Independent 11,127 by Tees (Saturday Puzzle 11 June 2022)

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A fairly tough nut to crack from Tees…as it should be on a Saturday…

…and Tees seems to have gone all ‘Pagan’ on us – maybe in anticipation of the upcoming Summer Solstice on 21 June?

11A WICCA is the magical key to many other entries, bringing in 9A CERNUNNOS (the 28A HORNED GOD), 21D/22A MOTHER GODDESS, and the GREEN MAN at 7D. Just missing the WICKER (WICCA?) MAN and Aleister CROWLEY to make the full set…

In addition, we have DIS/Pluto at 20D in DISTENDS, vampires at 18D TWILIGHT, and a CLOG-DANCER twirling round a maypole at 15D, to the sound of ‘All Around My Hat’ by Steeleye Span?!…

I particularly enjoyed the double definition at 7D GREEN MAN, with the ‘Sign of (the) Cross’ being a more prosaic ‘sign that you can cross’! Lots of other trickery and nice touches…the musical clue at 22D involving G&S for G-SHARP; SEE LAMBS ‘frolicking’ for 5D ASSEMBLE; the anagram for MOTHER GODDESS; the outrageous homophone at 15D – I’m sure others will have their favourites.

 

CERNUNNOS at 9A was a bit beyond my general knowledge, but it had to be that from the wordplay/crossers, and a quick check confirmed him as a HORNED GOD. I happened to know Lorca and Tarsus, but they may have needed checking for others, if not in the store of GK?

My last ones in were MONOSKI and UNWISE – both taking a while to parse, and in the case of the former a long time to see the connection with ‘runner’…

I’m sure I may have missed other subtleties/links – if so, they should be revealed in the comments below.

Otherwise, all that remains is to thank Tees for a bit of a mental workout, and I hope all is clear below…

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
9A CERNUNNOS Sister in Swiss laboratory turning thus sees the 28 (9)

CER_N (Swiss laboratory) around NUN (sister), plus OS (so, or thus, turning)

[Cernunnos being an example of a HORNED GOD (28A)]
10A LORCA Spanish poet’s killer chasing Liberal (5)

L (Liberal) before (chasing) ORCA (killer – whale)
11A WICCA Fields about to involve one in magical practice? (5)

W_C (W C Fields) around (involving) I (one) + CA (circa, about)

[Fields = WC took me a while to work out!]
12A INEPTNESS Incompetence where ISS orbits planet for all to see disappearing (9)

I_SS around (orbiting) NEPT(U)NE (planet, with U – cinema rating, for all to see – disappearing)
13A IN STYLE Silent Y replaced with it (2,5)

anag, i.e. replaced, of SILENT Y
14A BECOMES Constant and sacred syllable used among workers in suits (7)

BE_ES (workers) around C (constant, mathematics) + OM (sacred syllable/chant)
16A GHOST Good bread consecrated for wraith (5)

G (good) + HOST (consecrated bread/wafer)
18A TIE Beastly prong to have first point missing in moor? (3)

TI(N)E – beastly prong, or antler, losing N, the first compass point in the word, E being the second

[moor – as in tie up a boat, rather than a geographical feature!]
19A OWNED Wife a certain duke’s snatched becomes possessed (5)

O_NE D (a certain duke) around (snatching) W (wife)
21A MONOSKI Big Brother welcomes international runner (7)

MON_K (brother) around (welcoming) OS (outsize, big), plus I (international)

[runner = ski is an old cruciverbal chestnut – can’t believe it too me so long to work this one out…!]
22A GODDESS See 21 Down (7)

see 21D
24A TOMBOYISH As hoyden my boot’s in tatters: his likewise? (9)

two consecutive anagrams – TOMBOY (MY BOOT, ‘in tatters’) + ISH (HIS, likewise)
26A NIECE Inheritance finally claimed by particular relative (5)

NI_CE (particular) around (claiming) E (final letter of inheritancE)
27A ERNST Grave shouldn’t hold American or second European artist (5)

E(A)RN(E)ST – grave, without A – American – and second E – European.
28A HORNED GOD Working on herd, Lassie perhaps recalled figure of 11 (6,3)

HORNED (anag, i.e. working, of ON HERD) + GOD (dog, Lassie perhaps, recalled)

[a HORNED GOD being a symbol of Paganism/witchcraft (11A – WICCA)]
Down
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1D SCOWLING Lowering fish to boat’s bottom (8)

SCOW (boat) + LING (fish, underneath, or at the bottom, as this is a Down clue)
2D FRACAS Motorists following as escorts creating disturbance (6)

F (following) + AS, around (escorting) RAC (Royal Automobile Club, motorists)
3D EUCALYPTUS Oil producer usual type deceptively adding in carbon (10)

EU_ALYPTUS (anag, i.e. deceptively, of USUAL TYPE) around (adding in) C (carbon)
4D UNWISE No sage as far as rustic one is concerned? (6)

UN is dialect, or rustic, for ‘one’. And the suffix -wise can mean ‘as regards’, or concerning. So ‘as far as UN is concerned’, might be ‘un-wise’ (?)
5D ASSEMBLE Come together! See lambs frolicking! (8)

anag, i.e. frolicking, of SEE LAMBS!

