Independent 11153 / Hippogryph

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Tuesday’s setter is Hippogryph.  As far as I can see from the fifteensquared search facility, this is Hippogryph’s first foray into weekday Independent setting.  There is one Independent on Sunday puzzle by Hippogryph in the archive.

 

 

 

 

This is a puzzle where knowledge of theme is not vital for solving the clues.  Indeed, I only looked for a theme when I was writing the blog and remembered that Tuesday is theme day in the Independent.

The theme is radio stations or radio networks that offer a number of different stations.  There were quite a few stations I had heard of.  These are:

PLANET ROCK

HEART FM

TALK SPORT

CLASSIC FM

VIRGIN [RADIO]

SMOOTH [FM]

KISS [FM]

ABSOLUTE [RADIO]

I reckoned there were probably a few stations I had never heard of so I tossed most of the entries into Google to see what came up.  I found:

[RADIO] GORILLA

[RADIO] NOTORIOUS web site which states that it is not a radio station

ROCK [RADIO] a separate station from PLANET ROCK

I guess there must be a [RADIO] SHANGHAI

There is a radio station featured in the film Good Morning VIETNAM (Armed Forces radio Service)

[RADIO] DODO is a Canadian programme focusing on children with serious health issues.

I didn’t find a [RADIO] NUDISM but I did come across ClothesFree Radio

[RADIO] SPAR (in store radio in SPAR convenience stores)

I liked the surface of a number of clues – e.g.. the ones for GORILLA, PALM OIL, SPORT, SHANGHAI, KICKBACK, HEATH and ABSOLUTE.

I look forward to more puzzle from Hippogryph. 

No Detail
Across  
7

Heavy alligator, disorientated at being released (7) 

GORILLA (heavily built thug)

Anagram of (disorientated) ALLIGATOR excluding (being released) AT

GORILLA*
8

Mobil loses barrels after China supplies refinery product (4,3) 

PALM OIL (many PALM OIL products are obtained from the refining  of crude palm oil)

PAL (friend; china) + MOBIL excluding (loses) B (barrels)

PAL M OIL
9

My back, with constant tilt from one side to the other (4) 

ROCK (sway to and fro; tilt from one side to the other)

COR (gosh!; my!) reversed (back) + K (Boltzmann constant in physics)

ROC< K
10

Scandalous refusal to repay up-front debts (9) 

NOTORIOUS (infamous; scandalous)

NO (refusal) + TO + R (first letter of [upfront] REPAY) + IOUS (signed slip of paper or other document acknowledging debts)

NO TO R IOUS
12

Organ found in male sculpture for example (5) 

HEART (organ of the body)

HE (descriptive of a male) + ART (sculpture is a form of ART)

HE ART
13

Repeated again, er, cryptically? (2-6) 

RE-ECHOED (repeated again)

RE ECHOED [back] could be a cryptic clue for ER<;  ER cryptically)

RE ECHOED
15

Express broadband provider – not half! (4) 

TALK (say; express)

TALKTALK excluding one of the TALKs [not half] – TALKTALK is one of the leading broadband providers in the United Kingdom)

TALK
16

Bowls, possibly left after soup for starters (5) 

SPORT (bowls is an example of a sport)

S (first letter of [for starters] SOUP) + PORT (left side of a ship)

S PORT
17

Obama re-activated housing sector (4) 

AREA (sector)

AREA (hidden word in [housing] OBAMA RE-ACTIVATED)

AREA
18

Doctor Henry has a gin and large port (8)

SHANGHAI (large port city in China)

Anagram of (doctor) H (henry [unit of inductance]) and HAS A GIN

SHANGHAI*
20

Call time on the King, not the Spanish one (5) 

VISIT (call [on])

ELVIS (ELVIS Presley, often referred to as the King of Rock and Roll) excluding (not) EL (Spanish form of ‘the’) + I (Roman numeral for one) + T (time)

VIS I T
21

A rude Wren flashed knickers? (9) 

UNDERWEAR (knickers are an item of underwear)

Anagram of (flashed) A NUDE WREN

UNDERWEAR*
22

Miss Johns picked up (4) 

LOSE (to miss)

LOSE (sounds like [picked up] LOOS (toilets [johns in American slang])

