Independent 8472/eXternal

My first time blogging a puzzle from eXternal.  Tricky in places is the executive summary here, I think.  Some inventive cluing; just one or two I didn’t like that much.  Overall a very entertaining offering – bravo, eXternal.

 

 

 

Abbreviations

cd  cryptic definition
dd  double definition
(xxxx)*  anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) missing

definitions are underlined

Across

1  Evacuators suffer with youngster, about a thousand
STOMACH PUMPS
A charade of STOMACH – ‘I can’t stomach him’ and M in PUPS.  Widely used in A&E departments around 4:00am on Sundays.

9  Where one might find slippers waiting
ON ICE
I wanted to put NEXT TO THE WICKETKEEPER but it wouldn’t fit and we aren’t mentioning the cricket at the moment.  A cd.  I might have fancied a question mark at the end of this clue, since it’s a bit whimsical.

Edit: in fact it’s a dd and doesn’t need the question mark.  Thanks to commenters 1 and 2.

10  Southern refinement taking in piano and artistic work
SCULPTURE
S followed by an insertion of P in CULTURE.

11  Inexpert dater, nun I led astray
UNTRAINED
(DATER NUN I)*

12  Nobleman recalled hiding old slaver
DROOL
An insertion of O in LORD, reversed (‘recalled’).

13  A diner’s ordered fish
SARDINE
(A DINERS)*

15  Quiet one, on the outside damn spirited
DASHING
An insertion of SH and I in DANG.

17  11 possibly making up nucleus of team at Euros
AMATEUR
Hidden (‘nucleus of’) in teAM AT EURos.  Referring to 11ac.

19  Fellow needs month going round unknown country
MYANMAR
An insertion of Y for one of the mathematical ‘unknowns’ in MAN MAR.  The other name for Burma.

20  Glaringly bright liqueur friend regularly offers
LURID
Well, ‘regularly’ doesn’t have to mean ‘every second’; here it means ‘every third’.  LiqUeuR frIenD.

22  Legal profession coming into money finds tax shelter
TITHE BARN
An insertion of THE BAR in TIN for ‘money’.  TITHE BARNS were Middle Age buildings used to store tithes – one tenth of a farm’s produce given in ‘tax’ to the Church.  Hence ‘tax shelter’.

24  Organised musical ensemble heard to be resentful
RANCOROUS
Unless I’m being really dim, this doesn’t work for me.  It’s RAN for ‘organised’ and COROUS as a purported homophone of ‘chorus’ for ‘musical ensemble’.  But if you say RAN CHORUS, it doesn’t sound anything like RANCOROUS.  Where I come from, anyway.  People like Jonathan Ross try as a rule to find a synonym for RANCOUR.

26  Sociable types with double identities
PEOPLE PEOPLE
It’s a cd, I suppose, but it’s a phrase I’ve never heard.  Certainly, a PEOPLE PERSON is used to describe someone with good interpersonal skills, but I suppose if ever I were to need the plural, I’d say PEOPLE PERSONS, although that sounds a bit ugly.  But PEOPLE PEOPLE?  Don’t think so.

Down

1  Bust, casing joint
SKINT
A charade of SKIN and T for the woodworking joint.

2  Upcoming musical about Post Office worker
OPERATIVE
Nice clue.  It’s EVITA, RE and PO all reversed (‘upcoming’, since it’s a down clue).

3  Need acne treated, disease of lower parts
ABSENCE
Another good piece of cluing which took some time to parse.  It’s BSE in (ACNE)*  The anagrind is ‘treated’ and the insertion indicator is ‘parts’.  BSE is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy.  Cows get it.  And cows low.  Think Away in a Manger (if you must).

4  Shout ended ado, leaving all sides harassed
HOUNDED
More inventive stuff.  eXternal is asking you to take all the ‘sides’ or outside letters from the first three words of the clue.  So sHOUt eNDEd aDo.

5  Drank without head raised
UPPED
[S]UPPED

6  Pub closing early finding sign of this bomb-making material
PLUTONIUM
I went round the houses with this one before realising that it’s simply PU[B], and PU is the atomic symbol for PLUTONIUM.

7  Group of undesirables regularly goes out
ROGUES GALLERY
(REGULARLY GOES)*

8  With aggression, teen girl stupidly pierces abdomen
BELLIGERENTLY
An insertion of (TEEN GIRL)* in BELLY.   Comes ultimately from the Latin words bellum, war, and gerere, to carry; so ‘waging war’ in its original sense.

14  Organise another way back over the mountains
REARRANGE
Since it’s a down clue, it’s REAR over RANGE.

16  Long-distance traveller from Sweden walks in
SPACESHIP
A charade of S, PACES and HIP for ‘in’.

18  Look up in kind of bottomless pit
RATHOLE
A slang word for squalid accommodation is an insertion of LO! for ‘look’, reversed, in RATHE[R].  She was kind of/rather miffed.

19  Painter‘s interpretation of sea mist
MATISSE
(SEA MIST)*

21  Sag aloo halved between doctor and priest
DROOP
An insertion of OO for half of alOO in DR and P.  Another one I especially liked.

23  Reason a rascal rejects love
ARGUE
A R[O]GUE.

Thanks to eXternal for this Monday’s puzzle.  I enjoyed tussling with this one.