Amoeba provides the Thursday Independent challenge this week.
Amoeba is a setter who has appeared a few times since a debut in 2024. I note that some previous puzzles have had themes involving bands and their albums. There may be one today, but I haven’t spotted it.
There’s always something to learn from crosswords. Before solving this and writing the blog, I was unaware of the strong link between Shrove Tuesday and MARDI GRAS. AFTERDAMP was a new word for me, but the wordplay was very clear.
I’m a bit confused by HERO being clued as a woman’s love in the wordplay for SUPERHERO. I would have thought Hero was Leander’s love (a man’s love), but I may have missed something. LEMMA is a word I have only come across in crosswords and my time at University. I didn’t really understand any of the LEMMAs referenced in my course. VICARIOUS is not a word I use regularly and I have never been sure of its meaning. MOUSETRAP, meaning ‘cheese of indifferent quality, was also new to me.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Politicians in London broadcast across German city (7)
GLASGOW (city in Scotland) GLA (Greater London Authority; politicians in London) + (SOW [broadcast] containing [across] G [German]) GLA S (G) OW |
| 5 | Money taken from country club certainly not brought back (7)
REVENUE (income from taxation or gross income from a business; money) (EU [European Union, a club of countries; country club] + NEVER [certainly not]) all reversed (brought back) (REVEN UE)< |
| 9 | Cabinet fought over housing many times (5)
OFTEN (many times) OFTEN (reversed [over] hidden word in [housing] cabiNET FOught) OFTEN< |
| 10 | Years after one who might be Educating Rita’s lead features in Betrayal (9)
TREACHERY (betrayal) (R [first letter of {head of} Rita] contained in [features in] TEACHER [one who might be educating]) + Y (year) T (R) EACHER Y |
| 11 | Artist occupying lodgings following old lady runs carnival (5,4)
MARDI GRAS (MARDI GRAS is a term for Shrove Tuesday, which is celebrated with a carnival in many places, most famously in Rio de Janeiro) (MA (mother; old lady) + R (runs) + RA (Royal Academician; artist) contained in (occupying) DIGS (lodgings) MA R DI G (RA) S |
| 12 | Eggs prepared – that is always lacking in English dish (5)
ROSTI (dish of grated potatoes shaped into a pancake and fried) ROeS (masses of fish eggs) + Ie (id est; that is) excluding all occurrences of (always lacking) the letter E (English) – I think ‘prepared’ is just a link word to ensure that ‘is’ is the appropriate verb in the clue ROS TI |
| 13 | Play guitar, tense, pale, and close to crying (5)
TWANG (to strum or play a guitar) T (tense) + WAN (pale) + G (last letter of [close to] cryinG) T WAN G |
| 15 | A new singer avoiding current presenter (9)
ANCHORMAN (a radio or television presenter) A + N (new) + CHOiRMAN (singer) excluding (avoiding) I (electric current) A N CHORMAN |
| 18 | American recalled a woman’s love for comic character (9)
SUPERHERO (any of various comic-book heroes with supernormal or superhuman powers) US (United States; American) reversed (recalled) + PER (each, a) + HERO (in Greek mythology, HERO was a female priestess loved by Leander) – I would have thought that HERO was Leander’s love [a man’s love] while Leander would have been HERO‘s love [the woman’s love] but no doubt I am missing something. SU< PER HERO |
| 19 | Slightly damage second part of shirt (5)
SCUFF (graze or scrape, slightly damage) S (second) + CUFF (part of a shirt) S CUFF |
| 21 | Left with novel proposition (5)
LEMMA (a preliminary proposition – a mathematical term) L (left) + EMMA (novel by Jane Austen [1775 – 1817]) L EMMA |
| 23 | Notwithstanding fines, I opt to get wrecked (2,5,2)
IN SPITE OF (notwithstanding) Anagram of (wrecked) FINES I OPT IN SPITE OF* |
| 25 | One’s scored highly against test upon leaving institute (9)
CONTRALTO (CONTRALTO is a woman’s voice, so it is a part that is scored highly in musical notation. It is, however, the lowest female voice) CON (against) + (TRiAL [test] + TO [upon]) excluding (leaving) I (Institute) CON TRAL TO |
| 26 | Gloomy song for one free to return (5)
DIRGE (song of mourning; gloomy song) (E.G. [for example; for one] + RID [free]) all reversed (to return) (DIR GE)< |
| 27 | Area chief stopping New York’s state of lawlessness (7)
ANARCHY (state of lawlessness and disorder) A (area) + (NY [New York] containing [stopping] ARCH [chief]) A N (ARCH) Y |
| 28 | Expressionless and very plain, oddly (7)
DEADPAN (expressionless) DEAD (extremely; very) + PAN (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of PlAiN) DEAD PAN |
| Down | |
| 1 | Ring woman in Paris entertained by filth (7)
GROMMET (a ring of rope or metal) MME (Madame; French [Paris] woman) contained in (entertained by) GROT (rubbish; dirt; filth) GRO (MME) T |
| 2 | Cruelly fed tramp a choking hazard (9)
AFTERDAMP (chokedamp, arising in coal mines after an explosion of firedamp; a choking hazard) Anagram of (cruelly) FED TRAMP A AFTER-DAMP* |
| 3 | Greens periodically supported by two brilliant people (5)
GENII (brilliant people; plural of genius, although Collins tells me that this form only applies to the meaning of genius as a Roman or an Arabic myth. Chambers gives it applying to all meanings of genius) GEN (letters 1, 3 and 5 [periodically] of GrEeNs) + II (Roman numerals for two) GEN II – as this is a down entry, the letters GEN are ‘supported by‘ the letters II |
