Independent 8,627 by Alchemi

by

Monday already and once more it’s Quixote, err hang on it’s Alchemi.

I can’t see any themes, ninas  or other games being played but maybe someone else can. There’s a few sneaky definitions but we rather expect that in the Indy.

Thanks Alchemi, rather enjoyed this.

Definitions underlined where appropriate.

Across

1 Just avoided defeat as ringer prevented goal-scoring? (5,2,3,4)
SAVED BY THE BELL
Ian Bell  as a goalkeeper? Some of his batting performances have prompted calls for him to change his profession. Ringer referring to the dubious use of a rather better player anonymously in a team in the surface. Good start but I did wonder if this was going to refer to this TV comedy as a link.

10 Sweaty Chinese President stupid to return (5)
HUMID
HU (Jintao) not Mao for once & DIM reversed

11 Time to be going, if this is what you’re doing with your thumbs? (9)
TWIDDLING
T(ime) & WIDDLING (going, peeing)

12 Back part to defend or secure (7)
ENDORSE
Hidden in defEND OR SEcure

13 Doubting Simon starts to have reaction with mushroom (7)
SCEPTIC
CEP (type of mushroom) in S(imon) & TIC

14 Last remaining piece of dereliction (5)
RELIC
Another hidden in deRELICtion and &littish

16 This country’s surrounded by foul chlorine haze of several hues (9)
COLOURFUL
OUR (this country’s) in [FOUL ChLorine]*, haze as anagram indicator

19 Happy George misses PE, involved in another lesson (9)
GEOGRAPHY
PE removed from [HAPpY GeORGE]*

20 Yacht’s beginning to change direction before getting slightly sticky (5)
TACKY
Y(acht) after TACK

22 Marine child’s tempers (7)
SEASONS
SEA SONS, not the hardest clue I’ve seen

25 Draws on English parliamentarian’s evidence of drinking bouts? (7)
EMPTIES
TIES (draws) after E(nglish) M.P.

27 Strikingly-topped ditch cleared out with dry grass surrounding (3-6)
RED-HAIRED
D(itc)H & AIR (dry) all in REED

28 Attack backed, for example, points regularly awarded to British Eurovision song (5)
LUNGE
E.G. and NUL points, which the UK regularly gets all reversed, slightly unfair Alchemi, the UK came seventeenth, we got at least some points

29 Grumpily showing lousy mess on tin ship (14)
CANTANKEROUSLY
CAN tin & TANKER ship & LOUSY*

Down

2 In the middle of clearing, angry, sick, old scaly creature (9)
ARMADILLO
Middle of (cle)AR(ing) & MAD (angry) & ILL & Old

3 Duck I left for large tree (5)
ELDER
I replaced by L in EIDER

4 Top of calyx in flatter flower (9)
BUTTERCUP

C(alyx) in BUTTER UP (flatter)

5 Journeys would be nonsense if direction were changed (5)
TRIPS
Replace S by E and you get TRIPE

6 Leeds turn round the final score (3,6)
END RESULT
[LEEDS TURN]*

7 Eastern group capture current novelist (5)
ELIOT
E(astern) & LOT (group) with I (current) inserted

8 Reasonable food for slimmers consumed by soldier? Quite the opposite (7)
LOGICAL
LO-CAL eating GI rather than GI eating LO-CAL

9 Poem about horse with alligator skin – I don’t think that works! (2,4)
OH DEAR
H(orse) in ODE & the skin of A(lligato)R

15 Type of dating Ms Palmer-Tomkinson has no time for – it’s saucy (9)
CARBONARA
CARBON dating & topless (t)ARA, err sorry, rather T(ime) removed from (T)ARA

17 Editorial about Scottish town preacher (3,6)
LAY READER
AYR in LEADER (editorial)

18 Refined oil, in fact, is imaginary (9)
FICTIONAL
[OIL IN FACT]* is refined

19 Clever thing to do with CO2 possibly short of band to restrict intake (7)
GASTRIC
A clever thing shortened would be a GAS TRIC(k). Is Alchemi on a diet, this and LO-CAL in 8d?

21 Agreements being partially overturned displeases Seychelles (6)
YESSES
Hidden reversed in displeaSES SEYchelles

23 Type of boat port keeps for poet (5)
AUDEN
U boat in ADEN a port

24 Peculiar culture talk finishes after quiet film (5)
SHREK
SH quiet & peculiaR culturE talK

26 Hot Asian item under pressure regularly in big league (5)
PILAU
P(ressure) & alternate letters of bIg LeAgUe. Is Pilau hot? Hasn’t been in my experience but others may have different opinions.

