (style of animated film or television programme, originating in Japan) I’M (I am) contained in (absorbed by) (A + N [new] + E [electronic]) A N (IM) E |
| 21 |
Disgusting smell around site (7) OBSCENE (disgusting) BO (body odour; smell) reversed (around) + SCENE (site) OB< SCENE |
| 23 |
Absolutely no more cake!(4-3) DEAD SET (determined; indisputable; absolutely) DEAD SET (completely caked [solid; set]; cannot cake any more) DEAD SET |
| 24 |
English and Irish visiting China and Dubai, for example (7) EMIRATE (Dubai is one of the seven constituent EMIRATEs forming the country United Arab EMIRATEs) E (English) + (IR [Irish] contained in [visiting] MATE [china]) E M (IR) ATE |
| 25 |
Offensive din carries over miles (7) NOISOME (offensive to sight or smell) NOISE (din) containing (carries) (O [over] + M [miles]) NOIS (O M) E |
| 26 |
Anniversary gift I’d chat about with bakery? (8,4) BIRTHDAY CAKE (anniversary gift) Anagram of (about) I’D CHAT and BAKERY BIRTHDAY CAKE* |
| Down | |
| 1 |
PR event is crap, encapsulating the very opposite of cool (5,2) PHOTO OP (a PHOTO OPportunity is often a public relations event) POOP (faeces; crap) containing (encapsulating) HOT (the opposite of cool) P (HOT) O OP |
| 2 |
Small bags of top-class cocaine and heroin put in batches (7) SACHETS (small plastic envelopes or bags) (A [top class] + C [cocaine] + H [heroin]) contained in (put in) SETS (batches) S (A C H) ETS |
| 3 |
Reading issue certainly present in European school (9) EYESTRAIN (irritation that can affect ability to read; alternatively an irritation caused by too much reading in difficult lighting conditions or reading documents with small typefaces) YES (certainly) contained in (present in) (E [European] + TRAIN [teach; school]) E (YES) TRAIN |
| 4 |
Part of kit containing posh ingredient for making pasta (5) DURUM (kind of spring wheat whose flour is used in making pasta) DRUM (a single DRUM is often part of a larger DRUM kit) containing (containing) U (upper-class; push) D (U) RUM |
| 5 |
One cast featuring an explosive Oscar candidate (7) NOMINEE (candidates for Oscars are usually announced in the form … and the NOMINEEs are…’) Anagram of (cast) ONE containing (featuring) MINE (an example of an explosive device) NO (MINE) E* |
| 6 |
Metal objects drifting in water (7) TINWARE (metal objects made of TIN) Anagram of (drifting) IN WATER TINWARE* |
| 7 |
Sweet income generated by a tech giant? (5,8) APPLE TURNOVER (sweet pie) APPLE (reference APPLE Inc, tech giant) + TURNOVER (the money value of total sales over a period; income) APPLE TURNOVER |
| 8 |
Material from planet earth excitedly probed by returning alien (6,7) PATENT LEATHER (finely varnished LEATHER or imitation LEATHER; material) Anagram of (excitedly) PLANET EARTH containing (probed by) ET (extraterrestrial; alien) reversed (returning) PA (TE<) NT LEATHER* |
| 15 |
Regular gigs in clubs in the far edge of Upper East Side New York (9) RESIDENCY (a band’s or singer’s regular or permanent engagement at a venue) The definition could include ‘in clubs’ C (clubs] contained in (in) (R [last letter of {far edge of} UPPER] + E [East] + SIDE + NY [New York]) R E SIDE N (C) Y |
| 17 |
Fling odd spots of ink on interviewer’s face and shirt (7) DASHIKI (type of loose shirt worn in Africa, and also in the United States) DASH (throw; fling) + IK (letters 1 and 3 [odd spots] of INK) + I (independent) DASH IK I |
| 18 |
One succeeding taking a cape off (7) INEXACT (not accurate; off) I (Roman numeral for one) + (NEXT [succeeding] containing [taking] [A + C {cape}]) I NEX (A C) T |
| 19 |
Coffee cultivated primarily in part of Asia (7) ARABICA ( coffee produced from the shrub Coffea ARABICA, grown especially in Brazil and other South American countries) C (first letter of [primarily] CULTIVATED) contained in (in) ARABIA (a part of Asia) ARABI (C) A |
| 20 |
Damaged case of rosé is not available for purchase? (2-5) IN STORE (available for purchase) Anagram of (damaged) RE (outer letters of [case of] ROSE) and IS NOT IN STORE* |
| 22 |
Polish troops occupying base close to Stargard (5) EMEND (make alterations in with a view to improving; polish) MEN (troops) contained in (occupying) (E [base of natural logarithms) + D (last letter of [close to] STARGARD) E (MEN) D |
Just the right level of difficulty for me. Lots of well constructed clues, I felt. Fortunately, I knew “pastel” as Spanish for cake and guessed this was the first bit of 1a allowing me to guess the rest and then google it. DASHIKI was another guess from wordplay and then check.
I did cheat with a word fit for INEXACT but no excuse.
For 23a, I took the second part as DEAD = “no more” + SET = “cake”. I get that DEAD-SET means “absolutely determined”, but “absolutely” by itself?
Hovis @ 1
Thanks – I’m happy to accept that there is a better parsing of DEAD SET than the one I suggested
Very neat indeed-nice to see a clue where I could guess an answer i didnt know but I’ve always liked tarts
Thanks Gila and Duncansheill
This took a bit of working out. I’d never heard of the CUSTARD TART at 1a but luckily managed to put the vowels in the correct order and as Duncan says there was some complicated parsing to deal with, eg for RESIDENCY. I parsed DEAD SET as did Hovis @1.
I was happy to be able to remember the ‘shirt’ at 17d. Favourite and last in was the well-disguised, “simple” ‘off’ definition for INEXACT.
Thanks to Duncan and Gila.
Unlike Hovis, I found this one to be well above my difficulty level and there was a fair bit of guesswork involved in arriving at a filled grid. I’d be grateful if someone could explain to me how A plus C = cape.
Sorry to be such a lightweight Gila! Thanks to Duncan for the helpful review.
jane @ 5: it’s a cartographic reference – c verde, c of good hope et al. ‘a’ is just ‘a’.
Thank you, Simon, not used to seeing ‘c’ used in that way although it’s blindingly obvious now that you’ve pointed it out!
This one defeated me, too. Got about half of it before giving up.
Dormouse, I often see your name in Azed blogs.
How can you have trouble with crosswords like this one when you haven’t any major problems with barred crosswords (with all these unusual ‘words’)?
It puzzles me.
It puzzles me, too. 🙂 Possibly, as there are so many crossing letters in Azed, it’s easier to fill in the gaps. If I have time on a Sunday night having done Azed, I’ll have a look at the Indie crossword and find it much harder.
I found this one pretty hard too, and failed on INEXACT. I had to look up DASHIKI. I haven’t seen the device in 12A before but I like it. A clue like 1a that can be solved to form a word previously unknown to the solver is one of the joys of cryptics, I think.