MEV challenges us in the Independent today.
There is usually a theme in Tuesday’s Independent cryptic crosswords. I can’t see a theme amongst the entries, but I do notice two social media platforms spelled out in rows 3 and 13.
MASTODON and PIXELFED are both decentralised social networks on the Fediverse. MASTODON focuses on microblogging, while PIXELFED is a privacy-friendly, Instagram-style photo and video-sharing platform. Because they use the ActivityPub protocol, users on either platform can seamlessly follow and interact with each other.
I know nothing about either platform, as this puzzle marks the first time I have heard of either. I understand that they are interlinked in some way. Perhaps some solvers can explain a bit more about these applications.
There are a few clues linked to ROMANS at 1 down, but I don’t really see them as a strong theme for the puzzle. Perhaps if you add in the Roman numerals referenced in the wordplay for 1 across and 4 down, you can argue a bit more for a ROMANS theme.
I liked the way Mev wove Wings, Vanity and Fish (band / musicians) into the clue for ANCHOVY. I also liked the Cockney allusion in the clue for OPIATE.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 8 | I put the end of Endymion in the middle of poem (3)
ONE (I is the Roman numeral for one) N (last letter of [end of] endymioN) contained in (in) OE (the central letters of [middke of] pOEm) O (N) E |
| 9 | Constantly breaking Nancy’s tiles (11)
INCESSANTLY (unceasingly; constantly) Anagram of (breaking) NANCY’S TILES INCESSANTLY |
| 11 | Do you briefly join a western den of insurance workers? (9)
ACTUARIAL (relating to insurance professionals who assess risks and calculate premiums) ACT (do) + U (textspeak [briefly] for you) + A + LAIR (den) reversed ([reading] in a western direction) ACT U A RIAL< |
| 12 | Law set by head of administration in province of 1D (5)
JUDEA (JUDEA was a ROMAN [singular of entry at 1 down] province from 6 to 135 AD) JUDE (reference the actor JUDE Law [born 1972]) + A (first letter of [head of] Administration) JUDE A |
| 13 | Protected documents a felon guards (4)
SAFE (protected) SAFE (hidden word in [guards] documentS A FElon) SAFE |
| 14 | Endlessly varied loons in America (6)
DIVERS (North American term for diving birds) DIVERSe (varied) excluding the final letter (endlessly) DIVERS |
| 15 | Right to leave archer for divine Greek lady (3)
EOS (Greek Goddess; Greek lady) ErOS (Greek God of Love, usually portrayed with a bow and arrow; archer) excluding (to leave) R (right) EOS |
| 17 | Wings quit fancy show with covers from Vanity and Fish (7)
ANCHOVY (small edible Mediterranean fish) ANC (letters remaining in fANCy when the outer letters F and Y are excluded [wings quit]) + HO (letters remaining in sHOw when the outer letters S and W are excluded [wings cut]) + VY (outer letters of [covers of] VanitY) ANC HO VY |
| 18 | They print letters on electoral system (7)
PRESSES (machines that print) PR (proportional representation; electoral system) + ESSES (letters [S]) PR ESSES |
| 20 | Essentially happy community cabin? (3)
PUB (PUBlic house; a successful one is an essentially happy community cabin) P (middle letter [essentially] of haPpy) + U (middle letter of [essentially] commUnity) + B (middle letter of [essentially] caBin) – &Lit clue P U B |
| 22 | How Eastender says “fingers crossed he consumed drug” (6)
OPIATE (drug) OPIATE (sounds like [says] ‘ope ‘e ate’, a Cockney representation of ‘Hope he ate’ (fingers crossed he consumed]) OPIATE |
| 24 | Promise the return of some imprisoned rowdies (4)
WORD (promise, as in ‘I give my WORD‘; I promise) WORD (reversed [return of] hidden word in [some] imprisoneD ROWdies) WORD< |
