Tack is a setter who appears every two or three months in the Independent.
This was a puzzle where the wordplay was very detailed with frequent use of just one or two letters as part of the construction of the entry. Also ,there were some nested ‘container and contents’ clues. That’s the way I like my wordplay but I am sure there will be some solvers who take a different view.
Tack’s puzzles sometimes have a theme, but I can’t see one today.
I was a bit confused about TANKARDs (4 down) never leaving the pub, but Google’s artifical intelligence tells me that many people have personal TANKARDs that stay in the pub all the time.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | They have a quick bite when taking a breather going over hill (10)
ALLIGATORS (reptiles that can bite their prey very quickly) AS (when) containing (taking) ([A + GILL {membranous organ for breathing in water; breather} reversed {going over}] + TOR [hill]) A ((LLIG A)< TOR) S |
| 6 | That man with £500 set aside (4)
HELD (reserved; set aside) HE (that man) + L (symbol used to indicate £ sterling) + D (Roman numeral for 500) HE L D |
| 10 | Savage spotted individual laughing in the bush? (5)
HYENA (a spotted HYENA is a savage animal (genus Crocuta) HYENA (the laughing HYENA is another name for the spotted HYENA that lives in the bush) double definition I think the word ‘individual ‘ could be part of either or both definitions HYENA |
| 11 | Substances promoting growth in 17 nuts (9)
NUTRIENTS (nourishing substances; substances promoting growth) Anagram of (nuts) IN and ENTRUST (entry at 17 across) NUTRIENTS* |
| 12 | One tears up the road in plum car I’d let out (9,5)
PNEUMATIC DRILL (a tool powered by compressed air that it used to dig up part of a road) Anagram of (out) IN PLUM CAR I’D LET PNEUMATIC DRILL* |
| 14 | Lager top drinks Irish broadcaster loved (7)
HEARTED (slang term for ‘loved’) HEAD (froth on top of a glass of lager; lager top) containing (drinks) RTE (Radio Telefis Eireann; Irish broadcaster) HEA (RTE) D |
| 15 | State courts putting me inside (7)
AUSTRIA (European country [State]) ATRIA (courtyards; courts) containing (putting … inside) US (informal word for ‘me’) A (US) TRIA |
| 17 | New PM briefly absorbed by case of Egypt delegate (7)
ENTRUST (to delegate) (N [new] + TRUSs [reference Liz Truss, UK Prime Minister from 6th September 2022 until 25th October 2022] excluding the final letter S [briefly]) contained in (absorbed by) ET (outer letters of [case of] EgypT) E (N TRUS) T |
| 19 | Turn round exasperated at first after fellow left without you (7)
FLEXURE (a bend or turn) F (fellow) + L (left) + EX– (without) + U [textspeak for ‘you’) + RE (initial letters [at first] of each of Round and Exasperated) F L EX U RE |
| 20 | Gets wrong motorway to northern city – learner is stumped by satnav initially (14)
MISUNDERSTANDS (gets wrong) MI (characters represent the M1 motorway) + SUNDERLAND (city in North East England) with L (learner) replaced by (is) ST (stumped) + S (first letter of [initially] of Satnav) MI SUNDERSTAND S |
| 23 | Union member’s paraphernalia ultimately upset polymath (9)
TROUSSEAU (the clothes, linen, etc, collected by a bride for her marriage; union member’s paraphernalia) T (last letter of [ultimately] upseT) + ROUSSEAU (reference Jean-Jacques ROUSSEAU [1712 – 1778], Genevan polymath) T ROUSSEAU |
| 24 | Feel apprehensive about duke on a date (5)
DREAD (fear) D (duke) + RE (with reference to; on) + A + D (date) D RE A D |
| 25 | Find fault with swimmer (4)
CARP (find fault with) CARP (fish; swimmer) double definition CARP |
| 26 | Interactive software really excited news providers (10)
