Vigo is an occasional contributor to the Independent daily series. I last blogged a Vigo puzzle in August last year.
Vigo gives us our money’s worth today with 36 clues which is an unusually high number for a traditional broad sheet daily.
I think this is a puzzle that will return confidence to any solvers who have been struggling with Independent puzzles recently. For me, the clues were towards the easier end of the spectrum, but we need a good mix of puzzles if new solvers are to develop their skills.
The most common clue types were the additive format [or slight variants] where the entry was broken down into a number of consecutive parts, and the container and contents format. It was good to see a triple definition.
I enjoyed the whole puzzle as the wordplay was clear and the definitions were fair.
The top half of the puzzle fell quickly with the South East corner being the last to be completed.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Very small house in central London location (4)
|
SO (very) + HO (abbreviation for [small] house)
|
SOHO (central London location)
|
|
3
|
Time with number one is precious (4)
|
T (time) + WEE (WEE is a slang / childish term for urine, as is the phrase NUMBER ONE)
|
TWEE (cute, quaint, precious)
|
|
6
|
Prisoner’s accommodation has zero means of producing music (5)
|
CELL (prisoner’s accommodation) + O (zero)
|
CELLO (musical instrument; means of producing music)
|
|
10
|
Sharing details of secret study hit after providing returns (9)
|
CON (study) + (IF [providing] reversed [returns]) + DING (thump; hit) CON FI< DING |
CONFIDING (sharing details of secret)
|
|
11
|
Bundle bursts badly after top of buckle goes (5)
|
Anagram of (badly) BURSTS excluding (after … goes) B (first letter of [top of] BUCKLE) TRUSS* |
TRUSS (bundle, especially of hay or straw)
|
|
12
|
Forgive sailor’s fickle love (7)
|
AB’S (Able Seaman’s) + an anagram of (fickle) LOVE ABS OLVE* |
ABSOLVE (pardon; forgive)
|
|
13
|
Those glorying in self-love die first in El Salvador (7)
|
(GO [die] + IST [1st; first]) contained in (in) ES (International Vehicle Registration for El Salvador) E (GO IST) S |
EGOISTS (people who think and speak too much of themselves or of things as they affect themselves; those glorifying in self-love)
|
|
14
|
Dodgy fellows found in Italy’s borders (4)
|
(F [fellow] + F [fellow] to give fellows) contained in (found in) IY (first and last letters of [borders of] ITALY) I (FF) Y |
IFFY (dodgy)
|
|
16
|
Stuff brill with syrup fried peacock hearts (6)
|
FAB (fabulous; brill[iant]) + RIC (middle letters of [hearts] each of SYRUP, FRIED and PEACOCK)
|
FABRIC (stuff)
|
|
18
|
Nakedly desires one living in colonies (3)
|
WANTS (desires) excluding the two outside letters clothing it (nakedly) Wand S
|
ANT (insect that lives in a colony)
|
|
21
|
Could possibly mollify aggressive Yemeni leaders (3)
|
MAY (first letters of [leaders] each of MOLLIFY, AGGRESSIVE and YEMENI)
|
MAY (could possibly)
|
|
22
|
No luck engendering release (6)
|
Anagram of (engendering) NO LUCK UNLOCK* |
UNLOCK (release)
|
|
23
|
Wind insulation around end of pipe (4)
|
LAG (insulating lining) reversed (around) + E (last letter of [end of] PIPE) GAL< E |
GALE (wind)
|
|
25
|
Fire container constructed from prickly shrub containing core of monazite (7) |
BRIER (prickly shrub) containing (containing) AZ (middle letters of [core of] MONAZITE) BR (AZ) IER |
BRAZIER (container or tray for hot coals.)
