Independent 8,899 / Klingsor

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I last blogged a puzzle by Klingsor in February after a very long break, so I was pleased to see that I had not had to wait too long for my next encounter with his work.

I found this puzzle fairly challenging, especially in terms of parsing it satisfactorily. For example, I realised fairly quickly what the answer to 14 was and what constituted the definition part of the clue; however, despite having come across these uses of “on vacation” and “packing” before, I did not for a long time realise how they affected the wordplay of the clue.

My last-one-in was 24, where once again the solution and definition were clear but the wordplay eluded me until I looked up “ounce” in Chambers and was reminded of the word’s alternative definition, so beloved of crossword compilers. Clearly I had not been able to get beyond the surface reading of the clue. Even then it took a while for me to spot “feline” in the solution, believe it or not!

As for my favourite clues, I rather liked 28, for its originality, and 8, for its humour, as well as 12 and 22 for their surface readings, to name just a few.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across  
   
01 ASPHODEL Plant, a creeper, lines lake round hotel

H (=hotel) in [ASP (=a creeper; snake) + ODE (=lines, poetry) + L (=lake)]
   
06 CRABBY Irritable, like a hermit?

A hermit is a type of crab
   
09 RECOIL Run story about catching firm offering kickback

R (=run, in cricket) + [CO (=firm, company) in EIL (LIE=story; “about” indicates reversal)]
   
10 KANDAHAR Quite a bit of a rock and a hard place in Afghanistan

Hidden (“quite a bit of”) in “a rocK AND A HARd”; Kandahar is the second city of Afghanistan
   
11 ORCA Killer or murderer drops in

OR + CA<in> (=murderer, of Abel; “drops in” means letters “in” are dropped)
   
12 WATERCRESS Caterers dressed stuffing with special garnish

*(CATERERS) in [W (=with) + S (=special)]; “dressed” is anagram indicator
   
14 WARHORSE After a rush on vacation, packing less well for Copenhagen?

[A + R<us>H (“on vacation” means the word is “emptied”, leaving only first and last letters)] in WORSE (=less well); Copenhagen was the name of the Duke of Wellington’s horse at Waterloo
   
16 CARD Coach deserted club?

CAR (=coach) + D (=deserted), a club is a card in a pack of cards
   
18 LION Retracted name given to fat cat

N (=name) + OIL (=fat); “retracted” indicates reversal
   
19 LOP-EARED Bound along, a shade like some rabbits

LOPE (=bound along) + A + RED (=shade, colour)
   
21 BODY-POPPER One dancer or another entertains dopy drunk

*(DOPY) in BOPPER (=another, i.e. dancer); body-popping is a form of dancing with robot-like movements
   
22 DRAW Perhaps pull on bow // tie

Double definition: (to) DRAW means to pull on (archery) bow prior to shooting AND (a) draw is a tie, tied match
   
24 LIFELINE It saves you £1 an ounce?

L (=pound, as in LSD) + I (=1) + FELINE (=an ounce)
   
26 TOO BAD Poor driver touring round Britain? That’s regrettable

[O (=round, pictorially) + B (=Britain)] in TOAD (=poor driver, in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows
   
27 BYE-BYE Not all sleep so long!

BYE-BYE<s> (=sleep; “not all” means last letter dropped)
   
28 SO-CALLED Party told porkies, the ones leaving alleged

SOC<i>AL (=party) + L<i>ED (=told porkies); “the ones (=letter i’s) leaving” means both “i”s are dropped
   
Down  
   
02 STEER Pilot is attention-seeker always

ST (=attention-seeker, i.e. sound made to attract someone’s attention) + E’ER (=always, ever)
   
03 HOORAY HENRY Affected or no, “yah” he brays regularly?

*(OR NO YAH HE + <b>R<a>Y<s>); “affected” is anagram indicator; & lit.
   
04 DELAWARE Guided back to conscious state

DEL (LED=guided; “back” indicates reversal) + AWARE (=conscious)
   
05 LIKE THE CLAPPERS Very quickly take to appreciative audience?

LIKE (=take to) + CLAPPERS (=appreciative audience)
   
06 CANARD False rumour about Democrat spread around

CA (=about, circa) + NARD (D=democrat + RAN (=spread); “around” indicates reversal)
   
07 AGA Stove in heads of aggressive government agents

A<ggressive> G<overnment> A<gents>; “heads of” means first letters only are used
   
08 BRASSERIE Restaurant wants a couple of cups I dropped?

BRASS-I-ERE (=a couple of cups, bra); “I dropped” means that letter “i” moves to a lower position in the word
   
13 ROCK-AND-ROLL One wears topless dress – ridiculous for this music

[AN (=one) in <f>ROCK (=dress; “topless” means first letter dropped)] + DROLL (=ridiculous)
   
15 ANIMOSITY Pose adopted by a Star Trek actor creates ill feeling

SIT (=pose, as verb) in [A + NIMOY (=Star Trek actor, i.e. Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr Spock)]
   
17 OPERATIC Description of Met’s performance perhaps could make cop irate

*(COP IRATE); “could make” is anagram indicator; the “Met” in the definition is the New York Met Opera, not the Metropolitan Police!
   
