Independent 10,891 / Bluth

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Bluth has provided a meaty puzzle for us to sink our teeth into and savour this Wednesday.

I found this to be a very rewarding puzzle to solve, definitely at the harder end of the Indy spectrum in terms of difficulty.

In the end, I needed to search Chambers to find 1D, which was a new word for me, although I guessed that we were looking for a word that meant ashes; and also to consult Google to find 13, whom I don’t know anything like as well as Bluth doubtless does. It also took me a long time to parse some of the entries, not least 13 and 20, owing to the – at times perhaps overly – intricate wordplay.

Full marks to Bluth for managing to include so many references to popular culture in his wordplay, e.g. at 6, 7 (which made me laugh out loud when the penny dropped) and 14.

My favourites today are almost too numerous to mention, but I really liked 1A, for maintaining the utterly misleading references to money through definition and wordplay alike; and 19, for the clever device for dropping first letters.

I hope fellow solvers had as much fun with this one as I did, for which thanks go to Bluth, of course.

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

Across  
   
01 COWPATS Cash, perhaps invested in Wall Street, originally – company starts with lower deposits?

CO (=company) + [PAT (=Cash, perhaps, i.e. Australian tennis legend) in W<all> S<treet> (“originally” means first letter only); cryptically, since cattle low, then “lower deposits could be cowpats!!
   
05 DIPLOMA Retrospectively, detective is filling in a month old document

IP (PI=Private Investigator) in [A + M (=month) + OLD]; “retrospectively” indicates reversal
   
09 INNERMOST Deepest miners not affected

*(MINERS NOT); “affected” is anagram indicator; one’s innermost thoughts are one’s deepest thoughts
   
10 PATIO Oddly plants it on paved section

P<l>A<n>T<s> I<t> O<n>; “oddly” means odd letters only are used
   
11 KOI Swimmer’s shy on the radio

Homophone (“on the radio”) of “coy (=shy)”; a koi is a type of carp, hence “swimmer”
   
12 ENFORCEMENT Separate spacemen to absorb thrust and temperature, showing application

FORCE (=thrust) + [EN (=space, in printing) + MEN] + T (=temperature); the application of the law is its enforcement
   
13/15 RUSSELL HOWARD Jane maybe trying to pull – in love with comedian

RUSSELL (=Jane maybe, i.e. American actress and model) + {[O (=love, i.e. zero score in tennis) + W (=with)] in HARD (=trying, taxing)}; the reference is to UK comedian Russell Howard (1980-)
   
17/18 SPRING CHICKEN Season meat for youngster

SPRING (=season, of year) + CHICKEN (=meat)
   
21 IMMOBILISED Vacuous Instagram is crashing phone – daughter stopped

I<nstagra>M (“vacuous” means all but first and last letters are dropped) + [IS in MOBILE (=phone)] + D (=daughter)
   
23 USE Rubbish match official withdrawn for good

<ref>USE (=rubbish); “match official (=REF, i.e. referee) withdrawn” means letters “ref” are dropped; is no use = is no good, serves no purpose
   
24 FUNGI Some foreign ufologists returning to see black spots, say

Returned (“returning”) and hidden (“some”) in “foreIGN UFologists”; black spots are fungal diseases of plants
   
25 EMOTIONAL Moving bare hand to oil me up

*(<h>AN<d> TO OIL ME); “bare” means first and last letters are dropped from anagram, indicated by “up”
   
26 ENSIGNS Eno mostly sings good, moving standards

EN<o> (“mostly” means last letter is dropped) + SIGNS (SINGS; “good (=G) moving” means letter “g” changes place in the word)
   
27 MATURED Aged beef, say, Jamie ultimately put out with refined wine

M<e>AT (=beef, say; “Jamie ultimately, i.e. last letterput out” means letter “e” is dropped) + U (=refined, upper-class) + RED (=wine)
   
Down  
   
01 CLINKER Cinders – case of character taking delight in conveying panto’s essence

[<pa>N<to> (“essence” means core, i.e. central letter) in LIKE (=delight)] in C<haracte>R (“case of” means first and last letters only); clinker is the incombustible residue raked out of a furnace, hence “cinders”!
   
