Independent 11,142 by Bluth

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Bluth sets our challenge today: sometimes tricky but generally enjoyable.

Some great surfaces here, particularly the sports-themed clues (which cover tennis, football, cricket and rugby – something for everyone?) and the two theatrical ones at 24a and 4d. I also liked the alternative meaning for “shut up” in 5a. Thanks Bluth as always.

Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.

ACROSS
1 CHEW UP
Perhaps Pulp‘s Common People, principally describing posh model at the start? (4,2)
First letters (principally) of C[ommon] P[eople], around (describing) U (posh, as in “U and non-U”) with HEW (model, as a verb = cut into shape) before it (at the start). The surface refers to the band’s song about a rich girl who can’t appreciate how the other half lives.
5 IMMATURE
Shut up about a piece from Toby Young (8)
IMMURE (to seal up behind a wall = shut up) around A + first letter (piece) of T[oby].
9 DOGGEREL
Nonsense from scoundrel drinking gallons – occasionally showing beer belly (8)
DOG (scoundrel) containing (drinking) G (abbreviation for gallons), then alternate letters (occasionally showing) of [b]E[e]R [b]E[l]L[y].
10 LIKELY
Kylie dancing after initially lying prone (6)
Anagram (dancing) of KYLIE after the initial letter of L[ying].

Prone as in “prone to make mistakes” = likely.
11 RAINFOREST
Tropical woodland in outskirts of Rwanda doomed to receive shocking treatment (10)
Outer letters of R[wand]A + IN FOR (doomed to receive, as in “they’ll be in for a lot of criticism”) + EST (abbreviation for electric shock treatment).
12 SAND
Smooth navy blue covers (4)
N (navy, as in RN = Royal Navy) with SAD (blue) covering it.

Sand, as a verb = to smooth wood or similar materials with an abrasive.
13 HIGH MASS
Dropping behind, hit good smash – swap ends for service (4,4)
HI[t] without the last letter (behind) + G (good), then SMASH with the end letters S and H swapped.

A formal church service.
16 VIOLIN
You can play it and see, oddly, if Oslo is Norway’s capital? (6)
V (abbreviation for Latin vide = see, in cross-references) + odd-numbered letters of I[f] O[s]L[o] I[s] + first letter (capital) of N[orway].
17 WEIRDO
Eccentric people generally take on board wedding vow (6)
WE (people generally), then R (abbreviation for Latin recipe = take, in old-fashioned prescriptions) contained in (on board) I DO (a response used in wedding ceremonies).
18 BLOCKAGE
Cake Blog reviewed jam (8)
Anagram (reviewed) of CAKE BLOG.
19 STAB
Try second cigarette up north (4)
S (abbreviation for second) + TAB (Scottish and Northern English word for a cigarette; not one I knew, but I’m not from up north).

Stab as in “have a stab at it” = try = attempt.
20 GOALKEEPER
Traditionally the No.1 provider of net protection (10)
Cryptic definition: the goalkeeper in a football team (who protects the net) traditionally has the shirt number 1.
23 ACACIA
Plant article about spies (6)
A (the indefinite article) + CA (ca = abbreviation for Latin circa = about = approximately) + CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency = spies).

A genus of shrubs and trees.
24 INACTIVE
During first part of play, venue is empty still (8)
IN ACT I (during the first part of a play) + V[enu]E (empty = inner letters removed).
25 GLOSSARY
Celebrity kidnapping fool rejected list of terms (8)
GLORY (celebrity = fame), containing (kidnapping) ASS (fool) reversed (rejected).
26 LIAISE
In Australia I seldom communicate (6)
Hidden answer (in) [austra]LIA I SE[ldom].
DOWN
2 HOO-HA
Which person heard laughter and commotion (3-2)
Homophone (heard) of WHO (which person?), then HA (the sound of laughter).
3 WAGON
Working under clown car (5)
ON (working, as in “the light is on”) after (under, in a down clue) WAG (clown = joker).
4 PERSONA NON GRATA
Agent looks up number, rings immediately – artist volunteers and he’s not wanted (7,3,5)
REP (short for representative = agent) reversed (looks up = upwards in a down clue), then SONG (a musical “number”) around (rings) ANON (“immediately” in older usage, though now more often used to mean just “some time soon”), then RA (Royal Academician = artist) + TA (Territorial Army, former name for the Army Reserve = volunteers).
5 ILLNESS
Very near the batsman, without covering head leading to complaint (7)
[s]ILL[y] (cricketing term for a fielding position very close to the batter, as in “silly point” = closer than the usual “point” position) without the outer letters (covering), then NESS (headland). A neat surface: it’s called “silly” because a fielder in such a position is likely to get hit by the ball, and will generally wear a protective helmet to avoid the risk of head injury.
6 MOLOTOV COCKTAIL
Investing crooked loot in movie that is out before a Tom Cruise film, makes a bomb (7,8)
Anagram (crooked) of LOOT in MOV[ie] with the IE (i.e. = Latin id est = that is) taken out, then COCKTAIL (1988 film starring Tom Cruise).

