Brunel is a fairly new setter in the Independent world with just 5 previous puzzles in the past two years.
I struggled a bit in the SW corner where AQUAFABA was a late discovery. I had AQUAVITA for a while but could see that the correct spelling for that word was AQUA VITAE and it would also have necessitated changing AIL to ILL which didn’t seem to fit the definition of ‘trouble’.
AQUAFABA obviously goes well with the joint VEGAN and food & drink tinge to the grid.
The parsing of the QUA bit of AQUAFABA was quirky with ‘3/5 of 2 = 1.2’ coming into play
In the clue for CROAKY I have got a bit confused with all the homophone indicators so I may not have got the parsing 100% correct. I am not sure whether the definition is raucous-sounding or just raucous.
I am also unsure of the correct parsing for AGENT ORANGE. I understand the ‘GENT ORANG‘ bit but can only get the remaining AE to work if coating and APE are doing double duty in the clue. I look forward to being told what I have missed.
My French is not very good so that I had to check that SOEUR meant sister.
I think STUNTMAN is the entry at 12 across but it could possibly be STUNTMEN if crew is part of both the definition and the wordplay
This was a crossword where I had to do a bit of lateral thinking to understand the parsing.
My completed grid looks like this:
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Bean variety gets carted initially in van that’s horse-drawn (7) CHARIOT (horse-drawn, two-wheeled vehicle used in ancient warfare or racing) HARICOT (variety of bean) with the C (first letter of [initially in] CARTED) moved to the front (in [the] van]) C HARIOT |
| 5 |
Minor disturbance often seen at the seaside? (7) WAVELET (small WAVE, minor disturbance) WAVELET (a ripple on the sea, often seen at the seaside) double definition WAVELET |
| 9 |
Fiddling about comes before burning, maybe (11) OVERCOOKING (spending too much time on, getting into too much detail; fiddling about) OVERCOOKING or COOKING for too long may lead to burning – double definition OVERCOOKING |
| 10 |
Knock back the German wine (3) RED (type of wine) DER (one of the German forms of ‘the’) reversed (knock back) DER< |
| 11 |
Child finally can have toy organ (6) KIDNEY (organ of the body) KID (child) + NEY (last letters of [finally] of each of CAN, HAVE and TOY) KID NEY |
| 12 |
Stand-in crew at first crazy about trip’s start (8) STUNTMAN (stand-in for a film actor, paid to perform dangerous and showy feats) NUTS (crazy) reversed (about) T (first letter of [start] TRIP) + MAN (crew) STUN< T MAN |
| 14 |
Almost decides to melt down metal toys (3-4,6) DIE-CAST MODELS (metal toys) Anagram of (to melt down) ALMOST DECIDES DIE CAST MODELS* |
| 17 |
Supplies officer with fourth kind of tape (13) QUARTERMASTER (person who deals with transport, QUARTERs, fuel, clothing, etc.; supplies officer) QUARTER (a fourth) + MASTER (reference a MASTER tape from which copies are made) QUARTER MASTER |
| 21 |
Exercises requiring introductions of an extensive range of pens (8) AEROBICS (exercises) AERO (first letters of [introductions of] each of AN, EXTENSIVE, RANGE and OF) + BICS (brand name of ballpoint pens) AERO BICS |
| 23 |
Charlie may pop back for a drink (6) COGNAC (brandy; drink) C (cocaine; Charlie) + (CAN [may] + GO [turn; shot; pop]) all reversed (back) C (OG NAC)< |
| 25 |
All I ask in return is containing trouble (3) AIL (trouble) AIL (reversed [return] hidden word in [in] ALL I ASK) AIL< |
| 26 |
A banned substance coating man and ape, this defoliant (5,6) AGENT ORANGE (defoliant containing dioxin; product used frequently as a tactical herbicide the Vietnam War, resulting in many people developing cancer and other illnesses. The US Army is said to have destroyed all its holdings of Agent Orange, but it is not 100% clear whether its use is all forms is now banned) AE (I think this may be a reference to the outer letters of [coating] APE) containing (coating) (GENT [man] + ORANG [ORANG-utan [ape]) I am not entirely convinced by my parsing here, especially the outer A and E A (GENT ORANG) E |