| 26 | Asian god‘s atrocious nadir (5)
INDRA (Hindu God of firmament and rain; Asian God) Anagram of (atrocious) NADIR INDRA* |
| 27 | Quiet clergyman was sick, came through (9)
PREVAILED (won through; came through) P (piano; quite) + REV (REVerend [clergyman]) + AILED (was sick) P REV AILED |
| 29 | Go live under crooked gorge (11)
OVERINDULGE (eat too much; gorge) Anagram of (crooked) GO LIVE UNDER OVERINDULGE* |
| 30 | Very large source of light for 1D (3)
SOL (Latin [language of the ROMANS {entry at 1 down] word for the sun [source of light]) SO (very) + L (large) SO L |
| Down | |
| 1 | Country depicted in jacket of Rabelais book (6)
ROMANS (The Epistle to the ROMANS is the sixth book of the New Testament) OMAN (country in the Middle East) contained in (in) RS (outer letters of [jacket of] RabelaiS) R (OMAN) S |
| 2 | Writer gulps high tea if blissful (8)
BEATIFIC ([making] supremely happy or blissful) BIC (brand of ballpoint pen; writer) containing (gulps) (an anagram of [high] TEA + IF) B (EAT* IF) IC |
| 3 | Now and then, pair stay in city of 1 (4)
PISA (ancient PISA was an important settlement in the Roman Empire [ROMANS, entry at 1d]) PISA (letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [now and then] of PaIr StAy) P I S A |
| 4 | Pastime of six, thoroughly discontented after start of play (8)
ACTIVITY (recreational pursuit; pastime) ACT I [Roman numeral for one] – Act 1, the start of a play + VI (Roman numerals for six) + TY (letters remaining in ThoroughlY when the central letters oroughl are removed [dis-contented]) ACT I VI TY |
| 5 | Tragic heroine‘s flogged in Irish domain (6)
ISOLDE (tragic heroine in the Arthurian medieval romance of Tristan and ISOLDE) SOLD (flogged; flog is a slang word for ‘sell’) contained in (in) IE (Internet domain name for Ireland) I (SOLD) E |
| 6 | Say Dorothy’s served up heavy food (6)
STODGE (heavy filling starchy food) (E.G. [for example] +DOT’S [Dorothy’s]) all reversed (served up; down entry) (STOD GE)< |
| 7 | Passes NY’s bustling electrified junctions (8)
SYNAPSES (although most SYNAPSES in the body are chemical, using neurotransmitters, there are some classified as electric, passing electric signals) Anagram of (bustling) PASSES NY SYNAPSES* |
| 10 | Dead wrong about thin gravy – temperature is changed (8)
ADJUSTED (altered; anged) (Anagram of [wrong] DEAD) containing (about) (JUS [a thin gravy)+ T [temperature]) AD (JUS T) ED* |
| 16 | Volcano‘s sulphur removed from bubbling toxic soap (8)
COTOPAXI (active volcano in the Andes mountains of Ecuador) Anagram of (bubbling) TOXIC sOAP excluding (removed from) S (chemical symbol for sulphur) COTOPAXI* |
| 17 | Australian politician greeting school’s crustacean (8)
AMPHIPOD (one of the Amphipoda, an order of small sessile-eyed crustaceans) A (Australian) + MP (Member of Parliament; politician) + HI! (a greeting) + POD (a small group or school of aquatic mammals) A MP HI POD |
| 18 | Corporation‘s year under pressure from drug ring (3-5)
POT BELLY (a protruding front part of the body; stomach; corporation [large paunch or belly]) POT (cannabis; drug) + BELL (ring) + Y (year) POT BELL Y – I don’t think the P is ‘pressure’ in the wordplay. I think the Y is simply under POT and BELL in this down entry such that POT BELL is applying pressure on top of the Y. |
| 19 | Notice habitual junkie Holmes is finally clean (8)
SPOTLESS (clean( SPOT (notice) + LESS (last letters of [finally] each of habituaL, junkiE, holmeS and iS) SPOT L E S S |
| 21 | Corpses‘ nasty smell fades away (6)
BODIES (corpses) BO (body odour; nasty smell) + DIES (fades away) BO DIES |
| 23 | Block Mev’s editor interrupting exercises (6)
