Independent 12,037 / Stamp

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Stamp has provided today’s puzzle and is one of those setters whose work I have the least experience of solving and blogging.

I found this to be an enjoyable, medium-difficulty puzzle that didn’t reveal itself all at once, but which needed me to 14D with it. The grid accommodated a large number of entries, so there was certainly plenty to get one’s teeth into. I think that I am relatively happy with my parsing of the clues.

As for my favourite clues today, I rather liked 5, for overall construction and unexpected definition; 9, 19 and 29, all for smoothness of surface; 10, for the use of “pullover”; 14D, for the deceptive definition; and, above all, the & lit. at 23.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 BLIGHTED Plot to seize land spoiled

LIGHT (=land, of boat) in BED (=plot, in garden)
     
06 AT LAST Eventually, given time, place book?

ATLAS (=ʺplace (=location)ʺ book, cryptically) + T (=time)
     
09 RUBRIC Wipe then flush: not hard instructions

RUB (=wipe) + RIC<h> (=flush, well-off; “not hard (=H, on pencils)” means letter “h” is dropped)
     
10 WARDROBE Clothing bore excitedly put on pullover

WARD (DRAW=pull, tow; “over” indicates reversal) + *(BORE); “excitedly” is anagram indicator
     
11 MEET Assemble // fitting

Double definition: to meet is to assemble, gather (of crowd) AND the adjective meet is fitting, apt
     
12 EASEL Check out Chelsea’s travelling support

*(<ch>ELSEA); “check (=CH, in chess) out” means letters “ch” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “travelling”
     
13 HILT On leaving Paris, possibly getting a grip

HILT<on> (=Paris Hilton, i.e. US media personality and socialite; “on leaving” means letters “on” are dropped); a hilt is the handle, grip of a sword
     
14 PUDS Chipper, maybe, when cycling for sweets

SPUD (=chipper, maybe, i.e. potato used to make chips); “when cycling” means first letter moves to end of word
     
16 TRICORNE Hear something hackneyed, declaring it old hat

Homophone (“declaring it”) of “try (=hear, in a court) + corn (=something hackneyed)”
     
19 RAILWAYS With salary I can make tracks

*(W (=with) + SALARY I); “can make” is anagram indicator
     
22 IVAN Russian vehicle, one at the front

I (=one) + VAN (=vehicle)
     
25 BEEF WWII army recruiting English muscle

E (=English) in BEF (=WWII army, i.e. British Expeditionary Force)
     
26 ON CUE Touching and crude, alternating when required

ON (=touching, in contact with) + C<r>U<d>E (“alternating” means alternate letters only are used)
     
28 LOIN Cut nothing back when getting old

O (=old, as in OT) in LIN (NIL=nothing, zero; “back” indicates reversal); loin is a cut of meat
     
30 REYNOLDS Portrait painter working only in Liverpool

*(ONLY) in REDS (=Liverpool, i.e. football team); “working” is anagram indicator; the reference is to English portrait painter Joshua Reynolds (1723-92)
     
31 PEAKED Reached summit and put out broadcast

Homophone (“broadcast”) of “piqued (=put out, nettled)”
     
32 KENYAN Could it be Livingstone? Indeed, recalled from East African

KEN (=could it be Livingstone, i.e. former Mayor of London) + YAN (NAY=indeed, in point of fact; “recalled” indicates reversal)
     
33 EUPHORIA A high plant is ignored by bee

EUPHOR<b>IA (=plant; “ignored by bee (=letter “b”)” means letter “b” is dropped); a high is a moment of elation, euphoria
     
Down    
     
02 LOUSE Parasite in family left for husband

HOUSE (=family, as in the House of Windsor); “left (=L) for husband (=H)” means letter “h” is replaced by “l”
     
03 GYRATED Turned ground surrounds yard

Y (=yard) in GRATED (=ground, of teeth)
     
04 TICKER Bloodsucker essentially preferring heart

TICK (=bloodsucker) + <pref>ER<ring> (“essentially“ means middle letters only)
     
05 DOWNS Occasionally use new road around fells

<u>S<e> N<e>W <r>O<a>D; “occasionally” means alternate letters only; “around” indicates reversal; to fell e.g. a tree is to down it
     
06 ACRYLIC Medium beat not quite accompanying a lament

A + CRY (=lament, wail) + LIC<k> (=(to) beat, defeat; “not quite” means last letter is dropped); acrylic is an art medium, a paint containing acrylic resin
     
07 LURCHER Canine companion wears lead on runs

[CH (=companion, i.e. Companion of Honour) in LURE (=lead on, entice)] + R (=runs, on cricket scorecard)
     
