Lark kicks off the puzzling week in the Indie.
This is my first time solving, let alone blogging, a puzzle by this setter. I found it very enjoyable, mostly pretty straightforward albeit with some slightly fiddly bits of parsing. It wasn’t until I’d finished and was looking at the completed grid that memories began to stir from 1982, when I was about to do my A levels but was, for a week or two, struck down by a nasty infection. I spent a lot of time at home trying to revise but mainly listening to a new double album that I’d recently bought, namely English Settlement by XTC. And what do I find in today’s finished puzzle? Not only the solutions ENGLISH and SETTLEMENT, but also a whole bunch of song titles from that very album: BALL AND CHAIN, RUNAWAYS, LEISURE, FLY ON THE WALL, SNOWMAN and KNUCKLE DOWN. This cannot, I feel, be a coincidence… Apologies for any other references I may have missed, but I think Lark must be a massive XTC fan. Or maybe he is in fact Andy Partridge. Top ticks from me for PLUTOCRAT, KNUCKLE DOWN, ELIOT and LEISURE. Thanks very much for the trip down memory lane, Lark, whoever you may be.
Moh’s utterly unscientific hardness scale rating: Calcite
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | STAMPEDE |
Officially approved drug charge (8)
|
| STAMPED + E | ||
| 6 | MACE |
Medieval weapon originally appearing after 1000 AD (4)
|
| M (1,000) + A (first letter of appearing) + CE (common era, which used to be known as AD) | ||
| 9 | SETTLEMENT |
Colonising group, the European migrants initially in temporary accommodation (10)
|
| SET (group) + insertion of LE M in TENT | ||
| 10 | CANE |
Give a Fig Newton for recipe as source of sugar (4)
|
| CArE (give a fig) with r[ecipe] replaced by N[ewton] | ||
| 11/24 | BALL AND CHAIN |
Spouse‘s song describing new husband absorbed by first child (4,3,5)
|
| BALLAD around (describing) N (new) + H inside (absorbed by) CAIN. A not entirely complimentary way to refer to one’s other half | ||
| 12 | SNOWMAN |
Frosty perhaps, sun presently starts to materialise around noon (7)
|
| S (sun) + NOW (presently) + first letters (starts) of Materialise Around Noon | ||
| 14/2 | FLY-ON-THE-WALL |
Hot, newly broadcast US season includes kind of documentary (3-2-3-4)
|
| FALL (US season) around anagram (broadcast) of HOT NEWLY | ||
| 15 | PLUTOCRAT |
Billionaire? Idiot carrying unreasonable clout (9)
|
| Insertion (carrying) of LUTOC (anagram of CLOUT) into PRAT. I wonder whether Lark has anyone particular in mind? | ||
| 18 | DICKINSON |
Running after detectives apprehending popular poet (9)
|
| ON (running) after – and I won’t use the word ‘insertion’ here – DICKS (detectives) around IN, for the poet Emily | ||
| 20 | AROMA |
Smell one primarily associated with earlier memory (5)
|
| A (one) + ROM (memory) before (earlier) A (primarily associated) | ||
| 23/29 | KNUCKLE DOWN |
Famous houses succumbed to strain without leader to initiate work (7,4)
|
| Insertion (houses) of [b]UCKLED (succumbed to strain without leader) into KNOWN | ||
| 25 | LEISURE |
Change in Romania certain to bring about unemployment (7)
|
| LEI (plural of leu, Romania’s currency) + SURE | ||
| 27 | ASIA |
The East Australian singer preceded by amateur (4)
|
| SIA (Australian singer – a NHO for me, I’m afraid, but that’s what the internet’s for) after A | ||
| 28 | SULPHUROUS |
Returning and briefly dwelling around old city with hellish odour (10)
|
| Reversal of PLUS (returning and) + insertion of UR (crosswordland’s favourite ancient city) into HOUS[e] | ||
| 29 |
See 23
|
|
| 30 | RUNAWAYS |
Unwary as desperate fugitives (8)
