Independent 7849 by Quixote

by

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism

A fairly standard Monday puzzle from Quixote with a nice mixture of clues, mostly on the easy side. As is often the case, there were a few unusual words, but I didn’t have much trouble working these out from the clues.

 

Across
1 Watt: Wa[s] + TT. Referring to James Watt, the steam engine pioneer.
3 Prolific: L(ecturer) + i in prof + I(n) c(harge).
9 Nomic: OM (order of merit) in nic[e].
11 Rustles up: Result* + sup.
12 Marine biologist: CD.
13 Lambast: Lamb + as + [daf]t.
15 Titian: I in Titan. I did nearly put in tomato, on the grounds that there is a “Red Giant” variety of tomato.
17 Triton: Tri[p] + ton. Triton is a moon of Neptune.
19 Shebeen: Sentence completion – “Where has she been?”.
20 A Sheet in the Wind: DD. I’d heard the expression “Four sheets to the wind” and apparently this is a variation of it which means slightly drunk.
22 Gladstone: Glad + one with st (saint) in it. The definition is “PM no longer” i.e. Gladstone is no longer prime minister.
23 Deist: Desist with one of the two S(unday)s removed.
24 Dissever: (Dress I’ve)*. Not a word I’ve seen before – it just seems to be a longer form of sever.
25 Wend: N(ame) in wed. Wend is a historical word for a West Slavic people.
Down
1 Windmill: Wind (=insignificant words) + (John Stuart) Mill. Quite clever of Quixote to reference the Cervantes character here when we would automatically assume he was referring to himself.
2 Tamer: Hidden in quiet american.
4 Rarebit: DD/CD. Bit is a word for a coin, hence a rare bit might excite a coin collector.
5 Lash out: La (French the) + shout.
6 Follow the herd: DD.
7 Castigate: C + asti + gate.
8 Spit: DD. I think the “layer of earth” refers to the spit as a digging tool.
10 Contact lenses: (Clean contests)*.
14 Marshland: Mars hand around l(ake).
16 Unedited: Dundee* around it.
19 So there: The in sore.
20 Alga: Hidden in coastal gang.
21 Imide: I’m + ide. An ide is a type of carp, also spelt as id.

6 comments on “Independent 7849 by Quixote”

  1. Many thanks, Neal.

    Enjoyable and mostly straightforward puzzle, with only a couple of googlies thrown up (for me, anyway, these were the nicely misleading WINDMILL and the intersecting NOMIC). Like you, I was unfamiliar with the variation of the phrase at 20ac.

    Quixote often manages to smuggle a science-based clue (IMIDE today) into his Monday puzzle, which I like. Tiny niggle: a question mark at the end of 4dn might not have gone amiss.

    Thanks to Quixote for a good start to the Indy week.

  4. Thanks, NealH. Pretty much raced through this, though anti-climactically drew a complete blank on SPIT. If it’s a dd, then sadly I don’t think I’m familiar with either definition.

  5. Cheers Neal/Quixote, slightly held my self up on “a sheet in the wind” by putting in “to the wind”. Liked the non self referential 1d and I put in spit without fully justifying.

  6. ‘Three sheets to the wind’ is the variant I’m familiar with, though ‘in’ is just as good as ‘to’ (possible case for making an anagram with it).

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