HYPERMEDIA (interactive software systems that link information stored as text, graphics, audio and video) HYPER (intensively excited) + MEDIA (news providers) HYPER MEDIA |
| Down | |
| 1 | Long article about heroin and ecstasy (4)
ACHE (long [for]) A (indefinite article) + C (circa; about) + H (informal term for heroin) + E (informal term for an ecstasy tablet) A C H E |
| 2 | Ready to attack claim ex is now racist periodically (3,2,4)
LIE IN WAIT (be ready to ambush or attack) LIE IN WAIT (letters 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17 of cLaIm Ex Is NoW rAcIsT) L I E I N W A I T |
| 3 | Nark catching American dons teaching English the second I expressed it’s unnecessary (14)
GRATUITOUSNESS (descriptive of an unnecessary action) GRASS (informer; nark) containing (catching) ([US {United States; American} contained in {dons} TUITiON {teaching} excluding {expressed} the second I] + E [English]) GRA (TUITO (US) N E) SS |
| 4 | Contrive to lose a rampant doctor that never leaves the pub (7)
TANKARD (Google’s artificial intelligence tells me that a TANKARD traditionally never leaves the pub because it is often considered property of the establishment, part of a personal “locker” system for regulars, or designed with specific features [like lidded pewter] that make them impractical to take home) TANK (fail; contrive to lose [?]) + A + DR (doctor) reversed (rampant [heraldic term for standing on hindlegs or raised]; rearing) [down entry] TANK A RD< |
| 5 | Around tavernas essentially it’s drunk neat regularly (7)
RETSINA (a Greek wine frequently drunk in tavernas) ER (central letters of [essentially] tavERnas) reversed (around) + an anagram of (drunk) IT’S + NA (letters 1 and 3 [regularly] of NeAt) – an &Lit clue where the whole clue is the definition RE< TSI* NA |
| 7 | Boredom reported working a short time in Scotland (5)
ENNUI (boredom) ENNUI is pronounced ONWEE (ON [working] WEE [Scottish word for a short time]) ENNUI |
| 8 | Angry complaint about empty parcel delivered to daughter (10)
DISPLEASED (angry) (DISEASE [medical complaint] containing [about] PL [letters remaining in ParceL when the central letters arce are removed][empty]) + D (daughtyer) DIS (PL) EASE D |
| 9 | Love, send D:Ream up to play Things Can Only Get Better (3,11)
NIL DESPERANDUM (never despair, as, one hopes, things can only get better) NIL (zero; love score at tennis) + an anagram of (to play) SEND D:REAM UP NIL DESPERANDUM* |
| 13 | Disorderly place might calm (10)
PHLEGMATIC (calm) Anagram of (disorderly) PLACE MIGHT PHLEGMATIC* |
| 16 | Parliamentarian drinks hot beverage after striking head (9)
ROUNDHEAD (a supporter of Parliament against King Charles I during the English Civil War) ROUND (several drinks bought at one time) + H (hot) + mEAD (an alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey and water, usually with the addition of spices, etc) excluding the first letter M (striking head) ROUND H EAD |
| 18 | In that way the right is supported by Elon, primarily on X (7)
THEREBY (iby that means; n that way) THE + R (right) + E (first letter of [primarily] Elon) + BY (times; x) – Elon Musk owns the social media platform X THE R E BY – as this is a down entry, the letters ERY are ‘supporting’ the letters THER |
| 19 | Split force is no problem (7)
FISSURE (cleft or crack; split) F (force) + IS + SURE (yes; of course; no problem) F IS SURE |
| 21 | Conscientious objector punches Parisian on hunt (5)
SCOUR (search for; hunt) CO (conscientious objector) contained in (punches) SUR (French [Parisian] word for ‘on’) S (CO) UR |
| 22 | Almost perfect aim (4)
IDEA (a plan; an aim) IDEAl (perfect) excluding the final letter (almost) L IDEA |
TANKARD
Under ‘tank’ Chambers has
To lose or drop points, games etc deliberately (tennis sl)
—>’contrive to lose’ looks fine.
