Independent 7,176/Scorpion

by

I found this one a pretty tough challenge, but was very pleased to get there in the end after a slow start. There are some really nice clueing devices here, though a few may need some clarification.

Across
1 RUTHLESS – Got this from the checking letters, but don’t understand it beyond H for Henry – “Henry’s imprisoned in half of castle in Conway – it’s brutal
9 POLY – This was the last answer I wrote in, and I got it wrong (guessing POLO). The wordplay is O in PLY I think, though not sure why ‘some of sandwich’ would be PLY if that’s the case
9 UNWRAP – [-men]U + (PRAWN)* – Loved the ‘prawn crackers’ idea here
10 NON-IRON – I think this is just NI in NORON, where NORON is ‘something’ reversible, i.e. a palindrome.
11 GREY SEAL – GEYSER with R coming back + AL[-l]
12 EXUDED – “Eggs you did” – Very nice
13 DESENSITISED – (ED, ED, IS, IS, SENT)*
16 ARCTIC CIRCLE – [-b]AR][-s] + C + TIC + CIRCLE – ‘Parallel’ is a very neat definition here
19 LET OFF – L[-ov]E + TOFF
20 GREAT APE – EAT in GRAPE
22 TRADE UP – DEU[-x] in TRAP
24 TYRE – Hidden reversal in mysERY Trip
25 PAY-DESKS – D in (KEYPASS)*
Down
2 UNNERVED – [-r]UN + R V in NEED
3/23 HARDY ANNUAL – Cryptic def.
4 ESPRESSO COFFEE – (SPREES)* + COS rev. + OF + FEE – Took me a while to write this in even though I suspected it as soon as I saw the clue!
5 SINGLET – SINGLE T, removal of which makes MATTERS into MATER’s
6 PRESUADER – RED,AUS,REP rev. – Great clue
7/18 LANDED GENTRY – LANDED + (ENG.)* + TRY, where ‘it’ refers back to the touchdown
8 UNDERSECRETARY – UN + (CREATES)* in DERRY
14 ELABORATE – BORAT in (A[ng] LEE)* – Another fantastic clue
15 FLAPJACK – I get the F L and JACK parts here, but not sure how ‘a meal’ is A P
17 IGGY POP – PIGGY with P ‘degrading’ + OP
21 TENSE – TENS + [valentin]E

15 comments on “Independent 7,176/Scorpion”

  1. Ali
    1a is H (Henry) in [cas]TLE in RUSS (Conway) – Russ Conway was a popular pianist in the late ’50s and early ’60s.

    In 6a, PLY means a layer or thickness (think plywood) and a layer would be one part of a sandwich.

  3. I think I’m getting used to Scorpion’s clueing style which is tortuous in the best sense of the word. So not exceptionally hard today. In UNNERVED, I thought it was (r)UNNER VED(vehicle tax).

    And DERRY used for the second time this week!

  8. My brain hurts too, after that. But Scorpion’s intention was to have Northern Ireland treated as two words, so it’s N Ir in noon.

  9. I had thought of that too, eimi, but I couldn’t justify “noon” either, (even though I have heard of noon)…
    (I think he should have lied, and gone along with Ali’s suggestion).

  10. I only fell down on exuded, which I was convinced had to be something like eguméd. I can’t quite accept exuded for “eggs u did” – the eggs part is OK provided you don’t pronounce it with a hard X sound but I can’t really see how “ded” can sound like “did”. Perhaps it’s just my lack of Received Pronunciation.

  12. I’m with Mike Laws, not one for the general readership, completely out of reach for me, ah! well will have to make do with the 5 clue crossword today.

  14. 7d/18d.

    Red = blood-stained
    Aus = Australian
    Rep = repertory company (players = actors).
    Elements reversed.

    10a. The “Noron Theory” referred to in the 2009 postings above seems to have disappeared from Wikipedia and indeed generally.
    Apparently there was a Ron after all!

Comments are closed.