We have Mog’s monthly Independent appearance today.
I solved and blogged this in a holiday cabin in France keeping out of the midday sun. I enjoyed the puzzle.
I got off to a good start with TASKMASTER, a programme I watch fairly regularly. I found the definition for RELIC as an old person in Collins. It’s quite interesting how Chambers and Collins sometimes have different definitions for the same word. For the wordplay in SUSPECT, I noted that Chambers had party as a synonym for SECT, but Collins was not quite so definitive.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Request millions during sample TV programme (10)
TASKMASTER (Channel 4 TV programme presented by Greg Davies and Alex Horne) (ASK [request] + M [millions]) contained in (during) TASTER (sample) T (ASK M) ASTER |
| 6 | Switch feet to do the moonwalk? (4)
SWAP (exchange; switch) PAWS (feet) reversed (do the moonwalk [a famous dance move that creates the optical illusion of a person gliding backward while making walking motions forward]) SWAP< |
| 9 | Touching musical phrase nearly finished old person (5)
RELIC (informal term for an old person [defined in Collins]) RE (with reference to; touching) + LICk [in jazz or rock music, a short instrumental passage or flourish; musical phrase) excluding the final letter (nearly finished) K RE LIC |
| 10 | Uninitiated beaus hurry to give inappropriate details (9)
OVERSHARE (reveal an inappropriate amount of detail about one’s private life) lOVERS (beaus) excluding the first letter (uninitiated) L + HARE (hurry) OVERS HARE |
| 12 | Dodgy American quietly infiltrates party (7)
SUSPECT (unreliable; dodgy) (US [United States; American] + P [piano; quietly]) contained in (infiltrates) SECT (faction; party) S (US P) ECT |
| 13 | Bushes hot to disrupt party policies (7)
THICKET (dense growth of small trees or bushes) H (hot) contained in (to disrupt) TICKET (chiefly US term for a political party’s policies at an election) T (H) ICKET |
| 14 | Pursuing answer, fool had trouble (7)
AGITATE (trouble) A (answer) + GIT (fool) + ATE (consumed; had) A GIT ATE |
| 16 | Rubbish Tesla not green anymore? (5)
TRIPE (rubbish) T (tesla [derived SI unit of magnetic flux density]) + RIPE (mature; no longer green) T RIPE |
| 19 | Drunk fans periodically visited composer (5)
DUKAS (reference Paul DUKAS [1865 – 1935], French composer) DUKAS (letters 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 [periodically] of DrUnK fAnS) D U K A S |
| 20 | No longer able to eat lunch’s contents (7)
DEFUNCT (dead or extinct; no longer) DEFT (nimble; dextrous; able) containing (to eat) UNC (central letters of [contents] lUNCh) DEF (UNC) T |
| 22 | Gunners find continued struggles (3,4)
RAT RACE (continual round of hectic and futile activity; the scramble to get on in the world by fair means or foul; continual struggles) RA (Royal Artillery; gunners) + TRACE (find) RA T RACE |
| 25 | Holiday souvenir from Hawaii in the bag (7)
LEISURE (free time spent on holiday, for example) LEI (Hawaiian garland of flowers; souvenir from Hawaii) + SURE (certain; in the bag) LEI SURE |
| 26 | Hell’s got this mobster in for straightening out (9)
BRIMSTONE (reference a ‘fire and BRIMSTONE preacher’, a religious speaker who uses vivid descriptions of divine judgment, sin, and eternal damnation in hell to motivate repentance. Also BRIMSTONE is an old name for sulphur which may be part of the fires of hell) Anagram of (straightening out) MOBSTER IN BRIMSTONE* |
| 27 | Head off state tax at the outset (5)
AVERT (head off) AVER (state) + T (first letter of [at the outset] Tax) AVER T |
| 28 | First lady, Republican to the end (4)
EVER (eternally; always; to the end) EVE (reference, EVE, the first lady in the Garden of Eden) + R (Republican) EVE R |
| 29 | Hot pose modelled for one pictorial feature (5-5)