08 SUBALTERN Officer, after sinking ship, to change navy

SUB (=sinking ship, i.e. submarine) + ALTER (=to change) + N (=navy, as in RN); a subaltern is an officer under the rank of captain
     
14 PERSEVERE A dangerous, mean business

PER (=a, each) + SEVERE (=mean, harsh); to persevere is to mean business, not give up
     
15 SOL Star // such as Campbell?

Double definition: Sol is the sun, hence “star” AND Sol Campbell is an English professional football manager and former player (1974-)
     
17 RAY Man who photographed // fish

Double definition: Man Ray was an American-French visual artist (1890-1976), hence “who photographed” AND a ray is a fish
     
18 OBI Charming // band from Japan

Double definition: obi is witchcraft practiced in the West Indies, hence “charming” AND an ornamental sash worn with a kimono, hence “band from Japan”
     
20 INFANCY Start batting with caprice

IN (=batting, at the crease, in cricket) + FANCY (=caprice, whim); e.g. a project in its infancy is just starting
     
21 WOOLLEN Without ring, notable mistress turning up in Jersey?

W/0 (=without) + O (=ring, pictorially) + LLEN (NELL=mistress, i.e. Nell Gwyn, mistress of Charles II; “turning up” indicates vertical reversal)
     
23 VOLCANO Cone of lava, endless active?

*(CON<e> O<f> LAV<a>); “endlessly” means last letter is dropped from each word in anagram, indicated by “active”; & lit.
     
24 KEEP UP Look after hearing guide dog

Homophone of “key (=guide, explanatory notes)” + PUP (=dog)
     
27 CASTE Learner bypassing move in chess class

CAST<l>E (=move in chess; “learner (=L, in car) bypassing” means letter “l” is dropped)
     
29 ICENI Nice niece provides home for old folk

Hidden (“provides home for”) in <n>ICE NI<ece>; the Iceni were an ancient tribe of eastern Britain
     
     

 

 

20 comments on “Independent 12,037 / Stamp”

  1. Great stuff as usual from Stamp. SUBALTERN, WOOLLEN and WARDROBE made the podium for me. As Mrs Malaprop would say plants are the spurge of the crossword solver, but I knew EUPHORBIA. Thanks, both.

  2. I didn’t think of fells/downs in the knocking over sense – fells and downs are both regional terms for upland areas so the sense alluded to in the surface reading also works.

    RUBRIC was the standout for me – concise clue with a funny surface – but it was all enjoyable.

  3. Lovely puzzle. Thanks Stamp.
    Great blog. Thanks RR.

    My top faves: BLIGHTED, RUBRIC, ON CUE, TICKER, PERSEVERE and VOLCANO.

    PERSEVERE
    I think… dangerous =SEVERE
    (Mean doesn’t have to do double duty)

  4. Last one in was PERSEVERE: as many times as I’ve seen it, the A=PER trick still holds me up every time.

    ACRYLIC: Early on, I saw “medium beat” and had just the initial A, and I was successfully lured into trying to make ANDANTE fit the clue (it totally doesn’t, of course). Good work, Stamp.

  5. Thanks to RR for the blog and to those who have commented. Two tweaks to the blog, RR: KENYAN is defined as ‘from East Africa’ as per the published puzzle rather than ‘from East African’ which has appeared in the blog and KVa is right about PERSEVERE: a = PER dangerous = SEVERE mean business = definition. You have the correct definition but have not accounted for ‘dangerous’ in your parse.

    In DOWNS, I did have the sense of knocking down in mind. I was thinking of a boxer who downs or fells his opponent. I agree that both downs and fells are uplands but feel it might be slightly stretchy to define one as the other. I spent my teens and twenties tramping the Lakeland fells and they felt very different from the downs of Sussex.

  6. This was good, nay, brilliant So, does it work like “…not only good, but brilliant”, in other words …good, indeed brilliant? Couple of well known bits I didnt suss, Man Ray and Nell Gwyn. Red Ken and Hilton did flash up, but footballer Sol was a nho. So, quite fun, plus a bit of toilet training @9ac, thanks Stamp and RR.

  7. Thanks both. Found this quite tough going for a while, but got there unaided in the end, which I am sure is the general idea. Thought our setter was playing hard to get in a number of instances e.g. ‘medium’ for ACRYLIC , ‘severe’ for dangerous in PERSEVERE, ‘Russian’ for IVAN (I know a few and none of them are) and whilst I remember SOL Campbell, I did not know BEF in BEEF nor the woofing LURCHER.

  8. I’ve done lots of puzzles by Stamp/PostMark and found this on the trickier side! A bad wavelength day for me and no reflection on the setter by any means – the parsings on my handful of tactical reveals all checked out perfectly fine and had me kicking myself for not seeing the tricks being used. I noted and liked the use of various famous names and had even heard of most of them 😁

    Particular faves: PUDS, LOIN, PEAKED, INFANCY, RAY and PERSEVERE.

