Independent 12031 / Dalibor

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Dalibor, a pseudonym of Sil van der Hoek, last set an Independent crossword in December 2021, although he has featured on this site more recently than that with puzzles for the October Sloggers and Betters gatherings in York in October 2023 and October 2024.

I understand Sil has been unable to attend recent Sloggers and Betters sessions.  Perhaps his appearance in the Independent today is an indication that he might be able to attend in 2025.

There were many excellent clue surfaces today, too many to list individually.  The ones I particularly liked were those for UNDULY, TUSSLING, TWERP and GUESS.

A number of individuals were mentioned in the clues and the entries, especially the Down ones.  Often it was necessary to know a bit about the people mentioned, so general knowledge was useful today.  It was also useful for solving BESTIVAL confidently.

In addition to the people mentioned, we had a couple of languages – French for RIEN in FRIEND and Latin for the entry VIDE SUPRA.  I know that a few solvers feel the puzzles in British newspapers should only involve English words, but I reckon I have benefited from picking up a number of foreign words during my time solving crosswords.

I look forward to more Dalibor crosswords.

No Detail
Across  
1 Short tree-lined road in Leeds perhaps shows pothole? (6) 

CAVITY (hollow space or hole, possibly a pothole)

AV (AVenue [tree-lined road) contained in (in) CITY (Leeds is an example of an English city)

C (AV) ITY
4 Template used for a decoration (8) 

PALMETTE (an ancient architectural ornament like a palm leaf.)

Anagram of (used for) TEMPLATE

PALMETTE*
9 Rebellious Republican overruled by Democrat more than is necessary (6) 

UNDULY (more than is right or reasonable)

UNRULY (rebellious) with R (Republican) replaced by (overruled by) D (Democrat)

UNDULY
10 Ninety tablets hidden in body parts – that’s too much! (2,6) 

TO EXCESS (immoderately; too much)

(XC [Roman numerals for 90] + ES [ecstasy tablets]) contained in (hidden in) TOES (body parts)

TOE (XC ES) S
12 Book review of Life in France includes street event on the South coast (8) 

BESTIVAL (annual 4-day music festival currently held at Lulworth Castle on the South coast of England)

B (book) + (LA VIE [French for life; Life in France] reversed [review] containing [includes] ST [event])

B (E (ST) IV AL<)
13 Co-author? (3,3) 

PEN PAL (an otherwise unknown person [usually abroad] with whom one corresponds – joint authors – yourself and a co-author)

PEN PAL (co-author is a cryptic definition of PEN PAL)

PEN PAL
15 Criticised loudly being spellbound (4) 

RAPT (entranced; spellbound)

RAPT (sounds like [loudly] RAPPED [criticised])

RAPT
16 Early warning: terribly bad news shortly coming around (6,4) 

BEFORE DAWN (early [in the day])

Anagram of (terribly) BAD NEWS excluding the last letter (shortly) S, containing (coming around) FORE (warning shouted on a golf course when a ball might hit someone)

BE (FORE) DAWN*
19 Italian national strangely welcomes extremists from Piemonte but not together (10) 

NEAPOLITAN (Italian from Naples)

Anagram of (strangely) NATIONAL containing (welcomes) P and E (outer letters of [extremists] PiemontE) in separate positions (but not together)

N (E) A (P) OLITAN*
20 Friendly type (4) 

KIND (friendly)

KIND (sort; type)  double definition

KIND
23 French detective ignoring head of MI6, it’s a feather in his cap (6) 

AIGRET (word of French derivation [Maigret] meaning any ornamental feather plume)

MAIGRET (French fictional detective created by Georges Simenon [1903 – 1989], Belgian author) excluding (ignoring) M (first letter [head of] MI6)

AIGRET
25 Demand family member to break into end of conversation (6,2) 

INSIST ON (demand)

SIS (SISter; family member) contained in (to break) INTO) + N (last letter of [end of] conversatioN

IN (SIS) TO N
27 Maybe see twinkles, giving quick looks (3-5) 

EYE-BEAMS (glances [quick looks] of the EYE)

Anagram of (twinkles) MAYBE SEE

EYE-BEAMS*
28 Piece of music arranged in record time? The opposite (6) 

SEPTET (musical composition for seven performers)

(EP [Extended Play record] + T) contained in (in) SET (arranged) – this is the opposite of the words in the clue ‘arranged in record time’.