Slang for an improvised incendiary device.
7 TAKE STOCK
Assess what rustlers do (4,5)
Double definition. Assess the current status of something; or steal livestock.
8 RELENTING
About forty days in a little garden, relaxing (9)
RE (on the subject of = about) + LENT (forty days leading up to Easter) + IN + first letter (a little) of G[arden].
14 IDENTICAL
The exact same form in duplicate – not happy (9)
Anagram (form, as a verb) of IN D[up]LICATE without UP (happy).
15 HARDBACKS
Books troublesome rugby players (9)
HARD (troublesome, as in “a hard problem to solve”) + BACKS (defensive players in rugby).
18 BEATIFY
Singer adopting a retro sound, once overlooked – bless (7)
BEY[once] (the singer Beyoncé) overlooking ONCE, containing (adopting) A + FIT (sound = healthy) reversed (retro).
21 EXTRA
Bit part actor from stage, embodying Christ (5)
ERA (stage = a period of time), containing (embodying) XT (abbreviation for the name of Christ, from the two Greek letters X (chi) and T (tau) in the Greek form Christos).

Now often called a “background performer” or some similar term.
22 EAVES
Projection from First Lady inspiring American society (5)
EVE (the first lady of the human race) containing (inspiring) A (abbreviation for American), then S (society).

The part of a roof that projects over the supporting wall.

10 comments on “Independent 11,142 by Bluth”

  1. Excellent! This was very enjoyable and nicely challenging overall with some complex parsing to be unravelled.

    As Quirister says, there were some superb surfaces, and how nice to see a cricketer not described as a mixture of flour, eggs and milk.

    Many thanks to Bluth for the fun and to Quirister.

  2. Great fun working this out. Didn’t manage to parse EXTRA. Familiar with X for Christ as in Xmas but didn’t know Xt so thanks for that.

  3. Thanks Quirister – I managed to complete this but was left baffled as to the parsing of several. Looking over your blog, I’m now kicking myself hard…
    16a – I’ve seen V as an abbreviation for “see” before but couldn’t recall it. Annoying.
    4d – I was trying to make this work with SONATA as the “number” but couldn’t fathom why GR meant “artist volunteers” – doh!
    14d IDENTICAL – completely foxed by this one, but it looks obvious now.
    18d BEATIFY – also completely flummoxed here – BEY[once] is fiendishly clever. Quite a tricky clue construction, not so obvious but very good.

    On the other hand, XT and TAB were easy pickings for me.

    Anyway, despite my difficulties, I found this a very enjoyable challenge – I like Bluth’s style, which generally gives the solver precise, detailed instructions to follow. Particular favourites among lots of great clues were IMMATURE, LIKELY, SAND, RELENTING. Thanks, Bluth!

  4. Thanks both. Looks already like I am not alone in taking as long to parse some, as to solve all. My Latin and Greek were lacking ultimately, and probably always will be. I feel I have seen the convoluted R eventually means take, and Beyonce being stripped of ‘once’ before, yet there is no guarantee I will remember them next time

  5. I found most of this easier than usual for Bluth, but that was largely thanks to getting partial answers and realising what fitted unparsed, and cracking the two big down entries early.

    Enjoyable as ever, and thanks to Quirister and Bluth

  7. Very enjoyable. HIGH MASS took a long time, which may be appropriate. There were a couple I forgot to go back and parse completely – once I had the backward REP and the artist and the volunteers, it had to be PERSONA NON GRATA. Thanks, both.

  8. Thanks Bluth for a pleasant crossword. I particularly enjoyed untangling 4d and 6d and I liked LIKELY, INACTIVE, and GLOSSARY as well. I failed with GOALKEEPER and I needed help parsing CHEW UP, IMMATURE, BEATIFY, and EXTRA so thanks Quirister for the help.

  9. All gettable, though XT, tab and the Tom Cruise film were well outside my knowledge bank, so several unparsed.

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