Independent 11393 / Crosophile

by

It’s Tuesday and it’s a puzzle with Crosophile as the setter.

 

 

 

Tuesday is theme day and Crosophile often includes a theme even when his puzzles don’t appear on a Tuesday.  However, if there is a theme today, I can’t see it.  Almost certainly there is one though.

I liked the clue based on the pronunciation of the first letters of three Scandinavian countries.  I also ticked the clues for CHERUB, TRACES and TICKET.

RHESUSES was my last one in as I trawled through the alphabet trying to think of possible words.  When the penny dropped, the wordplay became clear.

There seems to be an increasing use of foreign words in the wordplay in many puzzles at the moment.  Today we focused on French with NUIT, GARE and CITÉ.  I am not complaining, as my small vocabulary of French, German, Spanish, Italian and Latin can still just about cope with current clues, but I’ll struggle if setters venture into other languages.  Of course, crosswords cater for all and I expect there are many solvers who prefer foreign language wordplay to sport or science.

For good measure today, we also had an American word in the grid, but it was clearly flagged as such.

No Detail
Across  
1

How military make advance and ruin church (5) 

MARCH (rhythmic military walking on parade)

MAR (ruin) + CH (church)

MAR CH
4

Uses cosmetic oil gauges showing litres instead of depth (9) 

LIPSTICKS (applies cosmetic oil to the LIPS – yes, the entry is a verb)

DIPSTICKS (rods or gauges for measuring depth of liquid in a sump) with L (litres) replacing (for) D (depth)

LIPSTICKS
9

Man with a posh car, a learner driver in dense thicket (9)

CHAPARRAL (dense thicket of tangled brushwood)

CHAP (man) + A + RR (Rolls Royce, posh car) + A + L (learner driver)

CHAP A RR A L
10

Suffering from this, listen listlessly to unending night of Paris? (5) 

ENNUI (feeling of weariness or languor; boredom) which will make you listless

LISTEN excluding (‘lessly’) LIST + NUIT (French [Paris for night]) excluding the final letter [unending] T

EN NUI
11

Inception actor’s position when filming (5) 

ONSET (beginning; inception)

ON SET (an actor with a part in the current scene will be ON SET during filming)

ON SET
12

Embracing humbly when edging away, foolish things leaving hotel staggering (9) 

STUMBLING (staggering)

Anagram of (foolish) THINGS excluding (leaving) H (hotel) containing (embracing) HUMBLY excluding the outer letters (when edging away) H and Y

ST (UMBL) ING*
13

A title of respect for leaders of Finland, Norway and Denmark, say? (7)

EFFENDI (generally, in the Eastern Mediterranean, a title of respect for educated or high-ranking people)

EFFENDI (sounds like F (EFF), N (EN) D (DI), first letters of [leaders of] each of Finland, Norway and Denmark)

EFF EN DI
15

Maybe that vixen has its youngster around, a sweet little un (6)

CHERUB (sweet little thing ([little un])

HER (descriptive of that female fox [vixen]) contained in (has its … around) CUB (young fox)

C (HER) UB
16

A letter and its addendum I added (3)

PSI (a letter of the Greek alphabet)

PS (postscript; addendum to a letter) + (added) I

PS I
18

What’s left of IOM biking event banning one ton? (6)

TRACES (remains; what’s left)

TT RACES (Tourist Trophy motor cycle RACES held  every year on the Isle of Man [IOM]) excluding (banning) one of the Ts [ton])

T RACES
20

Country lass with uniform gets measure of speed to lollop along (7) 

GALUMPH (to bound about in a noisy, ungainly way; lollop along)

GAL (dialect [rural; country] word for a girl [lass]) + U (uniform is the International Radio Communication code word for the letter U) + MPH (miles per hour [measure of speed])

GAL U MPH
23

I examine bug with gold round tip of proboscis (9) 

INSPECTOR (one who examines things)

(INSECT [bug] + OR [gold tincture in heraldry]) containing (round) P (first letter of [tip of] PROBOSCIS)

INS (P) ECT OR
25

They veer and back victories that restrict democrat (5) 

WINDS (in weather forecasts WINDS are said to veer and / or back as they change direction)

WINS (victories) containing (restrict) D (Democrat)

WIN (D) S
27

Hang two kings holding the throne after revolution (5)

