Italicus usually appears in the Indy every couple of months, so this seems likely to be a final appearance. The original puzzle is at https://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent/?puzzleDate=20261020.
I enjoyed this puzzle, with well-constructed clues and some plausible surfaces (especially the bad-mannered mathematician and the airline under investigation). A few less familiar terms, but the reason for those became apparent along the way . . .
The usual Tuesday theme is all connected to 23d VIKING. I’m not sure of the exact dates, but this year is the 50th anniversary of a major archaeological discovery in York, when some redevelopment work revealed Viking buildings and artefacts, now displayed in the Jorvik Viking Centre; maybe that’s what our setter was thinking of. Some of the relevant entries ASGARD, SHIELD MAIDEN, VALHALLA, RAGNAROK and DANELAW are explained in the notes below; we also have BERSERK (the term originally referred to Viking warriors working themselves up into a frenzy before going into battle), RAID (which the Vikings did a lot), and THRALL (a Norse word for a slave or serf). I was going to include LONGBOAT, but Wikipedia says “Not to be confused with the Viking longship” so perhaps not. Thanks Italicus for a fun challenge.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PASCAL |
Friend defending article written by extremely sarcastic mathematician (6)
|
| PAL (friend), containing A (the indefinite article) + end letters (extremes) of S[arcasti]C.
Blaise Pascal, 17th century French mathematician. |
||
| 4 | FRECKLES |
Spots initially faded before rash finally disappeared (8)
|
| Initial letter of F[aded] + RECKLES[s] (rash = irresponsible) with the final letter disappearing. | ||
| 9 | ORANGE |
Ape peeled red fruit (6)
|
| ORANG (short for orangutan, a great ape) + [r]E[d] (peeled = outer letters removed). | ||
| 10 | PITTANCE |
Minute amount of Charlie consumed by mental patient (8)
|
| C (Charlie in the radio alphabet) contained in an anagram (mental = slang for crazy, though I don’t think that’s a generally acceptable usage these days) of PATIENT.
Pittance = a very small amount of money, typically with the implication that it’s unfair, as in being “paid a pittance”. |
||
| 12 | ABHORRED |
Hated communist after assault on Reform’s leaders (8)
|
| RED (slang for communist), after ABH (police abbreviation for “assault occasioning actual bodily harm”) + leading letters of O[n] R[eform]. | ||
| 13 | THRIFT |
Lesson found in financial paper repudiating Spain’s economy (6)
|
| RI (abbreviation for Religious Instruction = school lesson), contained in TH[e] FT (financial newspaper) without the E (abbreviation for España = Spain).
Thrift = economy = saving money or other resources. |
||
| 15/21 | LONGBOAT |
Vessel essentially stumbling into exotic lagoon west of Thailand (8)
|
| Middle letter (essentially) of [stum]B[ling], inserted into an anagram (exotic) of LAGOON, all to the left (west) of T (international vehicle registration code for Thailand). | ||
| 16 | ASHAMED |
Red-faced journalist chasing absolute fraud (7)
|
| ED (short for editor = journalist), after (chasing) A (abbreviation for absolute, describing temperatures relative to absolute zero) + SHAM (fraud). | ||
| 20 | SPURNED |
Rejected study about following football team when inconclusive (7)
|
| DEN (study = private hideaway) reversed (about), following SPUR[s] (short for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club) without the last letter (inconclusive). | ||
| 21 |
See 15
|
|
| 25/29 | SHIELD-MAIDEN |
Cracking hidden smile about a militant female (6-6)
|
| Anagram (cracking = breaking up) of HIDDEN SMILE around A.
Female warrior in Norse folklore and mythology. |
||
| 26 | VALHALLA |
Hotel toilet repulsed everyone close to la-di-da feasting chamber (8)
|
| H (Hotel in the radio alphabet) + LAV (short for lavatory = toilet), reversed (repulsed), then ALL (everyone) + last letter (close) of [la-di-d]A.
Feasting hall in Norse mythology, where warriors go after dying in battle. |
||
| 28 | FAIR GAME |
Light match to see legitimate target (4,4)
|
| FAIR (light, as a description of the colour of hair) + GAME (a sports match). | ||
| 29 |
See 25
|
|
| 30 | RAGNAROK |
Artillerymen called back by old king for final battle (8)
|
| RA (abbreviation for the Royal Artillery regiment in the British Army), then RANG (called by telephone) reversed (back), then O (abbreviation for old) + K (abbreviation for king).
