Regular Independent setters are not in their usual place this week, so we have a Crosophile puzzle this Wednesday.
Crosophile often has themes in his puzzles, but I can’t see an obvious one today. There are a few mentions of the sky (clouds, stars, heaven [bliss]) in the clues, but not enough to constitute a theme for me.
I liked the surface of the clue for ALLOTMENT at 12 across. The clue for THUNDER at 21 down took me a while to parse before I spotted the reverse of ‘SAME‘ in the clue words thEM ASunder.
I enjoyed this puzzle with just a minor query about how SHEET relates to standard stratus clouds at 8 down.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | High stool is for an elevated player (7)
SOLOIST (a person who takes the lead in a choral or instrumental piece; a player elevated above the other performers) Anagram of (high) STOOL IS SOLOIST* |
| 5 | Defiles some taken in by scams (7)
CANYONS (narrow passages or gorges; defiles) ANY (some) contained in (taken in by) CONS (scams) C (ANY) ONS |
| 9 | Enter race and finish out of line (7)
COMPETE (engage in a contest; enter a race, for example) COMPlETE (finish) excluding (out of) L (line) COMPETE |
| 10 | From then on centre of area is not affected (7)
SINCERE (genuine; not affected) SINCE (from then on) + RE (middle letters of [centre of] aREa) SINCE RE |
| 11 | Picked up eau de Cologne perhaps? (5)
ODOUR (characteristic scent or smell; such as that emanating from a cologne [perfumed liquid or solid]) ODOUR (sounds like [picked up] EAU DE) – I’m not entirely convinced by this homophone. I tend to pronounce the R in ODOUR, albeit quielty ODOUR |
| 12 | Where many blokes with a little time hold trowel finally? (9)
ALLOTMENT (a piece of land rented by an individual for cultivation; where many blokes with a little time hold a trowel, possibly after they are retired [finally]) (A LOT [many] + MEN + T [abbreviation for {a little} time]) containing (hold) L (last letter of [finally] troweL) A L (L) OT MEN T – either L could be the one contained |
| 13 | Amateur writer tackles unfinished WI ballad in finale (10)
APOCALYPSE (the end of the world; finale) (A [amateur] + POE [reference Edgar Allen POE {1809 – 1849]} American writer]) containing (tackles) CALYPSo (West Indian [WI] ballad) excluding the final letter O (unfinished) A PO (CALYPS) E |
| 15 | Dangerous mount in Vietnam (4)
ETNA (reference Mount ETNA, an active volcano on the Italian island of Sicily; dangerous mount) ETNA (hidden word in [in] viETNAm) ETNA |
| 18 | Nimbus – a touch of highlight, behold, encircling angel’s head (4)
HALO (one of the definitions of NIMBUS is ‘an emanation of light surrounding a saint or deity’, therefore similar to a HALO) (H [first letter of {touch of} Highlight] + LO [behold]) containing (encircling]) A [first letter of {head} Angel]) H (A) LO |
| 20 | Astronomy scam takes in Arkansas Gazette (10)
STARGAZING (a basic form of astronomy) STING (trap; scam) containing (takes in) (AR [Arkansas] + GAZ (gazette]) ST (AR GAZ) ING |
| 25 | Policeman’s not able to hold back short engineer (9)
CONSTRUCT (to put together systematically; to engineer) CONSTable excluding (not) ABLE containing (to hold) (CURT [short] reversed [back]) CONS (TRUC<) T |
| 26 | Backing for Leonard enthralled by fifty karat ring (5)
KNELL (toll; ring) (LEN contained in [enthralled by] [L {Roman numeral for fifty} + K {karat}]) all reversed (backing for) (K (NEL) L)< |
| 27 | In two commercials private’s made fit (7)
ADAPTED (mad fit) PTE (private) contained in (in) (AD [ADvertisement; commercial] + AD [ADvertisement; commercial] giving two commercials) AD A (PTE) D |
| 28 | Vehicle stuck in storm of rain – bliss! (7)
NIRVANA (a blissful state; bliss) VAN (type of vehicle) contained in (stuck in) an anagram of (storm of) RAIN NIR (VAN) A* |
| 29 | Following achievement the lady’s down (a bit) (7)
FEATHER (a bit of the filling or down in a soft-feather duvet) FEAT (achievement) + HER (the lady) FEAT HER |
| 30 | Stellar astral variable with added luminance (3-4)
ALL-STAR (having a cast or team ALL of whom are STARs; stellar [relating to star performers]) Anagram of (variable) ASTRAL and L (luminance) ALL STAR* |
| Down | |
| 1 | He’s not a people person and lost his cool mostly over caress (9)
