Independent 6549/Phi – Fifteensquared

Excellent stuff from Phi. I’m lost on the last one across though.

Across
1/10	THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE — double def. — the cryptic definition of the two refers to Life magazine.
8	LISZT — “list” — radio clues the homonym here.
9	RAS TAFARI — RA + (T in SAFARI)
11	MAPREADER — (PARADE)* in MER — sea at Le Havre is MER
14	RED DWARF — ED in (FWARD)* — Red Dwarf is a UK sci-fi comedy series.
22	HELOT — (t)HE LOT — a menial.
25	ROTHERAM — ROT HER HAM — nice simple charade that works well. And, my dad’s family are originally from Rotheram, not too far from Sheffield.
26	TENOR — double def. — Covent Garden, home of an opera house.
27	NOBEL LAUREATE — ? — I’m guessing this is a cryptic definition but I’m missing what laxness means here.

Down
1	TELL ME ANOTHER — TELL MEAN OTHER — William Tell provides the archer that starts this excellent charade with a hint at Lord Archer known for his stories and the One Foot in the Grave catchphrase.
2	EASY-PEASY — (qu)EASY + PEAS + (dodg)Y — lovely English term. This type of construction, like argy-bargy, shilly-shally, has a name that I can’t remember at the moment.
3	EXTREME — (t)EXT + REME — REME are the less common soldiers or engineers.
5	HOSE REEL — REEL + HOSE (reversed words) — nice reversal of words.
7	SPAIN — PA in SIN— similar to the Costa Del Sol clue the other day in its inference!
15	AFFLUENZA — A + F + (ZEAL + FUN)* — a neologism, the disease of having too much money.
16	TAJ MAHAL — T(o) + A + J + MA + HAL
18	POTHERB — POTHER + B(roccoli)
21	ANEMIA — AN + AIME(d)< — American is used to give the US spelling.

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