Wednesday’s puzzle has been provided by Lark, a compiler whose work I am not that familiar with. I certainly enjoyed becoming a bit more familiar with it today.
I found this to be quite a challenging puzzle overall. Although difficulty is a relative concept, for me at least, there were quite a few write-ins to get me off to a good start, but I slowed down considerably towards the end, my last-ones-in being 16 and 17. I wondered if the reference in 17 to “sex” without any link to Rome or Latin was actually fair – perhaps this trick has been used before?
As for my preferred clues, I liked 7, 10, 18 and 30, all for smoothness of surface; 27, for sheer flair, incorporating so many soft drink references; and 24, for sauciness.
After today’s puzzle, I am certainly looking forward to my next brush with Lark.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
|
||
| 1 | PUTSCH |
Church following lay ministers’ latest rebellion (6)
|
| PUT (=lay, place) + <minister>S (“latest” means last letter only) + CH (=church) | ||
| 4 | APPALS |
Outrages from journalists and friends (6)
|
| AP (=journalists, i.e. associated press) + PALS (=friends) | ||
| 9 | EDISON |
Rotating team working for inventor (6)
|
| EDIS (SIDE=team, as in home side and away side; “rotating” indicates reversal) + ON (=working, not off); the reference is to US inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931) | ||
| 10 | ARBROATH |
Turn away from new harbour at Scottish port (8)
|
| *(HARBO<u>R AT); “turn (=U, as in U-turn) away from” means letter “u” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “new” | ||
| 12 | COMMUNITY |
Business with two thousand and one people living together (9)
|
| CO (=business, i.e. company) + MM (=two thousand, in Roman numerals) + UNITY (=one, as in to be at one) | ||
| 13 | ALDER |
Tree thinner around the crown, having had top cut (5)
|
| <b>ALDER (=thinner around the crown (of the head)); “having had top cut” means first letter is dropped | ||
| 14 | BRAT |
One badly behaved underwear model (4)
|
| BRA (=underwear) + T (=model, of Ford car) | ||
| 15 | GRIEVANCE |
Not entirely even caring about complaint (9)
|
| *(EVE<n> CARING); “not entirely” means that last letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “about” | ||
| 19 | CATHEDRAL |
Piece of religious architecture transforming a cold loveless heart (9)
|
| *(A C<o>LD HEART); “love (=0, i.e. zero score in tennis) -less” means that letter “o” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “transforming” | ||
| 21 | TROY |
Go around old city of legend (4)
|
| O (=old, as in OT) in TRY (=go, attempt) | ||
| 24 | ENEMA |
Opponent dropping back with a shot to the rear? (5)
|
| ENEM<y> (=opponent; “dropping back” means last letter is dropped) + A; as an injection administered anally, an enema could be described as a “shot to the rear”!! | ||
| 26 | NARRATIVE |
Plot of musical runs – did run – backwards (9)
|
| EVITA (=musical, by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice) + R (=runs, on cricket scorecard) + RAN (=did ran, alternatively); “backwards” indicates reversal | ||
| 27 | ACCOLADE |
Recognition of suffix denoting fizzy drinks, including Coke and Pepsi maybe (8)
|
| [C (=coke, i.e. cocaine) + COLA (=Pepsi maybe)] in -ADE (=suffix denoting fizzy drinks, as in lemonade, orangeade) | ||
| 28 | BIG TOP |
British newspaper: Republican party divided by Trump leadership; it’s a broad tent (3,3)
|
| B (=British) + I (=newspaper, i.e. the i) + [T<rump> (“leadership” means first letter only) in GOP (=Republican party, i.e. Grand Old Party)] | ||
| 29 | LAHORE |
The French soldiers wearing explosives in South Asian city (6)
|
| LA (=the French, i.e. a French word for the) + [OR (=soldiers, i.e. Other Ranks) in HE (=explosives, i.e. high-order explosives)] | ||
| 30 | ON EDGE |
Nervous individual finally found calming pill (2,4)
|
| ONE (=individual) + <foun>D <calmin>G (“finally” means last letters only are needed) + E (=pill, i.e. Ecstasy tablet) | ||
| DOWN
|
||
| 1 | PIERCE |
Stab knight, potentially saving king (6)
|
| R (=king, i.e. Rex) in PIECE (=knight, potentially, i.e. chess piece) | ||
| 2 | TRIMMER |
One cuts short journey by a short distance on returning (7)
|
