Independent 9,280 by Scorpion

by

Scorpion is never all that easy, but this wasn’t too bad. There were still several clues that detained me, but apart from one or two minor quibbles, everything seems to be fair.

Definitions underlined and in maroon.

Madison (which I had to look up to confirm that it really was correct) and the word Armstrong in a clue suggested to me early on that this was something to do with cycling, but so far as I can see it isn’t. Although it may be, since my knowledge of cycling is almost nil. I believe that a Brit is doing well in the Tour de France at the moment so perhaps.

Across
6 CHARLES Royal tea regulations not universal (7)
cha r{u}les — Royal a noun
8 WAGGLE Shake rapidly, as wife replaces husband in negotiation (6)
haggle with w replacing h
10 BORNEO Geordie inhabits Teesside location briefly – it’s an alien territory (6)
‘Bor(NE)o — the Teeside location is Middlesbrough — less sure about the connection between aliens and Borneo: Google suggests that aliens have been sighted there, but it probably suggests that aliens are sighted all over the place: was there some film or suchlike of which I am unaware?
11 EXCUSE ME Pardon former copper using mobile in butcher’s (6,2)
ex-Cu se(m)e — butcher’s hook = look = see, rhyming slang
12 CLOG After competition’s opening, enter jam (4)
c{ompetition} log [= enter]
14 SALSA Seasoning it repeatedly entertains character starting lunch (5)
SA(l{unch})SA — SA = Sex Appeal = it, something that is often used in crosswords but never in my experience in real life
15 SAND Yellowish-brown hospital department (4)
san d — a nice change from ENT — yes sand really is a colour, according to Chambers but not apparently Collins
16/17 MASHED POTATO Army medics do tea, breaking outside container and side dish (6,6)
M.A.S.H. (do tea)* round pot — I wouldn’t have called mashed potato a side dish, more part of the main dish
20 POLE Support Lech Walesa? (4)
2 defs, one of them referring to the country
21 BREAK Split pedal audibly (5)
“brake”
22 EMMY Little space writer’s given for award (4)
em [= little space] my [= writer’s]
24 OWN-LABEL Brand new ball relocated on centre-spot? (3-5)
O (new ball)* — I can’t quite see how the centre spot (presumably the one on a football pitch) is a circle; it’s a dot, isn’t it? There is a circle that goes round it, but that’s not what is being referred to.
25 ARLOTT Sports broadcaster showing skill describing crowd (6)
ar(lot)t — ref John Arlott
27 FLORAL Fellow trainee takes type of test associated with climbers, say (6)
f [= fellow] l [= learner = trainee] oral
28 MADISON Cycle event from French house includes first stage to Dijon (7)
ma(D{ijon})ison — this event
Down
1 SCHOOL Some fish move off to bank caught by line (6)
s(c)hoo l — ‘bank’ is the indicator that shoo contains c
2 BARN Harvester might be located here – the fourteenth food and drink outlet? (4)
bar N — as opposed to bar A, the first …, bar B, the second …
3 ESTELLE Female model let several houses when erected (7)
Hidden reversed in modEL LET SEveral
4 KWACHA Amount of power church gets in two areas is necessary in Africa (6)
kw [= kilowatt] a(ch)a — necessary = money and the kwacha is the unit of currency in Zambia and Malawi
5 FLAMINGO Bird needing hand to secure belt before journey (8)
f(lam)in go — fin = hand, lam = belt
7 LOOK-SEE Gander seen up river in Cornish port (4-3)
Loo(kse)e, the kse being (Esk)rev.
9 GAS ESCAPE Gossips head outpouring from chemical plant? (3,6)
gases cape — I took a while to do this since my spelling wasn’t good enough to know that it’s gases not gasses, nor did I know the term except in a very general sense
13 GOSPELLER Vocal support for magician who performs in church hall? (9)
If giving vocal support to a magician, you might say “Go, speller!”
16 MOONWALK Idle lying with rejection of rules constant? Armstrong did this (8)
moon [= idle lying, although isn’t it mooning that = idle lying?] (law)rev. k — the reference is to Neil Armstrong, not Lance as we are led towards
18 OAKLAND Forest-dweller perhaps acquires property in US city (7)
oak land
19 RECLIMB Not for the first time, go up on branch with Charlie (7)
re [= on] C limb [= branch]
21 BUBBLE Canadian singer drinks drop of Buck’s Fizz? (6)
Bub(B{uck’s})lé — ref Michael Bublé
23 MATING Old Lib Dem leader keeps attending congress (6)
M(at)ing — at = attending — ref. Menzies Campbell, known as Ming — congress = sexual congress
26 LAST Extreme band leader (4)
2 defs, one of them referring to James Last

*anagram

9 comments on “Independent 9,280 by Scorpion”

  3. I really enjoyed this, thanks to Scorpion.
    Spotting the dance theme early helped a lot (having rejected the cycling idea too – no bad thing having just done Boatman’s puzzle in the Graun). I like the way Scorpion used a fairly motley crew to feature in the puzzle: Ming Campbell, Lech Walesa, Michael Buble,John Arlott, James Last etc..

  4. Yes good fun, but I found this hard going and had to have a few goes at it. Completely missed the dance theme of course and didn’t get the (appropriate) LAST clue – obvious answer now, but stupidly I bunged in ‘loss’ (as in Joe Loss) instead. I thought the ‘Armstrong’ clue was top rate with the deceptively simple SAND not far behind.

    Thanks to Scorpion and John

  6. Re the notes against 16d.
    Could we take ‘moon’ (v.) to be ‘idle’ (v.) and ‘lying with’ as connector?

  7. This took a bit of figuring out – I had to leave it and come back to it a couple of times but eventually finished it. Missed the dance theme – although it’s obvious once it’s pointed out. But despite the cycling reference in 28ac I decided that the Armstrong one in 16dn was a red herring even though it took me a while to figure out the answer.

    All good stuff, though. Thanks, Scorpion and John

  8. Missed the theme totally but we did look for one at the end.

    Just a amall point …… there are four Brits doing well in The Tour!

    Thanks Scorpion and John.

Comments are closed.