Independent 7891 by Quixote

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Fine puzzle in the Quixote style ie at the easier end of the spectrum – solving time 19 mins.

* = anagram

ACROSS

1 JUDGES     Book of the Bible    G (good) in (St) Jude’s

4 SORBITOL     Loti  (French novelist)  bros (brothers) all reversed.     Must admit I’d not heard of the novelist – got the answer in the end from the definition.   But he’s well enough known to have an entry in the Chambers Biog Dict.

9 PILOT    pi (religious)  Lot (Old Testament character)     defn:  who shows the way

10 GO THROUGH    Goth (old invader) rough (course)    Defn:  brave (verb)

11 NARRATE      ran = managed (reversed)  rate (speed)   Defn:  relay (verb)

12 PAINTER     painter = rope     Rolf Harris was allowed to “paint ER” (Queen Elizabeth II) for her 80th birthday

13 COMPARTMENTS     part (incomplete) in comments (remarks)

17 FRONTIERSMEN    (informer sent)*

20 OPIATES   (a poet is)*

21 GESTURE   (gets)*  river (Ure)    Definition:   signal

23 DISREPAIR    S (society) in dire (grave)  pair (couple)    Defn:  degradation

24 BOARD   “bored”  = showing no interest – ‘in report’ indicates homophone       Defn:  Directors

25 PSALMODY    (ops madly)*

26 FRIEND    half-day  = Fri(day) end (mission)     Def:  Pal

DOWN

1  JAPONICA      Po (river) in Jan 1 (first day of year) c (more or less = circa – about) a     Defn:  shrub

2 DOLDRUMS    do (party)  l (line)  drums (thumps)    Defn:  depression

3 EXTRA     Double definition    from filming and cricket

5 OTTO PREMINGER   US film director, originally from Vienna   (reporting to me)*

6 BARRISTER    ris(k) = endless danger in barter (trade)    Defn: lawyer

7 TAUNTS     t (finally visit) ie last letter   aunts (relations)   Defn:  rags (verb)

8 LAHORE    lore (stories) around a h (hospital)

10 GREETINGS CARD   (gang redirects)*

14 AIRSTREAM   (a stir)*   ream (lots of paper)   &lit ie whole clue defines the answer

15 AMPUTATE   put (placed) in a mate (buddy)   Defn; cut off

16 INTENDED   in (home)  tended (taken care of)    Defn: planned

18 HOLD-UP     Defn: robbery   support = hold up

19 SIESTA     hidden in ‘busiest afternoon’     if an afternoon is busy the siesta will get squeezed ie shortened – in cryptic reading ‘squeezed’ indicates that phrase has the word hidden in it

22 SOBER    Defn:   restrained     person crying = sobber.    Half-heartedly = take away one of the bs at the centre.

8 comments on “Independent 7891 by Quixote”

  1. A nice Monday puzzle from Quixote today. My only real holdup was when working backwards up 10d, I didn’t allow for an S at the end of the first word. Thanks to Quixote and nmsindy too.

  2. Thanks, nms. I did enjoy this one, but (like the puzzle in Another Place today) found bits of it really difficult to fathom, so about three times your solving time today would be about right. Can’t see why I struggled now, since it’s all clearly clued, although like you I didn’t know Monsieur Loti, and not being a fan of Brenda’s lot I didn’t know that Rolf had had the pleasure, so I couldn’t parse 12ac. Brain not in gear probably is the reason for the struggle.

    COMPARTMENTS was good and I thought GO THROUGH was a good spot by Quixote.

  3. Like Kathryn’s Dad we also completed a puzzle from ‘AnotherPlace’ today and solved this one over lunch. Likewise we needed to check Loti but knew it had to be Sorbitol. Last one in was 15d which we almost had to ‘cheat’ on.
    What a good start to the week, 2 lovely solves and it’s only Monday.
    Thanks nms and Quixote.

  4. Thanks Q and NMS, I was through this in about the same time as NMS except for 12ac painter, which I spent ten minutes or more looking at until my memory banks shouted BUT HE DID!

  5. Many thanks. Lots of really elegant clues in this. Has there been a better “hidden answer” clue than 19d? Another &lit, 14a, was also very satisfying. 15d held me up a bit, but by and large it’s a fairly easy puzzle, which is quite an achievement given the sophistication.

  6. A nice one from the Don, raised some smiles and one or two “of course” moments. Certainly no need to invoke the saint referenced in 1a (St Jude – patron of hopeless cases, and of things almost despaired of).

  7. I didn’t get a chance to look at this at lunch time, but was able to get through it fairly easily tonight (I don’t think I’d have even tried if it had been a Nimrod). There were lots of clues I liked – e.g. 11 across, 19 and 20. 5 down held me up for a bit, when I completely failed to spot the anagram, thinking the last bit was some sort of homophone.

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