|
| Anagram (desperate) of UNWARY AS | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 |
See 14 Across
|
|
| 3 | METALWORK |
Talk more excitedly about wife’s artisanal craft (9)
|
| Anagram (excitedly) of TALK MORE around W | ||
| 4 | EXEUNT |
Nationalist extremists carrying Britain’s status post-Brexit in dramatic direction (6)
|
| NT (NationalisT extremists) below (carrying, in a down clue) EX-EU | ||
| 5 | EDEN |
Annexed enclave includes biblical location (4)
|
| Hidden (includes) in annexED ENclave | ||
| 6 | MACAW |
Imitator of Apple product that’s adorable (5)
|
| MAC (Apple product) + AW (that’s adorable) | ||
| 7 | CANTATA |
Song and dance halved, and cheers doubled (7)
|
| CAN (half of can-can) + TA TA (ta, cheers, twice) | ||
| 8 | STAND-TO |
Alert newlywed vacated during catastrophic toast (5-2)
|
| Anagram (catastrophic) of TOAST around ND (NewlyweD vacated) | ||
| 13 | ELIOT |
Priest meeting holy texts’ writer (5)
|
| ELI (high priest in the book of Samuel, whose name has become crosswordese for any old priest) + OT | ||
| 16 | CORKSCREW |
Opener part of Ireland’s team (9)
|
| CORK’S (part of Ireland’s) + CREW (team) | ||
| 17 | ENGLISH |
Engineering student failing his essential GCSE (7)
|
| ENG L (engineering student) + anagram (failing) of HIS | ||
| 19 | IONESCO |
Playwright‘s changed since winning Oscar upon Oscar (7)
|
| Anagram (changed) of SINCE around (winning) O, above (upon) O | ||
| 21 | MERCURY |
Copper plated with light element (7)
|
| Insertion (plated with) of CU into MERRY | ||
| 22 | PEAHEN |
Relatively plain creature, cold, lacking in beauty, hollow even (6)
|
| PEA[c]H (beauty, lacking C) + EN (EveN hollowed). The peahen being relatively plain compared to the peacock | ||
| 24 |
See 11 Across
|
|
| 26 | SLUR |
Drink noisily, not quietly, and speak drunkenly (4)
|
| SLUR[p] without P (not quietly) |
Some cleverly hidden definitions. I was convinced ENGLISH was going to be a branch of engineering ending in CS and took ages to see the relatively plain creature. I liked EXEUNT, LEISURE and MACE.
Nothing in life goes to waste MOH, even your enforced spell in bed in the 1980s. Never heard of either the band or the album, but enjoyed this puzzle – level just right for a Bank Holiday. Liked MACAW, when the penny dropped, PEAHEN, and ENGLISH. Thanks Lark and MOH.
Seemed a mix of straightforward and very difficult clues with this. PEAHEN, BALL AND CHAIN and KNUCKLE DOWN holding me up at the end. Didn’t have a clue what the Romanian currency was so was a choice between CLOSURE/LEISURE which matched the definition.
Enjoyed SULPHUROUS and PLUTOCRAT. Not an XTC fan so the theme was completely lost on me not that it detracted from the puzzle.
In the end I got PLUTOCRAT only by doing a word search and 17dn eluded me.
I enjoyed this a lot, though I too found it a mixed bag, difficulty-wise. I was pleased when I got BALL AND CHAIN and KNUCKLE DOWN, but alas never did get PEAHEN. ENGLISH eventually turned out to be easier than I was imagining it to be.
Thanks both
Utterly beaten by the theme but thanks both and well spotted MOH
Came late to this, but feel it’s owed a comment! Good puzzle, altho, unsurprisingly, the theme wafted past me without disturbing. Enjoyed the solving a lot, but the parsing definitely required the blog in places… notably KNUCKLE DOWN… split clues always fill me with trepidation, unless they’re very obvious; so the documentary was the first to go, whilst the the other two required all the crossers, and a penny drop. So not a quickie by any stretch, but worth the effort. Favourite was EXEUNT..
Thanks Lark n Moh…