Independent on Sunday 1214/Crosophile

Crosophile has been a regular monthly contributor to the Wednesday slot in the Independent, but is this his first IoS puzzle?  It’s certainly the first time I’ve blogged him.  It was a good one, but a hard one by IoS standards, I think.  But what did you think?  Perhaps because it was a bank holiday weekend the crossword editor assumed that everyone had a bit more time to tussle with the clues.  And tussle I did … there are a couple here where I don’t really understand what’s going on.

I got a bit of a panic on when I only solved a couple of clues on the first pass, but I eventually got going.  There were quite a few ‘it must be that but why?’ moments, and I only saw the nina towards the very end.  In my defence, the IoS doesn’t often do ninas.  A DEVIL’S BARGAIN appears across the top and bottom rows.  And there is reference at 7dn and 24dn to the Joni Mitchell song Woodstock, giving us STARDUST and GOLDEN.  In the song itself, the lyrics are actually THE DEVIL’S BARGAIN.  And the Joan Baez song Diamonds and Rust is also mentioned in 7dn.  So there’s probably more going on than I can see.  Anyway, given the theme, Crosophile – like me – must be of a certain age …

On reviewing the blog I see I have wittered on a bit, as usual.

Abbreviations
cd  cryptic definition
dd  double definition
(xxxx)*  anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) missing

definitions are underlined

Across

8  Some resistance met finally with a bad conductor
MAESTRO
(SOME R T A)*  A multi-part anagram: ‘bad’ is the anagrind and R is ‘resistance’, T is the final letter of ‘met’ and A is, well, A.

9  Hurt perhaps following faithful instruction in nuclear facility
REACTOR
I thought of John Hurt immediately, since it was capitalised (which doesn’t mean much in crosswordland, I agree).  But it took me a while to see it.  It’s a charade of RE for Religious Education or ‘faithful instruction’ and ACTOR, which is what John HURT is.  He’s done plenty of good stuff, but I particularly liked his interpretation of Joseph Merrick in The Elephant Man.  And of course that bit in Alien where the thing bursts out of his stomach.  The cast hadn’t been told that there would be blood, which is why they all look completely terrified.  It was filmed in one take.

11  Famous one for example set in rural church domain
ELEGY
I think this could be described as an ‘& lit’ or ‘all-in-one’ clue.  It’s referring to Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and is an insertion of EG for ‘for example’ in ELY, which you could say was a ‘rural church domain’.

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way
And leaves the world to darkness and to me

Which if nothing else, should remind me that the next time I see ‘low’ in a crossword, it will probably point me in the direction of MOO.

12  Before joining left, tragic daughter has nothing to do with voting
ELECTORAL
An insertion of O for ‘nothing’ in ELECTRA, followed by L.  ELECTRA was the daughter of King Agamemnon in Greek Mythology.

13  He’s written to Doctor S in a letter
ADDRESSEE
I think this is an insertion of DR and ESS in A DEE.  ESS and DEE are referring to the phonetic pronunciations of the letters S and D.  I have never liked this device, since I don’t think it’s ever used in everyday language, and it doesn’t exist for all the letters.  Should we be minding our PEAS and QUEUES or our PEES and CUES?

15  We hear what US cheerleaders do – “Way to go!”
ROUTE
Since US cheerleaders ‘root’ for their team, this is a homophone clue.  Route 66 would be the longest one, I guess.

16  This company greet perhaps when distraught
CORTEGE
Philistine is relying on the fact that ‘greet’ is a (mainly Northern?) dialect word for ‘cry’ or ‘weep’.  (CO GREET)* with ‘perhaps’ as the anagrind.  And of course if you were in, or following, a funeral CORTEGE, then you’d very likely be lachrymating.  Another clue with an &lit element.

18  Eg St Paul‘s epistle with a couple of misprints?
APOSTLE
I’m not sure I entirely like this one.  If there are a couple of ‘misprints’ in ‘epistle’ then you’ll end up with APOSTLE, which is what St Paul was.

20  Animal left over after new one’s taken as beast of burden
LLAMA
If you reverse ANIMAL L then you’ve got LLAMINA, so you need to remove IN to get the solution; ‘taken’ is the removal indicator.

22  He’s wrong to drop US dance craze – Jack’s gone for Latin
LITTERBUG
Bless me, Father, for I have sinned … I said a bad word when I finally twigged this.  The US dance craze is JITTERBUG: replace the J with L and you’ve got someone who is wrong to ‘drop’.  Good clue.