02 WIND INSTRUMENTS Winter nudism isn’t initially going badly – revealing organs?

*(WINTER NUDISM + <i>SNT); “initially going” means first letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “badly); e.g. a pipe organ is a wind instrument
   
03 AGREE Be of one mind about boring season

RE- (=about, regarding) in AGE (=season, time)
   
04 SNOWFALL Son with new cycle unused – it’s cold weather

S (=son) + N (=new, as in NT) + OW-FALL (FALLOW=unused, of argricultural land; “cycle” means last letter moves to front of word, then penultimate letter, etc)
   
05 DETERS Discourages less direct courses including English for home-study specialists

DETOURS (=less direct courses, i.e. routes); “English (=E) for home-study specialists (=OU, for Open University” means letter “e” replaces letters “ou”
   
06 PEPPERONI Go over part in Evita, with Paige’s focus, it’s quite meaty

PEP (=go, verve) + PERON (=part in Evita, e.g. Eva Peron) + <pa>I<ge> (“focus” means core, i.e. middle letter)
   
07 ON THE BACK BURNER Content for Tony Blackburn line to be cut out after the TV show – it’s not a priority at this time

<t>ON>y (“content for” middle central letters only) + THE + B<l>ACKBURN (“line (=L) to be cut” means letter “l” is dropped) + ER (=TV show, i.e. US hospital drama)
   
08 ADOPTED Occasionally hard for pothead to be made one of the family?

<h>A<r>D <f>O<r> P<o>T<h>E<a>D; “occasionally” means alternate letters only are used
   
14 ENNOBLING Honouring two Beatles, without coverage, outside British Library

BL (=British Library) in [<l>ENNO<n> + <r>ING<o> (=two Beatles; “without coverage” means first and last letters of each are dropped)
   
16 ICE STORM Stupidly start to cycle – it’s more cold weather

*(C<ycle> + IT’S MORE); “start to” means first letter only is used in anagram, indicated by “stupidly”
   
17 SKIFFLE Ask if Fleabag contains music

Hidden (“contains”) in “aSK IF FLEabag”
   
19 NEEDLED Harassed after deposing leaders, one red fled

<o>NE <r>ED <f>LED; “after deposing leaders” means first letters of each are dropped
   
20 SLEEPS Signal with Virgin was regularly dropping out – phone company see extra text drops off

S<igna>L (<v>I<r>G<i>N <w>A<s>; “regularly dropping out” means the alternate letters “igna” are dropped) + EE (=phone company, in UK) + PS (=extra text, i.e. postscript)
   
22 DRIFT Meaning of God preceding schism

D (=God, i.e. dominus) + RIFT (=schism); cf. to get one’s drift
   
   

 

20 comments on “Independent 10,891 / Bluth”

  1. Thanks both. Agree entirely with the opening commentary regarding level of difficulty, where even ‘delight’ in 1dn for me is always stronger than ‘like’ and the Jane in 13/15 would never have led to the answer (but confirmed it) as there have been just a few so-called since she joined us on Planet E 100 years ago

  2. For the second time today, I’ve had a lot of fun with one of this setter’s crosswords. I thought this was one of his best, thoroughly enjoyable from tricky start to finish

    Thanks to Bluth and RR

  3. I really enjoyed working out the wordplay in these clues. All very witty and well-constructed. Try as I might I could not get sleeps @20d despite being sure that the phone company would be EE – so a very entertaining DNF.
    Thanks to Bluth and to RatkojaRiku.

  5. I couldn’t parse SNOWFALL or SLEEPS fully so thanks RR for the enlightenment.

    Clinker I did know as my late father-in-law always referred to clinkers and ashes when redding out the fire – “save the clinkers, fuel is going up again!”

    I’m in two minds whether or not to thank Bluth. I’ve wasted far too much of my day staring at those two.

    Much to like and enjoy though so I will forgive being needled, for not getting his drift and say thanks.

  6. This was good in parts but the usual curate’s egg which is often the case for me with this setter. He had another puzzle published elsewhere today which I found very enjoyable indeed and particularly notable for its lack of wordiness which is usually one of his hallmarks. It looks like all the long clues jumped over to this site.

    I pondered for a while about the spurious apostrophe in 1d but decided it must be a misprint (which I see RR has removed from his review).

    Many years ago my sister was often compared to 13,15 (apart from two significant attributes) so, even though I didn’t know the comedian, that didn’t hold me up.

