I don’t think we’ve seen Crosophile for a few months: welcome back! The original puzzle is at https://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent/?puzzleDate=20260922.
I enjoyed this one, despite a couple of minor quibbles pointed out below. Some very good surfaces: 21a is entirely believable at the moment, and I was amused by the unlikely image in 6a and the rather stereotypical one in 30d.
Crosophile often shows up on Tuesdays when we should expect some sort of hidden extra in the puzzle. I began to see the theme while solving, but didn’t spot the explanatory Nina until later. The unchecked letters in rows 2 and 14 spell MUSICIAN MONONYMS, and the grid includes a number of musicians who are known by a single name or one-word nickname. Some of these are better known than others, but I’ve included Wikipedia links for all of them: SADE, FLEA, DRAKE, ADELE, ELVIS (whose middle name Aaron also appears, as it happens), SEAL, SKIN, PRINCE, CLIFF, DURAN (not familiar to me but I found him while checking), STING. (The highlight colour doesn’t have any significance except to make it easier to show where one name ends and another starts.) It’s possible you may find more that I’ve missed, of course. Thanks Crosophile for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SADE |
Marquis’s place of origin and deplorable end of life (4)
|
| SAD (deplorable) + end letter of [lif]E.
The Marquis de Sade, writer from whom we get the word “sadism”: not a nice man, allegedly. |
||
| 3 | FLEA |
Bloodsucker – run if heard (4)
|
| Sound-alike (if heard) of FLEE (run away).
A biting insect that feeds on blood. |
||
| 6 | DRAKE |
Dead debauchee Donald Duck? (5)
|
| D (abbreviation for dead) + RAKE (debauchee = someone with an immoral lifestyle).
Definition by example: a male duck. |
||
| 10 | APPEASE |
Pacify primate eating some veg (7)
|
| APE (primate) containing PEAS (vegetables). | ||
| 11 | ASSURED |
Certain ruses deployed in commercial (7)
|
| Anagram (deployed = arranged) of RUSES, contained in AD (short for advertisement = commercial). | ||
| 12 | MADELEINE |
A girl belonging to me hugs a singer (9)
|
| MINE (belonging to me) around (hugging) ADELE (English singer-songwriter).
A girl’s name. |
||
| 14 | INNER |
Victor has tip-off in The Bull Ring (5)
|
| [w]INNER (victor) without the first letter (tip).
Inner = bull or bullseye = the central circle on a dartboard or archery target. (The terminology varies but I think “inner” could be used in either case.) |
||
| 15 | PELVIS |
Hip joints need one piano with singer (6)
|
| P (p = abbreviation for Italian piano = quiet, in musical notation) + ELVIS (singer Elvis Presley). | ||
| 18 | SEALSKIN |
Waterproof clothing waterproofs family (8)
|
| SEALS (as a verb = applies a waterproof coating to) + KIN (family). | ||
| 21 | AUGUSTUS |
Imperial leader’s gold luxury car touring States (America) (8)
|
| AU (Au = chemical symbol for gold, from Latin aurum) + GT (abbreviation for grand tourer or Italian gran turismo = a luxury car designed for comfortable long-distance driving), around US (States = short for the United States), then another US (America).
Roman emperor, heir of Julius Caesar. |
||
| 22 | PRINCE |
Public relations deceptively nice – Charming? (6)
|
| PR (abbreviation for public relations) + anagram (deceptively) of NICE.
Definition by example: the fairytale / pantomime character Prince Charming. |
||
| 25 | FASTS |
Stops eating butter etc around sabbath (5)
|
| FATS (butter etc) around S (abbreviation for sabbath). | ||
| 27 | CLIFF EDGE |
Caught on shelf one fine fellow’s dug in – don’t fall off here (5,4)
|
| C (abbreviation for caught, in cricket scoring) + LEDGE (shelf), with I (one in Roman numerals) + F (abbreviation for fine) + F (abbreviation for fellow) inserted (dug in). | ||
| 31 | RUN TIME |
Program’s second minute up – period of execution (3,4)
|
| Anagram (up) of the second letter of [p]R[ogram] + MINUTE. | ||
| 32 | INGRATE |
Where fire is laid, no thanks from him (7)
|
| A domestic coal fire is laid IN a GRATE (metal rack within a fireplace).
Ingrate = an ungrateful person. |
||
| 33 | SHRUG |
Keep mum’s carpet – it could go with whatever (5)
|
| SH (sh! = keep mum = an instruction to be quiet) + RUG (carpet).
A shrug of the shoulders, or the one-word response “whatever”: both are ways to suggest “I don’t really know or care”. |
||
| 34 | NAGS |
Horses given hitch with head pushed right back (4)
|
| SNAG (hitch = a difficulty), with the first letter (head) pushed back to the end.
