Independent 11,583 by Saladin

by

Saladin is new to me to blog. Seems he is also pretty new to the Independent rota too, A new challenge

A delightful set of clues – particular mention to 15ac (very neat), 16ac (very funny) and 14dn (great use of Apple seller). There are many others too

Thanks Saladin look forward to the next one

Key * anagram; DD double definition; Rev. reversed and underline definition

Across
1 Just suggest following son (6)
s (son) + imply (suggest) = SIMPLY

4 Perhaps Ferguson drinks shot, ending in fury and outrage (8)
Alex (perhaps Ferguson) around pop (shot) + y (ending in fury) = APOPLEXY

10 Starts to evaluate over seventy individual nutrients in container of fluorescein derivative (7)
Starts to [evaluate over seventy individual nutrients in container] = EOSINIC

11 Salesman isn’t showing coat again (7)
rep (salesman) + aint (isn’t) = REPAINT

12 Sentimental short online comment (4)
tweet (online comment) – t = TWEE

13 Chop off head of baronet, cut grotesquely (10)
(baronet cut)* = OBTRUNCATE

15 Goodbye from heads of Christian Union on the phone (3,3)
Homonym of c + u = SEE YOU

16 A bad time to tickle guitarist in stomach? (7)
DD (albeit cryptically mid riff) = MIDRIFF

20 Cut hazard in punt (7)
risk(hazard) in bet (punt) = BRISKET

21 Centrepieces of Minoan bounty really nominal (6)
miNOan boUNty reALly = NOUNAL

24 Unknown male confused hod carrier (7,3)
(hod carrier)* = RICHARD ROE

26 Livelihood cut in vineyards (4)
crust (livelihood) – t (cut) = CRUS

28 I strove to develop Italian city (7)
(istrove)* = TREVISO

29 Anonymous male moved west in hostility for convenience (7)
a(anonymous) + enmity (hostility) moving m(male) west = AMENITY

30 Drunk, I complain constantly about Tory leader’s party (8)
lit (drunk) + i + rev. nag(complain constantly) + t (Tory leader) = LITIGANT

31 Innocent man stops wanting enumeration (6)
Hidden wantING ENUmeration = INGENU

Down
1 Fairly delightful foreign language film replaces director (8)
swedish (foreign language) swapping et(film) for d director = SWEETISH

2 Armed soldier, one who thinks about ketamine and ecstasy (9)
muser (one who thinks) around ket (ketamine) + e (ecstasy) = MUSKETEER

3 Associate left with writing material (4)
l (left) + ink (writing material) = LINK

5 Description of sweet wine I found in grass (8)
port (sweet wine) + i in rat (grass) = PORTRAIT

6 Father under oath, at first, to transform Greek Prime Minister (10)
papa(father) + (under + o)* = PAPANDREOU

7 American cuddles Heather (5)
Hidden amERICAn = ERICA

8 Business losing capital after year creates talk (6)
matter(business) – m after y(year) = YATTER

9 Controversial workers beginning to share taxis (5)
s(beginning to share) + cabs (taxis) = SCABS

14 Apple seller running employment scheme (3,7)
Jobs (Apple seller) + haring (running) = JOB SHARING

17 Try to obtain money from romp with doctor (one’s in A&E) (9)
fun (romp) + dr (doctor) + is(one’s) in A&E = FUNDRAISE

18 Nationalist with peculiarity abruptly retracted sentence (4,4)
Rev. N(nationalist) + w (with) + oddness (peculiarity) – s = SEND DOWN

19 Reaction to expulsion of boy playing around minor university (5,3)
(boy)* around less (minor) + u (university) = BLESS YOU

22 Savage routine in revolutionary laboratory (6)
Rev. lab about rut (routine) = BRUTAL

23 Good mark on exam (5)
m(mark) + oral (exam) = MORAL

25 King is in Paris to get insignia (5)
Cr (king) + est (is in paris) = CREST

27 Vacuous apprentice working for a very long time (4)
ae (vacuous apprentice) + on (working) = AEON

 

18 comments on “Independent 11,583 by Saladin”

  1. Very enjoyable indeed (though my repetition radar bleeped a couple of times) with a real variation in difficulty level providing quite a few PDM’s.
    I liked several but the ones that made me smile in particular were APOPLEXY, SEE YOU, MIDRIFF (excellent!) LITIGANT, FUNDRAISE and JOB SHARING.
    Thanks to Saladin (come again!) and Twencelas.

  2. Thanks, Saladin and Twencelas!
    Liked MIDRIFF, JOB SHARING and SEND DOWN.

    SEND DOWN
    A minor omission:
    “Sentence” to be underlined.

  6. Thanks KVa and FrankieG – have amended. As my old RE teacher used to say – everything man does must be flawed to prove they are not a God. He was very much proof of the concept.

  7. I started this at midnight last night; found it a real mixture of write-ins and head-scratching. Fortunately Ms DiBosco helped kick start me this morning and then we got going again. Ended up learning a few new words.

    Midriff was one of those that I just couldn’t see what on earth it was getting at, not helped by the fact I’d misspelt the Greek PM, but was very clever.

    Job Sharing, Fundraise and Crus were other favourites.

    LOI was send down, couldn’t really parse it but thought it had to be right.

    I have a slight quibble with port being a sweet wine as it *can* be sweet, but the more palatable ones, IMHO, are white and dry. It is a thing with crosswords sometimes though that if you know a subject too much you can overthink! 😀

    Thanks Saladin & twencelas

  8. As others have said, I found this an interesting mix of the straightforward and the tricky. I liked all the clues identified by StephenL, and BLESS YOU.

  10. Very enjoyable, thanks Saladin and twencelas.

    There was an encoded message in Saladin’s previous outings but I can’t see anything this time. Anyone?

    paul b @9 – sounds plausible!

  11. I recall finding Saladin pretty tricky last time out and this was no different. I was beaten by the nho OBTRUNCATE. Last time, there was a cunning nina but I can spot nothing this time though some of the unusual solution choices – PAPANDREO, EOSINIC, RICHARD ROE, YATTER as well as the aforementioned made me wonder if there was/is something going on. JOB SHARING, SCABS, SIMPLY, APOPLEXY and, COTD, MIDRIFF were my favourites.

    paul b @9: I’m guessing your strategy is to keep making that suggestion until either the setter or someone else caves in and either acknowledges you’re correct or calls you out? I’m way down the league when it comes to recognising styles of individual setters – but those unusual solutions could be the clue.

    Thanks Saladin and twencelas

  12. Ha, Widders. You weren’t there when I started typing – but I did stop to go back and look at the previous sets of comments. Partly to check what I had said but also because paul b’s comment rang a bell. Amusing that we should both comment on the same two points. It has been a week for repetitions.

  13. PM at 11, ah yes I have made that comment three times now haven’t I. Oh well, repetition compulsion number who knows how many, but I am a big fan of Mr Nashef’s brilliant work.

  14. Thanks Saladin. I was defeated by OBTRUNCATE, PAPANDREOU, and ERICA and I especially enjoyed SEE YOU, PORTRAIT, and BRUTAL. Thanks twencelas for the blog.

  16. Very nice to see Saladin once again! Was hoping for a Caesar 12 to continue the pattern but was quite satisfied with what was found instead. Quite a cunning puzzle.

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