Always a pleasure when Stamp turns up as the setter for the Monday Independent slot and I am on duty. A thoughfully constructed, occasionally challenging daily cryptic with a wide range of subject matter and some clever misdirection. What’s not to like?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Lover of Scotland’s back to back articles making a grand?
JOANNA
A charade of JO and ANNA for two indefinite articles back to back. Ah, JO for the Scots word for sweetheart, dear or ‘lover’. The one where I think, every time I come across it in a cryptic, ‘I must store that away for next time.’ And never do. It’s gender-fluid and is a shortening of the word ‘joy’. And of course yer JOANNA is yer piano, innit?
4 Stay supportive of nasty piece of work
PROROGUE
A charade of PRO and ROGUE. ‘Stay’ in its ‘suspend’ or ‘postpone’ sense here: think BoJo deciding that parliament should be PROROGUED for five weeks at the height of the Brexit crisis in 2019, only for Lady Hale and ten other Supreme Court judges to tell him he was talking bollocks.
10 Professional record inhibited by modest use of obscenity
COPROLOGY
An insertion of PRO and LOG in COY. The insertion indicator is ‘inhibited by’. I only knew this word in its ‘study of faeces’ sense, but my Collins has:
coprology (n) the use of obscenity in speech, literature or art
11 Companion that is married wears ring
CHIME
A charade of CH for Companion of Honour and M inserted into IE for id est or ‘that is’. The insertion indicator is ‘wears’.
12 Gradually introduce current after voicing concern
PHASE IN
A charade of PHASE, aural wordplay (‘voicing’) for FAZE and IN.
13 Enemy forces at the Front, combined, poured forth
EFFUSED
A charade of EF for the initial letters of ‘enemy’ and ‘forces’ and FUSED.
14 Gather food
TUCK
A dd. The first element is in its dressmaking sense; the second is most often heard in TUCK SHOP, mainly if you went to public school.
16 Stressed diner, due luncheon, extremely agitated
UNDERLINED
(DINER DUE L[UNCHEO]N)* with ‘agitated’ as the anagrind.
19 Nervous wreck in Spooner’s depot supplying coffins?
BASKET CASE
A Spoonerism for CASKET BASE.
20 Three seconds to illustrate problem on green?
MOSS
A charade of MO, S and S, three ‘seconds’.
23 Puzzles are not included in broadcast applications
BEMUSES
And here’s another one which I always forget: A for ‘are’, the measurement of area. A charade of BE[A]M and USES.
24 Lout lying about criminal youth
BOYHOOD
A charade of YOB reversed and HOOD.
26 Bit of offal I found in Indian wrap
LUNGI
A charade of LUNG and I.
27 Rat cleans out family
ANCESTRAL
(RAT CLEANS)* with ‘out’ as the anagrind.
28 Bouquets console supplier quite disheartened following refusal
NOSEGAYS
A charade of NO, SEGA and Y[E]S. SEGA is a supplier of consoles for video games.
29 Suspicion of student clerics stealing rector’s suit
SPADES
A charade of S for the initial letter of ‘student’ and PAD[R]ES.
Down
1 Pool ball’s on top of pocket
JACKPOT
A charade of JACK and POT. ‘On top of’ works because it’s a down clue. ‘He needs to pocket/pot the black to win.’
2 Brightest star has finally dropped behind mountain
ALPHA
A charade of ALP and HA[S]. Alpha Centauri, for example.
3 On pest being uncovered, without delay put up traps
NOOSES
A charade of SOON reversed and P[ES]T.
5 Like some poetry by Frost, recited at bar
RHYMELESS
Aural wordplay (‘recited’) for RIME followed by LESS. The equivalence is in the phrase ‘bar none’.
6 Everything deposited beneath base of cliff, following shock?
ROCKFALL
This is a really clever cad. It’s a charade of ROCK, F for the last letter of ‘cliff’ and ALL; but the whole clue is also the definition.
7 Travel around islands working out musical direction
GLISSANDO
An insertion of (ISLANDS)* in GO. The insertion indicator is ‘around’ and the anagrind is ‘working out’.
8 Revised pieces checked by one editor after another
EMENDED
An insertion of MEN for [chess] pieces in ED, followed by another ED. The insertion indicator is ‘checked by’.
9 Nora Batty’s a nag
ROAN
Great clue. (NORA)* with ‘batty’ as the anagrind. Don’t know of Nora Batty? Google her.
15 More than one window sticks when installed
CASEMENTS
An insertion of AS for ‘when’ in CEMENTS. The insertion indicator is ‘installed’. A setter with less decorum than this one would have inserted semen into cats; but not Stamp. Propriety is his middle name.
17 Shift scenery as required
NECESSARY
(SCENERY AS)* with ‘shift’ as the anagrind.
18 Going hungry about beginning of Eid? Quite the reverse
FEASTING
An insertion of E for the initial letter of ‘Eid’ in FASTING, and an extended definition. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
19 Newborn cat one’s lost in garden city?
BABYLON
A charade of BABY and L[I]ON.
21 Warship essentially goes off tack
SADDLES
A charade of S for the middle letter of ‘warship’ and ADDLES.
22 Husband picked up corsage containing small aromatic plant
HYSSOP
A charade of H and S inserted into POSY reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘containing’.
