Hypnos is a long-standing, regular but comparatively infrequent setter for the Independent and the Independent on Sunday. I found this to be a puzzle that fell steadily, with a few clues that took a bit of teasing out (and parsing).
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Complaint from empty fellow, as it were
MOAN
Well, if a MAN has nothing inside him, then he’s going to be ’empty’, isn’t he?
3 Deny scarf’s misplaced in party costume?
FANCY DRESS
(DENY SCARFS)*
10 A Northern rugby team encapsulating its sport usually
AS A RULE
An insertion of RU for Rugby Union in SALE, which is a Northern (Greater Manchester to be precise) RU team.
11 Practical joke, say, before quiet in period of rest
LEG-PULL
An insertion of EG for ‘say’ and P for the musically ‘quiet’ in LULL.
12 Incline to accept latest piece of menswear fashion
TREND
An insertion of R for the last letter of ‘menswear’ in TEND.
13 Tidy a car nervously for draped female figure
CARYATID
(TIDY A CAR)* A supporting figure from a Greek, or Greek-style, building.
16 Doctor dons jacket for action
COMBAT
An insertion of MB for ‘doctor’ in COAT.
17 Damage sides of range in island close to resort
MALTREAT
An insertion of RE for the outside letters of ‘range’ in MALTA, followed by T for the last letter of ‘resort’.
19 Single female in troubled year as agent
EMISSARY
An insertion of MISS in (YEAR)*
21 Eagerly obtain drink put in dessert from the East
DRUM UP
A fourth insertion in a row: of RUM in PUD reversed. The reversal indicator is ‘from the East’, which works because in English we write from left to right.
24 Convenient route to get copper?
SHORT CUT
A kind of reverse clue: to ‘get copper’, or CU as its chemical symbol, then you need ‘short cut’ or [CU]T.
25 Flier offering employment in role essentially
OUSEL
A bird. Excellent. An insertion of USE in OL for the central letters of ‘role’. It’s more commonly spelled OUZEL, but Hypnos’ version is listed as an alternative. For the obligatory Pierre bird link, I have chosen the Ring Ouzel (there aren’t many other options). A slightly upmarket, and upland, version of the common blackbird, essentially, so it won’t surprise you to learn that the word for ‘blackbird’ in Old English was osle.
27 Conservative elected amid support in political grouping
CABINET
A charade of C and IN for ‘elected’ in ABET.
29 Sleeping worker found in a side of dustcart?
DORMANT
An insertion of MAN for ‘worker’ in D OR T, which would be your choice of outside letters for ‘dustcart’.
30 Goon, drop-out sadly ignoring right – like a criminal?
UP TO NO GOOD
(GOON D[R]OP OUT)*
31 Fighter scheduled to return for conflict
FEUD
A charade of F and DUE reversed. F as in F-16 and other similar planes.
Down
1 Male scrapped thing hated by drivers as source of income
MEAL TICKET
A charade of (MALE)* and TICKET.
2 A new thing said to garner attention around international entertainment venue
ANAHEIM
A charade of A, N and I inserted into AHEM! It’s the southern Californian city which is home to Disneyworld.
4 Dope enters a company emptied for business
AGENCY
An insertion of GEN for ‘dope’ (both are informal words for ‘information’) in A and CY for the outside letters of ‘company’.
5 Perhaps, Scot snubbed man eating a vegetable
CELERIAC
A charade of CEL[T] and A inserted into ERIC.
6 Shadow boxer, maybe
DOG
A dd.
7 Like a professor, possibly merited no end of acclaim around university?
ERUDITE
An insertion of U in ([M]ERITED)*
8 Confined space, we’re told, is put on market
SELL
A homophone of CELL.
9 Enjoyment over day is rare sadly in charitable event
FUNDRAISER
A charade of FUN, D and (IS RARE)*
14 Minutes might be like this in a countdown outside work time
AFTER HOURS
A cd cum dd.
15 Details put wrongly in a prescriptive form?
STIPULATED
(DETAILS PUT)*
18 Great pic for broadcast giving evidence of value
PRICE TAG
(GREAT PIC)*
20 People characterising monks?
INHABIT
Monks have been known to wear habits.
22 Hands-on technique in service over period
MASSAGE
A charade of MASS and AGE.