In Norse mythology, a battle in which the earth will be destroyed and then restored. |
||
| 31 | GLIDER |
Greece impounds top European aircraft (6)
|
| GR (abbreviation for Greece), containing LID (the top of a container) + E (abbreviation for European). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PROBABLE |
Likely large airline is taken aback by investigation (8)
|
| L (abbreviation for large) + BA (abbreviation for the airline British Airways), reversed (aback), contained in (taken . . . by) PROBE (investigation). | ||
| 2 | SCATHING |
Critical odds in such an entity (8)
|
| Odd-numbered letters from S[u]C[h] A[n], then THING (entity).
Scathing = harshly critical and disparaging. |
||
| 3 | ASGARD |
Like flipping tedious experience? Heavens! (6)
|
| AS (like = similar to), then DRAG (a drag = a tedious experience) reversed (flipping).
The realm of the gods in Norse mythology. |
||
| 5 | RAID |
Bishop abandoning fanatical attack (4)
|
| RA[b]ID (fanatical), with the B (abbreviation for bishop) taken away. | ||
| 6 | CATCHIER |
More memorable baseball player tours Italy (8)
|
| CATCHER (defensive player in baseball, similar to a wicket-keeper in cricket) around I (abbreviation for Italy). | ||
| 7 | LENTIL |
Forty days on lithium elevated pulse (6)
|
| LENT (a period of forty days in the church calendar), then LI (Li = chemical symbol for lithium) reversed (elevated = upwards in a down clue).
Pulse = edible seed of a leguminous plant. |
||
| 8 | SLEUTH |
Detective occasionally solves case for unpleasant husband (6)
|
| Alternate letters (occasionally) of S[o]L[v]E[s] + outer letters (case) of U[npleasan]T + H (abbreviation for husband). | ||
| 11 | BERSERK |
Crazy fool entertaining English scientific fellowship (7)
|
| BERK (slang for a fool, although the derivation via rhyming slang is somewhat more offensive), containing E (abbreviation for English) + RS (abbreviation for the Royal Society = scientific fellowship). | ||
| 14 | DANELAW |
Spooner’s ginnel entrance in historic region of England (7)
|
| Spoonerism of LANE (ginnel = Northern English dialect for a narrow passageway) + DOOR (entrance).
Historically, a region of England in which Danish laws applied; an area occupied by the Vikings but later recaptured by the Anglo-Saxons. |
||
| 17 | APOLOGIA |
Post office record exposed bias underpinning top-grade defence (8)
|
| PO (abbreviation for Post Office) + LOG (a written record) + [b]IA[s] (exposed = outer letters removed), all after (below, in a down clue = underpinning) A (top-grade).
A formal statement in defence of a cause or belief. |
||
| 18 | COLLIDED |
Crossing delta, sheep herder and daughter bumped into each other (8)
|
| COLLIE (a breed of dog often used for herding sheep) + D (abbreviation for daughter), around (crossing) D (delta = the Greek letter D). | ||
| 19 | STRAINER |
Filtration device isn’t rare at sea (8)
|
| Anagram (at sea = disordered) of ISN’T RARE. | ||
| 22 | ASK FOR |
Request accommodated by task force (3,3)
|
| Hidden answer (accommodated by . . .) in [t]ASK FOR[ce]. | ||
| 23 | VIKING |
German taking on six clansmen is fearsome warrior (6)
|
| G (abbreviation for German), after (below, in a down clue = taking on) VI (six in Roman numerals) + KIN (clansmen). | ||
| 24 | THRALL |
Hanover’s borders patrolled by towering serf (6)
|
| Outer letters (borders) of H[anove]R, contained in TALL (towering).
Thrall = serf = someone in slavery or subjected to forced labour. |
||
| 27 | AMMO |
Rounds some freedom marchers up (4)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . . ), reversed (up, in a down clue), in [freed]OM MA[rchers].
Ammo = short for ammunition; round = a single bullet. |
This was great fun with a theme that even I could spot. I did include LONGBOAT on my list of themed items, but I see from Quirister’s comments that this is incorrect.
Many thanks to Italicus and to Quirister.
As RD says, a theme that was hard to miss. All very striking. I made the same mistake ref LONGBOAT so it’s interesting to have the distinction between the two vessels clarified. If it was intended as a themer, the setter does have dictionary, if not Wikipedia, support: both Chambers and Collins have near-identical two part definitions. Here is Chambers:
longˈboat noun
The largest and strongest boat of a ship
A longship
Thanks both