Independent 11,404 by Saladin

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I've not seen Saladin before, so I'm not sure if it's a new compiler or it's a pseudonym used for a special purpose.

There is a mention of Richard in one of the clues plus a few military and religious references, so maybe there is some sort of Crusades theme. The best clue, I thought, was 12A – a simple hidden answer that took me an age to spot.

ACROSS
5 YEARLONG
Nearly go bust throughout 2020? (8)

(Nearly go)*
8 FERRIC
Offer Richard bags of iron (6)

Hidden in "offer richard".
10 DRAWBRIDGE
Sketch new wife holding German adjustable spanner? (10)

Draw(=sketch) + bride(=new wife) around D{eutsch}. A bridge would span something such as a river.
11 SOFA
Such a great distance rook flies in Chesterfield? (4)

So fa[r] (R{ook} removed)
12 ORACLE
Revelation is boring for a clergyman (6)

Hidden in for a clergyman. I'd thought of the Oracle as the person delivering the revelation but apparently it can also refer to the revelation itself.
14 ORDNANCE
Rule independence out, displaying military weapons (8)

Ord[i]nance (rule minus i{ndependence})
15 RED NOSE
Endorse funny clown’s prop (3,4)

Endorse*
17 POSSESS
Have group sex, secretly at first (7)

Posse(=group) + s[ex] s[ecretly]
20 DISCLOSE
Publish record yield (8)

Disc(=record) + lose(=yield)
22 LATRIA
Large, spacious parts of shopping centres for worship of God alone (6)

L{arge} + atria(=the central areas of shopping arcades). Latria is a Roman Catholic term for supreme worship.
24 URGE
Desire to remove wrapping from Big Mac, perhaps (4)

[B]urge[r]
25 NEWSVENDOR
Swede stops recently recruited staff backing shopkeeper (10)

Sven(a Swedish name) in new(=recently recruited) + rod<(=staff)
27 MANCHU
Half of English city united old people (6)

Manch[ester] + u{nited}. The Manchu people were an ethnic group from Manchuria in modern China.
28 EXORCIST
One who treats spiritual problems scratched head in erotic sex manoeuvres (8)

([E]rotic sex)* – leading letter has been scratched=removed.
DOWN
1 BROW
Brother touching wife’s forehead (4)

Bro{ther} + w{ife}
2 SOURNESS
Acerbity of former Rangers and Liverpool manager about introduction of reviews (8)

Souness around r[eviews]. The manager in question is Graeme Souness.
3 OFFEND
Bad conclusion can create upset (6)

Off(=bad) + end(=conclusion)
4 CRYSTAL SET
Radio and most of cassette player oddly thrown out in error (7,3)

(Cassett[e] [p]l[a]y[e]r)*. A crystal set was an early type of radio receiver powered by an internal crystal diode.
6 ERROR
Mistake made by mischievous child initially covered up (5)

[T]error
7 GODSON
Continue claiming detective sergeant is someone you sponsor (6)

Go on around (D{etective} S{ergeant})
9 INFECTS
Transmits disease to mosquitos, say, beginning to fear for Society (7)

Insects with f[ear] replacing s{ociety}
13 CONSCIENCE
Prisoner gets medicine, perhaps, to obtain sense of right and wrong (10)

Con(=prisoner) + science(of which medicine is an example)
16 ERITREA
Flag up region abandoned by leader in part of Africa (7)

Tire<(=flag as a verb meaning to become tired) + [a]rea
18 OBLIVION
Nothing is advanced in South American country, largely, regarding extinction (8)

O(=nothing) moved forward in Bolivi[a] + on(=regarding)
19 PEEWEE
Bird waste product covers sheep (6)

Pee around ewe. Peewee is an alternative spelling of peewit and also a magpie lark in Australia.
21 OWNS UP
Admits 17 with drink (4,2)

Own(=clue 17, possess) + sup(=drink)
23 ICONS
They may be positive about Catholic sacred images (5)

Ions(which have positive or negative charge) around C{atholic}
26 NICE
Regularly encircle French city (4)

Even letters of encircle

17 comments on “Independent 11,404 by Saladin”

  1. Great crossword. I always appreciate setters who take care in constructing meaningful surfaces, so a thumbs up from me. Failed on the unknown-to-me LATRIA & MANCHU but should have seen them from the wordplay.

  2. Meant to add that, when I saw CAESAR appear in the rightmost column, I suspected a nina but don’t see anything.

  3. I don’t do Indy puzzles on a regular basis, (though I should as I invariably enjoy them) usually when there are no Toughies elsewhere so the setter was new to me as well as our blogger. I’d be very happy to see more.
    Knowing of the manager in 2d I thought the surface read most appropriate, I also liked the well hidden ORACLE, YEARLONG and INFECTS but my favourite was the amusing SOFA. Good stuff.
    Many thanks to Saladin and Neil H.

  4. I liked POSSESS and it was obvs when 21d fell into place. Nothing to do with group sex after all. The hidden clues were nicely hidden and the anagrams were fun especially CRYSTAL SET where I was keen on something ‘sin’ for error for longer than I should have been. Oh well. Got there in the end. Thanks very much.

  6. As always, good to see a new setter, or even an old friend in a new guise. I found this to be no Monday write-in, with most clues needing more than a bit of thought. I learnt a new word in LATRIA and a new sense of ORACLE; I wasn’t certain of either answer although the wordplay helped with both.

    I saw CAESAR along the eastern edge but couldn’t find anything else as noted by Hovis @2. My favourites were the ‘Half of English city United’ (=the other half Manch City) wordplay for MANCHU and yes, the surface for POSSESS.

    Thanks and welcome to Saladin and thanks to NealH

  7. This was challenging but fun.

    I don’t always complete the Indy cryptic, but I’d run out of distraction when I couldn’t sleep, so came here to find today’s most interesting challenge. ORACLE was particularly well hidden, LATRIA was new, but was clued clearly.

    By the way, in the blog, 10A needs a G for German in the BRIDE to parse.

    Thank you to Saladin and NealH.

  8. Tidy debut, thanks Saladin and NealH. Agree that the hidden ORACLE is particularly good.

  9. We agree with WordPlodder that this was no Monday write-in; nevertheless everything was gettable, even 2dn for non-football fans. We did need to check LATRIA in Chambers, though.
    Thanks, Saladin and NealH.

  10. Apart from Caesar, in one direction or another there’s Cosby, 10p, and (dead) Rod and Emu around the outside, quite an intriguing collection.

  11. New setter or familiar one in disguise? Either way, this was an enjoyable solve and I learned something new in LATRIA.
    Top three for me were DRAWBRIDGE, POSSESS & URGE.

    Thanks to Saladin and to Neal for the review.

  12. Like Hovis at @2 and James @10 I saw miscellaneous apparently unconnected names and words around the rim but they seem to be accidental or random – unless Saladin tells us otherwise! Many thanks to setter and blogger for an excellent puzzle.

  13. Very enjoyable and nice to have something a bit meatier (but not too much!) on a Monday.

    I too didn’t see ORACLE as a lurker until very late. Had got the answer from having all the crossers before it popped into view. Very nice.

    Also liked 4d and 18d.

    Tx to Saladin and NeilH.

  15. Well-set, Saladin. ORACLE and POSSESS were clever.

    And a little birdie tipped me off that there is indeed a nina, starting from CAESAR down the right column and continuing around… with some extra manipulation. I oughtn’t say more.

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