IMPEDE (obstruct; block) I’M (I am; Mev [the setter] is) + (ED [editor] contained in [interrupting] PE [physical exercise]) IM P (ED) E |
| 25 | European article following old comedian’s simple task (6)
DODDLE (something easily accomplished; simple task) DODD (reference Ken DODD [1927 – 2018], English comedian, actor and singer) + LE (one of the French [European] forms of the definite article) DODD LE |
| 28 | Small number of sports administrators raised two points (1,3)
A FEW (small number of) FA (Football Association; an example of sports administrators) reversed (raised; down entry) + (E [East] + W [West] – giving two points of the compass) AF< E W |
I believe the setter is a big fan of Mastodon as a social media platform. I was confused for a moment by that ‘pressure’ in POT BELLY, given that I had the initial P. But, given the def and enumeration, it had to be that. We were lucky enough to have a second home in a remote Scottish village for a number of years: there was no pub but we coped instead with ‘Willie’s Shed’ which, I guess, was a community cabin of sorts.
Thanks both
Briefly breaking my vow of silence: there is also FEDIVERSE across row 6.
Thanks Mev and DS
Thanks Mev and Duncan.
COTD: OPIATE.
Liked POT BELLY (clever use of pressure pressuring the solver not to look beyond P), INDRA
(a naughty deva/god’–the surface appealed to me), PUB, ANCHOVY (learnt this name from
an Attenborough vid and since then I always remember the great man whenever I ‘see’
ANCHOVY. Of course, a great clue as the blogger says) and A FEW (for no reason, I was
thinking about the Balogun incident. All is well that ends well–very well indeed).
Web-free
Thanks Duncan for the blog. All perfectly parsed, and you’re right, in 18D “under pressure from” is meant to indicate “beneath” here, in a Down clue. Well spotted, Simon S@2.
[[ To add to what Duncan already wrote: If you’d like your social media free of ads, algorithms, tracking and billionaires, you really should try out the [sa]FE DIVERS E[os], a collection of web platforms also called the open social web, that all speak the same language. No-one owns it, so it can’t be bought. MASTODON (Twitter equivalent) and PIXELFED (ditto Instagram) are just two of the many platforms powered by the ACTIVITY PUB protocol, which enables accounts to follow others on different platforms. (Imagine having just 1 account on, say Twitter, but being able to also follow your friends on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Flickr, etc etc.) If you have a WORD PRESS(ES) web site, you can connect that to the ⁂fediverse⁂ too, with the ActivityPub plugin. I would encourage anyone disillusioned with the Big Tech stranglehold and abuse of power over social media to give it a go. There’s an excellent 4-minute “what/why” introduction video by Elena embedded here , along with a couple of links to (hopefully) jargon-free articles on getting started.
If you’ve already made the (IMO incorrect 😉 ) move to investment-capital-owned Bluesky, then please consider taking 2 minutes to Bridge your account to the fediverse. Doing so is quick, easy (& reversible), and you simply carry on as before once done: See the first two paragraphs here. (*Looks in Postmark’s direction* 😛 ) And if your reaction to all that is “no thanks, I’ll stick with Fifteen Squared”, then fair enough! 😉 ]]
The cross-references to Romans all popped up in the course of clueing, not with any intent. Thanks to my test solver, the editor, all the commenters so far, and to any lurkers who’ve solved it too.
And I’m sure the People’s Front of JUDEA would sign up too, though the Judean People’s Front is opposed to all forms of social media. Nice puzzle. I got held up by putting Pod for PUB, getting the od from body.