Independent 9,041 by Hob

by

A nice crossword from Hob today. It all fits together well and there is nothing (now that I’ve seen 26dn) that seems to be a problem.

There are many references to the Isle of Wight and the convenient thing for Hob is that the clue giving IOW is 10, so when he refers to this he sometimes means ‘io’ or ‘ten’. Lots of places on the IOW are there but I don’t see Sandown and Shanklin Golf Course, or Ventnor, which I used to be able to see from my boyhood home Hayling Island. At least I think it was Ventnor. [No, I just looked at the map.  It was Ryde.]

Definitions underlined.

Across
6 NEWPORT
Town with pier – not one prepared to be 14’s location (7)

(Town p{i}er)* — 14 being FESTIVAL  this refers to the Newport Jazz Festival, either the one in America or the one in the IOW
8 YALTA
Yen used for money in island resort holding wartime conference (5)

Malta with Y replacing M
10 IOW
“I love women” – that’s today’s theme, in brief (1,1,1)

I 0 [= love] W [= women] — today’s theme is the Isle of Wight
11 THE NEEDLES
Shining example of hotel in 10 that’s peeled one type of grape (3,7)

t(h)en {s}eedles{s} — but I’m not sure about the shining quality of needles: is this a standard usage, of which I’m unaware? — The Needles are a sightseeing attraction on the IOW
12/27 COWES WEEK
Sailing event for which, say, Hereford’s poor option? (5,4)

“Cow’s weak” — Hereford is a type of cow, but option? — a yachting even held on the IOW
14 FESTIVAL
5 last seen playing in 10’s famous event? (8)

(five last)* — see 6ac
17/29 OSBORNE HOUSE
Sailor tolerated hard water in Victorian residence (7,5)

OS borne h Ouse — a royal residence for Queen Victoria on the IOW
19 REGATTA
Male adult on vacation volunteers for 12/27? (7)

Reg a{dul}t TA — Cowes Week is a regatta
21 DEWY-EYED
Naive and gullible couple of old solvers died east of 25 in the morning (4-4)

(ye ye d) to the right of dew, which is fresh water in the morning — the solvers are ‘you’ , the old version of which is ‘ye’
24 SCION
Descendant has to study 10 for A-levels initially (5)

scan with A{-levels} replaced by io [= 10]
25/28 FRESHWATER BAY
He’s upset after father ordered a brew at end of day in 10 location (10,3)

(He’s)* after fr, then (a brew)* {da}y — Freshwater Bay is an IOW location
30 IN VITRO
Where reaction might occur when opening bars around 6 (2,5)

intro round VI
Down
1 IN PIECES
Keeping quiet, one relative’s shattered (2,6)

1 n(p)iece’s
2 YOUTHS
Ferry port’s lacking a jolly group for lads (6)

Y{a RM}outh’s — Yarmouth is a ferry port on the IOW
3 ITSELF
Emphatically the thing small island left at sea (6)

(s I left)*
4 RYDE
Coastal town in Tory Devon (4)

Hidden in ToRY DEvon — another place on the IOW
5 CATENA
Chain of authority regulating flights around 10 (6)

CAA [= Civil Aviation Authority] round ten
7 WOW
Bowl over – first of overs between wickets (3)

w o{vers} w
9 L S D
Money raised in island’s lottery (1,1,1)

Hidden reversed in islanD’S Lottery
13 WOOZY
Dazed occupant of Sydney zoo wakes up (5)
  • Another hiudden reversed: in SydneY ZOO Wakes
15 SEE
Refer to what surrounds 10, say (3)

“sea” — the sea surrounds the IOW — I know the dictionaries give see = refer, but I can’t think of two sentences where they are interchangeable
16 IRAQI
Asian terrorists appearing on quiz panel show (5)

IRA QI
18 NAY
Vote against Corbyn a yachtsman’s welcomed (3)

Hidden in CorbyN A Yachtsman
20 TENNYSON
Possible composer of sonnet (name unknown) (8)

(sonnet n y)*  — just about an &lit., although why Tennyson’s name is unknown I’m not sure  — Tennyson had a house on the IOW
22 EARTHY
The Yar’s turned blue! (6)

