Independent Crossword 9254 by Eimi

The boss giving himself a Saturday outing today, with a puzzle that had me slapping answers in at a great rate.

1 down, 9 across went in with hardly any thought. Of course it couldn’t last, but a fair chunk of the puzzle was complete before the “first pass” – when I attempted (and got) the last unread clue there were only 8 unsolved.  So this does seem to be puzzle on the light side for what was the Prize Crossword slot.

One thing I still don’t understand is how Eimi pseudonym “EIMI” is pronounced, what it means, or how it arose?

Indy_9254

Across
9 HARRY Badger a prince (5)
Double Def.
10 DALAI LAMA A country in the manner of Germany rejected a religious leader (5,4)
A MALI (country) À LA (in the manner of) D[eutschland] (Germany) All reversed (rejected)
11 TEAKETTLE Boiler made of wood on purpose in Scotland (9)
TEAK (wood) ETTLE (on purpose) First that I couldn’t solve on first sight, and Last One In. I thought Teak for wood when I got the leading T.  No way did I know about Ettle as a dialect word for purpose so even when, with all the crossing letters, I thought of Kettle I had to check Ettle for purpose before believing it.
12 REPRO Sort of furniture salesman getting run over (5)
REP (salesman) R[un] O[ver]
13 WALKER Dad’s Army private similar to one deserting during conflict (6)
L[i]KE inside WAR (conflict)
14/20 CITIZEN KANE Nazi necktie modelled in film (7,4)
(NAZI NECKTIE)* AInd: modelled.  Not an anagram I have seen before but night now remember
17 ROSE Something growing in orderly lines, it’s said (4)
Homophone “rows”
19 PET Favourite thermoplastic polymer resin (3)
Double Def. Having studied chemistry this was a write-in.  For a reminder here is the Wiki page for P.E.T   Polyethylene_terephthalate
23 BLASTED Severely criticised for being the biggest night owl, figuratively (7)
LAST in BED – Last Wordplay to be parsed (only when writing the blog)
24 WHITBY Yorkshire town having intelligence to cover back of Church Times (6)
[churc]H inside WIT (intelligence), then BY (times).  Oddest recent story about Whitby is this fake graveyard idea.  Seems there are so many Goths visiting the real churchyard that was the fictional landing point for Dracula that they need a spare
27 KEELE Scandalous Christine’s unable to finish university (5)
KEELE[r] Ref. that Christine Keeler, off of that Profumo Scandal, with the sexy photo on the office chair
28 NOSTALGIA Foolishly lost again in yearning for the past (9)
(LOST AGAIN)* AInd: foolishly
29 LEASTWISE Most stupid, at any rate, in the US (9)
Double Def. At least one definition nicely cryptic Most/Least Stupid/Wise
30 DANNY Boy providing news throughout 24 hours (5)
N N News inside DAY.
Down
1 DHOTI Policeman getting very warm in Indian garment (5)
HOT (very warm) in D.I (Policeman – Detective Inspector).  First read and first entered
2 ERRATA Deserter’s caught in time, making mistakes (6)
RAT (deserter) inside ERA (time)
3 LYSENKO Russian geneticist getting yokels upset about reproduction finally (7)
(YOKELS [reproductio]N)* AInd: upset. Hmmm.  Pseudo-geneticist would be a more accurate description.  Should be remembered for the corruption of the scientific method by the influence of politics and personality. [Wiki]
4 EDITOR Journalist having last slices of the sliced bread brought up (6)
[th]E [slice]D ROTI< (bread) reversed: brought up.
5 ALLEY CAT Homeless creature lately seen wandering round about (5,3)
(LATELY)* AInd: wandering, around CA (about).  When I was small one of the old family cats was called “Alley”, short for “alley cat” because he didn’t like coming in the house (the other cat didn’t much like going out of the house)
6 LIBRATE Be poised to tell tales about unruly child (7)
LIE (tell tales) around BRAT (unruly child).  I wasn’t 100% sure of the poised/librate definition – I know libration as a wobbling action which is hardly poised if stable – but I see there is a secondary meaning of “balanced”
7 LA SPEZIA Pia lazes around somewhere in Italy (2,6)
(PIA LAZES)* AInd: around.  Port around about half way between Genoa and Livorno [Google map]
8 IAGO McKellen’s first to abandon perfect stage role in Othello (4)
I[m]AGO
15 NEED Require Anne Reed to appear in regular instalments (4)
[a]N[n]E [r]E[e]D. Sentiment of the clue’s surface is perfectly correct as far as I’m concerned
16 CRIB Copy a card game (4)
Double Def
18 SPACE BAR Cantina in Star Wars, for example, that’s sort of key
(5,3)

