Independent 11,919 by Methuselah

by

This took me a long time to solve.
I expect it took a while to set.
No doubt Methuselah had a couple of centuries to spare to put the finishing touches to it.

One of those with a mix of clues.
Some, I readily solved, e.g. the very welcome long “hiddens” on the vertical edges.
Others, I got stuck on for hours, e.g. the last crossing couple at 14 and 18.

First in was 1 down giving lots of useful first letters.  A couple of those bore fruit at 11 and 23.  The Y and Q in those made me think a Pangram might be on the cards.
That thought later on helped me finish the puzzle when I was stuck, to consider where a Z might go.
After finishing I totted up the letters and I find there is no X, and probably others, so no Pangram award today.

I was a little surprised when I realised 8/17 was another long hidden.  You can’t fool me by making it a reverse hidden.  I find I’m one of those people who readily reads upside down writing.
When crossing the road ꓕᖵƎ⅂ ꓘOO⅂ has me looking left unless I stop to think about it.  So reverse hiddens are not much different to straight.  Of course, your experience may vary.

My main stumbling block in this puzzle was 19 down where I confidently wrote in EPSILON thinking I’d be able to justify it later.  I had already got the final N and seen its derivation from [exhaustio]N.  So it had to be right – hadn’t it?   Thus I was stuck on the last light, 18 across, looking at -U-E not seeing anything that could possibly fit that weird clue. I was more unsure of the crossing U than the final E.

I still don’t understand that crossing answer DOUBLE BED – Help please to explain the Spoonerism: “Bubble Dead” / perfect ?

Pondering about the Z possibility helped spark the Michael Caine film and showed up I had picked a Greek letter from the wrong end of the alphabet.
I am probably being flippant classifiying 18 as merely a “Cryptic Def.” but I don’t know how else to explain it.

Favourite clue was 23 for the longish single word anagram.  It is relatively simple, and I got it early on, nevertheless it gave me that PDM element of surprise.

Across
1 PETROCHEMISTRY Stony-faced companion’s short and unusually shirty with me in study (14)
PETRO (Stony-faced), C[ompanion], (SHIRTY + ME)* AInd: unusually.
9 REALIGNED Proper retreat soldier backed put in place again (9)
REAL (Proper) (DEN, GI)< (retreat, soldier) reversed (backed)
10 MAJOR Fruit spread on the turn, if not rank (5)
JAM< (fruit spread) reversed (on the turn), OR (if not)
11 NYLON Initially nervous youngster lays off newer material (5)
First letters (Initially) of the next five words in the clue
12 VULGARISM Rude expression mugs rival off (9)
(MUGS RIVAL)* AInd: off.
13 ASUNDER Ace newspaper putting colour back into pieces (7)
A[ce] SUN (newspaper [debatable]) RED< (colour, back)
15 REIN Control animal that’s kicking its hindquarters (4)
REIN[deer] remove the back half
18 ZULU War film that’s hardly The Caine Mutiny (4)
Cryptic Def. Ref. Michael Caine etc. riffing on a couple of unrelated films: Film1 Film2   Last One In
20 BRONCHI Brother performing with church beginning to improvise organ passages (7)
BR[other] ON (performing) CH[urch] I[mprovise] Lungs (wiki) is the organ
23 EQUALISED Drew Daliesque works (9)
(DALIESQUE)* AInd: works.
24 HINDI Language from party putting off both sides (5)
[s]HINDI[g]
25 VOCAB Terms of endless promise taking lead from Catch 22 (5)
VO[w] C[atch] AB (from abdominal muscle, answer to 22d is muscle)
26 LARCENIST Criminal left another one to the auditor (9)
L[eft] “Arsonist”
27 WEDDING PLANNER Someone promising better service and reception when you sign new contract (7,7)
Cryptic Def.
Down
1/21 PARENTAL LEAVE Carer’s right: characters in shop aren’t all eavesdropping (8,5)
Hidden in shoP AREN’T AL L EAVEsdropping.  First one in (after failing on 1 Across)
2 THALLIUM Something toxic seen when peeling layers from lethal onion? (8)
[le]TH[al] ALLIUM (onion).   Preference of  Wimbledon-based assassins – undetectable in chicken tikka massala (apparently)
3 ORION Bunch of stars addicted to drinking port (5)
RIO (port) inside ON (addicted to)
4 HANOVER Dynasty that ruled empire in the past (7)
HAN (dynasty etc.) OVER (in the past) &Lit.
5 MEDDLER Someone interfering with fruit tree called out (7)
Homophone “Medlar” (fruit tree) HInd: called out.
6 SIMPATICO Agreeable writer’s drawn into quarrel with name-dropping star (9)
I’M (writer’s) inside SPAT (quarrel) + ICO[n] (star, N[ame]-dropping)
7 REJOIN After a break, come back to answer (6)
Cryptic Def.
8/17 PRIME MINISTER Democratic leader recalled some secret sin: “I’m emir”, perhaps? (5,8)
Hidden Reversed in secRET SIN: “I’M EMIR”, Perhaps
14 DOUBLE BED Private area perfect for Spooner? (6,3)
help here please: How is “Bubble Dead” = Perfect
16 SCANSION Meter reading conducted by gutless salesman is a con, sadly (8)
(S[alesma]N IS A CON)* AInd: sadly.
19 UPSILON Greek character‘s climbing tower, close to exhaustion (7)
UP (climbing) SILO (tower) [exhaustio]N
20 BAD TRIP Rapid bot extremely confused, making for horrible user experience (3,4)
(RAPID B[o]T)* AInd: confused.
22 MUSCLE Spy chief regularly highlighted our so called clout (6)
M (spy chief) alternate letters in oUr So CaLlEd
24 HYENA Cackling individual feeding urge to laugh (5)
YEN (urge) inside (fedding, i.e. being fed into) HA (laugh)

