Independent 11073 by Bluth

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My first blog of  puzzle from Bluth. Should be fun. A setter I have admired for other reasons for many years.

Very admirable indeed. Some very ingenious devices in play, as has become his norm. Loved 12ac’s use of roman numerals and multiplication. 17ac made me laugh as homonyms sometimes can. 25ac., 5dn and 6dn deserve mention. 1dn was ingenious and I think was the first time I’d seen that device used. Elegant surfaces too, many made me laugh.

Can’t spot a a theme, but you can’t have everything.

Thanks Bluth, long may your crossword setting continue.

Key. Rev. Reverse, underline definition, * anagram,

Across
1 Pop out wearing skates, perhaps – dapper (7)
(pop)* in Fish (skates perhaps) = FOPPISH

5 Claimant‘s answer caught cocaine addict (7)
a(answer) + c (caught) + c (cocaine) + user (addict) = ACCUSER

9 Groucho’s prop is somewhat tragicomic on reflection (5)
Rev. Hidden tRAGIComic = CIGAR

10 Dinosaur dung fleece has in lining (9)
guano(dung) + do (fleece) in IN = IGUANODON

11 In retrospect mostly row about a row (3)
Rev. row – w around a = OAR

12 Recycling paper’s sustainable – with a twentyfold increase at the start to make it significant (11)
(paper)* + viable (sustainable) multiplying the V by 20 gets C = APPRECIABLE

13 Climbers compete in Iceland (5)
Is (Iceland) around vie (compete) = IVIES

15 Ultimately appreciate Banksy the street artist’s fashionable – an issue for some readers (9)
appreciatE banksY thE + st (street) + ra(artist) + in (fashionable) = EYESTRAIN

17 It’s an assumed name, originally signed over first bit of wall – according to reports? (9)
so (originally signed over) + homonym of brick a (first bit of wall) = SOBRIQUET

19 Maybe snipe and fight over case for divorce (5)
war(fight) around DivorcE = WADER

20 Claret and fortified wine on board ship – they’re deadly (5,6)
blood (claret) + port(fortified wine) in SS (ship) = BLOOD SPORTS

21 Wreath that is returned after end of funeral (3)
Rev ie (that is) after l(end of funeral) = LEI

22 Two gangsters filling airline sickbag regularly – it’s stringy? (9)
al + al (two gangsters) in BA (airline) + sIcKbAg = BALALAIKA

23 Down following defeat (5)
f(following) + loss (defect) = FLOSS

24 Expert support surrounding good pupil (7)
pro(expert) + tee(support) around g(good) = PROTEGE

25 In the nude, Men Only models bringing forward current recruits (7)
mEn + oNLy (in the nude) + sits (models) moving i (current) = ENLISTS

DOWN
1 Plants piece of information with politicians using timeshare arrangement (9)
fact(piece of information) + tories (politicians)sharing t (timeshare) = FACTORIES

2 Golf rookie finally breaking par reveals electronic device (5)
g(golf) + e (rookie finally) in par = PAGER

3 Raids Asda or Nisa stores from the south (7)
Rev. hidden aSDA OR NIsa = INROADS

4 I upset her vampire bats – ignoring adult one who’s expected to turn into a count, say (4,11)
(I upset her vampire – a)* = HEIR PRESUMPTIVE

5 Gambling site criminally menaced amateurs (9,6)
(menaced amateurs)* = AMUSEMENT ARCADE

6 Condemn group of sisters making nurse be in charge (7)
convent (group of sisters) changing en (nurse) to ic (in charge) = CONVICT

7 Cupboard love, camp poet inspired (9)
o (love) in side (camp) + bard (poet) = SIDEBOARD

8 Scale the Andes, for example (5)
DD RANGE

14 Mess created by Inuit moving bearskin rug initially with igloo in disarray (9)
Inuit + Moving + Bearskin + Rug (initially) + (igloo)* = IMBROGLIO

16 DEA agent is suspicious one’s a plant (9)
narc (DEA agent) + is + sus (suspicious) = NARCISSUS

18 Uni led astray over principle of gallows humour (7)
(uni led) * around g(principle of gallows) = INDULGE

19 Pensive debut for ‘Who’s On First Base’ – missing second part of routine (7)
w(debut for who) + ist (first) + foul(base) – o (second part of routine) = WISTFUL

20 Style of jazz, Auntie heard on gramophone, essentially (5)
Homonym of Beeb (auntie) + op (gramOPhone) = BEBOP

21 Raids backfiring, say, Vice Squad’s leader (5)
Rev. tool (vice) + s (squad’s leader) = LOOTS

20 comments on “Independent 11073 by Bluth”

  1. The last bit of the parse for WISTFUL is missing from the blog, I.e., F(O)UL (base missing second letter of rOutine).

  5. I thought there was a wide range of difficulty on show here today. Some answers went in very quickly and some took considerable teasing out, but the whole thing proved to be a most enjoyable challenge.