Nag = slang for a horse, especially an old or unfit one. |
||
| 35 | RAPT |
Transported in parcel paper say? (4)
|
| Sound-alike (say) of WRAPPED (in parcel paper).
Rapt = transported = fascinated and delighted. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SMARM |
Toadying special address to queen (5)
|
| S (abbreviation for special) + MARM (pronunciation of “ma’am”, a corruption of madam = the official form of address to a queen). I’m not sure whether “address to” is supposed to indicate a sound-alike, because that suggests it’s doing double duty; in any case, I’m told the correct UK pronunciation of “ma’am” in this context is “mam” to rhyme with jam.
Smarm = toadying = flattery. |
||
| 2 | DUPED |
Departs on horseback, editor taken for ride (5)
|
| D (abbreviation for departs, in train timetables) + UP (slang for mounted on horseback) + ED (abbreviation for editor).
Taken for a ride = duped = deceived. |
||
| 4 | LIEBIG |
German chemist’s whopping whopper comes first (6)
|
| BIG (whopping), with LIE (whopper) first.
Justus von Liebig, 19th-century German chemist. Among other things he invented nitrogen-based fertilisers and the process for making beef stock extracts. |
||
| 5 | ACADEMES |
Confused case made for scholastic fields (8)
|
| Anagram (confused) of CASE MADE.
Academe = a place of education, a particular field of study, or the world of learning in general. |
||
| 6 | DISTILLER |
He makes spirits from infernal world tense, more evil (9)
|
| DIS (a name for the underworld in Roman mythology = infernal world) + T (abbreviation for tense) + ILLER (more ill = more evil).
Someone who makes alcoholic drinks such as gin or whisky by distillation. |
||
| 7 | AARON |
Boy seen in bazaar once (5)
|
| Hidden answer (seen in . . .) from [baz]AAR ON[ce].
A boy’s name. |
||
| 8 | ENDURANCE |
Stoicism broken under cane thrashing (9)
|
| Anagram (broken) of UNDER + anagram (thrashing) of CANE. | ||
| 9 | SAIL |
Spaniel regularly seen in boat trip (4)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly seen) of S[p]A[n]I[e]L.
As in “go for a sail” = go out in a sailing boat. |
||
| 13 | ALE |
For audience get weak beer (3)
|
| Sound-alike (for audience) of AIL (be unwell = get weak). | ||
| 15 | PLATFORMS |
Programming language formats rigged for hardware systems (9)
|
| PL (abbreviation for programming language) + anagram (rigged) of FORMATS.
Different types of computer hardware. |
||
| 16 | LAG |
Delay of time for jailbird (3)
|
| Double definition. A time delay, for example between live action and broadcast; or slang for a prison inmate, especially as in “old lag” = someone who has spent a lot of time in prison. | ||
| 17 | INSISTING |
One covers NS&I fraud, standing firm (9)
|
| I (one in Roman numerals) before (above, in a down clue = covering) NS + I + STING (fraud = a deception). | ||
| 19 | KIN |
Family cat’s bitten off lamb’s tail (3)
|
| [cat]KIN (lamb’s tail = catkin = a long cluster of flowers hanging from a hazel or similar tree), without CAT. We need to read the surface as “cat is bitten off” (has been removed) rather than “cat has bitten off”.
It’s a pity that we have this KIN so close to the end of SEALSKIN with the same definition. I imagine Crosophile couldn’t find anything else to fit K_N, but might we at least have had a different definition? |
||
| 20 | LUNCHEON |
Worked unclean old hotel without a meal (8)
|
| Anagram (worked) of UNCLE[a]N + O (abbreviation for old) + H (Hotel in the radio alphabet), without the A. | ||
| 23 | COG |
Wheel around, turn over (3)
|
| C (abbreviation for Latin circa = around = approximately), then GO (a turn in game-playing, as in “it’s my go next”) reversed (over). | ||
| 24 | HIDING |
Keeping secret a chastisement (6)
|
| Double definition. Concealing; or (as a noun) a severe beating as a form of punishment. | ||
| 26 | SENOR |
Don, the cycling Norwegian (5)
|
| NORSE (belonging to an ancient people group, of whom modern-day Norwegians are descendants; hence also a description of Norwegians and their culture), with the letters “cycling” round in a loop.
Don = Señor = titles of respect for a man in the Spanish language. I think Don is roughly equivalent to “Lord” and Señor is “Sir” or a formal “Mr”, but it’s the same general idea. |
||
| 28 | FOGY |
Confusion – one of the axes is a stick in the mud (4)
|
| FOG (lack of clarity = confusion) + Y (one of the two axes, X and Y, on a mathematical graph.
