Independent 11,040 by Bluth

by

It’s always a pleasure to blog a Bluth.

There were a few here that took a while to parse and a number that needed a check in the dictionary to confirm the definition. We really liked JPEG, our last one in which had us stumped for longer than it should have done.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Writer making copper three dimensional (5)
CUBIC

Bluth wants you to add BIC (writer) to CU (copper)

4. Angels missing out on one Hotel New Hampshire (8)
SERAPHIM

An anagram (‘new’) of HAMPShIRE missing one ‘h’ (hotel)

10. Have habit that’s a bit much – no more doctors keeping tabs (9)
OVERDRESS

OVER (no more) DRS (doctors) around or ‘keeping’ ES (tabs as in drugs)

11. See 7 Down
12. Server dropping one drink (5)
WATER

WAiTER (server) ‘dropping’ I (one)

13. Minister assuming party position (3-2)
MID-ON

MIN (minister) around or ‘assuming’ DO (party)

14. Irving’s first novel’s last line is off-colour (3)
ILL

I (Irving’s first letter) L (last letter of novel) L (line)

15. Fiction Professor taking week’s rest (3,4)
LIE DOWN

LIE (fiction) DON (professor) around or ‘taking’ W (week)

17. Toy Show (4)
PLAY

Double definition

20. Digital photo of judge, for example (4)
JPEG

JP (justice of the peace – judge) EG (for example). We had EPIC here for a while with the parsing – E(digital) PIC (photo) but couldn’t work out what the definition was.

22. Take me dancing with gangster, ultimately becoming part of mob (7)
MEERKAT

An anagram (‘dancing’) of TAKE ME and R (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of gangster). The collective noun for meerkats is a mob.

25. Staff regularly reading magazines (3)
MAN

Regular letters in MagAziNes

26. Cast out and about with musical, mostly touring (5)
EVICT

EVITa (musical with last letter removed or ‘mostly’) around or ‘touring’ C (about)

27. Lengthy pedestrian crossing built up (5)
HYPED

Hidden (‘crossing’) in lengtHY PEDestrian

28. Regrets accommodating fifty guides (5)
RULES

RUES (regrets) around or ‘accommodating’ L (fifty)

29. In retrospect, number is up for invested wealth (9)
PROFUSION

A reversal (‘in retrospect’) of NO (number) IS and UP with FOR inside or ‘invested’

30. Vegetable put, essentially, by one of Irving’s characters, in salt water (5,3)
SUGAR PEA

U (middle or ‘essential’ letter of sugar put) GARP (the lead character in John Irving’s novel – The World According to Garp) in SEA (salt water). Thanks Bluth

31. Steals 6 seconds (5)
EDGES

EDGE (a synonym for ‘advantage’ – 6 down) S (seconds). We had to check this but Chambers has STEAL and EDGE as synonyms in the Thesaurus

DOWN
1. Old Republican, Romney halved weight in prison accommodation (8)
CROMWELL

ROM (half of Romney) W (weight) inside CELL (prison accommodation)

2. Setting Free The Bears is pants (8)
BREATHES

An anagram (‘setting free’) of THE BEARS. We were fixed on ‘pants’ being the anagrind for a while.

3. Alcoholic drink thrown up somewhat predictably (5)
CIDER

Hidden (‘somewhat’) and reversed (‘thrown up’) in pREDICtably

5. He finally paused awkwardly and relaxed (5,2)
EASED UP

An anagram (‘awkwardly’) of E (final letter in he) and PAUSED

6. Very adult books saw covers getting interest (9)
ADVANTAGE

V (very) A (adult) NT (New Testament – ‘books’) inside or ‘covered by’ ADAGE (saw)

7/11. Twisted River echoes form of epic poetry (6,5)
HEROIC VERSE

An anagram (twisted’) of RIVER ECHOES

8. Cloth, largely covering English breakfast? (6)
MUESLI

MUSLIn (cloth) with last letter missing or ‘largely’ around or ‘covering’ E (English)

9. Initially Owen Meany worked as a petty officer with clerical duties (6)
YEOMAN

An anagram (‘worked’) of O (first or ‘initial’ letter of Owen) and MEANY. We had to check the definition here.

16. Quiet journalists wearing glasses start to rattle tyrant (9)
OPPRESSOR

P (quiet) PRESS (journalists) inside or ‘wearing’ OO (glasses) + R (first letter or ‘start’ to rattle)

18. Missing exercise (8)
SKIPPING

Double definition

19. Bosses welcoming hospital department’s trainees (8)
STUDENTS

STUDS (bosses) around or ‘welcoming’ ENT (ear, nose & throat – ‘hospital department’)

21. Sight exam’s soft for Charlie (7)
GLIMPSE

GcSE (exam) with LIMP (soft) replacing C (Charlie). This one took a little longer to parse than others.

22. Manner of drug overdose (6)
METHOD

METH (drug) OD (overdose)

23. Smiles smugly as text describes distress (6)
SMIRKS

SMS (text) around or ‘describing’ IRK (distress)

24. International organisation cleared out petrol refined by government to remove the lead (6)
UNPLUG

UN (United Nations – ‘international organisation’) PetroL (first and last letters only or ‘cleared out’) U (refined) G (Government)

27. Show bust and get all naked for audience (5)
HOUSE
Middle letters  (‘get all naked’) of sHOw bUSt gEt

18 comments on “Independent 11,040 by Bluth”

  1. Always a pleasure to solve a Bluth crossword too

    I did see 20a fairly early on – my problems came with 9d/13a

    Thanks to Bluth and B&J

  2. My solving experience appears to have mirrored that of our bloggers, almost to a T. YEOMAN, JPEG/EPIC and the struggle to parse that tricky substitution in GLIMPSE. Where we differ is that I clocked EDGES/steals and the correct anagrind for BREATHES but I wasn’t so sure about ADVANTAGE = interest (though I see it now – it’s in your interest/to your advantage, I’m thinking).

