Independent 8630 / eXternal

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eXternal has given us a very pleasant puzzle today.  

 

 

 

I knew all but one of the entries.  I am sure I have come across HALF-HARDY at some point but not recently.

I made fairly steady progress from beginning to end in this puzzle.

Clues I liked today included the one for ESSO (7 across), mainly because it was my last one in and came with a Doh! moment when I realised what it was.  Others I enjoyed were those for WEIRDO (11 across) for its succinctness encompassing both definition and wordplay, YOURSELVES (25 across) for the definition ‘Independent people’ and HAUTEUR (2 down) for its double insertion.  I groaned at 27 across I-SPY

We are a J and a Z short of a pangram.  Twenty two of the letters of the alphabet appear at least twice.  There is only one K and one Q.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay

Entry

1

 

Embarrassed girl had to admit where bites are found, mother repulsed (10)

 

SHE’D (girl had) containing (to admit) ([CAFE {a place where bites are found } + MA {mother}] all reversed [repulsed])

SH (AM EFAC)< ED

SHAMEFACED (embarrassed)

 

7

 

Standing order from account for fuel supplier (4)

 

ESSO (sounds like [account for] SO [standing order])

 

ESSO (brand of fuel found in petrol stations; fuel supplier)

 

9

 

Desert‘s rather cut off, ultimately (4)

 

QUITE (rather) excluding (cut off) the final letter (ultimately) E

 

QUIT (desert)

 

10

 

Diarist’s private place in the Caribbean (10)

 

BRIDGET (reference BRIDGET Jones Diary; diarist) + OWN (personal; private)

 

BRIDGETOWN (reference BRIDGETOWN, Barbados; place in the Caribbean)

 

11

 

Oddball (5)

 

WEIRD (strange; odd) + O (ball shape)

 

WEIRDO (eccentric; oddball)

 

12

 

Worry about new European in charge being mad (8)

 

(FRET [worry] containing [about] [N {new} + E {European}]) + I/C (in charge)

FRE (N E) T IC

FRENETIC (mad)

 

13

 

Customary to act cross after nothing right with house (8)

 

O (zero; nothing] + RT (right) + HO + DO {act} + X {cross shape}

 

ORTHODOX (according to received doctrines; customary)

 

15

 

Get ready to use joint setter’s filled (5)

 

WELD (a WELDed joint) containing (filled) I (referring to the puzzle setter)

W (I) ELD

WIELD ([get ready to] use)

 

17

 

Hawk eating hard part of nut (5)

 

SELL (hawk) containing (eating) H (hard)

S (H) ELL

SHELL (the outer [hard] part of a nut)

 

19

 

Cobblers about to drink gin (8)

 

C (circa; about) + LAP (drink) + TRAP (gin can be defined as a type of TRAP)

 

CLAPTRAP (rubbish; cobblers)

 

22

 

Rancid jam provides a memorable moment (4,4)

 

HIGH (slightly tainted or decomposed; rancid) + SPOT (be in a  SPOT, be in a jam)

 

HIGH SPOT (memorable moment)

 

23

 

Writer married royal at seas(6)

 

M (married) + an anagram of (at sea) ROYAL

M ALORY*

MALORY (reference Thomas MALORY, English author [died 1471] compiler of Le Morte D’Arthur)

 

25

 

Independent people, chop suey lovers (10)

 

Anagram of (chop) SUEY LOVERS

 

YOURSELVES (people like you who read the Independent newspaper, or at least do the Independent crossword; Independent people))

 

26

 

Extremely content retreating in February Revolution (4)

 

VERY (hidden word [content] reversed [retreating] in FEBRUARY REVOLUTION)

 

VERY (extremely)

 

27

 

Game pastry dish filled with organs, reportedly (1-3)

 

I-SPY (sounds like [reportedly] EYES [organs of the body] forming the filling of a PIE [pastry dish])

 

I-SPY (game)

 

28

 

Additional information given briefly by extremists in Paris (10)

 

PS (first and last letters of [extremists in] PARIS) is an abbreviation for POSTSCRIPT

 

POSTSCRIPT (additional information)

 
Down

2

 

Interrupted twice by posh character, one who despises arrogance (7)

 

HATER (one who despises) containing (interrupted … by) (U [character denoting posh] and again [twice] U [character denoting posh])

HA (U) TE (U) R

HAUTEUR (arrogance)

 

3

 

Time to get into this ascendant space vehicle (5)

 

T (time) contained in (get into) (ROOM [space] reversed [ascendant; down clue])

MO (T) OR<

MOTOR (vehicle)

 

4

 

Lies about upcoming fashion designer finding growths (8)

 

FIBS (lies) containing (about) (DIOR [reference Christian DIOR {1905 – 1957}, French fashion designer] reversed [upcoming; down clue])