S (EP T) ET
29 Seconds away from ex-PM, not telling the truth, having a fight (8) 

TUSSLING (having a fight)

TRUSS (reference Liz TRUSS [born 1975], UK Prime Minister from 5th September 2022 to 24th October 2022) excluding the second letter (second away) R + LYING (not telling the truth) excluding the second letter (second away) Y

TUSS LING
30 For Macron nothing separates France from Germany, an ally (6) 

FRIEND (ally)

RIEN (French [President Macron] for ‘nothing’) contained in (separates) (F [International Vehicle Registration for France] + D [International Vehicle Registration for Germany])

F (RIEN) D
Down  
1 Charlie’s a big awkward person, one who loves nightlife (7) 

CLUBBER (person who loves night life)

C (cocaine [Charlie]) + LUBBER [awkward, big, clumsy person])

C LUBBER
2 As mentioned earlier corrupt adviser’s happy to intervene (4,5) 

VIDE SUPRA (see above; as mentioned earlier)

UP (happy) contained in (to intervene) an anagram of (corrupt) ADVISER

VIDE S (UP) RA*
3 One’s supporting unbelievable composer (6) 

TALLIS (reference Thomas TALLIS [1505 – 1585], English composer of High Renaissance music)

TALL (unbelievable) + IS (plural of the Roman numeral for one, I,  to give IS)

TALL IS
5 Book a singer-songwriter called Tori (4) 

AMOS (Book of the Old Testament)

AMOS (reference the American singer-songwriter Tori AMOS [born 1963])  double definition

AMOS
6 Sociologist‘s network swamped by rising River Test (3,5) 

MAX WEBER (reference the German sociologist MAX WEBER [1864 – 1920])

WEB (network) contained in (swamped by) (R [river] + EXAM [test]) all reversed [rising; down entry])

MAX (WEB) E R<
7 Belgian city in which you won’t find an insignificant person (5) 

TWERP (inisgnificant person)

ANTWERP (Belgian city) excluding (in which you won’t find) AN

TWERP
8 Lead character in Sophocles’ Electra (7) 

EPSILON (Greek [Sophocles] alphabet equivalent of the letter [character] E)

EPSILON (E, first letter of [lead]  Electra [play written by Sophocles])

EPSILON
11 Appropriate appearance to become widely known (4,3) 

TAKE AIR (become [widely] known)

TAKE (steal; appropriate) + AIR (appearance)

TAKE AIR
14 Pub changing hands at last: drama for Swiss lakeside town (7) 

LOCARNO (lakeside town in Switzerland)

LOCAL (pub) changing the final letter from L [left hand] to R [right hand] – changing hands) + NO (traditional Japanese style of drama)

LOCAR NO
17 Old Greek prince maybe let loose (9) 

ARISTOTLE (ancient Greek philosopher and polymath who lived from 384BC to 322BC)

ARISTO (ARISTOcrat [a prince for example]) + an anagram of (loose) LET

ARISTO TLE*
18 A person involved in blame game produces fertiliser (8) 

BONEMEAL (ground bones used as fertiliser and as animal feed)

ONE (a person) contained in (involved in) an anagram of (game) BLAME

B (ONE) MEAL*
19 Want some time off? Mr Davey goes away next (7) 

NEAREST (next)

NEED A REST? (want some time off?) excluding (goes away) ED (Reference ED Davey [born 1965], leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK)

NE A REST
21 Gifted revolutionary, not dead (7) 

DONATED (gifted)

Anagram of (revolutionary) NOT DEAD

DONATED*
22 Straight adult aboard ship (6) 

LINEAR (straight)

A (adult) contained in (aboard) LINER (ship)

LINE (A) R
24 Mathematician rejects answer but accepts 2.718 as estimate (5) 

GUESS (estimate)

GAUSS (reference Carl Friedrich GAUSS [1777 – 1855], German mathematician) excluding (rejects) A (answer) but includes (accepts) E (e = 2.718…. is the base of Natural logarithms)

GU E SS
26 “Females only” sign (4) 

OMEN (sign)

O (character representing zero) + MEN — zero men implies ‘Females only’

O MEN

21 comments on “Independent 12031 / Dalibor”

  1. Thank you duncanshiell. A small tweak. I believe the underlining for the def in TWERP should just be ”insignificant person”. The ”an” has been extracted from Antwerp, as you say.

