Independent 8,825 by Eimi

by

A pleasant crossword from Eimi. Of course there are references to football and pop music, but I was expecting those. If there is a Nina I can’t see it; it all seems quite straightforward.

Definitions underlined where appropriate.

Across

1 Eden Hazard’s restricted diet (9,5)
FORBIDDEN FRUIT
CD. I’m not that familiar with the footballer Eden Hazard, but I don’t think there is anything more than a pun on his name.
9,21 Only one liner out at sea? You must be joking (3,2,4,6)
NOT ON YOUR NELLIE
(Only one liner out)*
10 Three of a kind forming spherical layer? (5)
OZONE
A reference to this pop group, of which I was vaguely aware, also to the spherical ozone layer that surrounds the earth
11 Clearly showed Cable captivated by Miliband (7)
EVINCED
E(Vince)d — Ed Miliband and Vince Cable, a happy coincidence
12,22 Pimp maybe in such an advantageous position (5,2,3,4)
AHEAD OF THE GAME
A pimp might be fancifully described as being a head of “the game”
13 Common alpine cultivated outside normal growing area, lacking depth (8)
PLEBEIAN
(alpine)* round be{d}
15 Judicial decision to remove Native Americans (6)
DECREE
Again fancifully, to ‘de-Cree’ might be regarded as to remove Crees — I would have expected a question mark at the end of this clue, though — in 12,22 Eimi uses the word ‘maybe’, which does the same job
17 A politician loves to cut tax (6)
IMPOST
I’m not absolutely comfortable here — it seems that it’s a = it and i(MP 0’s)t
19 Topical debate finally settled with flowery language (8)
POETICAL
(Topical {debat}e)*, the anagram being indicated by ‘settled’
23 Unbelievable place to stay somewhere in Estonia (7)
TALLINN
tall inn
25 Nick Cotton originally featured in any of 25 letters (5)
NOTCH
C{otton} in ‘not h’, i.e. any of the other 25 letters of the alphabet
26,27 Somehow point Old Testament out in a New Testament quotation (4,2,3,4,10)
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
(point Old Testament out in a)*

Down

1 Means of producing digital art (6-8)
FINGER-PAINTING
CD
2 On which an upwardly-mobile sailor may be reliant perhaps? (7)
RATLINE
(reliant)*, with an &littish quality — a ratline is any of the small lines forming steps of the rigging of a ship
3 Order of architecture with which there’s a certain bond (5)
IONIC
There is a scientific reference here: ionic bonding
4 Stunning comeback that wouldn’t be appreciated (4-4)
DROP-DEAD
Someone who is drop-dead gorgeous is stunning, and if someone said “drop dead!” that wouldn’t be appreciated
5 9/21 is about right in place of Grieg (6)
NORWAY
“Not on your Nellie” = “No way” — Grieg was Norwegian — no (r) way
6 President to resolve constitutional change (9)
ROOSEVELT
(to resolve)*
7 So as to be like a brother, which is appropriate (2,5)
IN ORDER
A monastic brother is in an order
8 Meat dish that’s hopefully not rubbery (4,10)
BEEF WELLINGTON
A reference to Wellington boots
14 House cat I dissected and reassembled for Italian anatomist (9)
EUSTACHIO
(House cat I)* — had never heard of him, but obvious because of the eustachian tube — Bartolomeo Eustachi
16 Training centre in which combat op may be worked out (4,4)
BOOT CAMP
(combat op)* — another semi-&lit.
18 Very quick scoring at North End. Here! (7)
PRESTON
presto N — presto the musical [scoring] term — I’m not absolutely sure what the definition is but it can’t include ‘North’ if ‘North’ is not to do double duty, although it seems a bit odd and no doubt I’m missing something — maybe the definition is just ‘Here!’ and the word End indicates that it is the end of the word North
20 A letter from Greece opposing Italian import perhaps? (7)
CHIANTI
chi [A letter from Greece] anti — I suppose the word import is there because if we drink chianti we import it from italy
24 He drove a German car without insurance initially in Los Angeles (5)
LAUDA
L(Aud{i})A — the removed i is i{nsurance} — ref Niki Lauda the F1 driver
*anagram

10 comments on “Independent 8,825 by Eimi”

  1. Hi

    Thanks to Eimi and John.

    A lot easier than the recent offerings on a Tuesday. I expect Thursday will be a real workout.

    I think you are right on Impost I had it as

    IMP (a politician) Os (loves) + t (to cut or missing the letter o)

  3. Thanks, John.

    Bit of footie, bit of Italy, bit of GK. If eimi’s name hadn’t been at the top of the puzzle, it wouldn’t have taken much effort to work out who had set it, would it?

    Enjoyed it. Just the last few took time to pin down. LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION is a brilliant anagram, but as is usual with me, I’m going to get enough crossing letters to work it out rather than trying the anagram in the first place. Said a bad word when I got FINGER-PAINTING.

    PRESTON is alluding to the fact that the football club is called PRESTON NORTH END. Is this &lit? I think we should be told.

    Thanks to the setter too.

  4. Is Eimi a chemist? I think we often see chemical clues in his work? Ozone (O3 and ionic bonding today) can we expect covalent soon?

  5. Thanks to Eimi and John, and Patrick O’Brian for helping me to get 2d straight away. Loved 25 and 10 in particular, even without knowing about the extra “complexity” of the Moldovan pop group. Ed Miliband is a real godsend to cryptic setters these days isn’t he? As a “furr’ner” I know him much better as a crossword clue than as a politician!

  7. Thanks John, missed the “on the game” part of 12/22 but otherwise ok. Just took ozone as being 3 x oxygen and the atmosphere. Think the group unlikely but Eimi will no doubt contradict me 🙂

  8. I’m not sure where all this football and pop groups comes from – O3 is ozone, and if you can’t see the connections between forbidden fruit, the garden of Eden and being led into temptation, then you have had a very sheltered life.

    Lovely, uncomplicated puzzle.

  10. Thanks to John and all commenters.

    To clarify a few points, no, I hadn’t heard of the Moldovan trio (I’ve listened to a bit of Italian pop recently and can recommend Alessandra Amoroso, Laura Pausini and Noemi, but Moldovan music remains a mystery to me) and, though I’m not a chemist, the clue was suggested to me by a chemistry graduate of my acquaintance. It wasn’t intended as a straight cryptic double definition though, as spherical denotes O and layer=zone (def 5 in Collins).

    I had intended the long answers to be linked and timely, as a lot of people will be struggling with New Year’s resolutions and trying to avoid temptation, and isn’t “Lead us not into temptation” (Matthew, 6:13) linked with the Old Testament Eden hazard story?

Comments are closed.