Independent 7083 by Hypnos

by

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def

I got most of this done fairly quickly, but then got stuck on 1,2,10,17 and 21. Most of these involved obscure or unusual words. There were a couple of tennis-related clues, but I couldn’t spot any obvious Wimbledon NINA.

Across
1 Scag: Sc[r]ag. I didn’t think of Horse in the heroin context, but I’m not sure that would have helped anyway since I don’t know Scag either.
4 Bed of Nails: (Final bodes ill)*.
9 Norfolk Broads: (folk + B Road) in Nors[e].
10 Connoted: Note in cond[o]. Note for critical comment seems to be stretching things a little.
11 In a row: DD ref. rowing eights.
12 Marvin: Marin[e] around v (Lee Marvin).
14 Manitoba: (A nit) in Mob a.
16 Teenager: &lit – (great nee[d])*.
18 Rarity: Ray around Rit[z] – Ray Charles.
19 Bedsit: Beds + it (sex appeal).
21 Scaffold: S + caff + old. My downfall here was convincing myself that “grey framework” was a coded way of saying grey around something.
23 Revolutionary: CD/DD.
24 Blackboard: Black (Roger) + hom. of “bored”.
25 Tarn: Tar + N.
Down
2 Cannonade: Hom. of canon + aid. I’ve not come across canon in a musical context much but this is the definition.
3 Goran Ivanisevic: (Icon invasive rag)*. The definition will probably be lost on non-tennis fans. It refers to a short film that Ivanisevic made in the year he won Wimbledon about the good and bad sides of his personality on court.
4 Boost: S[teward] in boot.
5 Dukedom: D + UK + ed + OM.
6 Foreigner: (ref ignore[d])*.
7 As a matter of fact: (Oaf attracts fame)*.
8 Lasso: Lao, which I assume is the language of Laos, around s[alesroom]s.
13 Nightclub: hom. of knight (chess piece) + cub around l.
15 Bit player: (type Blair)*.
17 Rosetta: Didn’t follow this – “Moss, perhaps, moving up a dry, stony place ?”. I imagine the “dry, stony” place is the definition – the town of Rosetta where the Rosetta stone was found (possibly the dry refers to it being alcohol-free). But I don’t follow the rest.
20 Enron: Enro[n] + l.
22 Avoid: A + o in vid.

3 comments on “Independent 7083 by Hypnos”

  1. Gaufrid
    #1 - Mon 29th Jun 09, 12:10

    Hi NealH
    In 3d I thought the ‘Split personality’ was referring to the fact that Goran was born in Split, Croatia.

    17d is ROSE A TT (dry) reversed. There is a plant called rose moss or moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora), depending on the source. Chambers has the latter.

  2. nmsindy
    #2 - Mon 29th Jun 09, 13:37

    I thought this was very tough esp in the NW quadrant in some of the clues mentioned by NealH in his introduction. Some very cleverly concealed definitions. Thanks for IN A ROW – while it looked like it had to be the answer, I did not see the wordplay and was taking an interest in answer number 8.

  3. John Peters
    #3 - Mon 29th Jun 09, 19:56

    Re 10 across, a director will give “notes” to actors after rehearsals

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