23 Boss with idol regularly in film production site
STUDIO
A charade of STUD for the engineering type of ‘boss’ and IO for the odd letters of ‘idol’.
26 Expatriate crumpled clothing of an off-white colour
ECRU
Hidden in expatriatE CRU. It’s from the French word écru, meaning ‘unbleached’.
28 Indians supply this aged family member
NAN
Indian restaurants do, at any rate. A dd. I would always write NAAN, but NAN is also common. Let’s not get started on pappadums, poppadoms, papadums, papadams …
Many thanks to Hypnos for starting us off this week in the Indy.
An ideal puzzle for me. A bit of a struggle in places but got there in the end with no external help, over a slightly extended breakfast. I couldn’t see how 24A worked till I came here. Anaheim is also home to the Los Angeles Angels baseball team and Anaheim Ducks ice hockey team, which (hopefully for their supporters) also provide entertainment. Thanks Hypnos and Pierre.
A nice Monday crossword – I was held up a teensy bit in the SE but not for long.
I note Pierre’s comment about insertions – apparently they are the easiest clues to write, and as for having four in a row, I was told by someone I test solve for that they never noticed things like that as they don’t solve the clues in order! Well I do and I always notice and mutter about it!
Thanks to Hypnos and to Pierre
I always enjoy Hypnos’ puzzles and this one was no exception. Shame about the vague “man” in 5d and I’m not sure about “scrapped” in 1d as an anagram indicator (although I have seen a lot worse) but the rest of this was very good indeed with 24a my favourite.
Many thanks to Hypnos and to Pierre.
Mostly Mondayish, pleasant and not too difficult, with the exception of ANAHEIM and the rather chewy CELERIAC. Favourites were the ’empty fellow’ and the clever AS A RULE.
Thanks for the bird link and pic. For my part, the sight and sound of some beautiful yellow-tailed black cockatoos winging their way over the inner suburban landscape was my highlight for today. Even better than the crosswords!
Thanks to Hypnos and Pierre
Fun puzzle. Really liked SHORT CUT and ANAHEIM.
Couldn’t parse CELERIAC, so was grateful for the blog here.
Thanks to both.
A steady solve with no real problems. 21ac held us up for a while as we initially thought of ‘snap up’ with the dessert having to be inserted into ‘sup’, but reversing ‘nap’ to get ‘pan’, even if short for ‘pannacotta’ seemed unlikely, and once we got 22dn we soon got the right answer. And in 19ac we took a few moments to realise that the ‘single female’ was ‘miss’ and not something like ‘a f’. CELERIAC was one of our last ones in when we had all the crossing letters, but we were able to parse it.
CARYATID, UP TO NO GOOD and FUNDRAISER were among our favourites.
Thanks, Hypnos and Pierre
I had exactly the same process as allan_c @6 with 21ac.
Unparsed clues for me included 4dn (didn’t know dope as info), 24 and 26ac.
Wrote in CARYATID, OUSEL and ECRU all as new words to me.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Add me to the list for 21ac, and I think the clue would’ve gone better with some construction of “promote/generate/stimulate” rather than “obtain”, as getting something is the result of drumming up, not the process itself, I’d argue. Then again, if you generate something, you obtain it, I’m chasing shadows clearly.
Very enjoyable all round, although my answer-to-parse ratio was very poor. I went down too many false alleys and then I find it hard to swing around, e.g. 29ac I got stuck with ANT as worker and went mad trying to parse DORM from “a side of dustcart”. I should know by now to pay attention to the entire clue, and the presence of IN clearly denotes an insertion, not a concatenation, but my brain disappears down rabbit holes and refuses to back out. Until I come here that is, thanks to Pierre and Hypnos for the diversion.
And how many more abbreviations can be derived from Doctor? I think I’m up to six now: Dr, Doc, MO, GP, MD, and now MB. Is PhD ever used, I’ve not seen it yet?
I like the image of a crossword-solving brain disappearing down a rabbit hole and refusing to come out, El Gwero. That will ring a bell with many. Perhaps we need to work on our Reverse Ferret.
I think you’ve got all the ‘Doctor’ abbreviations. I can’t recall PhD ever being used, but it is of course a very common anagrind.