24 Support line missed by player in game
BACK
A BACK is of course a player in a game like rugby; but BLACK is also a player in chess, so this is B[L]ACK.
25 Amateur cutting old ruby with blades
OARED
An insertion of A in O and RED. The insertion indicator is ‘cutting’ and the definition refers to another sport, rowing.
Many thanks to Stamp for the Monday entertainment.
Pierre’s summary is spot on.
I found the NW particularly challenging, partly because 10a was a new word for me, but the whole thing was a pleasure to solve.
Many thanks to Stamp and to Pierre.
Great puzzle. Somewhat tough in places, but that was only adding
to the pleasure of solving the puzzle.
Liked COPROLOGY (didn’t know the word, but the WP was helpful), PHASE IN, BASKET CASE, MOSS,
LUNGI (was looking for a hidden word for a while), RHYMELESS and ROCKFALL.
Thanks Stamp and Pierre.
Took a while to get on the wave length but eventually everything fell into place. Likes for LUNGI which I was originally thinking of as a wrap that you eat and JACKPOT once I had smoked out the J. Excellent blog and puzzle. Thanks Pierre and Stamp.
Stamp on top form, I thought.
I enjoyed working through the tightly-constructed clues, admiring the splendid surfaces and the devious misdirection along the way – a satisfying challenge, as always but I got there in the end – almost.
It’s a long time since I was first BEMUSED by A for a and I thought I had nailed that one for good – and then, highly ironically, was stymied by 23ac. I concede defeat with all the graciousness I can muster.
I won’t list all my ticks – I had nearly a dozen – but will just highlight RHYMELESS (I always enjoy poetry / Frost clues, UNDERLINED, CASEMENTS and NECESSARY.
Many thanks to Stamp for the fun and Pierre for a typically accurate and entertaining blog.
Lovely job. Typically smart and smooth. RHYMELESS and COPROLOGY were beautifully built. The Spooner’s a snorter and ROAN tickled me. A veritable romp until I had to parse SPADES. Clever stuff indeed. Ta lots to Pierre and Stamp.
I meant A for are, of course @4.
2 down – not always the brightest
Pollux and Rigel are both beta
Didn’t know either the Scottish lover or COPROLOGY which made a mess of the NW corner but did reasonably OK elsewhere with the exception of the Spoonerism where I thought BASKET CASE had a rather different meaning. Not to worry, we live and learn! The clue for 4a raised a big smile so I’ll put PROROGUE on the top of my pile.
Thanks to Stamp for continuing my education and thanks to Pierre for the excellent review.
Thanks both. Quite a tussle, but decent fun along the way. GLISSANDO has been used before by other Indy setters relatively recently, though I was still pleased to remember it. LUNGI was also a distant recollection eventually, but the Jo in JOANNA was resting behind my brain cells, so it was a tough exercise to equate the answer to ‘grand’. SADDLES being defined as tack caused me to dismiss the right answer for a while – I will leave comments on its merits to those more horsey than I, perhaps a horse for instance.
Thanks Stamp! Lots of lovely clues in this. My favourites were CHIME, TUCK, ROCKFALL, CASEMENTS, NECESSARY and BABYLON.
TFO @ 9 my wife is a rider, and has no problem with SADDLES being defined as TACK.
Great puzzle. It’s always tricky to pull off a good &lit and a satisfying Spoonerism, but Stamp has done both here.
Setter popping in to thank Pierre for a typically first-rate review and commenters for taking the trouble to solve and then report back. I am delighted to see some positive reactions: thanks for the kind words.
On the three specific queries, Chambers is my usual dictionary and I relied upon it for:
‘Alpha’ as ‘The first or brightest star of a constellation’
and
‘Tack’ as ‘Riding harness, saddles, bridles, etc’
jane @8: you might have been thinking of the economic version of BASKET CASE (a country or a company) which is an alternative definition.
Thanks Stamp for taxing my brain. There were bits & pieces I couldn’t parse & I eventually revealed JOANNA (nho Jo as lover or Joanna as a piano) and GLISSANDO. What I did solve & fully parse was very, very good with my top picks being PHASE IN, EFFUSED, MOSS, BOYHOOD, ALPHA, ROCKFALL, & CASEMENTS. Thanks Pierre for the blog.
I was chuffed to fully solve this because I didn’t think it was easy by any means – but it was an absolute pleasure to work through. On my first pass, my only ones in were the four anagrams – one short, three medium and all excellent (despite anagrams not typically being my favourite type of clue). But with effort it all fell into place, bottom half first and then top.
I (eventually) remembered JO as the Scottish lover (from a puzzle not too long ago) to go with my ANNA, but couldn’t equate joanna with piano (a new one on me). I also failed to parse the excellent SPADES, to my shame. But I came up with the jorums LUNGI and HYSSOP, and teased out (that meaning of) COPROLOGY from just two checkers.
Faves were NOSEGAYS, BASKET CASE and ROCKFALL, but I had loads of other ticks too. The amount of glorious misdirection that English affords never ceases to amaze and amuse; consoling the supplier with bouquets was lovely. And some words were just meant to be crossword solutions; how can HYSSOP really have “posy” in it!!
Thanks both
Well, I more or less finished it, although there were many I couldn’t parse, I had to do a word search for BEMUSES and I misspelt HYSSOP.