    Thanks to Bluth and to RR.

  8. I was on Bluth’s wavelength today and rattled this off fairly quickly. Struggled a bit with DRIFT but, with my mind going to SNOWFALL & ICESTORM, the word DRIFT just, well, drifted in. I sometimes wonder how my mind works. When I first looked at 17,18 (just having the I & K in 18), I thought “summer brisket” is never a phrase and somehow this lead to the correct answer. I knew CLINKER and the comedian at 13,15 (although I don’t care much for his humour). Don’t recall ever seeing the device used in 20d before. Thanks Bluth for a great crossword.

  9. Pleasure to see Bluth again – I, like CS, was playing catchup and did his earlier Indy puzzle earlier today. This one was pretty tricky in places – I didn’t fully parse SLEEPS or MATURED and didn’t know who RH was. Loved 1a, firs one in. Also appreciated the refs to Eno, the two Beatles, the TV show and the organs. Did wonder if there was a foodie thing going on with the chicken, peppeoni and fungi but I suspect it was coincidence?

  11. Thanks Bluth and RatkojaRiku. This was a proper toughie. Glad I’m not the only one who couldn’t parse SLEEPS – a seriously convoluted bit of wordplay, far too clever for me. ON THE BACK BURNER came much more readily thanks to the letter count, but again I couldn’t unravel its complexities. Several others I couldn’t parse either. That “X for Y” replacement device (as used in 5d) always sails right over my head.

    On the other hand, CLINKER and RUSSELL HOWARD came easily to me. Swings and roundabouts.

    ENNOBLING was my favourite, for the “Beatles without coverage”, which is neat (and about the right level of cleverness for me).

  12. After a few weeks of hiatus from crosswords I thought what better way to start again than a Bluth…

    …Found it quite hard ! (Not that I’m a regular finisher anyway) clearly a bit rusty as thanks to RR as ever Bluths clues are gettable with hindsight and doesn’t use obscure words/people

    Got to about 80% before reaching for “reveal letter”

    COWPATS favourite for the ‘lower deposits’ angle

    Now to keep it up and get back into the zone!

    Thanks a lot Bluth and RR

  14. Many thanks to both for an enjoyable afternoon workout. Although I had the right letters in the right squares, I needed the blog to explain a number of them. SLEEPS still confuses me but I can see what you mean. I do remember EE as, last time I was in Britain, that popped up as the network provider on my phone and I went googling.

  15. Thanks Bluth. Even though I missed CLINKER, SLEEPS, and RUSSELL HOWARD and failed to parse SNOWFALL I really enjoyed this with COWPATS (great misdirection) and ENNOBLING as favourites. Thanks RR for the helpful blog.

  16. Odd. I found this easy to solve and difficult to parse, so thanks and respect to RatkojaRiku for the explanations. Favourite was 14d Beatles: very neat. Wednesday is turning into a regular treat. Thanks to Bluth and welcome back to Tombsy!

  17. Rabbit Dave @6 mentions the wordiness of some clues.
    I often have a similar feeling with Bluth’s crosswords and today wasn’t different.
    I think this is partly due to the many ‘one-letter devices’, often deletions, such as ‘case of’, ‘essence of’, ‘initially going’, ‘bare’, ‘vacuous’, ‘content for’ etc.
    Perhaps even half the clues are subject to these.
    While I liked much of this crossword, I didn’t think Bluth was at the top of his game today – but some above will disagree.
    Especially, the clue for SLEEPS I found sort of weird. Seven words to just ‘describe’ SL! Unusual and original but also a bit over the top, IMO.
    And for me ‘see’ does only make sense if ‘see extra text’ = PS, not as a link word.
    Unfortunately’ the solution is almost SEE+PS – rather convoluted clue for such a simple word.

    Many thanks, RR, for a fine blog.
    In 11ac, you surely meant to say ‘Homophone of ‘coy”.
    Also, the clue for 13/15 has a dash after ‘pull’ (not visible in the blog), which actually makes the construction somewhat awkward.

    Many thanks to Bluth for today’s entertainment.

  19. Thanks to Sil van den Hoek at 17 for spotting the glitches in the blog, which have now been corrected.

    I was pleased to see that most of the solvers who have posted here had a similar solving experience to my own.

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