PHOTO ESSAY (an extensively illustrated article or book on a particular subject; pictorial feature) Anagram of (modelled) HOT POSE + SAY (for example; for one) PHOTO ES* SAY |
| Down | |
| 1 | Heavy metal style pants will suit husband (6)
THRASH (a shortened form of THRASH metal [a type of very fast, loud rock music, often with violent themes; heavy metal style]) TRASH (rubbish; pants) containing (will suit) H (husband) T (H) RASH |
| 2 | Small drink to follow spiel (5,4)
SALES TALK (spiel spouted by a salesman trying to convince you to buy a product) S (small) + ALE (a drink) + STALK (follow) S ALE S TALK |
| 3 | Restaurants want these snails trim, and chef mostly performs (8,5)
MICHELIN STARS (an award sought by chefs serving high-quality fare) Anagram of (performs) SNAILS TRIM and CHEf excluding the final letter (mostly) F MICHELIN STARS* |
| 4 | Employee who’s lacking secretarial skill (9)
SHORTHAND (system of writing in which whole words and phrases are represented by combinations of simple strokes, used for recording speech at speaking pace; secretarial or journalistic skill) SHORT (lacking) + HAND (employee) SHORT HAND |
| 5 | Upright before court (5)
ERECT (upright) ERE (before) + CT (court) ERE CT |
| 7 | Share defeat (5)
WHACK (a ration; a share as in ‘here’s your WHACK‘) WHACK (beat; defeat) double definition WHACK |
| 8 | Gather this girl’s not real cowgirl material? (8)
PLEATHER (a PVC fabric, used especially in clothing, that looks and feels like leather; not real cowgirl clothing material) PLEAT (gather) + HER (this girl) PLEAT HER |
| 11 | Impatient with gigs, reworked old puppet show (8,5)
SPITTING IMAGE (a satirical political puppet show) Anagram of (reworked) IMPATIENT and GIGS SPITTING IMAGE* |
| 15 | Brilliant flipping tackle by English fellow (9)
EFFULGENT (giving off a brilliant light; brilliant) E (English) + LUFF (tackle consisting of a single and a double block for use with rope having a large diameter) reversed (flipping) + GENT (gentleman; fellow) E FFUL< GENT |
| 17 | Who’s not so civil, entering home with tenants on vacation? (9)
INTRUDERS (criminal [not civil] people entering home when the occupiers are not present) the whole clue can be read as leading to the answer, an &Lit clue I think. RUDER (not so civil) contained in (entering) (IN [home] + TS [letters remaining in TenantS when the central letters enant are removed {on vacation}]) IN T (RUDER) S |
| 18 | Lovely song and dance in front of halfhearted crowd (8)
ADORABLE (lovely) ADO (fuss; song and dance) + RABbLE (crowd) excluding one of the two central Bs [half-hearted]) ADO RABLE |
| 21 | Watch shillings coming in (6)
SENTRY (old word for a watchman or sentry) S (shillings) + ENTRY (a coming on to the stage; coming in) S ENTRY |
| 23 | Leaders from Tooting and Walthamstow chill now and again (5)
TWICE (two times [now and again]) T (first letter of [leader] Tooting) + W (first letter of [leader] Walthamstow) + ICE (chill) T W ICE |
| 24 | Time hard to manage when upset (5)
EPOCH (a point of time fixed or made remarkable by some great event from which dates are reckoned) (H [hard, when describing pencil lead] + COPE [manage]) all reversed (when upset) (EPOC H)< |
A Goldilocks puzzle for me. Tough but doable making for an enjoyable solve. A few unknowns: Dukas, luff & pleather (not sure I’ve seen photo-essay before and that meaning for ‘ticket’ rang a vague bell (?)).
At least in current US usage, the ticket is the party’s slate of candidates, while the platform is their policy proposals. I imagine “ticket” has been used interchangeably with “platform” somewhere by somebody, so I’m sure the setter is in the clear.
Overall, I agree that this was tough but doable; it fit the setter’s ideal bill (at least for me) of misleading the solver temporarily. Thanks to both Mog and duncanshiell.
Rubbish Tesla not green anymore? Well, clearly this is the anagram “stale”, for something old and not green anymore. What, it isn’t? Darn my stubbornness!