KNACK (hang, as in ‘get the hang of something’ translated as ‘get the KNACK of doing something;)

(K [king] + K [king] – two kings) containing (holding) CAN (slang for toilet, as is THRONE) reversed (after revolution)

K  (NAC<)  K
28

Mother with poor stature becomes fully developed (9)

MATURATES (ages; becomes fully developed)

MA (mothers) + an anagram of (poor) STATURE

MA TURATES*
29

This might be tinkling piano kept in the box file (9) 

TELEPHONE (a device than can tinkle when it detects an incoming call, though few just tinkle these days)

(TELE [television; box] + HONE [sharpen]) containing (kept) P (piano)

TELE (P) HONE
30

If epées have tip removed these may be more powerful (5) 

WORD (reference the phrase ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’, a metonymic adage, created by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, indicating that the written WORD is more effective [more powerful] than violence [e.g. the use of a sword] as a means of social or political change)

SWORD (e.g. an EPÉE) excluding the first letter (have tip removed) S

WORD
Down  
1

On clothing there’s million and one cold germs (8) 

MICROBES (germs)

M (million) + I (Roman numeral for one) + C (cold) + ROBES (clothing)

M I C ROBES
 2

Collects spare change? (5) 

REAPS (collects)

Anagram of (change) SPARE

REAPS*
 3

Mark’s 10 to give encouragement (7) 

HEARTEN (give encouragement)

HEAR (heed; mark) + TEN (10)

HEAR TEN
 4

Cricket ground’s beginning to cheer society toffs (9) 

LORDSHIPS (aristocrats; toffs)

LORDS (London cricket ground) + HIP (first part of ‘HIP HIP HOORAY‘ [cheer]) + S (society)

LORDS HIP S
 5

A dish that’s gold with upturned rim as cover (5) 

PILAU (spiced Asian dish of rice with a fowl or other meat, or fish)

LIP (rim) reversed (upturned; down entry) + AU (chemical symbol for gold)

PIL< AU
 6

If both sides bet with me in flutter we’ll have flutter (7) 

TREMBLE (flutter)

Anagram of  L (left), R (right), i,e, both sides and BET and ME

TREMBLE*
 7

In miners union one up against company in never-ending situation (9) 

CONTINUUM (something that extends without interruption)

CO (company) + (UNIT [one] reversed [up; down entry] contained in [in] NUM [National Union of Mineworkers – still an active Union])

CO N (TINU<) UM
 8

Sways and drinks deeply around noon (6) 

SWINGS (sways)

SWIGS (drinks deeply) containing (around) N (noon)

SWI (N) GS
 14

Bar is made of wood completely (9)

FORESTALL (to bar)

FOREST (large group of trees; wood) + ALL (comprising every single one; completely)

FOREST ALL
 15

Smoke in French city including its station and middle of metro (9) 

CIGARETTE (smoke, as a noun is a CIGARETTE)

(GARE [French for ‘station’] + T [central letter of {middle of} METRO]) contained in (in) CITÉ (French for town or city])

CI (GARE T) TE
 17

These Foolish Things finally played in devices for monkeys (8) 

RHESUSES (macaque monkeys)

Anagram of (played) EHS (last letters of [finally] each of THESE, FOOLISH and THINGS) contained in (in) RUSES (devices)

R (HES*) USES
 19

Medical hell (to put it mildly) stuck in a metal casing (7) 

CHECK-UP (medical [examination])

HECK (a mild form the oath or expression of displeasure ‘hell’) contained in (in) CUP (metal casing that lines the hole in golf)

C (HECK) UP
 21

Non-intellectual‘s punch and argument after book is put down (7) 

LOWBROW (non-intellectual)

BLOW (punch) with B (book) moved to the end in the first part of this down entry [put down] to form LOWB + ROW (argument)

LOWB ROW
 22

A requirement to watch Bloodsucker Alien? (6) 

TICKET (an item that is required to watch a film such as Bloodsucker Alien [fictional film title  I think] in a cinema)

TICK (bloodsucking insect) + ET (name of a science fiction film)

TICK ET
 24

Item posted conceals speed (5) 

TEMPO (speed)

TEMPO (hidden word in [conceals] ITEM POSTED

TEMPO
 26

American form of saltpetre could be inert (5) 

NITER (American spelling of NITRE [saltpetre])

Anagram of (could be) INERT

NITER*

 

21 comments on “Independent 11393 / Crosophile”

  1. Liked LIPSTICKS, EFFENDI, TELEPHONE, WORDS, RHESUSES and CHECK-UP.
    Thanks, Crosophile and duncanshiell!

  2. Don’t hear heck a helluva lot these days. Concur completely with blog about the clue for EFFENDI and count me as a solver who would prefer foreign language not so much to science but to sport and botany. Liked KNACK and CHECKUP. Thanks for the explanation of cup. Thanks Crosophile.