| 4 | Washington police finally arresting target involved in scandal (9)
WATERGATE (name of an American political scandal that played out between 1972 and 1974) (WA [abbreviation for Washington State in the USA] + E [last letter of {finally} policE]) containing (arresting) an anagram of (involved) TARGET WA (TERGAT*) E |
| 5 | Once river has risen, catches flightless birds (5)
RHEAS (flightless birds) HEARS (catches) with R (river) rising to the top of this down entry to form RHEAS RHEAS |
| 6 | I start to cry, overwhelmed by thrashing saviour suffered for another (9)
VICARIOUS (suffered by one person or thing instead of another) (I + C [first letter of [start to] Cry]) contained in (overwhelmed by) an anagram of (thrashing) SAVIOUR V (I C) ARIOUS* |
| 7 | Note European drug detective’s obligations (5)
NEEDS (obligations to do some things) N (note) + E (European) + E (ecstasy tablet; drug) + DS (Detective [Sergeant]) N E E DS |
| 8 | In literature, delightful cathedral city’s giant’s content (7)
ELYSIAN (term used in literature to mean delightful) ELY’S (ELY is a Cathedral City in England; cathedral city’s) + IAN (central letters of [content] gIANt) ELYS IAN |
| 14 | Spice Girl and Irishman barely aged (9)
GERIATRIC (of or relating to older people; aged) GERI (reference GERI Halliwell [born 1972], member of the Spice Girls group) + pATRICk (Irish name, excluding the outer letters [barely] P and K) GERI ATRIC |
| 16 | What are you doing about promise broken by Rachel’s on-off partner? (9)
CROSSWORD (the thing we are solving [doing]) (C [circa [about] + WORD [promise]) containing (broken by) ROSS (Rachel’s on-off partner in the US sitcom Friends) C (ROSS) WORD |
| 17 | Unremarkable cheese matures, drunk with port when half-cut (9)
MOUSETRAP (cheese of indifferent quality; unremarkable cheese) Anagram of (drunk) MATURES and (with) PO (half of the letters cut from POrt) MOUSETRAP* |
| 18 | Groups obsessed with ChatGPT perhaps set up country (2,5)
ST LUCIA (island country in the Caribbean) AI CULTS (groups of people with an obsession relating to artificial intelligence) all reversed (set up; down entry) (ST LUC IA)< |
| 20 | Rugby union team provided support after France beaten at last (7)
FIFTEEN (a team of fifteen players; Rugby Union is played with teams of fifteen) F (International Vehicle Registration for France) + IF (provided) + TEE (support for a golf ball) + N (final letter of [at last] beateN) F IF TEE N |
| 22 | Group of intelligence analysts discontented about being subordinate to soldiers (5)
MENSA (an international organization, founded in the UK in 1946, open to people with a high intelligence quotient [IQ] rating; group of intelligence) MEN (soldiers) + AS (letters remaining in AnalystS after the central letters nalyst are removed [dis-contented]) reversed (about) and positioned under MEN in this down entry [subordinate to soldiers]) MEN SA< |
| 23 | Left captivated by my part of Scotland (5)
ISLAY (island off the West Coast of Scotland) L (left) contained in (captivated by) (I SAY! [gosh!; my!]) I S (L) AY |
| 24 | In the military, I help part of this country after revolution (5)
INDIA (INDIA is the NATO [in the military] communication codeword for the letter I) (AID [help] + NI [Northern Ireland – part of the United Kingdom [this country]) all reversed (after revolution_ (IN DIA)< |
SUPERHERO
woman’s HER
love O
Had SUPERHERO as KVa. Guess it’s a case of the blogger overthinking that one.
Parsed ROSTI as ROe + SeT + I.e. Blog doesn’t account for the T.
Some of the parsing was quite tough to unravel but I really enjoyed this with too many ticks to be able to pick a favourite.
Many thanks to Amoeba and to Duncan.
As RD says, tricky in places but everything came together nicely in the end. Same as KVa and Hovis with HER O. I suspect the def for REVENUE is ‘Money taken’. And, yes, MARDI GRAS translates as ‘Fat Tuesday’ – the day for eating the last of the fatty foods before Lent kicks in.
Faves inc OFTEN, CONTRALTO, WATERGATE, GERIATRIC, MOUSETRAP, FIFTEEN and ISLAY.
Thanks both
Thanks Amoeba – I liked the clueing here; my favourites are FIFTEEN, ISLAY and INDIA. Missed some parsing – thanks Duncan for the blog!
I’m with Hovis @2 for ROSTI being ROe SeT Ie
Took a while to get there, but worth the effort! I didnt have the same problems as our blogger, but found plenty of my own to slow me down. Needed the blog to see the def for INDIA(doh!), was looking at Cwmbran for the rugby team, assuming BRA was the support, also held out for a weird spice, until I sussed I was meant to be be defining aged… didn’t see the London politicians, but fortunately the crossers didn’t leave much option… apart from that, all went smoothly!
Thanks Amoeba n duncansheill
Liked this puzzle very much. Parsed ROSTI and SUPERHERO as others did.
Super stuff, faves include OFTEN, LEMMA, ANARCHY, WATERGATE and ST LUCIA. I’d include “taken” in the def for REVENUE (and agree with parsings here for ROSTI and SUPERHERO). Minor quibble, as noted in blog, plural of genius in that sense is geniuses, GENII being just for the “spirits” – in the Chambers app, at least, that distinction *is* made clear. Many thanks to Amoeba and duncanshiell.