(The Yar)* — I blithely wrote in HEARTY early on, thinking there was some connection with rugger hearties and university blues
23 DETAIN
Arrest Greek character involved in row (6)

d(eta)in
24 STRIVE
Second time split for Labour (6)

s t rive
26 SOU
Footballer turned pundit has no head for money? Very little (3)

Sou{ness} — at first this was lost on me, but I have just seen it: it refers to Graeme Souness
28 BAT
Mammal having short dip? (3)

bat{h}
*anagram

14 comments on “Independent 9,041 by Hob”

  1. 10/IOW a “covenient” thing for Hob, you say John? “Carefully engineered setter’s craft” shurely?
    I enjoyed the puzzle and the blog, but just in case @indycrosswords is looking in, the interactive tool detracts from the pleasure of solving still. Clues across multiple lights are still problematic and I absolutely detest the way in which solved clues are greyed out, making them illegible when highlighted, especially infuriating when they are linked. Very gimmicky, highly annoying, can’t see what’s wrong with black and white myself (note: as an equal opportunities whiner, the Graun is making a dog’s breakfast of its system, too)

  2. Sorry, but not only the ‘mechanics’ of the system but the puzzle itself was a dog’s breakfast as far as I was concerned. A bit too much cleverness, imho, especially in the references to ten/io.

    But thanks, John, for the blog.

  3. This was fine, I guess, if you have good knowledge of IOW but pretty impenetrable if you don’t. Count me amongst the latter. Not fun. Thanks to setter and blogger though.

  4. I got The Needles in, but the clue baffled me. Thanks John. So easy to see now. We were all looking for Shanklin and Ventnor, once we had 10ac. 20d is simply an anagram, no suggestion of Tennyson as an unknown. That’s how I read it

  5. I’m not an expert on the IOW but managed this without too much difficulty. I liked the multiple uses of ten (surely it’s part of the remit of a crossword setter to try to deceive, otherwise it would be a pretty easy puzzle). The only one which gave me trouble was Youths where I guessed the answer and the RM=jolly bit but still needed to consult a map of the IOW to see which port was intended. The only Yarmouth I’d heard of was the Great one in East Anglia.

  6. No problem with the varied 10s, ok it sends you up blind alleys but that’s par for the course surely? Was expecting Woodstock or Carisbrooke to appear. Had the same problem as Neal with Youths.

    Thanks John and Hob, 2 quite (for the indy) easy puzzles so far this week.

  7. Didn’t present many problems what with ten, sorry, 10a being a bit obvious.

    Being an old hippy I took 14a to refer to the pop festival where I saw Hendricks.

    I was quite cheered by the amount I knew about the island.

  8. I mentioned yesterday that I was suffering from themed puzzle overload, so when I opened up this one this morning I was not filled with joy. Another one who didn’t much like it, I’m afraid. Solver-unfriendly grid; pretty obscure theme unless you know the IoW; yes the setter has the right to mislead, but this was just a bit too clever for me. But hey ho, others have enjoyed it.

    And what baerchen said at no 1. Given that the majority of crossword solvers are old codgers like me with less than perfect eyesight, you might think that some consideration could be given towards that in the layout. And please get rid of the American dates: the Indy is a UK publication, so today is 6/10/15 and not 10/6/15.

    Thanks to John and Hob.

  10. Thanks John and Hob. I lived in Southampton for several years, so I was able to plonk in IoW landmarks until I received my automated congratulations. It wasn’t really sufficient compensation for having lived in Southampton for several years.

    I’m with sidey @7, 14a surely refers to the Isle of Wight Festival held in Newport.

    In 15d, I think the definition is “refer to”, and “see Appendix A” could easily be interchanged with “refer to Appendix A”.

  11. Much easier than a normal Hob, I thought.

    But the lack of Ventnor troubled me greatly. We had a family holiday on the IOW many years ago, and everywhere we went, the road signs said VENTNOR 4. As far as we could make out, everywhere was four miles from Ventnor except Ventnor itself.

  12. K’s D – if you don’t like the US-style dates you should try the printed version, which says this puzzle is from “Wednesday, October 6, 1915”. It’s good to see that the Millennium Bug is still alive and well after all these years.

  14. Yes Cyborg @10 you’re right. The definition in 15dn is clearly ‘refer to’.I tried to amend the blog but am using my phone and failing to do so.

Comments are closed.