FIB (ROID<) S

FIBROIDS (benign tumours; growths)

 

5

 

After eating one, cook delivers about four big cheeses (5,10)

 

(CHEF [cook] containing [eating] I [one]) + (EXECUTES [delivers] containing [about] IV [Roman numerals for four])

CH (I) EF EXECUT (IV) ES

CHIEF EXECUTIVES (top people in business; big cheeses)

 

6

 

Plant enthusiast (6)

 

DIGGER ( a machine for digging; machinery; plant)

 

DIGGER (one who understands and wants more of the same; enthusiast)

 

7

 

Radical six metre electric fences start to tremble (9)

 

Anagram of (electric) SIX METRE containing (fence) T (first letter of [starts to] TREMBLE)

EX (T) REMIST*

EXTREMIST (radical)

 

8

 

Spotted black dicky bird (7)

 

SAW (spotted) + B (black) + ILL (dicky)

 

SAWBILL (a merganser; a motmot; any of various hummingbirds with serrated bills)

 

14

 

Rob, perhaps is loving fair weather (4-5)

 

HALF of the six letters of ROBERT, Christian name of the poet HARDY so giving us ‘rob’ defined as HALF-HARDY

 

HALF-HARDY a horticultural term denoting an (ability to grow in the open air except in winter; loving fair weather)

 

15

 

Friend films people reading lines (8)

 

PAL (friend) + MISTS (films)

 

PALMISTS (people who claim to read hidden meaning in the lines of your hand)

 

18

 

Despicable German’s one breaking into residence having left base (7)

 

(EIN [German for the indefinite article ‘a’] contained in (breaking into) (HOUSE [residence] excluding [having left] E [base of natural logarithms])

H (EIN) OUS

HEINOUS (despicable)

 

20

 

Before surgery, announce doctor provision to fall (7)

 

AIR (announce) + DR (doctor) + OP (operation; surgery)

 

AIRDROP (landing of supplies[provisions] by parachute; provision to fall)

 

21

 

Maintenance is improving part of castle (6)

 

UP (improving) + KEEP (the innermost and strongest part of a castle, the central tower; a stronghold)

 

UPKEEP (maintenance)

 

24

 

What beer might be rough for? (5)

 

LIVER (one who exists, one who is; a BE-ER)

 

LIVER (organ of the body susceptible to failure from consistent abuse by alcohol intake)

 

 

11 comments on “Independent 8630 / eXternal”

  1. A nice puzzle to start the day. Just enough to get one’s brain working without being too difficult. Spent ages looking at the crossers for 6d before ‘getting it’. Also liked 11ac, 14d and 24d very much. Oh and 8d.

    Don’t quite get 7ac.

    Thanks both!

  2. It took me a while to get on the setter’s wavelength but I got there in the end. HALF-HARDY took me ages, and while it is a nice idea I’m not sure it works properly. I finally saw the Robert Hardy connection and therefore the answer, but “Rob” is half of “Robert” and half of “Robert Hardy” or half of “Hardy” would be something entirely different. Oh, and Duncan, I had Robert Hardy as the actor of that name. The poet is Thomas Hardy.

    Similarly, while the clue for I-SPY is another nice idea it is a homophone of “ice pie”, not “eyes pie”.

    Those quibbles aside I thought it was a very enjoyable puzzle.

  3. 14d had me guessing – I didn’t connect ‘Rob ’with Hardy, though I guessed that would be the answer ? Could it be ‘rob’ as half of ‘robust’? As for loving fair weather, dictionaries suggest ‘able to survive out of doors except during severe frost’ – not quite the same thing IMO.

    Thanks for your great blog Duncan, as always.

  4. Andy B @ 3

    Yes – you’re right, I got the wrong Hardy in terms of the poet, but as regular readers will know, I am a bit of a Philistine when it comes to the arts! I can picture Robert Hardy the actor quite well but just didn’t make the correct association.

  7. Thanks duncanshiell and eXternal. Nice blog and puzzle. I was in the Robert Hardy camp but either works fine, imho. For 6d, did anyone else think that a plant enthusiast might be a gardener, therefore DIGGER, making it a three-way clue?

  9. Thanks for the blog Duncan – we weren’t sure about HALF-HARDY and needed to come here to find out. We were hooked on a possible Robert too but ROBust sounds much better. Joyce is the gardener and she’s with endwether @3 about the definition.

    The rest was enjoyable and we liked 7ac when the penny dropped.

    Thanks eXternal.

  10. A very enjoyable puzzle many thanks to eXternal. Thanks to Duncan also. 14dn refers to half of “robust” without question – in my opinion. For me best clue was 24dn (very clever though others may have seen the ploy before?)

  11. Too much for me, if this was a regular sort of crossword, I would start looking to go back to the Telegraph, does the editor of the i in 2018 ever try these crosswords?

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