    Bluth can be a stretchy setter but I quite enjoy that and it does lead to some inspired construction; I enjoyed the construction of CUBIC as well as the aforementioned JPEG in that respect. The deletion in SERAPHIM was nicely signalled and what an anagram to spot. Was anyone else looking for a homophone in 27d? And what a clean way to clue a potentially tricky word in MUESLI. I do feel a couple of surfaces became a tad ungainly – SUGAR PEA and UNPLUG: I’m looking at you, principally. But that’s a very minor quibble about a fine puzzle.

    Thanks Bluth and B&J

  3. That was very enjoyable and a nice challenge despite a couple of odd surfaces.

    I am not entirely convinced that a JP is the same thing as a judge, but I suppose it’s near enough.

    Many thanks to Bluth for the fun and to B&J for the review.

  4. I thought Bluth was being very kind here until I became stuck on a few in the lower half of the grid, especially PROFUSION, SUGAR PEA and GLIMPSE. Misleading bits like ‘pants’ at 2d, ‘to remove the lead’ at 24d and ‘audience’ at 27d (as pointed out by PM @2) all being defs and not wordplay indicators didn’t make things any easier.

    The def for OVERDRESS was my favourite.

    Thanks to Bluth and B&J

  5. A nice tribute to John Irving, who is 80 today. CIDER HOUSE RULES in the answers and other books in the clues- Owen Meany, Hotel New Hampshire, Twisted River, there may be others,

  7. Well spotted Petert. TBH, I’ve only read CHR – and didn’t spot that when solving. (Hotel New Hampshire rang a vague bell but I couldn’t place it). I know folk have mixed emotions with regard to themes but, if they don’t force the puzzle down ungainly routes, I always think they are a joy to discover and I do admire the setter’s ability to work them in. Especially when it’s as subtly done as this. Congrats Bluth

  8. Well spotted Petert. We are not familiar with the author so the theme passed us by. As Postmark says – when a theme is as subtle as this, it’s a delight when you spot it. Such a shame then that we missed it!
    Well done Bluth.

  9. Nice trip down memory lane, and a relief to find that yesterday’s two singers and a song does not constitute the week’s theme.
    Thanks Bluth, B&J

  10. Thanks both. Perhaps like others, the last 3 or 4 took as long as the rest combined – did not know the author so GARP wins my obscure clue-element of the week award

  11. I really enjoyed this. I didn’t realise the full extent of the theme – e.g. I knew about Garp in 23A – but didn’t know many of the other books by John Irving and certainly didn’t realise he was 80 today.
    Revisiting the clues my regard for Bluth has gone up a notch, and it was pretty high to start with.
    The beauty of seamlessly converting book titles into wordplay elements is a joy to behold, particularly when evoking anagrams as in Hotel New Hampshire in 4A, Owen Meany in 9D and Setting Free The Bears in 2D.

    Also just noticed: Cracking The Cryptic’s Simon Anthony has done a “Live Solve” of this puzzle
    here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pganJcQuRNQ

  12. The theme flew straight over my head, but being told about it has deepened my admiration for an already fine puzzle. I believe Bluth himself has a birthday today as well, so many happy returns!

  13. Bluth had posted on twitter that this was a tribute to John Irving on his 80th, which is a touch ironic, given that when he tweets that he’s set a puzzle and includes a couple of clues he says “No spoilers please”.

  14. Well, we got it all but the theme went totally over our heads. We’d never heard of John Irving, let alone the titles of any of his books.
    Thanks, though, to Bluth and B&J.

  15. Thanks for the blog, B&J & thanks for all the lovely comments.

    Simon S @13 – I don’t really think it’s a spoiler seeing as several of the books – and Irving himself – are mentioned explicitly in the clues. Indeed, I think it can be a useful bit of context. A clue like the Owen Meany one is, I feel, only really valid if the name ‘Owen Meany’ has existing meaning. The way I see it, if someone’s a fan of Irving’s they’ll know he’s being referenced the moment they read the clues anyway – so nothing’s really spoiled. And if someone’s unfamiliar with him, they needn’t be troubled by it, but knowing the puzzle is a tribute to an author might at least allow them to safely assume that things like ‘Owen Meany’ aren’t just the setter’s contrivances.

    Cheers!

  16. Thanks BertandJoyce as I didn’t get the LIMP of GLIMPSE and for the 2nd time today suffered from anagrind confusion but luckily not a barrier to solving either time. PostMark I know what you mean as Bluth’s wordier constructions can at first sight seem as daunting as German compound nouns, but in the same way can be very straightforward if you just take them one step at a time and I thought UNPLUG a very good example which reads pretty well if you take lead to be read as in Zeppelin. my only v minor quibbles were the question mark for MUESLI and that SMI appears in both the first word and solution of 23d (could have been “Looks smug…”). But Bluth has once again come up with the goods with extra points for a worthwhile theme that did not intrude (my GK just enough to know OM, get Garp and realise something was afoot but not to spot the refs and reason so thanks Petert for highlighting). Thanks Bluth.

  17. I didn’t notice it at first, but there’s a slight error in the explanation for 30A – the U is the middle letter of ‘put’ not ‘sugar’.

  18. Thanks Bluth and apologies – we both missed that. We will amend the blog later today when we have WiFi on the iPad.

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