    Thanks both!

  9. TFO @7, the world also contains Pierres and Renes who are not French, Ottos and Dieters who are not German, Ians who are not Sottish, and Seans and Pats who are not Irish. The “stereotypical name from that country” trope is nevertheless an established (if possibly annoying) trait of crosswordland. And there’s no disputing, in this instance, that Ivan (or more precisely Иван) is the Russian form of the name John.

  10. Setter popping back in with some thoughts on IVAN.

    Ivan was commonly used by both Allied and German soldiers as the term for Russian soldiers during World War 2 and it was that I had in mind when writing the clue. The name was very common in Russia in the pre-Soviet era due to the Orthodox Church encouraging people to name children after saints. As mrpenney points out, Ivan is the Russian equivalent of John and there were many St Johns. The name lost popularity during the Soviet period due to its associations with Tsarist Russia -there were six Tsar Ivans including The Terrible. Finally, Ivan is the traditional name appearing in many Russian folk tales and was thus adopted as a ‘typical’ name by notable authors including Tolstoy (The Death of Ivan Ilyich), Chekhov (Uncle Vanya – an Ivan derivative), and Solzhenitsyn (One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich)

  11. Thanks Stamp for a great set of clues. I found this on the tricky side especially the SW where I revealed PERSEVERE (should have seen that) and REYNOLDS (don’t know the Reds). I only guessed the nho LURCHER from the crossers but all else came to light. My top picks were BLIGHTED, RUBRIC (loved the surface), HILT, ACRYLIC, SUBALTERN, VOLCANO (COTD), and CASTE. Thanks RR for the blog.

  12. Late to the party today – I’ve been out since before the blog was posted.

    I know that I’ve said before that I find Stamp’s puzzles challenging but (and that should probably be ‘and so’) always ultimately satisfying. It’s the adventurous synonyms and definitions which slow me down, as intended, but all add to the fun.

    As usual, I have lots of ticks – special favourites were RUBRIC, as Widdersbel @2, VOLCANO, REYNOLDS, KENYAN, surely referring to Stanley’s historic greeting of (Dr David) Livingstone in East Africa – a story-telling surface if ever there was one – and EUPHOR[b]IA. I’ve always thought there was a crossword clue there and I loved Petert’s joke @1. (I never thought much of Sheridan’s Malapropisms at school.)

    Just to add to mrpenney’s comment @9 – it’s not the first time that I’ve said here that all the ‘archetypal’ Scots I know (including my stepson) spell their name ‘Iain’.

    Many thanks to Stamp for the fun challenge and RR for the blog.

  13. …coming back further to @9 and @10, I guess it wasn’t my best example as I solved it immediately; my slight surprise was it being the definition without a question mark, or perhaps ‘ A Russian….’. however I was unaware of the context Stamp has provided, as is my usually feeble dictionary. Scotsman Ian has drawn many comments here before, but he tends only to be part of the wordplay

  15. Nice to see another Stamp, whose surfaces I always enjoy. I’m another who found this tough but satisfying with lots of smiles as the mist cleared. Particularly liked HILT, CASTE, RAY, INFANCY, VOLCANO and RUBRIC my COTD. Thanks to Stamp and RR.

  16. There’s no way this Kenyan could have failed to get KENYAN. Thanks Stamp and blogger.

  17. Very late today after playing my first game of cricket of the season and nearly dying of frostbite as a result.

    I thought this was excellent. Nicely challenging and a lot of fun. I did get held up by entering LINO for 28a, not realising that LINOCUT is not two words but the penny eventually drops.

    How lovely to find a setter who understands that castle in chess is a move and not a piece! So much so that I won’t go on about my loathing of using names to represent single letters …

    RUBRIC got the biggest laugh and gets my vote as favourite.

    Many thanks to Stamp and to RR.

  18. We’ve been busy all day so have only just finished today’s puzzle.

    Lots to enjoy but RUBRIC was our favourite. Our LOI was REYNOLDS which Bert solved. Joyce asked where Liverpool came into the parsing and groaned audibly when it was explained.

    Thanks Stamp for the fun – worth staying awake a bit longer! RR – thanks for the blog.

  19. Setter signing off at the end of the day to thank later posters for their contributions – and, if I can single out just one individual, how nice that Ong’ara in Kenya should find a clue right up their street!

  20. I suppose the Chipper in 14a might just be cheery, but I hope it’s referring to the Raleigh Chipper (an even smaller Chopper), on which I learned to ride.
    Is there any reason for the funny grid?

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