| TRI<p> (=journey; “short” means last letter is dropped) + MM (=short distance, i.e. millimetre) + ER (RE-=on, regarding; “returning” indicates reversal) | ||
| 3 | CROQUETTE |
Flirt with head of restaurant to get inside for something fried (9)
|
| R<estaurant> (“head of” means first letter only) in COQUETTE (=flirt, flirtatious woman) | ||
| 5 | PERRY |
A case of raspberry drink (5)
|
| PER (=a, as in £1 a kilo) + R<aspberr>Y (“case of” means first and last letters only) | ||
| 6 | AORTA |
Vessel stowed in Formosa (or Taiwan) (5)
|
| Hidden (“stowed”) in “formosA (OR TAiwan)”; the reference is to human biology and blood vessels | ||
| 7 | STAND-IN |
Tolerate hip replacement (5-2)
|
| STAND (=tolerate, put up with) + IN (=hip, trendy) | ||
| 8/23 | SHIRLEY TEMPLE |
Try simple heel adjustment for young performer (7,6)
|
| *(TRY SIMPLE HEEL); “for adjustment” is anagram indicator; Shirley Temple (1928-2014) was a Hollywood child star in the 1930s and 40s) | ||
| 11 | WINGER |
Footballer‘s right to snub Tory? (6)
|
| <right->WINGER (=Tory, Conservative); “right to snub” means letters “right” are dropped | ||
| 16 | IDLERS |
The inactive part of the psyche is lascivious, lacking heart (6)
|
| ID (=part of the psyche) + LE<e>RS (=is lascivious, ogles; “lacking heart” means middle letter is dropped) | ||
| 17 | VITIATION |
Being weakened by sex? It’s turning into a travesty! (9)
|
| VI (=sex, i.e. six, in Roman numerals) + TI (IT; “turning” indicates reversal) + *(INTO A); “travesty” is anagram indicator; to vitiate is to mar, damage, hence “weaken” | ||
| 18 | SCHEMAS |
Plans made by master during chess game (7)
|
| MA (=master, i.e. Master of Arts) in *(CHESS); “game (=lively)” is anagram indicator | ||
| 20 | TIERCEL |
Conservative elite vigorously defending Republican hawk (7)
|
| R (=Republican) in *(C (=Conservative) + ELITE); “vigorously” is anagram indicator; a tiercel is the male of a hawk, especially a peregrine or goshawk | ||
| 22 | OMITTED |
Left out time to play with daughter (7)
|
| *(TIME TO) + D (=daughter); “play” is anagram indicator | ||
| 23 |
See 8
|
|
| 25 | ALLAH |
God of everything I see (5)
|
| ALL (=everything) + AH (=I see, as exclamation when suddenly understanding) | ||
| 26 | NADIR |
Extract from within a dirty trough (5)
|
| Hidden (“extract from”) in “withiN A DIRty”; a nadir is a low point, trough, as opposed to a zenith, high point, peak |
Thanks both. I agree this was very approachable for the vast majority, but not all. Ultimately, I needed help with IDLERS not knowing the ‘id’ and VITIATION itself an unknown with a fairly complex construction. Went momentarily awry with SCHEMAS as I thought the plural was schemata and had preferred schemes wherein the ME was a ‘master of engineering’.
16D was one of my last ones in too. I could see IDLERS but thought that
‘inactive part of psyche’ was ID and then couldn’t work out how the rest might go. Was wrong about ID as well. It’s unconscious but apparently quite active and will be activated by completing a crossword without help. Liked SHIRLEY TEMPLE and ACCOLADE. PUTSCH at 1ac was the first one in. Always a good start. Thanks RR and Lark
Had to look up ARBROATH and put in IDLERY instead of IDLERS. I don’t normally do Independent, and when I do, I’m usually defeated but this time it was Ok. Liked PERRY (for the infuriating brevity), VITIATION, CROQUETTE. Thanks Lark and RatkojaRiku!
PERRY was very good, as was PUTSCH. Enjoyed the whole thing, including discovering the previously nho TIERCEL (where’s Pierre when you need an obligatory bird link?) Thanks to Lark and Ratkojariku
Really enjoyed this one, and a rare case of spotting the theme helped, once I recognised a few names! Thanks to Lark for the puzzle and RatkojaRaju for the blog.
Some lovely clues, I liked PERRY, and the definition for ENEMA.
Lark is ascending in my estimations 🙂
Unlike Nothingathome@5, I only noticed the theme after I had finished and was wondering why it wasn’t Eccles on Wednesday. The theme is the TV series COMMUNITY and the grid contains one name of each of the seven original members of the study group: Jeff WINGER, Britta PERRY, Abed NADIR, SHIRLEY Bennett, Annie EDISON, TROY Barnes and PIERCE Hawthorne.