  4. Good spot, Hovis! Suspected there was something funny going on but completely missed that.

  6. Well spotted, Hovis. That does explain the presence of some unusual words in the grid. I needed help to resolve the nho VIDE SUPRA and PALMETTE as well as to confirm MAX WEBER, EYE-BEAMS, AIGRET and BESTIVAL. LOCARNO, I have heard of but that one did not come to mind and, whilst I am not overly concerned by under-checked solutions, that was one occasion where the -O-A-N- combo left me scratching my head. A nicely constructed grid.

    Thanks Dalibor and duncan

  7. A lovely surprise to see a puzzle from Dalibor – very best wishes dear sir.
    Most enjoyable puzzle, nice gridfill.
    Thanks to Sil and DuncanShiell

  8. What a spot…best thing since sliced bread!
    Thanks, Hovis, @3, for making me feel slightly more kindly about this puzzle.
    I found it a hard slog to complete. I didn’t like, [ “template used for” 4ac ] or [“blame game” 18d] as anagram devices.
    Thomas Tallis (3d), Max Weber (6d), Carl Gauss (24d)….well, OK if you like that kind of thing; but, Liz Truss, Ed Davey, and Tori Amos too? ( I won’t mention Maigret. Oops). A bit one-track setting.
    I have no idea, what TAKE AIR (11d) is.
    Things can “take off”, or “take flight”, when a success, but take (the) air? Down the garden path, for me.
    EYE-BEAMS,(27ac): are they “quick looks”? Surely, intense glares.
    A puzzle that just failed to click,in my case, but different strokes for diff’rent folks.
    Thanks to setter & duncan

  9. Presumed the C in Clubber is just the NATO alphabet, don’t need cocaine to get there (although it may help)

  10. Yep, truly international and polymathic, from Sophocles via Aristotle to Gauss and thence to the father of Sociology. Plus a bit of archival entertainment — I’ve been watching old Maigrets on YouTube. Quite a ride, many thanks Sil and duncan.

  14. An enjoyable puzzle, with some tricky bits – my knowledge of Swiss towns is limited, but I eventually alighted on LOCAL for the pub, which got me there. I was also relieved to dredge up MAIGRET from the depths of my memory to finish, not having the foggiest about the feather.

    Thanks both, and I hope we see Dalibor back soon.

  15. Thanks both. I definitely am a solver who prefers English solutions, though almost all here very fairly clued. I do wonder how ‘widely known’ TAKE AIR is as a synonym for ‘widely known’ and GUESS was a partial ‘guess’ as I knew neither the mathematician nor the number

  16. Wow, great spot, Hovis@3! Never in a million years… (was there any particular pointer to that nina that I’ve also missed?)

    Dai@12, well spotted too! Doesn’t take too much shine off it though, since it was a clever clue – one that defeated me in fact, along with the intersecting BEFORE DAWN (also great) and PEN PAL (shrug).

    But despite those failures, I enjoyed this – and don’t mind the occasional GK-heavy puzzle, especially ones in which I happen to have heard of it all (well, except for LOCARNO, but yes to NO, and of course LOCAL/R which was nice).

    SEPTET and TUSSLING were others which tickled me, but there were too many good ones to list.

    Thanks both!

  18. Oh, the tiniest of quibbles: the ‘a’ in “Charlie’s a big awkward person” is superfluous in the cryptic reading, which one might frown upon. It seems the ‘to’ in the to-infinitive for verbs gets a pass (we very often see “to be” -> “exist” and so on) but we don’t usually see the indefinite article getting one (though I think one could make a case for it).

  19. I found this exceedingly difficult, and ended up entering letters at random in the hope of getting somewhere.

  20. So happy to see Dalibor back! Co-solver and I very much enjoyed this. Missed the hidden capitals, so thanks to Hovis for that and to Duncan for the blog.

    Too hot to say anything else, but had to pop in.

    Thanks and very best wishes to Sil.

  21. We’ve been busy all day so have only just completed the puzzle. Quite a tricky one as others have already mentioned. We completely missed the capitals – maybe we could blame it on the late start and finish but actually they were well hidden.

    Good to see Dalibor back – best wishes from the two of us.

    Thanks Duncan.

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