Independent 11,512 by Umpire

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Umpire is a new compiler to me and I did wonder if it was a made up name for the duration of the US Open tennis, but I can see that there have already been puzzles by this compiler that have been blogged on the site.

There were some nice palm face type clues where the answer seems obvious once you've got it but was quite obscure until then. 23D and 19A were good examples. I only needed a bit of help with 19D where I had to look up the Spanish word for cat to be able to solve the clue.

ACROSS
7 ANDROID
Robot with free oxygen built in (7)

And(=with) + rid with O{xygen} in it
9 TOPIARY
Cobbled patio lines garden decoration (7)

Patio* + r{ailwa}y(=lines)
11 SPIN DRIED
Having raced around, lemur rapidly dehydrated (4-5)

Sped around Indri (=a type of lemur)
12 GLASS
Mirror good girl (5)

G{ood} + lass(=girl)
13 BADGE
Briefly pester Mark (5)

Badge[r](=pester)
14 TRANSLATE
Put in simpler terms, maybe public transport’s delayed after I departed (9)

Tra[i]n's + late
16 ICE
Diamonds spent in game of chance to obtain more diamonds? (3)

[D]ice, with the d{iamonds} being "spent" i.e. removed. The abbrev would be used in playing cards.
17 ENDURES
Earl nursed poorly survives (7)

E{arl} + nursed*
19 FIR
Delivered coat that will never lose green colour (3)

Hom of "fur" (a verbal delivery of coat). Def refers to fir trees being evergreen.
20 ENTRANCES
Doctor CERN sent to admit accelerator’s opening portals (9)

(Cern sent)* around a[ccelerator]
23 EPOCH
Period covered by José and Pochettino? (5)

Hidden in Jose Pochettino
24 PIXEL
Recalled cheek pierced by former lover making a bit of a display (5)

(Lip(=cheek) around ex(=former lover))<
25 REARGUARD
Defensive soldiers missing acting argue with Radar after M*A*S*H (9)

([A]rgue + radar)*. Mash here is used as the anagram indicator but Radar O'Reilly was a character in the series.
27 GEEKDOM
Group of enthusiasts almost get mocked terribly skipping college (7)

(Ge[t] mo[c]ked)* with c{ollege} being skipped
28 CONCERN
Business caught sailors cuddling in the past (7)

(C{aught} + RN(=Royal Navy)) around once(=in the past)
DOWN
1 MAPS
Plots mass spring uprising (4)

M{ass} + spa<
2 DOODLE
Nothing can replace second daughter in child’s play sketch (6)

Doddle(=child's play in the sense of something easy) with O replacing the second D.
3 ADMITTED
Recognised Bill wearing gloves? (8)

Ad(=bill) + mitted(=possible word for wearing gloves)
4 STADIA
Mounted opera to support small-time venues (6)

Aida<(=opera by Verdi) + s{mall} t{time}, which can be treated as two separate abbrevs.
5 PANAMA
Hat airline once accepted (6)

PAN AM(=a defunct airline) + a{ccepted}
6 LYES
Cleaners overheard stories (4)

Hom of lies. Lyes are chemicals (potassium or sodium hydroxide) used for making cleaning products.
8 DWINDLE
Decline date with discovered cheat (7)

D{ate} + [s]windle[r]. Discovered=cover removed.
10 PEGASUS
Old horse learned to drink outside upside-down (7)

(Sage(=learned) in sup(=drink))<. Pegasus was a horse from Greek mythology, so old in that sense.
13 BRINE
Main‘s side of salmon smothered in cheese (5)

[Salmo]n in brie.
15 EARTH
What covers landscapes? (5)

&lit Eh(=what) around art(=landscapes) and a reference to the landscapes being covered in earth or on the planet Earth.
17 EMAILED
Medieval quivers, very scratched, posted online? (7)

(Medie[v]al)*, v{ery} being scratched i.e. removed.
18 RESEARCH
Investigation concerning sound faculty in school (8)

