It’s us again – we are wondering just how many Indy puzzles we have left to blog.
We have Wiglaf today. A couple of general knowledge definitions which we had never heard of. We sorted out the answers when we had some crossing letters, but we needed to check why they were correct.
Thanks to Wiglaf for the callenge.
KIN (family) after FRIED (felt the heat) – a reference to William Friedkin who directed, amongst other films ‘The French Connection’ and ‘The Exorcist’.
RAN (operated) in CIA (Langley – headquarters of the CIA)
BREAKER (wave) after CIRCUIT (round)
PEN (writer) attached to PAL (‘china’ – Cockney rhyming slang)
E (English) QUALITY (characteristic)
Hidden (‘some’) and reversed (‘in return’ – 8d) in frITTER BILlions – apparently Lorenzo Da Ponte was an American librettist and poet – we had never heard of him
CR (King Charles – ‘unelected head of state’) in (‘visiting’) A E (European)
ON (working) around (‘drinking’) PEr (‘a’) – missing the last letter (‘short’)
R (king) ‘into’ TIN (heavy metal) I (current) DAD (pop)
A reversal (‘circulated’) of MS (manuscript – ‘document’) IF (provided) I (one) CAP (better)
GO (work) A LIE (romance)
An anagram (‘worked out’) of AUTHOR IN H (first or ‘premier’ letter of Hanoi) and HOTEL
B (British) ROOKS (castles – in chess)
SATURn (planet) missing last letter (‘virtually’) ATE (consumed)
An anagram (‘poorly’) of INsURED with ‘s’ (son) missing (‘going’)
An anagram (‘new’) of EXOTIC PEN
KILL (off) around (‘across’) R (river)
Headline needs to be split: NOB (head) L (line) + EST (‘is’ in French)
CHE (Guevara – ‘revolutionary’) RUB (massage) IN I (India) – we’d never heard of this 18th / 19th century composer of operas and sacred music
ALL (everyone) around KY (Kentucky – the Bluegrass state)
Alternate letters (‘occasionally’) of dInNeR sEt + TURN (act)
R (last or ‘latest’ letter in Dior) and an anagram (‘fashions’) of EARLIEST
A (American) and an anagram (‘carved’) of A L (large) BREAST
SLASHER (‘Jack the Ripper copycat’) around (‘taking’) P (pee)
An anagram (‘loosely’) of IT MEANS. 10 ac is ‘Pen pal’ – two or more of whom could fancifully be described as ‘mates’ (pals) in prison (‘pen’ – penitentiary) or INMATES
RIG (doctor) OUT (striking)
LOO (office – slang term for toilet) underneath (‘supporting’) a reversal (‘rising’) of GI (regular)
GI and ANT (two soldiers) – we had to check this – apparently, Giant Despair is an antagonist in ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’
Similar experience to the blog. For GK I didn’t know I followed the parsing, using the crossers that I had and checked. For 23a it was pattern recognition. Then I twigged the definition and back-parsed. Very enjoyable nevertheless. I know many commenters enjoy the ‘new setters’ the Indy promotes. I do too but I have a soft spot for the experienced setters whose puzzles fit like clockwork. It hits home when there is a Saturday puzzle (and blog) like we have today that will soon be no more. SPLASHER my favourite. When they take away your prostate it’s hard not to. Thanks B&J and Wiglaf. A fine sobriquet to accompany a fine puzzle.
I think the Da Ponte in 12a was more likely intended to be the one who was Mozart’s librettist.
Fine crossword, just the right sort of challenge for a Saturday morning. Thanks to Wiglaf and B&J
I agree, a well-put- together crossword, but a few too many oddities for me.
FRIEDKIN, GIANT, ACRE, DA PONTE, even ALKYL..
To be sure, throw in a couple of ” grandstanding solutions”, but too many, and it gets a bit too like a vanity project.
B+J, thanks, I will miss your blogs and enjoyable narratives.
Setter…keep it real!
But, it is a thumbs up to both ( or, all 3 ), in case we never meet again.
Lorenzo da Ponte is most famous now for collaborating with Mozart on The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni (possibly with the help of Casanova) and Cosi fan tutte, but he’s so much more interesting than that. The title of Anthony Holden’s excellent book ‘The Man Who Wrote Mozart – The extraordinary life of Lorenzo Da Ponte’ is, if anything, something of an understatement.
Thanks to B&J and Wiglaf for sorting out my weekend’s (re)reading.
Thanks for that, Cruciverbal #4 – I’ll have a look at it! One of the many joys of doing the Independent crossword and then coming here is that you can learn so much. Really hoping a subscription solution is sorted.
I always like it when a wordplay standard is promoted to definition, so I enjoyed HOLIER-THAN-THOU. A very enjoyable puzzle and a great blog as always. Thank you.
For what it’s worth, I took the IG in igloo to be “regularly” taken from uprIsinG.
Thanks to Wiglaf and B&J
I still don’t understand 23a????
Chris #8: ‘Pi’ is an abbreviation of ‘pious’ and is used to describe someone or something that is excessively righteous, or ‘holier-than-thou’. It apparently originated in UK college slang in the 19th century. It is a frequently used feature in cryptic clues (charades mostly). Here the clue type is anagram.
Thanks sofa! never knew pi is short for pious That is what was confusing me.
Phew! Took some time, but worth it, in the end… eg 23a where, 3 defs presented themselves, AUTHOR, PI(as in trig.), PI as in pious.. with an equal number of variations of the anagram fodder… when the penny finally dropped, it was a good feeling…
Thanks Wiglaf and Bertandjoyce