Independent 11,998 by Italicus

This was a high-quality puzzle from a consistently good setter.

There was no obvious theme but the puzzle was a pangram. That knowledge did slightly hold me up when I failed to notice the Q had already been used in 14D and convinced myself for a while that 3D must have a Q in it. My favourite clue was 4A both for the mischievous meaning and the very well disguised anagram.

ACROSS
1	BEHEST	Workers accepting hard taskmaster’s initial request (6)
		(Bees(=worker bees) around h{ard}) + t[askmaster]
4	GOSHAWKS	German rogue asks how to get birds! (8)
		G{erman} + (asks how)*
9	EXODUS	Book flight (6)
		DD referring to the Biblical book
10	DEPLOYED	Set out scheme in document (8)
		Ploy(=scheme) in deed(=document)
12	COWARDLY	Yellow rope encircling wide area by empty lay-by (8)
		(Cord around w{ide} a{rea}) + l[ay b]y
13	ABLAZE	Airline lying about lounge being on fire (6)
		BA<(=British Airways) + laze(=lounge)
15	EONS	Heroines oddly overlooked for long periods (4)
		Even letters (odd letters overlooked) of heroines
16	STAUNCH	Resolute, revolutionary fanatics besieging a church (7)
		(Nuts< around a) + ch{urch}
20	MINERVA	Pit worker against absolute goddess (7)
		Miner(=pit worker) + v(=against,versus) + a{bsolute}
21	PAIR	Setter adopted by average couple (4)
		I(=the setter) in par(=average in golf)
25	AROUSE	Turn on extremely neglected fairground ride (6)
		[C]arouse[l]
26	GRIPPING	Compulsive clenching of fists? (8)
		DD
28	NUMINOUS	Mysterious male trapped in perverse union with American (8)
		(M{ale} in union*) + US(=American)
29	COLUMN	Company taking on graduates exposed in newspaper piece (6)
		Co{mpany} + [a]lumn[i]
30	MANDRAKE	Plant an English explorer found on Malta (8)
		M{alta} on an Drake(=English explorer)
31	STOLES	Ceremonial garments pinched duchess’s rear (6)
		Stole(=pinched) + [duches]s
DOWN
1	BREECHES	Trees around river providing places to load barrels (8)
		Beeches(=Beech trees) around r{iver}. The def refers to breech-loading rifles.
2	HOODWINK	Sucker punch clinches essentially humdrum victory (8)
		Hook(=a punch in boxing) around ([hum]d[rum] win)
3	SCURRY	Tip of Sioux Indian’s dart (6)
		S[ioux] + curry(=Indian meal)
5	OPEN	Frank is taken aback by online post (4)
		Hidden, reversed in “online post”
6	HOLD BACK	Restrain impudent journalist for Spooner (4,4)
		Spoonerism of “bold hack”
7	WAYLAY	Welsh army heartlessly set ambush (6)
		W{elsh} + a[rm]y + lay(=set e.g. set/lay a trap)
8	SUDDEN	Unexpected sound regularly upset Homer’s neighbour (6)
		Odd letters of sound + Ned<, referring to the character Ned Flanders from The Simpsons.
11	FLATTER	Comparatively drab fawn (7)
		DD (fawn in the sense of fawning over something)
14	QUIVERS	Squire worried about lover’s heart tremors (7)
		Squire* around [lo]v[er]
17	PILSENER	Detective left clairvoyant nursing national beer (8)
		PI(=private investigator) + l{eft} + (seer(=clairvoyant) around n{ational})
18	HABITUAL	Henry maintains somewhat upper-class routine (8)
		Hal(=familiar form of Henry) around (a bit U(=upper class in U/Non-U sense))
19	BRIGANDS	Desperados holding area of ship and last of supplies (8)
		Brig(=area of ship) + and + [supplie]s
22	MAGNUM	On motorway, football team consumes gallon bottle (6)
		(Man U(=football team) around g{allon}) on m{otorway}
23	ZOOM IN	Narrow focus of animal sanctuary – mostly mustelidae (4,2)
		Zoo(=animal sanctuary) + min[k]
24	SPROUT	Develop dilapidated US port (6)
		(US port)*
27	JUNK	Oriental vessel graces Cajun kitchen (4)
		Hidden in Cajun kitchen

12 comments on “Independent 11,998 by Italicus”

Hovis

#1 - Mon 24th Mar 25, 09:19

There’s a misplaced opening bracket in 28a.
GOSHAWKS was my pick. I guessed PILSENER was an alternative to PILSNER that I hadn’t seen and bunged in BREECHES from the wordplay. Not sure if I’ve seen NUMINOUS before but it seemed to ring a bell.

PostMark

#2 - Mon 24th Mar 25, 09:21

I think the BRIG is the ‘holding area of ship’ in BRIGANDS?

FrankieG

#3 - Mon 24th Mar 25, 09:35

Loved 4a GOSHAWKS! 😀 — and my LOi 5d OPEN…

FrankieG

#4 - Mon 24th Mar 25, 09:39

…Could it be anything other than a hidden reverse? Nope. {No edit time today, I see.}

KVa

#5 - Mon 24th Mar 25, 09:47

Liked ABLAZE, COLUMN, BREECHES, HABITUAL and ZOOM IN.

Thanks Italicus and NealH.
Took ‘holding area of ship’ as BRIG (Agree with PM@2).

grantinfreo

#6 - Mon 24th Mar 25, 10:03

Agree, NeilH, lovely surfaces, reminded me of Nutmeg jn the G (RIP). And neat wordplay — book flight, play in deed, m an Drake, etc, — not hard , but smooth. Thanks Italicus + Neil.

Staticman1

#7 - Mon 24th Mar 25, 14:46

Great stuff. I wasted a lot of time trying to find a variant of OMINOUS I was happy with before NUMINOUS. Liked HOODWINK and BRIGANDS.

Helped by expecting a pangram for EXODUS. Thanks Italicus and Neal

Italicus

#8 - Mon 24th Mar 25, 15:45

Hi all, many thanks for the kind review and generous comments. Just wanted to confirm that my intention for BRIGANDS was as Postmark@2 parsed it.

flashling

#9 - Mon 24th Mar 25, 22:15

Thanks Neal and italicus, the pangram appearing helped a bit as I suspected really on. Good start to the week

#10 - Tue 25th Mar 25, 04:40

What a smooth puzzle! Talking of G setters, this reminded me of Arachne, with its silky smooth surfaces.

Loved GOSHAWKS, SCURRY and JUNK. Took me a while to parse OPEN… but as per FrankieG, when all else fails, look for a hidden. And this one was very well hidden! (Or at least I wasn’t on the lookout for it, as I’d already got JUNK, pangram-alerter and FOI as per my habit if bagging the short words first.)

Thanks both

#11 - Tue 25th Mar 25, 04:47

*of

Oh, and to top it off, the grid has full rotational symmetry. It all made for a clean feel.