I believe this is Nepeta’s second Indy puzzle, after a well-regarded debut in April this year. The original puzzle is at https://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent/?puzzleDate=20260819.
Plenty to like here: I thought 7d was neat (if sadly topical, given the recent fires) and I laughed when I saw the real meaning of the small buns in 21d.
There’s been something of a trend recently for clue surfaces apparently referring to a well-known fake-tanned autocrat with a smug grin. 1a today might have more than one target among the world’s current collection of undesirable rulers, but 29a is definitely a worthy example of the genre; I liked the clue if not the mental image. Thanks Nepeta for an enjoyable puzzle.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ABRAHAM LINCOLN |
God involved in aggressive act by desperately ill conman as president (7,7)
|
| RA (ancient Egyptian sun god) contained in ABH (police abbreviation for “assault occasioning actual bodily harm” = aggressive act), then an anagram (desperately) of ILL CONMAN. | ||
| 10 | NICHE |
Mediterranean resort with hotel in bay (5)
|
| NICE (resort on the Mediterranean coast of France), containing H (Hotel in the radio alphabet).
Niche = bay = a semi-enclosed space within a building. |
||
| 11 | TRIUMVIRI |
Edging around spot of unrest, runs into seven Roman rulers (9)
|
| TRIM (a decorative edging) around the first letter (spot = a small amount) of U[nrest], then R (abbreviation for runs, in cricket scoring) inserted into VII (seven in Roman numerals). Alternatively, we could read “seven Roman” as VII and “rulers” as the definition.
In ancient Rome, a group of three men ruling together, or appointed jointly to do a particular task. (I could say “three people” but the Latin word refers specifically to men.) |
||
| 12 | OVERARM |
Offer excessive backing for military service action? (7)
|
| Arm, as a verb = to provide weapons to; hence OVER-ARM could mean to provide more weapons than are needed.
The standard method of service in tennis: throwing the ball up then hitting it with the racket above head height. |
||
| 13 | SCREECH |
Check behind rocks for possible sign of distress (7)
|
| CH (abbreviation for check, in chess notation) after SCREE (loose broken rock at the base of a cliff or slope). | ||
| 14 | MOIST |
Hardline communist, not a wet (5)
|
| M[a]OIST (someone following hardline communist principles as set out by Chairman Mao) without the A. | ||
| 16 | TOWN CRIER |
Keep holding note, intermittently acerbic, for old newsreader (4,5)
|
| TOWER (keep = fortified building within a castle), containing N (abbreviation for note) + alternate letters (intermittently) from [a]C[e]R[b]I[c].
Someone employed to proclaim official announcements in public, a few hundred years ago when most people couldn’t read. |
||
| 19 | COMMANDER |
Officer‘s subordinate losing head after signal to pause (9)
|
| [u]NDER (subordinate) without the first letter (head), after COMMA (a punctuation mark indicating a pause in a sentence). | ||
| 20 | LAPEL |
50-50 about a sports jacket feature (5)
|
| L-L (two L = 50 in Roman numerals), around A (from clue text) + PE (abbreviation for physical education = sports lessons in school).
A folded-back edge at the front of a jacket. |
||
| 22 | SEA LEGS |
Ease when floating, for example, among marine mammals (3,4)
|
| EG (e.g. = abbreviation for Latin exempli gratia = for example) contained in SEALS (marine mammals).
Sea legs = familiarity with the motion of a ship, so you can keep your balance in rough seas: as in “I haven’t got my sea legs yet”. |
||
| 25 | BETWIXT |
Splitting chocolate bar to be eaten by hazard (7)
|
| TWIX (brand name of a chocolate bar, typically packaged in pairs) contained in BET (hazard, as a verb = gamble).
Archaic variant of “between”. |
||
| 27 | PRONATION |
Way of putting one’s foot down in support of country (9)
|
| PRO (prefix meaning “in support of”) + NATION (country).
Transfer of weight towards the inside edge of the foot as you walk forward. |
||
| 28 | THANE |
Lord of most of Kent region (5)
|
| THANE[t] (a local government district in Kent) without the last letter (most of . . .).
Aristocratic title in Anglo-Saxon England. |
||
| 29 | THICK AS THIEVES |
Fat fool keeping almost emaciated First Lady very close (5,2,7)
|
| THICK (fat) + ASS (slang for a fool), around THI[n] (emaciated) without the last letter (almost) + EVE (the first lady in the Bible).
Slang description of people who are close friends – with a slight implication that their loyalty to each other might be to the disadvantage of anyone else. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | BACTERIUM |
I trace criminal drilling behind cell (9)
|
| Anagram (criminal) of I TRACE, contained in (drilling) BUM (behind = slang for buttocks).
A single-celled organism. |
||
| 3 | ARENA |
Scene of conflict a long while back (5)
|
| AN ERA (a long time) reversed (back).
Extended definition: originally a venue for fights between gladiators, but now a general term for a large sports or entertainment venue with raised seating around the performance area. |
||
| 4 | ATTEMPTED |
Had a go at casual worker after attending inspirational talk (9)
|
CORRECTION: it’s TEMP inserted into AT TED (attending a TED conference talk), and the definition is “Had a go at”. Thanks to Hovis and Admin for putting me straight. |
||
| 5 | LOINS |
Private area‘s security measures no good (5)
|
| LO[g]-INS (security information needed to access a computer system) without the G (abbreviation for good).