25  Leads up the garden path?  I’d guess I’m wrong
MISGUIDES
(I’D GUESS I’M)*

27  Learning about new intake and register for classes
ENROL
An insertion of N in LORE, reversed.

28  Weird way to travel far and wide
STRANGE
A charade of ST for ‘street’ or ‘way’ and RANGE.

29  Not initially taken by Gay Rabbit?  Gone one better
OUTDONE
This is outrageous, but funny.  An insertion of N for the first letter of ‘not’ in OUT (‘gay’) and DOE (‘rabbit’).  It’s outrageous because there is actually a gay dating tv channel called Gay Rabbit.  I had to look that up, by the way.  I have four children.  Must remind them it’s Fathers’ Day.

Down

1  A second Lincoln’s toppled and I’m in a cell for life
AMOEBA
A charade of A MO and ABE reversed.  ‘Toppled’ works as the reversal indicator because it’s a down clue.  The definition is referring to the fact that an AMOEBA is a single-celled organism, and will stay that way for the whole of its little life.

2  Rest in diving area when energy’s spent
DEPEND
A synonym of ‘rest’ is DE[E]P END.

3  PVC component your old boy put in within limits of estimate
ETHYLENE
An insertion of THY for the old word for ‘your’ and LEN for ‘boy’ in EE, the outside letters of EstimatE.  I personally can’t be doing with LEN and other abbreviations of male names for ‘boy’, but that’s crosswordspeak.  ETHYLENE is indeed a component in the manufacture of PVC, giving vinyl chloride monomer, which when polymerised, gives polyvinyl chloride, the tree-huggers’ least favourite plastic.  If they’re that bothered, they should refuse the next transfusion they’re offered from a PVC blood bag, since the medical industry is one of the main end-users of the product.

4  Somewhat malevolent creature
VOLE
Hidden in maleVOLEnt.

5  When at sea I travel North-East and run off the point
IRRELEVANT
(I TRAVEL NE R)* with ‘at sea’ as the anagrind.

6  Racket’s not caught the second one
LATTER
[C]LATTER

7  In Woodstock we are this – beginning to catch Diamonds and Rust essentially
STARDUST
An insertion of D for ‘diamonds’ and US for the central letters of rUSt in START.  It helps if you know the Joni Mitchell song:

We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden

Whatever that means.

10  Stay inside always retiring in comfort
RELIEVE
I started off by thinking that this was an insertion of VEIL in E’ER for ‘always’ reversed, but I couldn’t see the equivalence of VEIL and STAY.  In fact it’s an insertion of LIE in EVER reversed.

14  Help for climber very inclined to lose heart, left hanging over the summer
STEPLADDER
A charade of ST[E]EP, L and ADDER for ‘summer’.

16  Newspaper articles for such as the Standard?
COLUMNS
A dd, I think, although I can’t explain it fully.  Standard is a flag, column is a flagpole?  Thought not.

17  Drunk a beer after taking ecstasy, requiring service to imbibe again
REABSORB
I’m not overly keen on the definition.  Whatever, Crosophile is asking you to take E out of ‘a beer’, make an anagram to get REAB, then add SORB, which as we all know is the fruit of the service tree, Sorbus domestica.

19  Make light work – to repeat, it’s broken
OPERETTA
(TO REPEAT)*

21  She studied a compound with sodium
ALUMNA
A charade of ALUM, a compound (mostly referring to the hydrated form of potassium aluminium sulphate) and NA for the chemical symbol for ‘sodium’.  The feminine form, from the Latin, of ALUMNUS, for a former student.  Should you ever need them in future crosswords, the plurals are ALUMNI and ALUMNAE.

23  Dog held up fleece, one ounce over
BORZOI
A charade of a reversal of ROB and I OZ.  I don’t do dogs, so I can’t tell you what it looks like.  But it sounds scary.

24  In Woodstock we are this – spin record for East of Eden
GOLDEN
See 7dn.  A charade of a reversal of LOG for ‘record’ and DEN for the ‘east’ of ‘Eden’.  As for the second part of the charade: hmmm …

26  Second drink and a kiss and a cuddle
SNOG
A charade of S and NOG.  I felt in need of a cuddle when I finally sorted this puzzle out.  But from a woman rather than a member of Gay Rabbit, of course.

Many thanks to Crosophile for a teasing but enjoyable puzzle.