20 BODICE A person with cool bit of clothing

BOD (=a person) + ICE (=cool, as noun)
   
23 AGAVE At last Toyota opened plant

<toyot>A (‘”at last” means last letter only) + GAVE (=opened, gave an opening or view, led)
   
25 EBB Decline electronic books

E (=electronic) + B B (2 x B=book)
   

16 comments on “Independent 8,899 / Klingsor”

  1. Is anyone else having trouble opening this puzzle on Crossword Solver? It tells me I have no internet connection, but I do, and Private Eye works fine.

  3. (I don’t recommend anyone clicks on that link, which was added automatically when I posted – the address is just for pasting into Crossword Solver.)

  6. My experience was much the same as yours, RatkojaRiku, particularly with 14 and 24. In fact I guessed 14 from ‘Copenhagen’ – a definition by example (something which some contributors to 15^2 don’t like, though it’s OK by me). But it was all solvable, with some inventive clues. Thanks Klingsor and RR.

    Relieved to know others have had difficulty downloading from Crossword Solver; I had to use the long URL yesterday as well and began to wonder if it was a problem with my computer.

  7. I sped through most of this and then spent an age on my last 5 answers. I did finish eventually it but I’m wondering if others found the same clues hard. I struggled with:
    21A body-popper
    22A draw
    24A lifeline
    20D bodice
    23d agave

    The wordplay here was too clever for me. I could not understand it at all for 16A “card” or 22A “draw” or 23 “agave”, and guessed the answers – fortunately, correctly. Thanks for the blog explaining it, RatkojaRiku, you clearly have a more devious mind than I do! I still wonder at “agave”, though.

    I loved the wordplay at “so-called” – when I eventually understood it! Thanks, Klingsor!

  8. Another one who had to revert to the magic formula to open the puzzle in Crossword Solver. Not sure what’s cracking off, since the puzzles are usually loaded a week at a time and the previous three have been fine.

    Whatevs, a tough puzzle. Had to get e-help for BODY-POPPER, even though I had the ODY-P bit, and there were a number of others where the parsing was beyond me, so thanks for that, RR.

    It’s Thursday, it’s ‘the hard one’, so no complaints from our house. CRABBY was my favourite today.

  9. Am I the last person in the world who actually waits for the paper, and reads it, before attempting the crossword? If you don’t read it today, you will miss Mark Steel. Need I say more?

  10. The Independent has published its crossword online at various times of the day. It used to be 2230 of the previous day, then changed to 0030, and now has moved back to about 1900. Out here in the boondocks, our paper used to be delivered about 1100, last stop on the milkman’s round. Waiting for the print edition was tedious, and I developed the habit of attempting the crossword at bedtime, online. The Independent‘s website is terrible, though, and the print paper excellent, so we still support the publisher and the milkman by paying for a daily print copy, which it is my habit to read over lunch. Dramatic developments, though; the milkman of 30 years recently retired, and the new milkman has changed the round so our paper now arrives about 0845. It will be the talk of the village for years.

  11. Another one who does the paper version. I must admit I do see if there are any obvious answers before reading the whole paper, but then I do read the paper before attempting to finish it.

    I remembered the answer to 14ac from a reference in Finnegans Wake, and it has been many years since I read that. I was pleased to have got the answer, I forgot to try to parse it. Thanks for the explanation.

    In the end, I just couldn’t work out 16ac.

  12. I am glad I am not alone. I have really felt that I was up against supermen/women who could solve so quickly and so early. In many cases I do concede that you are a super lot to be able to solve puzzles that leave me scratching my head, and I admire and respect all the bloggers and contributors. The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne.

  13. Thanks Klingsor and RR. I failed to parse LIFELINE, ANIMOSITY and TOO BAD. I did like DELAWARE, CANARD and WARHORSE. Below is Copenhagen’s epitaph

    Here Lies
    COPENHAGEN
    The Charger ridden by
    THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON
    The entire day at
    THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO
    Born 1808. Died 1836.

    God’s humbler instrument though meaner clay
    Should share the glory of that glorious day.

  14. Leon@12

    Th’assay so hard, so sharpe the conquerynge,
    The drefdful joye, alwey that slit so yerne:

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