What one might euphemistically call “private parts”. |
||
| 6 | NUMERICAL |
Damaged manicure on left of digits (9)
|
| Anagram (damaged) of MANICURE + L (abbreviation for left).
Relating to numbers. |
||
| 7 | OPINE |
Share view of deforestation’s impact? (5)
|
| The impact of deforestation might be 0 (zero) pine trees = O PINE.
Opine = to express one’s opinion. |
||
| 8 | NEITHER |
Not one in three, sadly (7)
|
| Anagram (sadly) of IN THREE.
Not one and not the other. (I think I’ve seen something similar before, but I still think it’s a good clue.) |
||
| 9 | INFORM |
Impart knowledge during class (6)
|
| IN (during) + FORM (a class in school, as in “sixth form”). | ||
| 15 | TRADEMARK |
Jazz on electronic record label (9)
|
| TRAD (short for “traditional jazz”) + E (prefix meaning electronic, as in email) + MARK (record, as a verb: “they were marked as absent”). | ||
| 17 | WORKBENCH |
Effort to get section of Commons supporting Labour platform (9)
|
| WORK (effort), with BENCH (as in “front bench”: a group of MPs identified by where they sit in the House of Commons) after it (below, in a down clue = supporting).
A surface on which to do work (labour). |
||
| 18 | IMPLICATE |
Point to pet I claim is abandoned (9)
|
| Anagram (abandoned) of PET I CLAIM.
Implicate = point to = provide evidence of someone’s involvement in a crime. |
||
| 19 | CESSPIT |
Gratuities dry up where turds gather? (7)
|
| TIPS (gratuities) + SEC (dry, as a description of wine = not sweet), all reversed (up, in a down clue). | ||
| 21 | LITTER |
Rubbish batch of small buns? (6)
|
| Double definition. Discarded waste; or a group of baby animals (for example bunny rabbits) born at the same time. | ||
| 23 | AIOLI |
Portion of filo I added, served up as garnish (5)
|
| Hidden answer (portion of . . .) in [f]ILO I A[dded].
Mediterranean garlic sauce. I’d expect “garnish” to mean a decoration added to food, but the dictionaries suggest it may also mean something added for flavouring. |
||
| 24 | SKIPS |
Doesn’t go to sleep on board ship (5)
|
| KIP (slang for sleep) inserted into SS (abbreviation for screw steamship): “on board” is a classic crossword trick for something inserted into SS.
As in a child who skips school. |
||
| 26 | TITLE |
Right winger the heart of Athletic (5)
|
| TIT (a small bird = something that flies on wings = winger) + the middle letters (heart) of [ath]LE[tic].
In legal terminology, title = the right of ownership. |
For ATTEMPTED, I took the definition as ‘Had a go at’ and took the AT to mean ‘attending’ (he was at/attending the conference).
I parsed as TEMP inside AT TED (attending TED)
Hovis, Admin – thanks, that makes more sense. I’ll update the blog.
Fairly relaxed solve, altho I pondered more complication for INFORM… parsed the president, after insertion, but was pointed that way by the partial anagram, and having “the cell” as FOI. Lots to enjoy, I mean, who doesn’t love a CESSPIT, and LOINS… BETWIXT has always been a favourite, as in “I’m betwixt and between”, I wonder if it predates “six and two threes..”? Maybe the theme was archaicisms … TRIUMVIRI, ARENA, THANE, TOWN CRIER?
Thanks, Nepeta and Quirister
Loved the misdirection ‘ease when floating’ has to be an anagram ..SEA .. but no.
Also went wrong at ‘scene of conflict’ ALAMO anyone? Too many a’s
Good fun, thanks both
TOWN CRIER and SEALEGS were my favourites. Xmac@5 a case of mission creep?
Nothing inept about this Nepeta: crafty but fair wordplays, good surfaces, and an eclectic choice of solutions.
One whiff of a quibble, purely personal, I don’t like “turds” in 19(d): a horrible word, and jars with the surface reading; ( and the rest of the puzzle ).
But it’s a novel idea…. “where stinkers congregate? ”
I had SNAPS at first, for 24(d), based on “doesn’t go”, being “breaks”, but the crosser came to the rescue.
Excellent crossword, and, of course, blog, both thumbs up, Nepeta & Q
Liked this a lot. ‘Signal to pause’ for COMMA was lovely. Done in under 30 minutes but with use of the check button.
We found this daunting at first but then the idea of an emaciated first lady being ‘thi[n] eve’ clicked with us to get 29ac; after that it was a steady solve and we got it all. PRONATION was new to us; we got it from wordplay but it’s not in Chambers 1914 although it is in Collins 2006. We particularly liked TRIUMVIRI, TOWN CRIER and BACTERIUM.
Thanks, Nepeta and Quirister.
A very good puzzle. Not encountered this setter before and found it hard to get going, especially in the NW. Really liked the misdirections and surprises at which parts of the clue formed the true definition which was especially well disguised.
Me @9: Chambers 2014 of course