Independent 7,323/Raich

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Nice to get a chance to blog a puzzle set by one of our own at last. This is Raich/Niall’s 3rd daily outing (I think) and continues his excellent form to date. There are some great clues here, 26D being my pick of the bunch.

The message on the top and bottom rows definitely helped open up the grid for me here. I think this is just a pointer to the plays mentioned in clue answers, though there could well be other stuff I’m missing.

Across
8 MALAYSIA – LA in (SAY AIM)*
9 NEATER – N(ew) + EATER
10 PAELLA – L.A after LEAP rev.
11 SHOWERED – (HE ROSE + W[eakene]D)*
12 AINTREE – (RETINA)* + E
14 MACBETH – (BE MATCH)*
15 DUKE – DU + K(ing) + [h]E[nry]
17 SAT – SAT[urday]
18 ZEUS – SUEZ rev.
20 TANNERY – ANNE in TRY
23 OTHELLO – [un]LO[ad] next to (HOTEL)*
27 POLLSTER – LL in POSTER
29 LOCKET – ROCKET changing sides (i.e. L for R)
28 DETAIN – (AND TIE)*
30 EMINENCE – MINE in EN + CE
Down
1 TAMARIND – T[hespian] + (IN DRAMA)*
2 HAMLET – (AT HELM)*
3 ESTATE – Double def.
4 BALSA – A + SLAB rev.
5 ANGORA – Hidden in orANG OR Another
6 RATEABLE – E (drug) in RA + TABLE
7 DEFECT – Double def.
13 ESSAY – “S.A”
14 MOTTO – M.O.T + TO
16 KING LEAR – KIN + L in (RAGE)*
19 SOLVENCY – (L[iquidity] + CONVEYS)*
21 AVOCET – ‘AVOC + ET
22 RETINA – RET[s]INA
24 TALKIE – [artis]T + (LIKE A)*
25 EXCEED – EX + “Seed”
26 GRIEG – GRIEF with G(ood) for F(emale)

15 comments on “Independent 7,323/Raich”

  1. Thanks, Ali. I managed both of Raich’s previous contributions in the Indy, but this one was tough. I got the NE quadrant reasonably quickly, but couldn’t get an easy entry into any of the other three. I see now all the clues were fair ones, just beyond me at the moment. I liked 26dn too, though I needed the crossing letters before I could solve it.

    18ac was simple but clever – my laugh out loud moment today. In fact, I was creased up – you could almost say Bent double.

  2. Nice one K’s D.
    I wasn’t expecting you, of all people, to be referencing Darren’s double penalty miss…
    Another excellent puzzle form Raich.

  5. I thought this was harder than the previous Raich puzzles. Because I got Aintree and Sat first, I thought that would be the theme and was half expecting it to contain the names of some of the horses running. I eventually spotted the NINA, without which I might have struggled to finish. I liked 2 down and thought clues like 14 down had a nice, deceptively simple quality.

  6. 28a – – I never get these letter-exchange answers. When I saw case I immediately thought of LOCATIVE, dative, ablative &c….

  7. Not too hard but very enjoyable. Favourite clues ESSAY, KING LEAR and RETINA. Re Kathryn’s Dad, glad to say that Mr Waghorn (another Wearsider in exile) is doing the business in the Championship!

  8. I thought this was a very nicely-constructed puzzle. Perhaps a few too many anagrams, but none the less enjoyable for that. Keep up the good work!

  10. I enjoyed this, and thought 23ac was excellent. Wasn’t quite sure about 24dn: surely everything since silent movies has been a talkie, so why the ‘early’?

  11. Could I ask for explanations of firstly “Booth’s people” : who are they? and I also can’t see 21 dn: “producing chaos in East London = avoc?
    Nobody has mentioned 14 dn which I thought neat.
    18 ac took me a long time and was the sort of clue that makes you wonder why you didn’t get it rather sooner.

  12. pennes Booth’s people are the Salvation Army, or SA, or “essay”. Chaos in East London is ‘avoc; another way to refer to Cockney pronunciation, which misled me into thinking of South Africa. I agree, 14dn is neat, but it could be argued that it’s Be Prepared not be prepared.

  13. Excellent puzzle and I like 20A best of all … Girl in test hides here?(7)

    The first across clue reminds me of the rpc competition won by Dr Kamal Shah with
    Set sail, May, to a tropical paradise (8)

  14. Great puzzle: the “early” reference in the TALKIE clue is to the fact that this was an old term for such a film.

  15. Found this almost impossible until I got Macbeth and Othello.Then I went looking and did quite well.Very tough though.Nowhere near completing a Raich or a Morph puzzle

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