Independent on Sunday 1,770 by Brunel

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The puzzle is available to download or solve online here.

 

Hi everybody.  I had to think a bit today!  A couple of explanations held me up, most notably TAKE A BREATHER (22a), which took ages.  I’m pretty sure I have the basic structure right, but would appreciate your input to explain “take”.

I’ve also neglected to select a favourite in this enjoyable crossword, so please do mention your highlights.  Thanks Brunel!

 

Definitions are underlined in the clues below.  In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.  For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.

 

Across

1a    Cross? Violently angry, I will get to snapping bones, possibly (1-6)
X-RAYING
X (cross) + an anagram of (violently) ANGRY I

5a    Tell‘s apple, brief hazard for lad’s crown (7)
APPRISE
APP[l]E having brief RISk (hazard) in place of (for) Lad’s first letter (crown)

9a    Bamboozled and unmasked idiot breaking in (9)
OUTWITTED
OUTED (unmasked) with TWIT (idiot) entering (breaking in)

10a   Hot drink with cinnamon, e.g., using only a bit (5)
NEGUS
A hidden answer: cinnamoN, E.G., USing only a bit.  Unfamiliar to me: a hot drink of port or sherry mixed with water and usually spiced and sweetened

11a   Willing for those neglected originally to be represented in series (4,2,7)
GAME OF THRONES
GAME (willing) + an anagram of (… to be represented) FOR THOSE and Neglected originally

13a   It nips, it uses teeth heartlessly, it’s more snappy (8)
CRABBIER
CRAB (it nips) + BItER (it uses teeth) without the middle letter (heartlessly)

15a   They wear shorts and pants (6)
BOXERS
Double definition

17a   Ultimately lose knight to chess champ’s closing moves (6)
ENDING
The last letter of (ultimately) losE + N (knight) + DING (chess champ: Ding Liren)

19a   Rapidly recruiting US taxmen for high-level domain? (8)
AIRSPACE
APACE (rapidly) taking in (recruiting) IRS (US taxmen)

22a   Try to pot one red, initially maintaining break, finally switching to the rest (4,1,8)
TAKE A BREATHER
TAKE (try to pot) + A (one) and Red initially around (maintaining) BREA[k] with the last letter replaced by (finally switching to) THE.
I thought when solving that to take must mean to try to pot in snooker, but can’t find this meaning anywhere.  Take meaning to pot would work, but that would leave “try” hanging

25a   Hunter maybe returning horned ibex hides (5)
BIDEN
In reverse (returning) horNED IBex hides the answer

26a   Fat monk loves eats (5,4)
TUCKS INTO
TUCK (fat monk)’S INTO (loves).
Edit: thanks to IanSW3 for pointing out that a friar is not a monk.  However, Chambers’ definition of monk says “loosely often applied to a friar also”.  Without making the objection wrong, I think this lets the setter off the hook

27a   Scattered SAS men finally strike as one (2,5)
EN MASSE
Anagram of (scattered) SAS MEN + the last letter of (finally) strikE

28a   The Queen Mother entered hot springs (7)
THERMAE
THE, into which ER (queen) and MA (mother) is inserted (entered)

 

Down

1d    Console youngster, shortly covered in kisses (4)
XBOX
BOy (youngster) without the last letter (shortly) inside (covered in) XX (kisses).
I suspect I’m not the only one who immediately thought, but also immediately discarded as impossible, that the answer would begin and end in X!

2d    Island‘s unnamed lizard detailed by active conservationists (7)
ANTIGUA
IGUA[n]a (lizard) without N (unnamed) and missing its last letter (detailed) next to (by) A (active) and NT (National Trust, conservationists)

3d    Characteristic style of Oscar Wilde I am occasionally to cover (5)
IDIOM
O (Oscar) with alternate letters of (… occasionally)  wIlDe I aM surrounding (to cover)

4d    Comes through, in adversity – takes balls (4,4)
GETS OVER
GETS (takes) + OVER (balls)

5d    Laid odds (only evens) against increases (4,2)
ADDS TO
Just the even letters of (… only evens) lAiD oDdS + TO (against)

6d    Penniless, devout old character rising within (9)
PENURIOUS
PIOUS (devout) with RUNE (old character) reversed inside (rising within)