SOCIOPATH (a person with severe antisocial personality disorder; he’s not a people person) (Anagram of [lost] HIS COOl excluding the final letter L [mostly]) containing (over) PAT (caress) SOCIO (PAT) H* |
| 2 | Drooping heads of orange petals on African flower (7)
LIMPOPO (African river [something that flows; flower]) LIMP (drooping) + OPO (first letters of [heads of] each of Orange, Petals and On) LIMP OPO |
| 3 | Last of trifle in a sort of ceramic dish for dessert (3,5)
ICE CREAM (dessert) E (final letter of [last of] triflE) contained in (in) an anagram of (sort of) CERAMIC ICE CR (E) AM* – either E could be the one contained |
| 4 | A way to treat those people involving informal talk (7)
THERAPY (a form of treatment) THEY (those people) containing (involving) RAP (a slang [informal] term for voluble talk) THE (RAP) Y |
| 5 | Throw line into water by the French chateaux (7)
CASTLES (English translation of the French word ‘chateaux’) CAST (throw a fishing line into the water) + LES (one of the French forms of ‘the’) CAST LES |
| 6 | Only ten individuals retired part-time – the rest out of 100? (6)
NINETY (the remainder [rest] from 100 when 10 are retired) NINETY (reversed [retired] hidden word in [part-time] in onlY TEN INdividuals) NINETY< |
| 7 | Become too warm but not hot? – get stuffed! (7)
OVEREAT (stuff oneself with too much food) OVERhEAT (become too warm) excluding (but not) H (hot) OVEREAT |
| 8 | If foggy these could indicate stratus (5)
SHEET (I think this is referring to a SHEET of rain that could be produced from a nimboSTRATUS cloud. A STRATUS is likely to produce drizzle rather than a SHEET of rain) I’ve probably missed something in this clue SHEET (anagram of [foggy] THESE) SHEET* |
| 14 | Small veg, penny each (3)
PEA (a small vegetable) P (penny) + EA (each) P EA |
| 16 | Pasta in a large potty, keeping hot (5,4)
ANGEL HAIR (a type of pasta in the shape of very long strands) Anagram of (potty) IN A LARGE containing (keeping) H (hot) ANGEL (H) AIR* |
| 17 | Smacks merely for skinning fish (8)
MACKEREL (fish) sMACKs excluding the outer letters S and S (skinning) + mERELy excluding the outer letters M and Y (skinning) – skinning applies to the two words in the phrase ‘sMACKs mERELy’ MACK EREL |
| 19 | Deadheaded plant’s an Australian flowery shrub (7)
LANTANA (a shrub) pLANT excluding the first letter P (deadheaded) + AN + A (Australian) LANT AN A |
| 21 | It blasts them asunder but not same in return (7)
THUNDER (a loud cracking or deep rumbling sound that blasts) THem asUNDER excluding (but not) SAME reversed (in return) THUNDER |
| 22 | Decay for all to see and crumbling in domed building (7)
ROTUNDA (building or room having a circular plan, especially one with a dome) ROT (decay) + U (film classification meaning that the film is suitable for all to see) + an anagram of (crumbling) AND ROT U NDA* |
| 23 | Rough during performance about Exodus (7)
INEXACT (approximate; rough) (IN [during] + ACT [performance]) containing (about) EX (the Book of Exodus) IN (EX) ACT |
| 24 | Small undersized person’s a pain on the run (6)
STITCH (a sharp pricking pain in the side brought on by running, etc.) S (small) + TITCH (term sometimes used to refer to a small [undersized] person) S TITCH |
| 25 | Which affair in large part is worthless rubbish? (5)
CHAFF (worthless rubbish) CHAFF (hidden word [in large part – it’s actually the smaller part of the 11 letters] in whiCH AFFair) CHAFF |
STRATUS
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
a type of cloud that forms a continuous grey sheet covering the sky
KVa @ 1
Thanks – I now see the word ‘sheet’ in the Chambers definition as well, which is ‘a wide-extended horizontal sheet of low cloud’.
Collins just refers to a ‘a grey layer cloud’. I thought I read once somewhere that Collins is the reference for Independent crosswords. I accept though that ‘layer’ is equivalent to ‘sheet’ in this context.
As one of those retired blokes with a trowel, I enjoyed ALLOTMENT, though to be fair, there are as many women as men on the plot these days. CANYONS and THUNDER were good, too.
Thanks Crosophile and DS
Iām probably clutching at straws, but I was expecting some sort of signature too.
In the across clues, going down, the following names appear: LOIS, PETE, AL, AL AL (again!), NELL, TED and AL yet again. Probably a stretch too far!
Hi. A clue to the theme: Joni.
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