| 27 |
One denouncing a druggie injecting small amount (7) ACCUSER (one who denounces) (A + USER [druggie]) containing (injecting CC (cubic centimetre; small amount of liquid) A (CC) USER |
| 28 |
Dance with any number following garden party (7) HOEDOWN (mainly American term for a country dance, especially a square dance) HOE (to garden) + DO (party) + W (with) + N (letter frequently used to indicate any number) HOE DO W N |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Raucous-sounding raven, possibly, essential listening (6) CROAKY (raucous) CROA KY (sounds like [sounding] CROW [a raven is a species of crow]) and KY (sounds like [listening] KEY [essential]) CROA KY |
| 2 |
Changed or added missing pages – a thousand inserted (7) AMENDED (changed) APPENDED (added) excluding (missing) PP (pages) and then containing (inserted) M (Roman numeral for 1000) A (M) ENDED |
| 3 |
Increase in US money swamps rock group (9) INCREMENT (increase) IN + (CENT [United States money] containing [swamps] R. E. M. (name of an American rock group) IN C (REM) ENT |
| 4 |
Move briskly after wrong turns (4) TROT (move briskly) TORT (a legal wrong) reversed (after … turns) TROT< |
| 5 |
Using other hand, Walt strips off something round his forearm? (5,5) WRIST STRAP (something worn round the forearm) Anagram of (off) WALT STRIPS with R (right) replacing (using other [hand] L (left) WRIST STRAP* |
| 6 |
Consumer taking only produce like 10 11 22, say, in van (5) VEGAN (the entries at 10, 11 and 22 when run together generate RED KIDNEY BEANS which are an example of produce that a VEGAN would eat [consume]; consumer) EG (for example) contained in (in) VAN V (EG) AN |
| 7 |
Old West town in a Mailer novel (7) LARAMIE (city in Wyoming, western USA, which frequently appeared in old cowboy movies) Anagram of (novel) A MAILER LARAMIE* |
| 8 |
Eats inside – it’s an orderly quality (8) TIDINESS (orderly quality) DINES (eats) contained in (inside) ‘TIS (a form of IT IS or IT’s) TI (DINES) S |
| 13 |
French sister claims some land adjoining Catholic church (5,5) SACRE COEUR (Church in Montmarte, Paris) SOEUR (French word for sister) containing (claims) (ACRE (area of [some] land] + C [Catholic]) S (ACRE C) OEUR |
| 15 |
Reorganise university course to allocate work elsewhere (9) OUTSOURCE (allocate work elsewhere) Anagram of (reorganise) U (university) and COURSE TO OUTSOURCE* |
| 16 |
Ex-boozers to drink 1.2 pints? Great – it’s 6 cooking water! (8) AQUAFABA (water in which pulses, especially chickpeas, have been cooked, used in vegan cookery as a substitute for egg whites – water potentially generated by vegans while cooking) AA (Alcoholics Anonymous – ex boozers) containing (to drink) (QUA [a QUART is 2 pints so QUA is three fifths of two pints, or six fifths {1.2} of one pint] + FAB [great]) A (QUA FAB) A |
| 18 |
Material that’s elastic – Lycra, I see (7) ACRYLIC (synthetic fibre; material) Anagram of (elastic) LYCRA I and C (‘see’ can be defined as the letter C) ACRYL* I C |
| 19 |
Argument against joining encounter (3,4) RUN INTO (encounter) RUN-IN (argument) + TO (against) RUN IN TO |
| 20 |
Get knight covering king, giving check (6) SCREEN (test; check) (SEE [understand; get] + N [knight in chess notation]) containing (covering) (CR [Charles Rex; king] S (CR) EE N |
| 22 |
Energy-packing bars and maybe canned food (5) BEANS (BEANS are often sold in a can) E (energy) contained in (packing) BANS (bars) B (E) ANS |
| 24 |
Long throw striking opener (4) ITCH (desire; yearn; long) PITCH (throw) excluding (striking) the first letter (opener) P ITCH |
OVERCOOKING:
I took ‘about’ as OVER. OVER comes before COOKING (fiddling in the sense of manipulating data etc.,)
Took ‘Burning perhaps’ as the def.