    Having the second syllable of the answer to 7d the same as the second syllable of the definition was a bit unfulfilling; and, while the surface readings were generally smooth, I can’t interpret 21d in a meaningful way at all.

    I got a bit stymied by 12a despite having twigged the clever device straightaway as I had wrongly decided that we were looking to replace an L with an M. It was only quite a while later that it occurred to me to try and find a different pair of letters which met the 20x criterion.

    With plenty of good clues to pick from, my top few were APPRECIABLE, SOBRIQUET, WADER, AMUSEMENT ARCADE and CONVICT.

    Many thanks to Bluth and to twencelas.

  6. KVa @4: it’s a splendid technique, isn’t it? I’ve seen it a few times now and do admire the setters who manage to find a way of fitting it in. I thought, for a setter who is pretty inventive at the best of times, Bluth excelled himself today as twencelas has stated in the preamble. Very witty, very clever, great fun.

    Favourites, over and above the already mentioned SOBRIQUET and APPRECIABLE, include the fabulous anagram and surface for HEIR ASSUMPTIVE, the substitution in CONVICT and one that deserves to share the podium alongside the first two, IMBROGLIO for the combination of construction and excellent surface image.

    Thanks Bluth and twencelas

  9. Super!

    My favourites were APPRECIABLE, SOBRIQUET, BALALAIKA, FACTORIES, HEIR PRESUMPTIVE, AMUSEMENT ARCADE and IMBROGLIO.

    Thanks to Bluth and twencelas.

  11. I usually like Bluth, but I thought this was especially good – innovative, amusing but accessible. FACTORIES, HEIR PRESUMPTIVE and IMBROGLIO were my favourites.

  12. Likewise, a splendid puzzle. In the old newspaper days the Indie’s Saturday prize puzzle was usually very difficult but this was quite gentle. Thanks Bluth and Twencelas.

  13. Thanks Twencelas – and all.

    Postmark @6 I’m sure someone will have used that device before but I wasn’t aware of an example and couldn’t find one through searching. In any case, it’s nice to stumble on something that doesn’t simply rely on the familiar toolbox. I confess, it’s a rare case where I reverse-engineered the clue – thinking of the device first and then going searching for a suitable word to apply it to.

  14. Thanks Bluth for an excellent crossword. I ticked 1d due to the technique used, 5d for the nice anagram, FOPPISH, ENLISTS, and CONVICT because they were pure fun. I couldn’t fully parse 12a and FLOSS so thanks twencelas for the blog.

  15. 1a made me laugh when I saw it.
    17a is very clever and a bit cheeky, in the way we have cometo expect of Bluth.
    Not altogether happy about ‘raids’ in 21d.
    12a is a nice example of its type.
    ‘Timeshare arrangement’ in 1d was a brilliant touch! Thank you Bluth.

  16. Bluth @13: I think you still get notifications, as setter, of late posts on this blog. I may have been guilty of loose language in saying ‘a few times’! Once for deffo. And a vague feeling of a second but there I might be wrong. I’ve done a cursory search of 225 – it would have been G or I – and have a faint recollection of the clue involving two women who shared the critical letter. A mother and daughter? Two nuns? But I can’t find it and don’t really have enough to search further. As I hope was clear from my comments, I admire the technique and you may well have gone one better with the single word indicator, timesharing. I suspect it was signalled slightly differently before. Do keep ’em coming.

  17. PostMark @16 No worries. I had assumed you meant you’d seen the indication ‘timeshare arrangement’ used in the same way before rather than just a clue which indicates shared character(s).

    Not that it really matters. While I knew I thought of it when I saw the phrase ‘timeshare arrangement’ written down in some non-crosswording context, I’m not naive to assume I must therefore be the first to think of it. It is of course, still highly that someone, somewhere will have used ‘timeshare’ in this way before now.

    As for the more general idea of sharing characters, I did see an example recently, courtesy of Methuselah who had:

    Symbols in gospel linked with one or two older books (8) for MARKINGS

    http://www.fifteensquared.net/2022/03/23/independent-11058-methuselah/

  18. Massively enjoyable. Thanks for explaining BriqUET, i was scratching my head there, very nice.
    Thanks Bluth, again, and thank you twinkles

  20. Bluth @17: I’m only posting a week on from your puzzle, again hoping that you still get notified of posts pertinent to your appearance. I’ve just popped back in after encountering another neat share and discovered your reply. Yes, it was the sharing to which I was referring rather than specifically to ‘timeshare arrangement’ which is all yours in my book! 😀 I’m almost finished on Serpent’s Saturday Indy and, given our conversation above, you might find his 22a interesting to glance at. An alternative take on the technique.

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