| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | LATIN AMERICAN – (certain animal)*. This suggests the theme – all the across answers are Latin words, many of which have an American connection. I think this is all. |
| 9 | CAPITOL – (topical)*. It used to be a Roman temple but now it’s a US government building. Virgilius (unlike Azed) has the view that nounal anagram indicators are OK (I rather agree with him), and takes advantage of this here. |
| 11 | ABSCISSAE – (CIA bases)*. Cunningly concealed noun, when one was expecting a verb. An abscissa is the x co-ordinate (see here). |
| 12 | CO rev. TAD I think. An octad is a collection of eight, but how nine is connected with the Supreme Court I’m not sure. |
| 14 | E PLURIBUS UNUM, a motto that appears on US coins |
| 18 | (CARESS A)* PAL ACE. Caesars Palace is a famous Las Vegas hotel. |
| 23 | AL(MA MA)TER |
| 26 | EXPA(R)T E – I think “exile” is a noun here |
| 28 | I think this is PER CENT, but I don’t really see why, beyond the fact that a percentage of something is a proportion of it |
| 29 | SEMPER FIDELIS, the motto of the US Marine Corps; in English it means “always faithful”. |
| Down | |
| 1 | LAPPS – “Lapse” |
| 2 | T in (ATTIRE)*. Lovely simple good &lit. |
| 3 | (LL) in SUN rev. Not a very common word used as a verb, but it’s there. |
| 4 | MASSEUSES – I think this is just a cryptic def. |
| 6 | CAT is hidden in each of the words |
| 7 | NO-SIDE – Edison rev. A strange word – you never hear football commentators use it, but it is I think used in rugby. |
| 8 | SCRA(P)PED – it took me ages to see why; I couldn’t understand “scred”. |
| 16 | BE AWARE OF – (Arab foe we)* |
| 17 | SECRETE – simply two meanings I think |
| 19 | E (UP TREE)* – Euterpe was one of the muses |
| 20 | ADMIRAL – Pinkerton was a naval officer in Madam Butterfly. The butterfly reference is to the Red Admiral and the White Admiral. |
| 21 | DIVERS – two meanings |
| 24 | MOP(P)ED |
| 25 | TRESS – a forTRESS is a secure place. Good clue that took me some while to understand. |
| 27 | P AM |
9 comments on “Independent 6623/Virgilius”
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MASSEUSES is USE in MASSES, I think. The US Supreme Court may have nine judges. Great puzzle as always from Virgilius.
PS Did anyone else confidently write in PRO RATA first for the PER CENT one? Getting SECRETE (I agree it’s a double definition) showed me I was wrong.
Put me down for PRO RATA – although I can’t say that I wrote it in completely confidently. And it was 20d rather than 17d which pointed me to my mistake.
Tougher than the average V I thought.
Unfamiliar phrases such as 14ac and 29ac made this a tricky one for me. Gave up about three quarters complete before coming here.
15d and 22ac have got me stumped. The former I think might be lucre, but can’t explain why, apart from the R for river?
Jon
15d – LUC(R)E is right. A luce is a fully grown pike.
22a – ID EST (or i.e.), hidden in “MississippI DESTroyed”.
Hi Jon,
15d – a luce is another name for a pike, so lucre’s correct.
22ac – id est latin, part of Mississippi destroyed.
Cheers
Beaten to it!
Thanks – both Google and Chambers online failed me when I look up Luce.
Jon
Luce: It was a new word to me too – got it working backwards from LUCRE, but it’s in both Concise OED and Collins.