7d    Innocent lass, German girl, gets naked on leaving Germany (7)
INGENUE
INGE (German girl) + NU[d]E naked on omitting (on leaving) D (Germany)

8d    Nosh with setters followed by hanky-panky around southern county (4,6)
EAST SUSSEX
EATS (nosh) with US (setters) followed by SEX (hanky-panky); this is all around S (southern)

12d   On board a cabin cruiser, each passenger heads to topside (10)
ACCEPTABLE
TABLE (board); above that (… to topside) A + the first letters (heads) of Cabin Cruiser, Each Passenger

14d   Girl group first succeeded with brightly-coloured headgear (9)
BANDANNAS
ANNA (girl) with BAND group first, all followed by S (succeeded)

16d   Fault in bit of cinematography rectified – version ready for release (5,3)
FINAL CUT
An anagram of (… rectified) FAULT IN with the first letter (bit) of Cinematography

18d   Conned king for power, medal and lordly title (7)
DUKEDOM
DU[p]ED (conned) with K in place of P (king for power) + OM (Order of Merit, medal)

20d   Yankee President cycling over to NATO, say (7)
ACRONYM
Y (Yankee) and MACRON (president) cycling over so that the first two letters become the last

21d   Rabble-rousing leader has women’s group round the twist (6)
WRITHE
The first letter (leader) of Rabble-rousing has WI (women’s group) round it.  Add THE from the clue

23d   Drinks cuppa, left unfinished in hurry (5)
HASTE
HAS TEa (drinks cuppa) without the last letter (left unfinished)

24d   I think it’s a book (4)
TOME
TO ME (I think)

 

18 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,770 by Brunel”

  1. Thanks Setter and Blogger

    I was pretty unsatisfied with quite a few parsings; sorted by excellent blog

    28a. Has to be the with er & ma inserted. ER is no longer a good answer for “the queen”

  2. 22a. I think your parsing is correct – as intended by Brunel. I don’t much like red being in clue and answer, even if truncated.

  5. Thanks Matthew @1. I’ve restored the missing E to the parsing of 28a.

    I’m confused by the very last part of your comment, though as I never said ER was clued by “the queen”. The blog originally read “THE, into which R (queen) and MA (mother) is inserted (entered)”. My only error was dropping an E … so to speak!

  7. Thanks Brunel and Kitty

    It was ‘to pot’ in 22 that confused me, as I equated ‘take’ with ‘try’ in the sense of a take on a film set or recording studio being a try at the scene / song.

  8. Certainly needed a few of our reviewer’s hints to stagger across the finish line and can’t honestly say that any particular clue stood out for me so I’ll go for ANTIGUA as my favourite – lovely island that I was fortunate enough to visit some years ago.

    Sorry not to be more enthusiastic, Brunel, but many thanks to Miss Kitty for her help.

  10. @5 Kitty,

    I was being critical of the original cluing rather than your fine blogging; and, BTW, love the idea of “dropping an e” to properly solve a crossword.

    My only point was that I think a clue for ER now needs a modifier to Queen.

  12. Thanks Kitty & Brunel.

    Your parsing for 8d is the same as mine, but I worry that without an explicit anagram indicator, the order of the letters
    comes out as EATS SUSSEX.

    Liked APPRISE, AIRSPACE.

  14. IanSW3 @11. I tend to agree with you. In a similar fashion, we often see, for example, “Abe” for ‘president’.

  15. Matthew Newell @10, IanSW3 @11, Hovis @14 –

    Yes, I was going to observe that we see many old/former monarchs clued without that specification (Anne for queen was the first to spring to mind) – plus, as Hovis points out, presidents and PMs etc. I have noticed that when one is newly old (as it were) setters take pains to mention it, but that may just be a fear of looking not up to date.

  16. Good luck to anyone who thinks Macron when they see president! Added to my list of clues with hundreds of possibles eg “writers”.

    Thank you both.

  17. Enjoyed this very much, although I still don’t understand “take” = “try to pot”. Is that what snooker players say?

    Pete HA3@16 I don’t think “president” is nearly as unconstrained as “island”. There are 900,000 of them. Makes “girl” (18,993) and “boy” (13,959) look easy.

    Thanks to both!

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