Mostly a satisfying solve, I was beaten by the convoluted parsing of FLEXURE and while appreciating that our language is continually evolving can’t bring myself to accept that HEARTED should ever have seen the light of day.
Thanks to tack and ds
I Heart NY, seen on bumper stickers all over Manhattan (would be nice to be able to select a heart icon somehow)
I resisted TANKARD until all the crossers confirmed the classic drinkers sign of being a regular… not sure if it still happens? I definitely enjoyed the clues that made sense on first reading eg SCOUR, FISSURE, THEREBY… was mildly disappointed to find HEAD in the clue and the answer for ROUNDHEAD… felt like going round the houses to arrive where you started.. any other word would have been OK, maybe ENTRY, or FIRST? Definitely needed the blog to parse a few..
thanks Tack and duncansheill
Agree about hearted Doofs but there are worse cringes (chow down is one) …
Plenty to like with, yes, some complex assemblies (GRATUITOUSNESS in particular, somewhat ironically). Splendid anagram spot for PHLEGMATIC. I was beaten by FLEXURE which is nho: did not spot the parse. And I didn’t really understand the def for TANKARD but get it now others have explained. Apologies to the setter but I really did not like the appearance of ‘head’ in the clue for ROUNDHEAD. I don’t have a problem with things appearing in plain sight – HEAD would have been a brave plain sight element – but to use it to refer to an initial letter in a word as part of an assembly of HEAD just feels clunky.
Thanks both
I found this rather a slog, especially parsing 3. Also it’s slightly disappointing when a clue contains part of the answer (“head” in 16). On the plus side, 2 was impressive: answers that consist of alternate letters from a phrase are usually quite short.
Perhaps I’m a bit dim today, but I don’t see how the order of the components works in 24. “About duke” implies RE+D, not vice versa.
Got to the end, feeling surprised being one of those not so keen on complex constructions in wordplay. But enjoyed.
I smiled to see ‘briefly’ doing double duty in 17a. ‘PM briefly’ being spot on
Thanks both
Quizzy Bob @ 8
I wondered about parsing it as D (date) + (RE [about] + D [duke]) containing (about) A
D RE (A) D
but I’m not convinced that D (date) could come first.
Regarding 24 across, I think the definition is “ Feel apprehensive about”, so we then have D (duke) + RE (with reference to; on) + A + D (date), as ducanshiell says
Oh, I’ve just got it: The definition is “feel apprehensive ABOUT” not just “feel apprehensive”. Then it’s D (duke), RE is “on” (not “about”) +A +D.
I was indeed being dim.
Thanks, JudithG, we crossed. I should have read the blog more carefully.
I liked MISUNDERSTANDS. I’m not sure that polymath is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Rousseau, nor is he the most prominent example of a polymath. I’ll forgive the clumsiness of ROUNDHEAD just because the parliamentarian wasn’t an owl.
This was tricky but very satisfying as the grid slowly filled in.
I parsed the DD in 10 as “Savage” (e.g. referring to cruel people as “hyenas”) and “spotted individual laughing in the bush” (describing the animal)
I did get HEARTED but was very unsure about it until I got all the crossers, I agree with the complaints about this one. Overall a very good puzzle and a great blog.
Thanks Tack and duncanshiell!
Another hate for ‘hearted’ here and us=me is equally naff in my world!
I used to have a tankard that didn’t leave the pub but still thinj it’s a strange definition..
Thanks to setter and blogger
Thanks Tack & duncanshiell. For me HYENA works best as a single cryptic definition, with a felicitous non-cryptic reading of the surface as a bonus: “[a] savage [espied] … “
Thanks both. I had a few misgivings, some already raised, others I have so little energy left to mention having become drained just trying to parse GRATUITOUSNESS. Brief query around LIE IN WAIT defined as “ready to attack” which for me takes us to “lying in wait” – possibly fair if unhelpful.