Independent 10,552 by Hob

by

When Hob popped up on a Phiday, we thought there must be something special happening today….

As we worked through the grid, we noticed the nina in the left and right borders, and, after googling the artist, we found that his album at 4ac / 31ac / 20ac was released 50 years ago today on the 2d / 24d label. We were never really big fans of Stevie Wonder, but ‘Superstition’ (1972) has to be one of the best songs of the 70s.

We found the puzzle to be an interesting mix of several very straightforward clues and some very crafty wordplay (e.g. 30ac and 6d) and the rather dubious use of ‘use of’ as an anagrind in 5d.

Thanks to Hob for the Friday fun

image of grid

ACROSS
1. Neat Conservative PM no longer? Back off! (6)
CATTLE

C (Conservative) ATTLEe (Clement Attlee, former PM) with the last letter missing or ‘back off’

4. Witnessed retreat, with soldiers returning (6)
SIGNED

DEN (retreat) GI S (soldiers) reversed or ‘returning’

9. Harshly criticize second hit (4)
SLAM

S (second) LAM (hit)

10. Airport staff dreadfully rude? Wrong, when keeping cool head (6,4)
GROUND CREW

An anagram of RUDE WRONG (anagrind is ‘dreadfully’) round or ‘keeping’ C (first letter or ‘head’ of cool)

11. Mostly loyal worker becomes absentee (6)
TRUANT

TRUe (loyal) without the last letter or ‘mostly’ ANT (worker)

12. Some flipping moss, a grass, or seaweed (8)
SARGASSO

Hidden (‘some’) and reversed (‘flipping’) in mOSS A GRASs

13. Playing a simple chord, initially without a complaint (9)
ECLAMPSIA

An anagram of A SIMPLE and C (first or ‘initial’ letter of chord) round or ‘without’ A – anagrind is ‘playing’

17. When finally very keen to get back in bed (5)
DIVAN

N (last or ‘final’ letter of when) AVID (very keen) reversed or ‘back’

18. Checks case for source of smelly underwear (5)
VESTS

VETS (checks) round or ‘casing’ S (first letter or ‘source’ of smelly)

20. Rescued organ dumped in river, by the sound of it? (9)
DELIVERED

LIVER (organ) ‘dumped’ in DEE (river) D (the sound of Dee)

25. One refrain contains 15 16 relating to Greek god’s blood (8)
ICHOROUS

I (one) CHORUS (refrain) round or ‘containing’ O (nothing – sod all – 15d/16d)

26. City even mice deserted originally? (6)
VENICE

eVEN mICE without their respective first or ‘original’ letters

28. Our ordeal involved getting hold of lost deposit in foreign bank (10)
EURODOLLAR

An anagram of OUR ORDEAL (anagrind is ‘involved’) round or ‘getting hold of’ L (lost)

29. Standard recipe for salmon (4)
PARR

PAR (standard) R (recipe)

30. Playing together, except for number about one that’s Scottish (6)
TOYING

TOGether without ‘ether’ (number, as in something that numbs) round YIN (Scots form of ‘one’)

31. Tied up, in case ale drunk (6)
SEALED

Hidden in caSE ALE Drunk

DOWN
1. Related to heat that’s somewhat tropical – or Icelandic? (7)
CALORIC

Hidden (‘somewhat’) in tropiCAL OR ICelandic

2/24. Fancy a malt? Test old whiskey with new label (5,6)
TAMLA MOTOWN

An anagram of A MALT (anagrind is ‘fancy’) MOT (test) O (old) W (whiskey in the phonetic alphabet) N (new)

3. Become visibly cheerful, seeing broadcast plug hit (5,2)
LIGHT UP

An anagram of PLUG HIT – anagrind is ‘broadcast’

5. Cut use of heroin, finally going for Hitsville’s No 1 (6)
IGNORE

An anagram of hEROIN with G (last or ‘final’ letter of going) replacing the ‘h’ (first letter or No.1 in Hitsville) – anagrind is ‘use of’