|
|
27
|
Relishes choice by the French (7)
|
PICK (choice) + LES (one of the forms of ‘the’ in French)
|
PICKLES (relishes)
|
|
29
|
Meagre enclosure holding Olive perhaps (5)
|
GREEN (hidden word in [holding] MEAGRE ENCLOSURE)
|
GREEN (reference the shade OLIVE GREEN)
|
|
30
|
Turkey part a small child consumes one afternoon (4,5)
|
A + ([S {small} + MINOR {child}] containing [consumes] [I {one} + A {afternoon}]) A S (I A) MINOR |
ASIA MINOR (a part of the world comprising most of Asian Turkey and the Armenian Highlands)
|
|
31
|
Gallery hosts special experience (5)
|
TATE (reference the TATE Gallery) containing (hosts) S (special) TA (S) TE |
TASTE (experience)
|
|
32
|
Adult dismissed from frequent search (4)
|
HAUNT (frequent) excluding (dismissed from) A (adult)
|
HUNT (search)
|
|
33
|
Deity is interminable prick (4)
|
THORN (anything prickly; prick) excluding the final letter (without terminating character; interminable) N
|
THOR (Deity, God of Thunder in Norse mythology)
|
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Mail is distributed by society for principle of equal distribution (9)
|
SOC (society) + an anagram of (is distributed) MAIL IS SOC IALISM* |
SOCIALISM (principle, or scheme of social organization which places the means of production of wealth and the distribution of that wealth in the hands of the community)
|
|
2
|
Gives workers pointers (5)
|
HANDS (pointers [on a clock, watch etc]) HANDS (workers)
|
HANDS (gives) triple definition
|
|
4
|
Capital way you and I lobby to cover up assassination (9)
|
(WE [you and I] + HALL [lobby]) containing (cover up) HIT (killing; assassination) W (HIT) E HALL |
WHITEHALL (street [way] in London)
|
|
5
|
United dropped out of league after replacing winger (5)
|
Anagram of (after replacing) LEAGUE excluding (dropped out of) U (united) EAGLE* |
EAGLE (bird; something with wings; winger)
|
|
6
|
Fail to impress censor with advertisement lacking tiniest bit of truth (3,2,3)
|
CUT (censor) + NOTICE (advertisement) excluding (lacking) T (letter from [tiniest bit of the word] TRUTH) CUT NO ICE |
CUT NO ICE (fail to impress)
|
|
7
|
State obsessive about holding onto agreements from Paris and Madrid (9)
|
(ANAL [obsessive] reversed [about]) containing (OUI [yes {agreement} in French {Paris} + SI {yes; agreement} in Spanish {Madrid}]) L (OUI SI) ANA< |
LOUISIANA (American State)
|
|
8
|
A half-sibling joins love somewhere in the desert (5)
|
O (zero; love score in tennis) + A + SIS (first three letters of six [half] in SISTER [sibling])
|
OASIS (fertile spot in the desert)
|
|
9
|
Manuscript covering evil factories (5)
|
MS (manuscript) containing (covering) ILL (evil) M (ILL) S |
MILLS (factories)
|
|
15
|
Traps where prey flaps wildly (9)
|
Anagram of (wildly) PREY FLAPS FLYPAPERS* |
FLYPAPERS (sticky or poisonous papers for attracting and killing flies; traps)
|
|
17
|
Two records with X Factor backing get touching welcome (9)
|
REC (record) + EP (extended play record) + (IT [something special; the X factor] reversed [backing]) + ON (touching) REC EP TI< ON |
RECEPTION (welcome)
|
|
19
|
Unending indulgence more certain for one in charge of funds (9)
|
TREAT (indulgence) excluding the final letter (unending) T + SURER (more certain)
|
TREASURER (one in charge of funds)
|
|
20
|
Chancellor of the Exchequer follows gold stamp with note to listeners (8)
|
AU (chemical symbol for gold) + DIE (stamp) + N (note) + CE (Chancellor of the Exchequer)
|
AUDIENCE (listeners)
|
|
24
|
A politician joins special constable to get rogue (5)
|
SC (special constable) + A + MP (member of Parliament; politician)
|
SCAMP (rogue)
|
|
25
|
Foreign Office abandons legendary American primate fanatic (5)
|
BIGFOOT (in the US and Canada, a hairy primate reputed to inhabit wilderness areas, and said to be between 6 and 15 feet tall; legendary American primate) excluding (abandons) FO (Foreign Office)
|
BIGOT (person blindly and obstinately devoted to a particular set of ideas, creed or political party; fanatic)
|
|
26
|
Extend hand to every individual (5)
|
R (right; hand) + EACH (every individual)
|
REACH (extend)
|
|
28
|
Illegally kill wild cat taking tail for companion (5)
|
LYNX (wild cat) replacing (taking … for) the last letter (tail) X with CH (Companion [of Honour])
|
LYNCH (to judge and put to death without the usual forms of law; to kill illegally)
|
I agree that this puzzle wasn’t difficult to complete, but the finished article is worth standing back to admire.
The surnames of various MPs are in the grid, none more pleasing to the eye than the split for “Mickey Fab”- Michael Fabricant.
Nice one, Vigo and thanks to Duncan
Thank you to Gaufrid for all the work getting these words up here. Thank you to Duncan for the excellent blog – your explanations of the word play are far better than mine would have been. Thank you to baerchen for spotting the MPs – especially Fabricant – I was challenged by my father to construct a grid with MPs surnames in and didn’t think it would be a particularly promising set of words but I had forgotten just how many of them there are ….
A very straightforward puzzle but none the worse for that. The theme passed me by but wasn’t necessary to complete the grid, which is as it should be. CoD was BRAZIER for the novel way of indicating AZ.
Thanks Vigo and Duncan – and to Gaufrid for getting things working again.
Thanks Duncan for the blog and baerchen for finding the theme which we missed completely. Is 25d one of them? No, perhaps not.
We’ve already Gaufrid in another place so it only leaves us to thank Vigo for an enjoyable solve. It was on the easier side perhaps but the clueing was varied and certainly not write-ins. Well done for including so many themed entries.