Independent 6827/Radian

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I found this mostly reasonably easy but with a few tough spots here and there. I only spotted the Nina (in the perimeter running clockwise from the bottom left-hand corner) once I’d finished the puzzle – appropriately enough for the time of year it reads BRINGING IN THE SHEAVES, which is a traditional thanksgiving hymn which I presume is often sung around harvest festival time.

Across
6 hidden in “maNY A LAager”
7 BAN,JOIST
9 (RING)*,ED – GIRNED was new to me but it was my first guess given the wordplay. Even so, I waited for all the crossing letters before filling it in.
10 REP,ROACH – I’d never heard of Hal Roach (an American TV and film producer apparently) so this was another partial guess. “Carpet” is an easy enough definition and “salesman” is a common indicator for REP so not knowing the Hal shouldn’t have made this clue unsolvable for most.
11 (HIT ON NEW)* – NON-WHITE.
13 R(EVIL)E – Good clue, especially the use of “clamp” to indicate containment.
17 IT in SURF< – another good one with a pertinent surface reading, given the current economic climate.
19 INSTEP – not sure I really understand all of this: “Sandhurst marchers” would be IN STEP but what does “they control it” mean? Something to with controlling the INSTEP of the foot?
23 R,IGOR,O[-p]US – you don’t need to know that Stravinsky’s first name was IGOR to solve this but it certainly helps. You could probably get by knowing that you’re looking for a word for “harsh” that begins with R.
27 B,(TREE)*,OOT – BEETROOT, the colour you go when you blush.
28 [-c]ANNUL[-a]
 
Down
1 IN(D)IGO – Inigo Jones was an Elizabethan architect.
2 NA[-v]AN – I didn’t understand the “Irish fort” reference so this was another guess.
3 G,AND,HI
4 IN,(SPERRI[-ns])* – INSPIRER. Bizarre sounding clue and “3, perhaps” is a bit loose as a definition for GANDHI I thought.
7 BAR[-ns]LEY
8 S(ICKLE)S – “little to child” for ICKLE was a nice touch and quite original.
15 PENS[-l]IVE[-d]
16 TOP(TOT,O)E – “tope” means to drink habitually and to excess, which I knew from somewhere or other (probably another crossword).
18 RUS(SE)T – more guesswork required here as I’d never come across RUST as a type of fungus before. Also, is “Sussex” really good enough as an indicator for SE (South East)?
21 G,US,VAT (reversed)
26 L in UNA – I remember Una Stubbs from the 80s children’s TV programme Worzel Gummidge but apparently she’s recently been in Eastenders and The Catherine Tate Show.

14 comments on “Independent 6827/Radian”

  1. Never mind the harvest, I’m impressed at the scheduling of a puzzle with GUSTAV among the answers – how was the editor to know the hurricane would be downgraded at the last minute!

  2. An interesting crossword, which strives, largely successfully, for unusual devices in its clues. I was surprised at the description of ‘Elizabethan architect’ for Inigo Jones; a trip to Wikipedia showed that this is not as far off as I thought. He was 30 when Elizabeth I died, but his earliest surviving building came more than a decade later. Certainly his style is a radical departure from what one thinks of as Elizabethan architecture. The online version of the puzzle has what seems to be an error: the clue to 22D is a variant of the clue to 21D, and as far as I can see bears no relation to the answer ‘ensile’. I would suspect that there was an attempt to revise 21D to remove the superfluous word ‘rejected’, and the wrong clue was overwritten. I suppose that the Irish fort in 2D refers to the Hill of Tara, which Wikipedia again informs me is near Navan. Close, but no cigar!

  3. Google reveals that Navan Fort is an ancient earthwork in Co. Armagh.

    7, 12 & 24D are connected with the Nina as well.

  5. What purpose does “over” serve (other than surface reading and helping the &lit aspect)?

    Is “Store” the hidden indicator (it seems a bit loose to me)?

  6. Enjoyed this, tough, with some original ideas. Maybe 15, 17 in the centre row were linked to the theme also. ENSILE waw my last answer – the definition I thought was ‘store’ and I read ‘over’ as an unusual hidden indicator i.e. that greENS I LEft considered as a whole was over ‘ensile’. Not sure if I’m interpreting it correctly. Did see the Nina emerging fairly early on, though did not get SHEAVES till I’d five or six letters. I don’t understand 19 though – IN STEP as two words must be the wordplay part, but I don’t understand the defintion part.

  7. 19: I felt it might cause problems but I couldn’t resist referring back to ‘arch’ (= instep). And Nmsindy’s right about 22.

    Forgive me too for the occasional NI ref. It’s hard enough to keep you guys guessing – and I may as well help our overworked tourist board. There’s more to enjoy here than the Giant’s Causeway!

    Many thanks for all the feedback, invaluable for a johnny-come-lately. Please keep it coming.

  10. It’s a bit late but I’ve just noticed, after pondering on blogs 8 and 9 (I’m still baffled), 28a is annu(a)l, not (c)annul(a).
    My erse is not in gear so could Paul B enlighten me please: Health and ?

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