6. Fruitful product of internecine war is losing weight for a short time (9)
NECTARINE

wAR with the w (weight) replaced by T (‘short’ time) in or ‘inter’ NECINE

7. River with poster that’s never even got onto a sort of fishing (4-3)
DEEP-SEA

DEE (river) + odd (‘never even’) letters of PoStEr +A

8. Oddly brown – as sap, in small pot plant? (6)
BONSAI

Odd letters of BrOwN aS sAp In

14. Tabloids regularly feature this corrupt Tory’s goal (9)
ASTROLOGY

An anagram of TORY’S GOAL – anagrind is ‘corrupt’

15/16. Fizzy drink will briefly give you zip (3,3)
SOD ALL

SODA (fizzy drink) ‘LL (will) – apologies for the missing ‘L’ in the grid. The software we use just wouldn’t fill it in and we could do 15/16 about it.

19. Cake counter’s surprisingly lacking 15 16 (7)
ENCRUST

An anagram of CoUNTER’S without the ‘o’ (nothing – sod all – 15d/16d) – anagrind is ‘surprisingly’

21. Casually spinning lie, say (6)
EASILY

An anagram of LIE SAY – anagrind is ‘spinning’

22. Contrary way poets work (7)
INVERSE

Poets could be said to work IN VERSE

23. Called for more to come from the heart, ultimately? (7)
ENCORED

CORE (heart) in END (ultimately)

24. See 2
27. Country with China as neighbour to north-east (5)
NEPAL

PAL (China – cockney rhyming slang) after or ‘neighbouring’ NE (north-east)

14 comments on “Independent 10,552 by Hob”

  1. My quickest Hob ever. Very enjoyable nonetheless but a little surprised the river Dee was used twice. Not a Stevie Wonder fan but needed the nina to get VESTS.

    Thanks to Hob and Bertandjoyce.

  2. Had to finish this in a bit of a rush, so didn’t look for a nina or theme – damn!  Enjoyed it though struggled a bit at 28A as I can’t think of a situation where ‘lost’ would be represented by L.  Thanks Hob and B&J.

  3. Didn’t notice the ‘theme’ but then i wasn’t looking but as a Stevie Wonder supporter just in the interests of balance i must eulogise his 70’s output particularly the Innervisions LP and the much maligned Secret life of Plants (just me then) . . i could go on. Enjoyable puzzle of course in 11 mins or so on the pointless leaderboard thing but at least it’s interactive and saves a bit of paper.

  4. To Tatasman @2:

    W[on] D[rawn] & L[ost] are the abbreviations used in e.g. soccer league results tables.Useful abbs for one’s quiver.
    Excellent puzzle on every level.
    Thanks to all as usual.

  6. We spotted the nina but wondered why it should be significant today as we’re not familiar with his oeuvre and we only did a quick google to see if it was his birthday (it isn’t).

    We liked ICHOROUS, although we wondered if the word is used more in relation to the medical usage of ‘ichor’ as a colourless exudation than to the mythical.

    We also liked VENICE, TOYING and ASTROLOGY.

    Btw, there’s an L missing from 16dn in the grid illustration in the blog.

    Thanks, Hob and B&J

  7. allan_c – if you look at our comment for 16d you will see we have apologised for the missing ‘L’.

  8. In case it’s passed anyone by, “Hitsville’s No. 1” in 5d could refer to Wonder. Hitsville USA was the name of Motown’s headquarters in Detroit.

    Big fan of SW’s music, and (Alan @3) Secret Life of Plants too. The closest he got to making a prog concept album.

  9. B&J&7: Apoiogies – that’s what comes of just skimming through.  I owe you a drink if and when we ever have another S&B.

  13. Thanks to Bertandjoyce and Hob

    18a I don’t understand how “checks” provides a “case for s”

    27d Excellent &lit

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