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
Liked this for the most part. Didn’t get the nho DANELAW and didn’t care much for ‘ginnel’ = ‘lane’. To me, a ginnel is an alleyway and I would never refer to such as a lane. Also didn’t get BERSERK but that’s on me. Guessed it would be ?ERS?R? and still couldn’t see it. Sheesh!
Really enjoyed this, so thanks to Italicus and to Quirister for the blog. I included scaTHING in the thematic entries, as the Viking assembly/council, but might have been stretching things too far….
When is a boat not a boat? When it’s a ship.
Which is to say, I still never know which to use, but the rule of thumb says , “ships are ocean-going, boats sail in sight of land”.
Another old saw, “a ship can carry a boat, but a boat can’t carry a ship”, so size matters, may be.
So, yes, I did think the Vikings used “longboats”.
The setter’s theme didn’t really float my boat, but it didn’t mar an excellent puzzle.
The surface readings are expertly put together, and they provide a fair and enjoyable pathway to the solutions.
Thumbs up, Italicus, and…of course, Ms. Q.
I also wondered if FRECKLES, THRIFT, and SLEUTH might be connected to the theme – all three appear to come from Old Norse, and I was curious whether this was deliberate. Thoughts? Did anyone spot other words that might support this? Thanks for everything to Italicus and Quirister!
Thanks both. Enjoyable and very gettable until reaching DANELAW for which I echo Hovis – even Sat Nav wouldn’t confuse a ginnel and a lane. Vikings definitely travelled in a LONGBOAT according to my primary school teacher; in other news submariners refer to their vessels as boats.
Having taken three grandchildren to Yorvik on Saturday, it would be very embarrassing if we hadn’t spotted the theme.
Thanks Quirister for the blog – we didn’t require any help today but we want to thank all the fellow bloggers while we have the opportunity.
Thanks to Italicus as well. We really hope that a solution can be found which enables us to keep solving top class puzzles in the future.
Cool theme!! I was a little Viking obsessed as a child, but the information available has since exponentially increased… the North is dominated by ancient Viking/Norse culture, in placenames and language dialects, and DNA.
Pretty fair puzzle, decent surfaces and no injustices I could detect, a genuine pleasure! Thanks to Italicus and Quirister
My first two were PASCAL and PROBABLE, so I was anxiously anticipating a statistics theme. Chambers defines a lane as “a narrow passage” which is kind of what a funnel is, but I agree they are not really the same. It turns out that England was never divided into galiates anyway. A very enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks Italicus and Quirister, an excellent puzzle and blog; the theme helped (not sure I would have gotten BERSERK or RAGNAROK otherwise). On the LONGBOAT, I side with the blogger I’m afraid
Hi all, just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the bloggers and solvers who have taken the time and effort to blog or comment on my puzzles over the years. The feedback has been a great help to me as a setter. Very sad to be saying goodbye to the Independent; it seems such a waste of so many genuinely talented setters. I hope Mike H will be able to come up with some kind of solution to keep things going.
In response to UR@6, yes the Old Norse words you mentioned were intentional; just wanted to give the whole puzzle a bit more of a Viking feel.
Thanks to you all once again, and in the immortal words of Douglas Adams – so long, and thanks for all the fish
Thanks Italicus. A great way to sign off.
Looking forward to solving you elsewhere!
Danelaw is a ridiculous clue. How the heck are you saying door?
There is a street in Harrogate which is called The Ginnel and it definitely is not an alley, as it’s used by cars.
#14 I say it as daw, but then, I’m from Yorkshire..
If I never see this grid again it will be too soon. 5 almost unconnected “gridettes”.
#16 to be fair there are two two-part answers that help to connect the different areas of the grid. Canny of the setter to have done that to mitigate the effect.