Independent 11,107 by Vigo

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Well that was fun. Thanks Vigo.

We didn’t have any particular difficulties with this offering from Vigo (apart from the correct spelling of ENMITY, but we liked some of the crafty misdirections (1ac and 4ac).

Once again, we are aware of Pierre and his lawyers so no bird images again today.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1. Short couple following French sea bird (6)
MERLIN

LINk (couple) missing last letter or ‘short’ after MER (French for ‘sea’)

4. Before noon gets one cold beer containing drop of blackcurrant cordial (8)
AMICABLE

AM (before noon) I (one) C (cold) ALE (beer) around or ‘containing’ B (first letter or ‘drop’ of blackcurrant)

10. Dumb little mammals consuming cool shrew’s head (9)
VOICELESS

VOLES (little mammals) around or ‘consuming’ ICE (cool) + S (first letter or ‘head’ of shrew)

11. Remove weapons from leaders of uprising nationalist association requesting munitions (5)
UNARM

First letters or ‘leaders’ of Uprising Nationalist Association Requesting Munitions

12. Shout of king having row (4)
ROAR

R (King) and OAR (row)

13. At Mach ten flying team initially bond (10)
ATTACHMENT

An anagram (‘flying’) of AT MACH TEN + T (first or ‘initial’ letter of team)

15. Lively takeaway in Ireland? (7)
CHIPPER

Double definition

16. Soldier rejected champagne brand with expression of surprise (6)
GURKHA

KRUG (Champagne brand reversed or ‘rejected’) HA (expression of surprise)

19. Hearts of men and nobles enlocked as one (2,4)
EN BLOC

Middle letters or ‘hearts’ of mEn aNd noBLes enlOCked

21. Sudden urge I am going to beat (7)
IMPULSE

I’M (I am) PULSE (beat)

23. Bewildered foe abducts bats (10)
OBFUSCATED

Anagram (‘bats’) of FOE ABDUCTS

25. Noisily wear out part of car (4)
TYRE

Sounds like (‘noisily’) of TIRE (wear out)

27. Try very large European bird (5)
GOOSE

GO (try) OS (very large) E (European)

28. Meadows outside of Edinburgh with ancient tenure (9)
LEASEHOLD

LEAS (meadows) EH (first and last letters or ‘outside’ of EdinburgH) OLD (ancient)

29. Artist at Royal Institute draws unusual objects (8)
RARITIES

RA (artist) RI (Royal Institute) TIES (draws)

30. Tobogganist perhaps starting to sprint to top and show hesitation (6)
SLIDER

S (first letter or ‘start’ to sprint) LID (top) ER (show hesitation)

DOWN
1. Rebel male greeting Little Richard? (8)
MAVERICK

M (male) AVE (greeting) RICK (short or ‘little’ form of Richard)

2. Passing water leaders swap places causing devastation (9)
RUINATION

URINATION (passing water) with U and R swapping places. We could not believe that we hadn’t come across the link between these two words before in a crossword clue.

3. I live with cross creature (4)
IBEX

I BE (live) X (cross)

5. Greek character flies over for horse (7)
MUSTANG

MU (Greek character) and GNATS (flies) reversed or ‘over’

6. Money yields initially exchanged for medicine (5,5)
COUGH DROPS

DOUGH (money) CROPS (yields) exchanging initial letters

7. Offered to cross line for bit of grass (5)
BLADE

BADE (offered) around or ‘crossing’ L (line)

8. Tiny me aroused hostility? (6)
ENMITY

An anagram (‘aroused’) of TINY ME. Neither of us could remember the spelling – simple really when you think of ENEMY – but we chose EMNITY initially. We then solved 11ac and realised our error.

9. Comedian having way to stop heckle (6)
JESTER

ST (way as in street) inside or ‘stopping’ JEER (heckle)

14. Love light fragrance shimmering (10)
OPALESCENT

O (love) PALE (light) SCENT (fragrance)

17. Tree – lots of trees – in LA suburb (9)
HOLLYWOOD

HOLLY (tree) WOOD (lots of trees)

18. Footballer put off round goal (8)
DEFENDER

DEFER (put off) around END (goal)

20. Daily story for credulous chap (7)
CHARLIE

CHAR (daily) LIE (story)

21. Killer men CIA deployed (3,3)
ICE MAN

An anagram (‘deployed’) of MEN CIA

22. Firm sauce served up for cat (6)
COUGAR

CO (firm) RAGU (sauce) reversed or ‘served up’

24. Bottom surface in stiff loo roll (5)
FLOOR

Hidden ‘in’ stifF LOO Roll

26. Bass cello regularly left in ring (4)
BELL

B (bass) cElLo (alternate or ‘regular’ letters) L (left)

 

14 comments on “Independent 11,107 by Vigo”

  1. This was a light joy from start to finish. Many thanks to Vigo for the fun and B&J for the review.

  2. No time today. Zoom meet in 1 minute. Lovely puzzle. Accessible but lots of lovely creations.

    Thanks to all responsible.

  7. Well spotted, ‘the last plantagenet’. Having followed your lead, I found MAVERICK, CHARLIE, ICEMAN, GOOSE, JESTER, COUGAR, SLIDER, MERLIN, HOLLYWOOD and CHIPPER as nicknames of the characters. I thought this was at the easier end of Vigo but a tour de force to include so many themed answers. Thanks Vigo and B&J.

  9. Thanks for sorting out the theme folks. We have only just returned from walking the South Downs Way – no Zoom meetings but pretty short of time.

  10. Always look forward to one of Vigo’s puzzles and this one didn’t disappoint despite the fact that the theme floated over my head.
    Tops for me were OBFUSCATED (lovely word) and the cleverly constructed OPALESCENT.

    Many thanks to Vigo and to B&J for the review.

  11. A tiny bit more time, now. With reference to the theme (well done tlp), I recall folk making fun of the idea of youngsters leaving the movie theatre after watching a Western, walking as if they were gunfighters in a shootout and drawling their speech. If there is one movie where a younger PostMark found himself doing similar it was as a 22 year old after watching Top Gun. I recall getting into a friend’s car, we put on some appropriate music and, yes, we did rather cruise the streets feeling like Maverick and Iceman. So, whilst not the best movie in the world, it does stimulate fond memories. For which, thanks Vigo. I would imagine Top Gun has very little in common with the South Downs Way B&J so you have been rapidly catapulted into a rather different world. I hope you returned with not so much as a blister.

  12. Another demonstration, as if one were needed, that it’s not necessary to know or discover a (ghost) theme in order to enjoy solving a puzzle. Lots to enjoy here, including VOICELESS, OBFUSCATED and RUINATION.
    Thanks, Vigo and B&J.

  13. Thanks Vigo, that was pleasing. I liked AMICABLE, ROAR, MUSTANG, COUGH DROP, and ENMITY in particular. I put a lot of stock in good surfaces so this was my cup of tea. I think I would have spotted the theme had I looked for it — one of these days I’ll learn. Thanks B&J for the blog.

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