Fogy (also spelled fogey) = stick in the mud = slang for someone who prefers old-fashioned ways and resists change. |
||
| 29 | DRAMA |
Director’s squeeze acting in play (5)
|
| D (abbreviation for director) + RAM (squeeze = to force something into a small space) + A (abbreviation for acting, in the sense of temporarily holding a role until a permanent appointment is made, as in “acting chair” of a committee). | ||
| 30 | EGEST |
Expel college student not much seen (5)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . not much seen = only part of . . .) in [coll]EGE ST[udent].
Equivalent to “excrete”: the opposite of “ingest”. |
A marvellous outing today, twigged the theme but somehow completely missed the nina – not unusual for me. I needed help here to fathom the parsing of KIN.
To confirm, perhaps for overseas solvers, ma’am used for senior officers etc will rhyme with harm, solely in the case of our late queen (not sure about previous queens!) did it rhyme with jam.
MADELEINE could also be seen as a mononymous singer from Canada
Thanks very much to setter and blogger
An unusual topic for a theme – mononym is not a word with which I am familiar (and even as I type here, the word is showing up as unrecognised). I recognised some of the singers as I went through but did not see the ninas. Like our blogger, I did raise an eyebrow at KIN = family appearing so very close. KEN would have solved the problem. Sadly, I failed on RAPT – I don’t see ‘say’ coming at the end of a clue as a homophone construction so was looking for other constructions.
INNER, PELVIS, RUN TIME, DISTILLER, ENDURANCE and INSISTING my faves.
Thanks both
A pleasant surprise to see singers that are singers and not birds. A fine puzzle, though I agree about the quibble with SMARM.
MARM is listed as an alternative spelling for MA’AM in Chambers.
Took a while to get RAPT (had MAIL in mind for some time but didn’t think it fit the clue). Didn’t parse KIN either. Fixated on KI(tte)N being the “cat” but couldn’t see how that worked.
I didn’t spot today’s theme until I guessed SADE and realised the top row was SADE, FLEA and DRAKE who are all musicians. I did think of bassists when I put in FLEA early on but we only got STING as another one, though I suppose you could count Prince as well as he was a multi-instrumentalist but his main instrument was the guitar
I also completely missed the Nina but I tend to do that most of the time!
I also agree that having KIN next to SEALSKIN was a little weak – they could’ve had KEN instead and had a clue about Barlow, Loach or Barbie’s boyfriend!
The only one I didn’t get was EGEST – I put in EJECT instead and it was only when it was revealed that I noticed it was a hidden word! Clearly they’re not always the easiest clues to solve!
Thanks Crosophile and Q
Timely example of just how good the Independent crossword can be even if, like me, despite looking because it was theme day, the theme and the Nina went unnoticed. I also bunged in ‘eject’ for EGEST, ignoring a rule of thumb that I have where I think that if the clue and/or the surface don’t make any sense, it is probably a hidden clue. Feeling very stupid but I did enjoy the grid and the prevalence of shorter words among which SHRUG and DRAKE were my favourites. Thanks Quirister and Crosophile.
Missed the theme but thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle.
I am here having just finished adding my comment in response to the very sad news with regard to the demise of the Indy crossword.
I can only hope that it is not a final decision and this lovely community will not be lost for ever.
A nina and a theme – great! Not difficult except a couple including my LOI, RAPT.
The EDGE of U2 is another theme entry. Apparently there’s also a musician called RAPT. Thanks Crosophile and Quirister!
Layman @8: indeed, and apologies to The Edge. I think I did notice him while solving, but missed him when I wrote up the blog. I was sure there was another one . . .
SADE and DRAKE so early on was enough to put me on track for the theme. But I admit that I haven’t heard of absolutely all of the theme entries identified above. Interesting that crosswordland’s favorite mononymous singer, CHER, had been omitted for once.
Fact I find Interesting: the majority of mononyms for female pop stars out there are the woman in question’s actual given name or a slight modification thereof (see Sade, Cher, Adele, Robyn, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Madonna), while most men in the business opt for pseudonyms–the few notable exceptions include Prince and Drake (his middle name) here. (Elvis shouln’t count, really; he never dropped the Presley in any meaningful way, but just sort of got on a first-name basis with the entire world.)
Belatedly, thanks to Quirister for the excellent blog and for all the appreciative comments. The grid shows all the intended mononyms except, as mentioned, [the] EDGE. CHER and several others were on my list but there’s only so much you can fit into one grid. By the way, I originally clued SADE as the letter in the Hebrew alphabet but a bit too obscure for a daily cryptic. And MARM is an informally accepted way to have addressed the queen though I don’t speak from first hand experience 🙂