References to keyboard keys are appearing quite often of late, and I’m sure I’ve recently seen something very similar elsewhere to this allusion to Star Wars
19 PEDANTIC Clown supporting 13 paying too much attention to detail (8)
ANTIC (clown) underneath (supporting) PED (Walker, ref 13).   Is Ped. a recognised abbreviation for pedestrian?
21 STRETTI Somehow tries to take in races in passages that are fast (7)
(TRIES)* AInd: somehow around TT (races)
22 VIVALDI Italian maestro getting back of old car entangled with front of supermarket (7)
VIVA (old car) and ALDI (supermarket) “cojoined” (back … entangled with front) at the A.  This is a clue I loved because I don’t remember seeing this wordplay before.
24 WASTED Did Father Crilly use to be drunk? (6)
WAS (did) TED (Father Crilly)  The Father Ted of TV fame was Crilly
25 BEGONE Get lost for example in Ilium, say (6)
E.G. (for example) inside BONE (Ilium – by example, thus “say”)
26 SATYR Horny creature very tastelessly sent up in part (5)
Reversed Hidden in veRY TAStelessly
27 KYLE Scottish channel featuring Australian songbird (not current) (4)
KYL[i]E Losing “i” for (electric) current from Miss Minogue

10 comments on “Independent Crossword 9254 by Eimi”

  1. Tipped off by Grant’s comment above I now realise I completely missed the theme.
    Eimi is well known as a football fan and now I presume he is a Spurs supporter (well, we all have our crosses to bear)

    In the puzzle we have:

    Kyle Walker (27d, 13a – Defender)
    Harry Kane (9a, 20a – Forward)
    Danny Rose (30a, 17a – Defender)
    Dele Alli (along top row – Midfield)
    Eric Dier (along bottom row – Midfield)

    All the Tottenham players that are members of the England squad that is now in Marseille
    Is there anything else?

    I’m not a fan so I did not recognise any of these names – if Rooney or Vardy had appeared I might have noticed.

  2. Don’t normally do the Saturday Indy, but seeing as it was Eimi (I don’t know how to pronounce it either, but I think it’s Greek) I thought I’d have a flirt with it.

    Good fun, although as usual with this setter, my general knowledge was stretched to its outermost limits. However, I can best you with PET, beermagnet: not only did I study chemistry but I worked in the plastics industry for many years, so like you it was a write-in.

    As I’ve said before, there’s far too much footie in the Indy. I think we should have more golf. Is there a match on tonight?

    Thanks to S&B(eermagnet).

  3. Thanks Eimi and beermagnet

    The Ancient Greek for “I am” transliterates to “eimi” – the Modern Greek is slightly different. No-one really knows how Ancient Greek was pronounced, but my teachers variously pronounced this as something like “I-me” or “Amy”, with the stress on the first syllable in either case.

    Of course, “our” Eimi could well have a completely different reason for that monicker.

  4. Some months ago, I actually asked Eimi how to pronounce his name.
    Like Amy but he added that it might sound somewhat too girlish.
    Personally, I think I-me sounds better.

    Really nice puzzle in which I somewhat messed up the SW.
    And I missed the Spurs.
    Should have known better (not least because Eimi is a renowned fan).

    Thanks beermagnet for the blog and especially explaining what happened around ‘blasted’.

  5. Thought there may be a theme, especially with the bottom row of unches, but with only limited football knowledge, couldn’t get any further than that. Enjoyable puzzle, with my favourites being BLASTED and the inventive wordplay for VIVALDI. Brought back memories (not all of them good!) of my very first car years ago.

    Thanks to Eimi and beermagnet.

  6. Missed the theme (again) but what does it matter? Only one quibble with the otherwise excellent clue for 22dn; hasn’t the Viva name been revived recently so it’s not necessarily an old car? Perhaps some petrolhead can confirm?

    Thanks, Eimi and beermagnet.

  7. Thanks to all (except Mr Berezutski)

    As there weren’t any Spurs players in the 2014 England squad, I thought the inclusion of five this time a cause for celebration after a disappointing end to the season. Luckily enough they all made the starting line-up, otherwise the puzzle may have fallen a bit flat.

    As for my name, I took it from a book title by e e cummings, without any clear idea of how it might be pronounced. I used to say I-me, but someone else suggested it should be Amy. It’s all Greek to me.

    On the subject of names, I may have some good news. It appears that a fix for the lack of setter names in the app may be on the horizon.

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