Independent 11,836 by Nitsy

by

This was a gentle but enjoyable puzzle. All the clues were very sound and well-constructed.

8D was my favourite – not an &lit but a good enough surface reading that it could have been.

ACROSS
1 FLOG
Game over for hawk (4)

Golf<. Hawk here means to sell something.
3 BARRACKS
Pubs without stress – places for regulars (8)

Bars(=pubs) around rack(=stress)
9 UNSOPHISTICATED
Green pistachio nuts cracked by Edward (15)

(Pistachio nuts)* + ed{ward}
11 DETECTIVE
Evicted criminal trapping Parisian and Maigret? (9)

Evicted* around et(=French for "and")
12 YALE
Some enjoy a lecture here? (4)

&lit – hidden in "enjoy a lecture"
13 UPSTART
At university with jerk, pretentious and vulgar (7)

Up(=at university) + jerk(=start in the sense of an involuntary response to something)
15 SPONGE
Something used for wiping bum (6)

DD. Sponge here used in the sense of someone who sponges off others.
17 FLEECE
Rip off coat (6)

DD
19 SINCERE
Frank‘s seeing that Republican leader in extremis (7)

Since(=seeing that) + R{epublican} + e[xtremis]
20 TIFF
Quarrel – it turns very loud (4)

It< + ff(=musical notation for very loud)
21 PERMANENT
Standing by bloke next to hospital department (9)

Per(=by) + man(=bloke) + ENT(=Ear, Nose and Throat)

24 DIRECTOR GENERAL
BBC boss maybe later recording broadcast about Spain (8-7)

(Later recording)* around E{spana}
25 SINISTER
Forbidding nurse bandaging hip (8)

Sister(=nurse) around in(=hip in the sense of trendy)
26 BRAS
They hold baps – bread is reduced (4)

Bras[s]. Bread and brass are both slang terms for money and baps may be used as slang for a woman's breasts.
DOWN
1 FOUND OUT
Discovered this could make do fun? (5,3)

Clue as answer for (do fun)*
2 ONSET
Start working hard and fast (5)

On(=working) + set(=both hard and fast in the sense of something becoming solid)
4 ACTRESS
Possibly Audrey Hepburn‘s wonderful short hair (7)

Ac[e](=wonderful) + tress(=hair)
5 ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Yank chain up and down a lot (5,9)

CD – chain of mountains.
6 CATALOGUE
Got a clue muddled penning a list (9)

(Got a clue)* around a
7 SIDE
Group of players groaned audibly (4)

Hom of sighed
8 SPECIAL EFFECTS
Cliff escape set abroad – this is what you expect in a Bond film (7,7)

(Cliff escape set)*
10 IDIOT
Words from groom perhaps about one tense ass (5)

(I do(=words said by groom at a wedding) around I) + t{ense}

14 SOLDIER ON
Keep going north after solo ride all over the place (7,2)

N{orth} after (solo ride)*
16 REPTILES
Snakes, say, we spot regularly in nettles (8)

Even letters of "we spot" in riles
18 EXPLODE
Go off base following former policeman (7)

E(=base of natural logarithms) after ex(=former) policeman(=plod)
19 SPROG
Child finally goes for good (5)

[Goe]s + pro(=for) + g{ood}
22 ERROR
Boob reflected in mirror, regrettably (5)

Hidden, rev in mirror regrettably
23 ODES
Old editor picked up special poems (4)

O{ld} ed< + s{pecial}

16 comments on “Independent 11,836 by Nitsy”

  1. ROCKY MOUNTAINS
    I find that the ROCKY MOUNTAINS is a North American (yank?) mountain chain.
    Also there seems to be a WP:
    up and down=ROCKY
    a lot=MOUNTAINS

  3. Agree with KVa about the word play for rocky mountains.

    Overall and gentle and solver-friendly crossword.

    thanks Nitsy and Neal

  7. What Tatrasman@6 said. 😉

    ROCKY MOUNTAINS was my favourite, and like others I think it’s a charade-cum-cd, which is nice.

    Thanks both

  8. There is definitely a Monday feeling in the air across all three GIFT puzzles today. Not that that is a complaint. FLOG, YALE, SPONGE, SINISTER, EXPLODE, SPROG and ERROR were my favourites along with the excellent ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

    Thanks Nitsy and Neal

  9. Thanks both. Far from stretching, and I suspect this will be the calm before a storm as the week unfolds. BRAS has made me wonder whether there is some regional variance in the potentially hundreds of slang words for breasts, as baps can only be bread rolls in my world.

  11. The ex-plod was my favourite. Can do with a laugh every now and again.

    Some things have so many slang terms like the baps here. A friend would announce he was just off to the euphemism when he headed for the gents in a pub.

    Thanks both.

  12. Great fun – must watch out for Nitsy again. I thought SPONGE was just great. Made me chortle.

    Pete HA3: Lol. Must try asking for the “euphemism” in future…

  13. Suspect many here didn’t break a sweat or 10 minutes on this one. Lots of good clues, but many just seemed to fall in automatically. A half hour solve for me is a quick one. All done in one sitting too.

    Not sure I recall Nitsy, and certainly not enough to recognise a style. I thought the bawd level was well within bounds.

    Thanks Nitsy and also to Neal for the blog, which cleared up a couple of parsings I didn’t take the time to try and complete.

  15. Thanks Neal and Misty, good fun on the easy side as Nitsy usually is. That’s no criticism, an excellent start the week puzzle with sponge being worthy of hoskins.

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