Re(=concerning) + (ear(=sound faculty) in sch{ool})
19 FOOTAGE
Some film enemy smuggling upset Spanish cat (7)

Foe around gato<(=Spanish word for a male cat)
21 TAXIES
Umpire bound by duties travels around the airport (6)

I(=Umpire i.e. the name of the compiler) in taxes(=duties)
22 CHROME
Plate in church near capital (6)

Ch{urch} + Rome. The def refers to plating something with chrome.
23 ENGINE
Government assuming E-number is source of power (6)

G{overnment} in E-nine(=number)
24 PAGE
Leaf lacking colour left out for composting in the end (4)

Pale with l{eft} replaced by [compostin]g
26 DINK
Chip some dunked in ketchup (4)

Hidden in dunked in ketchup. The def refers to a shot in a game like tennis.

20 comments on “Independent 11,512 by Umpire”

  2. I enjoyed this with MAPS my favourite. I too had to check the Spanish for cat.

    Isn’t 6d ambiguous until you have solved 9a?

    Thanks to Umpire and to NealH.

  3. Thanks, Umpire and NealH!
    Liked TRANSLATE, ICE, EPOCH, ADMITTED and EARTH.

    FIR
    The wordplay is clear. Are there two defs?
    that will never lose green=FIR,
    (a) colour=FIR

    Rabbit Dave@2
    LYES
    Agree.

  4. This is a tribute to Google formed by Larry PAGE and Sergey BRIN (e). A plethora of Google products and ideas show up in the solutions. — ANDROID ( on which I solved ), CHROME, MAPS, (re) SEARCH ENGINE, EMAILED, PIXEL, GEEKDOM. There may be more.

    Thank you Umpire and NealH.

  8. I remain as ignorant as possible where IT stuff is concerned – most of it comes under the heading of GEEKDOM in my book! Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed this and now know the Spanish name for a cat!

    Thanks to Umpire, to Neal for the review and to Flea for spotting the theme.

  9. Flea @6 also the less successful Google GLASS (though I admit I’d originally missed the theme!)
    Thanks Umpire for an enjoyable solve and thanks also to NealH

  10. Very enjoyable and a fairly swift solve for me. As a big Lots to like including PIXEL, GEEKDOM (splendid word), CONCERN ADMITTED, and PEGASUS.
    Thanks to Umpire and NealH

  11. All solved without help over coffee on the patio, though we did have to dig deep in the memory for the lemur. Missed the theme – well we don’t usually get one on a Monday.
    Thanks, Umpire and NealH.

  12. cranberryfez@6 : Yes I agree. I had missed that one but the theme simply had to be presented today, Monday because today is Google’s 25th anniversary !

  15. Thanks NealH and Umpire.
    Very enjoyable,
    SPIN-DRIED
    REARGUARD
    GEEKDOM
    EARTH
    ENGINE are favs.

    Missed the theme 🙁

  16. Thanks all for the kind comments, and to NealH for the blog.
    Indeed today is Google’s 25th anniversary as Flea@3 pointed out.

    I believe the only theme entry not yet mentioned is Google STADIA, a cloud gaming service launched late 2019 and discontinued at the start of this year.

  17. Thanks Umpire, all completed and parsed but never saw the theme. Favorites were ADMITTED, STADIA, and FOOTAGE — I knew the Spanish cat. Thanks NealH for the blog and Flea for unveiling the theme.

  18. FOOTAGE – I learned GATO 50+ years ago from this 1971 cartoon
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_in_the_Hat_(TV_special)
    ‘With voices by Allan Sherman and prolific vocal performer Daws Butler, this half-hour special is a loose adaptation of the book with added musical sequences’
    ‘Cat, hat, In French, chat, chapeau. | In Spanish, el gato in a sombrero.’
    The 2003 Mike Myers movie is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary, but it’s a pale imitation.
    This version has lo-res video, but quite accurate subtitles.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLgJvqyZNjs

  20. …from @18… And vertically above the GATO is his sombrero – a PANAMA. I’ve got one – “hand woven in Ecuador”
    Thanks U&NH

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