I took the definition in 1d to be “raucous-sounding” but can see your point. For OVERCOOKING, I had “cooking” = “fiddling” with “over”= “about” coming before it. Agree with STUNTMAN.
Just beat me to it KVa.
Hovis@2
I took the definition of CROAKY as you did. However,
duncanshiell’s parsing seems to be all right.
Or is raucous-sounding more precise to define CROAKY?
A banned substance coating man and ape, this defoliant (5,6)
AGENT ORANGE
I parsed AGENT ORANGE as GENT + ORANG (utan) inside A and E (=ecstasy, banned substance) with the definition being ‘this defoliant’.
Thanks, Brunel & Duncan. An enjoyable puzzle and mostly plain sailing, but I ran into a few sticky patches. I couldn’t make sense of CROAKY at all – looking at your parsing, Duncan, I think you’ve got it right but the wording of the clue is a bit clunky. I struggled for a while to see how OVERCOOKING worked but came to the same conclusion as you on the parsing of that one.
I parsed AGENT ORANGE the same way as Jolt @5
I’m not sure why but this didn’t flow nicely for me – probably a wavelength thing, and I needed to phone-a-friend to understand the parsings of 8d (for which I had become transfixed that it was TS around an anagram of INSIDE, and 19d (which I just couldn’t see at all).
16d was a new word for me. One slight quibble is that I don’t think the wrist is part of the forearm.
Thanks to Brunel and to Duncan.
Never heard of AQUAFABA and with “ill” (as a noun) for 25a, this was one I was never going to get. I agree with Jolt @5’s parsing of AGENT ORANGE. Glad I’m in good company, as I just couldn’t get the parsing of the not complicated looking 19d either.
Favourite was the surface for 28a which set the scene nicely for a HOEDOWN.
Thanks to Brunel and Duncan
Stuntman maybe? A stand-in also takes an actor’s place while lights and camera are readied. Enjoyed mostly. AQUAFABA took a while but finally remembered it having read an article on making pavlova for vegans. Thanks.
We struggled with the parsing of CROAKY and had to google to confirm AQUAFABA (not in either Chambers or Collins) although we then remembered hearing about it; otherwise this was mostly straightforward. We did wonder if there might be a theme of pulses, with the clue for CHARIOT, the (RED KIDNEY) BEANS and AQUAFABA from chickpeas but admit it’s a bit tenuous.
Favourites were CHARIOT and SACRÉ COEUR.
Thanks, Brunel and Duncan
Didn’t have any problem with CROAKY but hadn’t heard of AGENT ORANGE so Mr Google had to help with that one.
Like RD@7, this one didn’t really flow for me although doubtless a very clever compilation.
Thanks to Brunel and to Duncan for bringing us the review.
Thanks both. Guessed AQUAFABA but would never have parsed given the mathematic contrivance required. Also laboured long over the banned substance in AGENT ORANGE only to feel deceived that it contributed only the final letter, but all fair to make the clue work
[The consistency of aquafaba is such that you can use it to make vegan meringues!]
I had never heard of AQUAFABA and couldn’t get it from the wordplay.
I guessed VEGIE for 6dn, which stopped me getting 12ac.
And the bottom right corner I couldn’t get at all, except that AGENT ORANGE was one of my first ones in. I remember that back in the seventies, Punch would occasionally run a strip about a US secret agent of that name.
Thank you Brunel for the puzzle and DS for the blog, between them making me aware of aquafaba. I failed to solve this clue (kudos to those who did from the wordplay!) and have never heard of this material before, but its properties are really interesting.