[lovely surface read and anagram!]
6D PLOT Mark course in vessel circling lake (4)

P_OT (vessel) around (circling) L (lake)
7D GREEN MAN Figure of 11 or sign of Cross? (5,3)

double defn. – the GREEN MAN is a fertility symbol, associated with paganism and witchcraft – 11A WICCA; and a GREEN MAN can be a sign that you can cross the road!
8D TARSUS Bones in the ancient Cilician capital (6)

double defn. – a TARSUS (uncapitalised) can be a bone in the foot; and TARSUS (capitalised) was the ancient capital of Cilicia, birthplace of St. Paul.
15D CLOG DANCER Traditional performer hindered response to an audience? (4,6)

homophone, i.e. to an audience – CLOG DANCER (traditional performer) can sound like CLOGGED (hindered) ANSWER (response) (!)

[I didn’t help myself by putting SLOW DANCER in first – slowed = hindered?]
17D ORNAMENT Decorate religious work with gold title to start (8)

OR (heraldic, yellow/gold) + NAME (title) + NT (New Testament, religious work)
18D TWILIGHT Vampire saga with one large drunk outside (8)

T_IGHT (drunk) outside W (with) + I (one) + L (large)

[referencing the Twilight series of novels by Stephanie Meyer]
20D DISTENDS Underworld deity watches over balloons (8)

DIS (Pluto, underworld deity) + TENDS (watches over)
21D MOTHER (GODDESS) & 22A Figure of 11’s hot-dogs Mrs Dee prepared (6,7)

anag, i.e. prepared, of HOT DOGS MRS DEE!

[the MOTHER GODDESS being another fertility figure from paganism/witchcraft – 11A WICCA]
22D G SHARP Note from musical instrument under G&S (1,5)

G S (G&S) + HARP (musical instrument)
23D ENERGY Years after corruption in genre, it’s E for Einstein? (6)

ENERG (anag, i.e. corruption, of GENRE) + Y (years)

[E being the symbol for energy to a physicist, i.e. Einstein!]
25D OATH Curse as horse brought to grass (4)

OAT (grass) + H (horse)

14 comments on “Independent 11,127 by Tees (Saturday Puzzle 11 June 2022)”

  1. Lots of tricky parsings but got there in the end. ORNAMENT should be NT (religious work) with OR + NAME to start. Thought TARSUS was ‘bone’ not ‘bones’, with TARSI the plural but the definition in Chambers makes me think otherwise.

  2. Goodness me, this was a tough one. One of the longest solves this week. It didn’t help being aware of but, by no means knowledgable about, the theme (though I did manage to parse the key word, WICCA). HORNED GOD and CERNUNNOS gave me difficulty and I got nowhere near UNWISE. I am beaten by that ‘rustic one’ = UN every time I encounter it! (A bit like A=PER which also gets me every time). So soundly defeated on that one.

    LORCA, BECOMES, GHOST, OWNED, SCOWLING, ASSEMBLE, GREEN MAN, DISTENDS all got big ticks and if I listed the little ticks, I’d run out of space. TOMBOYISH my favourite for the neat double fodder trick.

    Thanks Tees and mc for the neat blog and grid

  3. I recall reading an interview with this setter in which he stated that he abhors difficulty for difficulty’s sake. I think his interpretation of that must be rather different from my own! Definitely a case of reference books to the fore with this one although when the grid was finally filled it wasn’t a themed clue but MONOSKI that resisted my attempts at parsing.
    Top two for me were GREEN MAN & CLOG DANCER.

    Thanks (I think!) to Tees and to mc for help with the runner.

  4. Thanks both. The themed answers were beyond my knowledge, which made solving hugely more difficult and requiring guesswork and assistance. Can only hope I have learned a few things including some of the definitions e.g. hoyden, wraith. 5 hours until the bar opens….

  5. I found this bizarre even by this setter’s normal standards. It was also very tough in parts and needed copious checks along the way.

    Speaking of bizarre, regarding Hovis’s comment @1, it’s difficult to understand how Chambers (and Collins) can justify citing TARSUS as a plural and at the same time define TARSI as the plural form. I suppose it’s analogous to FISH and FISHES.

    Thanks to Tees for the headache and to mc_r.

  6. The theme soon became clear and helped with much of the solving. However, I couldn’t parse UNWISE, like PostMark being always unable to see ‘un = one. Tough, yes, but fair. Thanks Tees and McRapper.

  7. Rabbit Dave @5. My reading of the definition (which may be wrong) is that ‘tarsus’ (singular) refers to a set of bones and multiple such sets would then be ‘tarsi’.

  8. Collins gives us ‘the bones of the ankle and heel, collectively’ with the plural TARSI, so no problems for me as to that definition. As to paganism Tees has given us the Uffington White Horse recently, and perhaps this May there was an event in his area that he attended.

    Well-made clues as ever, and an interesting, if quite ‘chewy’, solve that was signposted clearly enough at 9 Across.

  10. Yes that was tough going, but rewarding. Thanks both, couldn’t have got there without help.

    I can never see GREEEN MAN without thinking of Darth Vader ever since I heard of David Prowse.

  13. Too “out there” for me — I eventually revealed the last few to end my frustration. Don’t get me wrong — this was an expertly crafted crossword but it was beyond my expertise to be enjoyable. GHOST, MOTHER GODDESS (funny anagram), and G SHARP helped ease the pain. Thanks to both.

  14. Thanks for the comments and feedback – much appreciated, as usual. Seems like most found it a tough-but-fair one, and even the defeated Tony Santucci at #13 has the grace to praise it.

    Hovis at #1 – good spot, must have been a senior moment on my part! Duly corrected…

    Xcelomac at #10 – yes – ‘Stop, Look, Listen, Think!’ – wise words in many situations…

    I think the TARSUS/TARSI debate has been pretty much covered above.

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