LOSE
24

Fashionable girl providing a substitute for heroin makes 1000 guineas? (7)

CLASSIC (the 1000 Guineas Stakes horserace at Newmarket is one the five Group 1 races known collectively as the CLASSICs)

CHIC (fashionable) with LASS (girl) replacing (providing a substitute for) H (heroin)

C LASS IC
25

Casually go around volcano country (7) 

VIETNAM (country in Asia)

VIM (informal term for energy, vigour or go) containing (around) ETNA (Volcano in Sicily)

VI (ETNA) M
Down  
1

Twice cook old bird (4) 

DODO (extinct bird)

DO (cook) + DO (cook) – giving twice cooked

DO DO
2

Strong reaction from sweetener (8) 

KICK BACK (strong reaction)

KICKBACK (part of a sum received paid to another by confidential agreement for favours past or to come; sweetener) double definition

KICKBACK
3

Sketch alien’s heavenly body (6) 

PLANET (example of a heavenly body)

PLAN (sketch) + ET (extra-terrestrial; alien)

PLAN ET
4

Earth is, I suspect, at most risk (8) 

HAIRIEST (riskiest)

Anagram of (suspect) EARTH IS I

HAIRIEST*
5

Small insect eats nothing but sand (6)

SMOOTH (free from roughness by sanding; sand)

S (small) + (MOTH [insect] containing [eats] O [character representing zero or nothing])

S MO (O) TH – either O could be the one contained
6

A soft touch, monk is sold trousers! (4) 

KISS (soft touch with the lips)

KISS (hidden word in [trousers] MONK IS SOLD)

KISS
11

Scare results from misjudgement entering dodgy site (9) 

TERRORISE (frighten; scare)

ERROR (misjudgement) contained in (entering) an anagram of (dodgy) SITE

T (ERROR) ISE*
12

Erica‘s very hard sandwiches ruined tea (5)

HEATH ( any shrub of genus Erica)

HH (symbol meaning very hard on lead pencils) containing (sandwiches) an anagram of (ruined) TEA

H (EAT*) H
14

First Lady leads nonviolent extremists meeting (5) 

EVENT (engagement; meeting)

EVE (first lady as described in the Bible) + NT (outer letters of [extremists] NONVIOLENT)

EVE NT
 16

Maybe American football star is desperate, initially chasing the odds (8) 

SPHEROID (the form of an American football is a prolate SPHEROID)

SP (starting price; odds) + HERO (star) + ID (first letters of [initially] each of IS and DESPERATE)

SP HERO ID
 17

Bale’s out injured? 100% (8)

ABSOLUTE (total; 100%)

Anagram of (injured) BALE’S OUT

ABSOLUTE*
 19

Clothes being taken off in films I’d unwittingly looked up (6) 

NUDISM (the practice of going naked; clothes being taken off)

NUDISM (reversed [looked up; down entry] hidden word in [in] FILMS I’D UNWITTINGLY)

NUDISM<
 20

Mary, perhaps popular after overthrow of former Prince Regent? (6) 

VIRGIN (reference the VIRGIN Mary, mother of Jesus)

GR IV (King George IV, Prince Regent from 1811 to 1820 during the mental illness of his father King George III) reversed (overthrow) + IN (popular)

(VI RG)< IN
 21

Dung-fly regularly avoided one fruit (4) 

UGLI (a citrus fruit which is a cross between a grapefruit, a Seville orange and a tangerine)

UGL (letters remaining in DUNG-FLY when letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [regularly] are excluded [avoided]) + I (Roman numeral for one)

UGL I
 23

Pole is endlessly flash (4) 

SPAR (pole)

SPARK (flash) excluding the final letter (endlessly) K

SPAR

13 comments on “Independent 11153 / Hippogryph”

  1. Missed the theme, naturally, and even I am aware that some of those are radio stations though I can’t pretend I dial into any of them. ClothesFreeRadio sounds like a rip-off.

    A very nicely constructed set of clues. I remember enjoying Hippogryph’s previous Indy outing and this is an improvement on that, I believe. Really too many good clues to nominate favourites but, if pressed, I’d highlight ROCK, SPORT, VISIT, PLANET, SMOOTH, HEATH and ABSOLUTE as all being worthy of mention in despatches.