*anagram

15 comments on “Independent 8,627 by Alchemi”

  1. I thought the same as you at 26 down, flashling. But on reflection it is never served cold, so it is ok, and is a nice bit of misdirection for ‘hot’ linked with Asian.

  2. Finished quite easily, but thanks for the blog as I couldn’t figure out why slimmers had to eat ‘local’ food (8d)!

  3. Thanks to flashling and Alchemi,
    Completed in almost record time for me, though I missed some of the cleverness of the word play, eg 1ac and 19d, so not quite a “proper” solve . A nice start to the week and although I’m not expecting my current level of self-confidence to continue, I almost relish (rather than dread!) the next Nimrod challenge.
    Thanks again.

  4. A pleasant Monday morning puzzle with no hold-ups. Count me as another who had the same thought about PILAU, but CONRAD CORK’s thought about “hot” is probably correct. AUDEN was my LOI after CANTANKEROUSLY.

  5. Good fun. Gentle Monday fare for experienced solvers; a tractable puzzle for those new to the dark arts.

    I thought SAVED BY THE BELL and TWIDDLING were witty; and I also liked BUTTERCUP.

    The clue referring to the Eurovision song contest is fine, because NUL POINTS has entered the lexicon. But from a language point of view, it’s pants. It’s supposed to be said in a French accent, but NUL POINTS in French is meaningless. C’est nul: it’s crap, it’s rubbish, it sucks (like most of the songs at Eurovision, never mind just the UK). Zéro points: no points. So where that has come from, I don’t know.

    Thank you to Alchemi and flashling.

  6. Thanks Flashling et al. (And apologies to Flashling for not providing something suitably awful to despise.)

    No, I’m not on a diet, but I am rather sensitive to capsaicin and class anything above korma as “hot”. What the rest of you consider “hot” may well be what I call “lethal”. OTOH, the BRB says PILAU is “highly spiced”, which some mght interpret to mean “hot”.

    And if anyone spots a Nina or a ghost theme or anything like that, I confess it was inadvertent.

  7. Alchemi – despite what some people insist (no names no pack drill) the BRB is seriously misguided in quite a lot of places – and describing pilau as highly spiced is certainly one of them.

  8. @Alchemi, sorry I forgot to mention the fact this is clearly the work of a not even third rate hack. Better now? 🙂

    (For the rest of you, like Alchemi’s “setting”, this a long running joke between us.)

  9. @Flashling. Much better!

    But I discovered something yesterday evening about “second/third rate” which I didn’t know. Originally, a “second-rate” was a Royal Navy ship of the line with 90-98 guns. A first-rate had 100 or more on three decks, while second and third (70-88 guns) rates only had two decks.

  10. K’s D, you should blame the Togmeister for popularising the nul points thing. It was originally applied to a Norwegian effort, but I think we have probably wrested the crown from them by now. Given it was won by a bearded ‘lady’ this year, perhaps nul points indicates a good song?
    I enjoyed this very accessible puzzle, with my first in being 1a, and my last 26d. The rest were not entered in such a pleasing sequence. Favourite for me was 11a, as toilet humour never grows old.
    Good to see old Tara T-P is not forgotten, topless or otherwise.
    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  11. Definitely a Goldilocks puzzle. Not a walkover, but finished it without too many problems.

    Re 26dn, when I was in Chicago a couple of years ago, there was a chain of Chinese fast food restaurants that had the advertising slogan “Hot Asian Buns” which made me smile every time I walked past.

  12. Have to agree with others that in my experience pilau is not very hot. Pilau rice should be spiced but ‘spicy’ is not necessarily ‘hot’.

    Got wrong-footed on 10ac thinking of Xi (Jinping) till crossing letters put me right.

    LOI was SEASONS. Liked Dormouse’s description as a Goldilocks puzzle.

    Thanks, Alchemi and flashling.

  13. allan_c@12: not my term. A few weeks ago I described a puzzle here as just right, not too hard and not too easy, and somebody else coined the term from that. But it is a term I like.

  14. Started off quickly then slowed right down, so perhaps a Goldilocks puzzle for us too!

    Thanks to S & B – an enjoyable start to the week.

  15. Is it only me who thinks that 5D should read ‘could be nonsense’ rather than ‘would be nonsense’?
    After all if S was changed to N or W rather than E it wouldn’t be anything at all – although I guess you could say that it would then make no sense!

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