Independent 11,086 by Skinny

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Nice to see Skinny back, his puzzles often raise a smile.

Well it didn’t take long into the solve to see various sit-coms appear in the grid, I think I’ve highlighted them all below, SOAP was a 1970’s soap cum sit-com from the US with Billy Crystal amongst others I remember from my youth – very silly indeed. If I’ve missed any please leave a comment. Very nice, thanks Skinny,

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
5. Drops theatrical habit? (6)
SCRUBS

Def and CD or double def depending on how you look at scrubs for surgical wear. A US Hospital comedy drama

7. Old Scandinavian captures what few facilities exist in such a town (3-5)
ONE-HORSE

O(ld) & EH for “what” inside NORSE

9. Star leads in film role – woman gripped by snake, twisting (3,5)
RED DWARF

Wordplay a little convoluted here, leading letters of F(ilm) R(ole) & W(oman) in ADDER all of it reversed.

10. Actors with no balls? (6)
EXTRAS

Double def if you consider the ? to indicate def by example.

11. Clue re-written with romantic response to allegation (12)
COUNTERCLAIM

a re-written [CLUE ROMANTIC]*

13. Spoil yours truly with second drink (4,2)
MESS UP

ME & S(econd) & SUP

15. Spouse endlessly lying about allure (6)
ENTRAP

most of PARTNE(r) reversed

18. Mistakenly replace y with w in ‘yell’ to find something small and unpleasant (6-6)
CREEPY-CRAWLY

Mistakenly [REPLACE Y W]* inside CRY for yell.

21. Fishing gear in knots, perhaps (6)
WADERS

Double def – KNOTS are wading birds

22. Stick around publishing house for a connection (8)
COUPLING

O.U.P. inside CLING for stick.

23. Society woman’s club – Nottingham Forest (8)
SHERWOOD

S(ociety) & HER & WOOD for club.

24. It’s crazy to scoff unfinished rolls, as many here are (6)
SITCOM

Well there’s a few in the grid after all – a crazy ITS* & most of MOC(k) reversed – rolls

DOWN
1. Drained, exhausted at home feeding dogs – sweet things (8)
PUDDINGS

An exhausted D(raine)D & IN all inside PUGS for DOGS. I guess exhausted can mean the contents have gone

2. Key component of puttanesca, perhaps (6)
ESCAPE

From you keyboard – hidden a component of puttanESCA PErhaps. Nice try at deception using perhaps in the hidden fodder

3. Purchase Lynn wrapped with glee, remarkably (8)
LEVERAGE

VERA (lynn) inside a remarkable GLEE*

4. Slogan arises after opening of British base (6)
BOTTOM

Opening of B(ritish) & MOTTO revered

6. Think about potential clue for ‘wang’ (4,4)
CHEW OVER

Wang could be GNAW reversed or CHEW OVER

7. Appointment where curling is over and done with? (6)
OFFICE

If the game is over they’ll be OFF the ICE

8. Cleaner exhaust with nothing inside (4)
SOAP

O for nothing inside SAP for exhaust. Soap was a US soap-opera cum comedy spoof.

12. Spaniel oddly gripped by attack (4,4)
SAIL INTO

Odd letters of SpAnIeL & INTO

14. Go terribly posh with sordid entertainment (4,4)
PEEP SHOW

PEE to go as it were & a terrible POSH* & W(ith)

16. Order last drop of Merlot, each lot getting drier (3,5)
TEA CLOTH

Order [(merlo)T EACH LOT]*

17. Having intervals between start and end of summing-up, brilliantly executed (6)
SPACED

Endings of S(umming-u)P & ACED for well done

18. Famous actress receives first of Emmys, and small round of applause (6)
CHEERS

first of E(mmys) inside CHER & S(mall)

19. Starter, possibly at Ascot? (6)
COURSE

Double def

20. Pound of ham ultimately remains (4)
MASH

(ha)M ultimately & ASH – US military/medical comedy

 

12 comments on “Independent 11,086 by Skinny”

  1. Surprised this wasn’t published on a Tuesday. A beautifully themed crossword, I thought. When I entered COUPLING, I thought about a particularly funny episode of the Tv series and then noticed several other sitcoms. 24a did give the game away. My list exactly matched those in the blog.

    Don’t normally like cricket clues but did like 10a. Took me quite a while to spot what was going on with 18a – a great clue.

    In the blog, it should, perhaps, say that MOCk is reversed (“rolls”) in 24a.

  3. This was fairly light and good fun, although it was a DNF for me as I was perplexed by both the answer and wordplay for 24a, which also meant of course that I didn’t spot the theme.

    Although W is a recognised abbreviation for “women”, it is not for “woman”; so “wife” would perhaps have been better for 9a.

    EXTRAS was my favourite.

    Thanks to Skinny and to flashling.

  4. PS. Now I’ve understood 24a, the cryptic grammar doesn’t work as the clue leads to the answer SITCOMS not SITCOM.

  5. Rabbit Dave @4. I agree. “are” is plural and “sitcom” isn’t. A minor quibble, I think, but a valid one.

  6. Missed the theme which made the NW corner quite hard and overall I found this un-Mondayish. Not helped by putting in “gnaw over” at first at 6d.

    I liked EXTRAS though ‘no ball(s)’ is usually hyphenated.

    Thanks to Skinny and flashling

  7. WordPlodder @6. In the Laws of Cricket as published by the MCC, “No Ball” is not hyphenated.

  8. This was a struggle for me, and a DNF as I couldn’t see the crossing 5A and 6D. I did see the theme, however, which was very enjoyable. Maybe 18A could be admitted to the theme as an associate member, as there’s a comedy cartoon series “Creepy Crawlers”. Also there’s a crime series “Sherwood”, and an adventure series “Escape”, but this may be stretching qualification too far. Thanks Skinny and Flashling.

  9. A great puzzle, with some clever and witty devices and surfaces.

    Particular favourites were EXTRAS, COUNTERCLAIM, CREEPY-CRAWLY, CHEW OVER, SHERWOOD and SITCOM – the last two despite the valid quibbles.

    Many thanks to Skinny for a most enjoyable puzzle and flashling for the blog.

  10. Left with a couple of blanks in the SE so missed the indicator of the theme. Having checked our blogger’s list, many of them were unknown to me anyway so it probably wouldn’t have made much difference!
    Not to worry, I still enjoyed the puzzle and my top two were WADERS & SOAP.

    Thanks to Skinny and to flashling for the review.

  11. Hi all – many thanks to Flashling for the excellent blog and to all who commented.

    Regarding the point on ‘as many here are’, I was imagining a voice in my head saying “The answer is SITCOM, as many here are” which in my book would have made sense, but in fairness I see the point raised

    Hope to be back before too long, and hope you’re all avoiding the dreaded COVID – I didn’t

    All the best,

    Skinny

  12. Thanks Skinny for another enjoyable puzzle which we have only just got around to solving. We missed the theme until 24ac which was our LOI.

    Thanks flashling for the blog

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