Independent 11,563 by Rodriguez

by

Rodriguez fills the Thursday slot this week.

14ac mentioned that there was something to look out for in the pairs of across answers. Having solved 14ac, we noticed RIALTO and googled Chapel Bridge to find that it is an unusual pedestrian bridge in Lucerne. Before we solved 10ac, we had BERT at the beginning of 11ac and Bert wondered if 10ac was going to end in …AL for the Albert Bridge in London – this delayed completing the NW corner until we realised that 3d was not -C-L-I  – not helped by the fact that we had never heard of the German city at 10ac, and once we had the M in 3d we were wondering about BUM for ‘swan around’ for a while. 12ac revealed itself when we were looking up synonyms for ‘enlightenment’.

Thanks Rodriguez for today’s fun.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
8. A geezer tucked into large drink somewhere in Spain (2,6)
LA MANCHA

A MAN (geezer) inside or ‘tucked into’ L (large) CHA (drink)

9. One’s next to hip rock-‘n’-roller on piano (6)
PELVIS

ELVIS (rock-‘n’-roller) after or ‘on’ P (piano)

10. Swan around and sing quietly in German city (6)
BOCHUM

A reversal (‘around’) of COB (swan) + HUM (sing quietly)

11. One famous Russell keeping secret occasionally for another famous Russell (8)
BERTRAND

BRAND (‘one famous Russell’) around or ‘keeping’ sEcReT (alternate or ‘occasional’ letters)

12. Enlightenment from men in part of weekend newspaper (6)
SATORI

OR (other ranks – ‘men’) in SAT (part of weekend) + I (newspaper). Joyce looked up synonyms for ‘enlightenment’ which had OR in them in Chambers and found the answer.

13. Sign in a bar: “Cola left to get drunk” (4,4)
ALTO CLEF

An anagram (‘drunk’) of COLA LEFT

14. Urging reforms with Bible, did special reconciliation work (in pairs of across answers here) (8,7)
BUILDING BRIDGES

An anagram (‘reforms’) of URGING, BIBLE DID and S (special). The pairs of across answers ‘build bridges’.

18. Thrill of breaking defensive structure (4-4)
HILL-FORT

An anagram (‘breaking’) of THRILL OF

20. Shelter invaded by old con (4,2)
HAVE ON

HAVEN (shelter) around or ‘invaded by’ O (old)

22. Give utilitarian philosopher grinding instrument (4-4)
HAND-MILL

HAND (give) MILL (John Stuart Mill – ‘utilitarian philosopher’)

24. Spaniard’s cheer heard for café option? (2,4)
AU LAIT

A homophone (‘heard’) of OLE (Spanish cheer)

25. Brilliant record spun, with jazzy end (6)
GOLDEN

LOG (record) reversed or ‘spun’ and an anagram (‘jazzy’) of END

26. Tech entrepreneur reduced job’s entry requirement? (8)
GATEPOST

GATEs (Bill Gates – ‘tech entrepeneur’) missing last letter or ‘reduced’ + POST (job)

DOWN
1. Notice nothing, with crack going up temple (6)
PAGODA

A reversal (‘going up’) of AD (notice) O (nothing) GAP (crack)

2. Item used for cleaning wicket remains on pitch for cricket (8)
WASHBOWL

W (wicket) ASH (remains) BOWL (pitch for cricket)

3. Fraud investigator gets crumby food (6)
SCAMPI

SCAM (fraud) PI (private ‘investigator’) – ‘crumby’ reflecting the way that scampi are served in breadcrumbs

4. Expert in male grooming has no hesitation making jibe (4)
BARB

BARBer (expert in male grooming) missing ‘er’ (hesitation)

5. Perhaps a plus for someone in the theatre? (8)
OPERATOR

Double definition

6. Minister, say, in council losing heart? Idle, perhaps (6)
CLERIC

CounciL (first and last letters only or ‘losing heart’) ERIC (Idle perhaps – as in one of the Monty Pythons)

7. Seven plus nine minus indefinite number confused Freud, say (8)
VIENNESE

An anagram (‘confused’) of SEVEN and NInE missing ‘n’ (indefinite number)

13. Unease of rapper, putting out cover (5)
ANGST

gANGSTa (rapper) missing or ‘putting out’ the first and last letters or ‘cover’

15. One having a wee bit of liqueur in a torpor (8)
URINATOR

Hidden (‘bit of’) in liqueUR IN A TORpor

16. Rio parties hosted by terrible ruler succeeded for African countrymen (8)
IVORIANS

An anagram (‘parties’) of RIO inside or ‘hosted by’ IVAN (terrible ruler) S (succeeded)

17. Starter of duck wraps, but no new spreads (8)
DEVELOPS

D (first letter or ‘starter’ of duck) EnVELOPS (wraps) missing ‘n’ (new)

19. Car carrying detective’s superior (2-2-2)
LA-DI-DA

LADA (car) around or ‘carrying’ DI (detective)

20. Try hem for trousers or suit (6)
HEARTS

HEAR (try) TrouserS (first and last letters only or ‘hem’)

21. Earl following rogue is too vain (6)
OTIOSE

An anagram (‘rogue’) of IS TOO ‘followed by’ E (earl)

23. Plaything left for Constantine I (4)
LEGO

L (left) EGO (I in Latin – Constantine 1 was a Roman)

 

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