    Thanks Hipogryph and Duncan (especially for the radio research undertaken. I wonder if you checked for Terrorise Radio or Underwear FM?)

  2. Totally forgot to look for a theme, but I still found this enjoyable. VISIT and VIRGIN were both very satisfying to put together. There may not be a Radio Underwear, but there might be a local Radio Wear. Thanks, both.

  3. I thought Tuesday was theme day and i could see bands such as GORILLA(Z), HEART and KISS’and a couple of sports things but failed to put it all together
    At least I filled the grid
    My biggest regret was missing Douglas Adams the day before when i wasnt expecting any Inquisition!How could I have missed that with FISH and 42
    Doh!

  4. Just as well that a knowledge of the theme wasn’t important – think I only knew four of them. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the solve although wasn’t keen on ‘casually go’ in 25a.
    Top three here were ELVIS, ABSOLUTE & VIRGIN.

    Thanks to Hippogryph -nice to see you again – and to Duncan for the review.

  5. Thanks Hippogryph, Duncan
    I had a nice little diversion into prolate spheroids, ellipses rotated about their long axes.
    Collins online has ‘spheroid’ as either an ellipsoid of revolution, or ‘shaped like but not exactly a sphere’. The long cross-section of an American football is not an ellipse, though it may once have been closer to it. It is pointier than an ellipse, or ‘shaped like but not exactly an ellipse’. That would make it a prolate spheroidoid.

  6. That was very enjoyable. There was a time when I would have bridled (and whinnied) at CLASSIC where we are asked to get from ‘fashionable’ to ‘chic’ and thence via ‘heroin’ and ‘lass’ to the answer but it went in quite effortlessly today so something has changed.

    [Duncan – your knicker-flashing Wren has gone totally nude in the blog.]

    Thanks both. Not ever going to get that theme.

  7. Great fun from start to finish! Every clue was a winner in my book, but VIRGIN was my favourite.

    Many thanks to Hippogryph and to Duncan.

  8. Thanks Duncan and Hippogryph. To echo everyone else, I thought this was a first-rate crossword, right in the sweet spot for me difficulty-wise, and fun with it. Lots of satisfying PDMs.

    KISS was my favourite – that’s how to do a hidden-word clue. SHANGHAI also worth a mention.

  9. I expected there to be a theme, wondering about bands like copmus @3, but I couldn’t identify the radio stations. In the end I failed on SPAR for which I had an unparsed “Slav” and TALK went in unparsed from the def.

    My favourites were my last couple in, the crossing VISIT and VIRGIN.

    Thanks to Hippogryph for number two and to Duncan

  10. Well, we were barking up a completely wrong tree in search of a theme. With GORILLA (an endangerd species), PAL:M OIL (obtained by clearing rainforest for palm trees) and DODO (extinct) we thought there might be an environmental theme but we couldn’t see anything else except possibly saving the PLANET. Oh well, it was an enjoyable solve anyway and another demonstration that you don’t need to know the theme to solve the puzzle.
    Thanks, Hippogryph and Duncan.

  11. Thanks Hippogryph for a most satisfying set of clues with PALM OIL, HEART, RE-ECHOED, and SMOOTH being my top picks. I needed assistance for TALK (never heard of TALKTALK) and ROCK (forgot that COR=my). I didn’t look for a theme and I would not have seen it anyway. Thanks Duncan for furthering my education.

  12. Thanks to all for taking the time to solve the puzzle and to leave such supportive comments – I’m really pleased that you all enjoyed the puzzle. Particular thanks to Duncan for the excellent blog and for digging out all of the extra thematic material – I can confirm that your initial list matched my intended list. It reminded me of a previous puzzle I had published on Big Dave’s website with a beer/brewery theme, where the blogger’s internet searching revealed at least 4 other unintended thematic words in the puzzle, including the uninspiringly named Sullen Beer and Ale….

  13. We started and finished the crossword late last night and checked here to see if we were correct about the theme. We enjoyed the puzzle which thankfully did not take too long to complete given the time we started. We decided we had to add a comment after reading and laughing Duncan’s preamble!
    Thanks to Hippogryph for the fun but a very special thanks to Duncan. Your blogs are always very detailed – we are so glad you blogged this puzzle.

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