 

17 comments on “Independent 11,919 by Methuselah”

  1. Nice blog. Funny. Took me ages too and some help. I think the beginning of 1a is PET ROCK short. I have two on my desk that are reddish and apparently 200 million years old, predating Methuselah. Liked VOCAB as a favourite. And the hidden clues which rescued me. Can’t help with the Spooner. Dead is probably perfect. Dead ringer, like. Impressive feat of setting. Very entertaining and clever. Thanks.

  6. Didn’t see the PET ROCK in 1a, so thanks Sofamore. Did see the sneaky non-‘Spoonerism’ though. I reckon there’s a little more to REIN. I parsed it as removing HIND (deer) quarters (two of them to be precise).

  7. It certainly was tough. Well done and thanks to Beermagnet for teasing it out. And congratulations to KVa @2 for spotting that one – I had the same huh? reaction as others here. If I ever complete a Saturday Methuselah without help, I might retire in glory so, in the meantime, thanks for the challenge!

  8. A mix of groan and aha when I finally parsed DOUBLE BED as Kva above. HANOVER was my favourite. As many a team has discovered, you can equalise without drawing in the end, but I suppose you are drawing at the time. Thanks, both.

  9. Agree with the rating of this one as tough. I did not parse DOUBLE BED and still don’t get ZULU. Add in the nho SCANSION and the forgotten UPSILON and failing to spot either of the ICO(n)/(n)ICO parses. I agree with Hovis on the removal of two quarters of REIN(deer). The two long hiddens are well done and I did enjoy the surface for HYENA.

    Thanks Methuselah and beermagnet

  10. 14d is supposed to be an &lit Spoonerism, because I couldn’t remember ever seeing one done before: a Spoonerism of BUBBLE+DEAD (“private area”+”perfect”, as in the dead centre, dead ringer etc) gives DOUBLE BED, defined by the whole clue as a private area perfect for someone who spoons or a spooning couple.

    Eimi queried “drew” for EQUALISED, so we made it Daliesque works made all square (9) but it seems to have gone missing. Sofamore, KVA and Hovis are right about pet rock, REJOIN and quarters.

    Thanks for blogging/solving and merry Christmas!

  11. Super hard in my view. Enjoyable but on the edge. Too many clues had to be back-parsed for me to applaud setting style.

    I like a few, chuckled at a few (spooner not spooner), but a few were just meh

    Thanks Methuselah and beer magnet

    Btw. In Zulu the character played by Michael Caine most clearly holds the thin red line rather than mutinying under overwhelming enemy numbers. Making it a great clue. IIRC Michael Caine took his equity-acting name from the seeing the Caine Mutiny

  12. Thanks for the extra info on DOUBLE BED, Methuselah. Nicely done. I’m sure we all remember our private little bubbles during lockdown.

  13. Similar to KVa@4, I had 7d REJOIN as a DD: “After a break, come back to” & “answer”.
    Loved 14d – parsed both ways, with Covid (or Westmnster) bubbles, and dead-on – It’s dead good!
    [My PET ROC[k] is from Vesuvius (79), so a mere youngster of 1945 – that’s two Methuselahs (969) plus 7.]

  14. So many brilliant plays in one game, this is more Mo Salah than Methuselah. Premier standard.
    Everyone’s a winner.
    I am sure that I took much longer than other solvers to complete: I was enjoying the setter’s skill so much, it was not a puzzle to rush.
    Yes – it was a toughie; yes, maybe a couple of the surfaces were a bit flat-pack, like 11(ac) NYLON.
    I thought that I had parsed it all perfectly, but I’ve found even more depth from other posters (and the setter!)
    [ On which, how wonderful for the setter to join in. ]

    Sparkling stuff. A Christmas cracker.

    Cheers to everyone, setters, bloggers, solvers & posters.
    Have a good one! Ian b

  15. Too often on a Saturday, I stare at the Indy crossword and struggle to complete it. Not today. Took less that an hour, although coming here I now see there were several I didn’t get round to parsing. Usually I struggle, come here, and people say how easy it was. Makes a change.

  16. Thanks both and a lovely Xmas present.

    Methuselah@10: Personally I welcome (and applaud) the (as I think it will be known) DOUBLE BED spoonerism concept whereby the components are reflexively defining (someone will say it better).

    (Being) An online solver, I haven’t crossed paths with beermagnet before. I wish you amazing fluid swigs over the season.

  17. I saw beermagnet’s intro and was tempted to play with the Indie puzzle as chewy (plus it was Methuselah) as I looked at Guardian prize and whimpered.

    I’m really glad I found this puzzle, mostly in and solved on a couple of tube journeys today and definitely worth the brain twisting.

    Thank you to Methuselah and beermagnet.

Comments are closed.