  3. While a CHAPARRAL region may contain thickets (which may be dense, but in my experience more often are not), it seems a bit off to use dense thicket as the definition.

  4. Ian SW3 @ 3

    Experience and dictionary definitions often differ. Chaparral is defined as a dense thicket in a few dictionaries as shown below

    Chambers: A thicket of dense tangled brushwood
    Collins: Dense vegetation consisting of stunted trees or bushes
    Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE) : vegetation consisting chiefly of tangled shrubs and thorny bushes.:
    and
    The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) : a thicket of low evergreen oaks; (hence) generally, dense tangled brushwood, composed of low thorny shrubs, brambles, briars, etc., such as abounds on poor soil in Mexico and Texas

    The ODE is the nearest to your experience, but if the OED uses both ‘dense’ and ‘thicket’ in the definition then I think Crosophile is on firm ground.

  5. Managed to parse most of this but didn’t know what the ‘and back’ was doing in the clue for WINDS and I didn’t think of the correct sort of CUP at 19d. I also wondered why ‘Country lass’ rather than just ‘lass’ was used for GAL at 20a but the “dialect” explanation seems plausible. Finished with the crossing EFFENDI and finally FORESTALL for which I needed all the crossers.

    No luck identifying a theme or Nina; look forward to hearing what it is.

    Thanks to Crosophile and Duncan

  14. Putting it all together:
    ‘A CIGARETTE that bears a LIPSTICK’S TRACES
    An airline TICKET to romantic places
    And still my HEART[en] has [s]WINGS
    These foolish things remind me of you (17d)
    A tinkling piano in the next apartment (29a)
    Those STUMBLING WORDS that told you what my heart meant
    A fair ground’s painted SWINGS
    …
    The WINDS of MARCH that make my heart a dancer
    A TELEPHONE that rings but who’s to answer?’

    I wasn’t looking for a theme but 17d and 29a had already given me the earworm. This was fun! 🙂

  15. Thanks both. Suspected the song was the theme, but couldn’t remember the lyrics (Bryan Ferry recorded a great version). The first many here went straight in, before I struggled with the remainder, including some parsing e.g. that RHESUSES is the plural and not rhesus moneys, and that Mark’s ten (apostrophe specifically) could produce HEARTEN

  16. Great stuff and thanks to Frankie G for the theme. I had the same favourites as KVa. I parsed CHECKUP as heck in cu for copper and p for putting it mildly.

  17. Got the theme but much too late to help. Who did the comedy version? Was it Bonzo Dog?

    Thanks C and DS

  19. TFO@15
    Yes, I think the puzzle might be in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Bryan Ferry’s album.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/These_Foolish_Things_(album)
    And the French wordplay is also part of the theme (NUIT, GARE and CITÉ) because the song is set in Paris. Later lyrics refer to:
    ‘The “Ile de France” with all the gulls around it’ and ‘Wild strawb’ries only seven francs a kilo’.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/These_Foolish_Things_(Remind_Me_of_You)
    My iPod has four versions of the song – by Rick Astley, Bryan Ferry, Billie Holiday and Nat King Cole.
    There are fine versions by James Brown(!), Sam Cooke, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Aaron Neville…
    Thanks C&d

  20. Too late by far for anybody to see this [busy time and I completely forgot!], but thank you Duncan, and for all the comments. Congratulations to Frankie G for spotting the theme so comprehensively and for anybody else who spotted it. I set this puzzle a while ago and when it came to final edits I was blowed if I could see the theme myself!! I had to checkback in my files. 🙂

  21. Hi, Crosophile@20. I’m still here.
    Maybe you can tell me who Saladin is?
    Your stablemate’s May 1st crossword is well worth doing. Spoiler alert – don’t read the blog.

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