Independent on Sunday 1122: Poins

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A bit of a mixed bag from Poins — all clues are sound, but some are very simple indeed, while some (25a, 26d, for example) have more deceptive wordplay and were much more satisfying to solve. 30a is quite a neat clue, though hardly one that gave pleasure, given the context.

Across
1 EMERITUS Resume it after a fashion when retired
*(Resume it). Meaning ‘honourably discharged from the performance of public duty, especially denoting a retired professor’.
5 AMUSED A passage from Camus edified and entertained
Hidden in ‘Camus edified’
10 HAILS Hard when accepting the Italian’s praises
H = hard; AS; IL = definite article in Italian
11 SPLENDOUR Brilliance of poet talking about Lepanto’s opening
L = Lepanto’s opening; in what sounds like (Stephen) Spender
12 REITERATE Repeat it with hesitation after soldiers come to value missing king
IT; with ER = hesitation; after RE = soldiers (Royal Engineers); [r]ATE
13 TRESS Emphasise getting rid of second lock
‘stress’ without S (second)
14 AGAINST In anticipation of profits after a time
GAINS = profits; after A; T = time. ‘Against’ can mean ‘in anticipation of‘ as in ‘wrap up warmly against the cold’.
16 THRUSH Bird disease
As well as the bird, this can refer to a disease caused by Candida albicans
19 PENT UP Held in small enclosure with sheep
PEN = small enclosure; TUP = sheep
21 GESTAPO Secret police tapes go fuzzy
*(tapes go)
23 ALTER Change seen in man after wife leaves
Walter without W
25 PERSEVERE Soldier on exercises runs hard
The clue that held me up for longest, because of the potentially deceptive wordplay. ‘Soldier on’ is the definition. PE = exercises; R = runs, SEVERE = hard
27 INAMORATA Artist volunteers to follow Naomi’s distracted lover
RA = Artist; TA = volunteers (Territorial Army); *(Naomi)
28 GOGOL Leave to work with Latvia’s top dramatist
GO = leave; GO = work; L = Latvia’s top
29 DETEST Abhor extremely divisive experiment
DE = the extremities of ‘divisive’; TEST = experiment
30 DEATH ROW Condemned housing
Where condemned convicts are housed
Down
1 ETHEREAL Heavenly girl occupied by study lacking bit of dash
ETHEL = girl; REA[d] = study lacking bit of dash
2 ELIMINATE Best to arrest main suspect for murder
ELITE = Best; *(main) with ‘suspect’ as the anagram indicator; definition: murder
3 ISSUE Children’s publication
Double definition
4 UPSTART Social climber finds posh prostitute having second thoughts
U = posh; TART = prostitute; PS = second thoughts
6 MEN AT ARMS Married sailor follows woman to Malta at the end of this novel
M = married; TAR = sailor; ENA = woman; M = Malta; S = the end of this. Slight confusion about the order of the different elements here. The 15th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1993
7 STORE Heads of Sociology think Oxford represents exceptional value
First letters of ‘Sociology think Oxford represents exceptional’. Used as in ‘set great store by’
8 DURESS Force of river splitting Dutch ship
River Ure; in D = Dutch; SS = ship
9 CLIENT A lawyer receives money from him to make a false statement before end of session in court
LIE = to make a false statement; N = end of session; in CT = court
15 NOTORIOUS Students receiving books on old city of ill repute
NUS = (National Union of) Students; OT = books (Old Testament); O = old; RIO = city. Definition: of ill repute
17 SCAVENGER Collect carbon inside new German apparatus for waste removal
SAVE = collect; with C =carbon inside; N = new; GER = German. Definition: apparatus for waste removal
18 COLESLAW Old king spotted piece of lovage in salad dish
OLd King COLE; SAW = spotted; L = piece of lovage
20 POPLAR Union leader moved out of fashionable part of London
POL[u]LAR’ (without U)
21 GERMANE Appropriate beginning to article on English
GERM = beginning: A = article; E = English
22 VARIED Diverse area seen during unfamiliar drive
A (area) in *(drive)
24 TRAIT Characteristic of conveyance after poles are removed
TRA[ns]IT (north and south poles removed)
26 EIGHT A number of them almost raised over a grand
THEI[r] = of them, almost; G = grand. Definition: a number

7 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1122: Poins”

  1. Eileen

    I didn’t solve this crossword but I have a query on 26d.

    If the wordplay is G contained in most of THEI[r] raised, wouldn’t we get IEHT having G somewhere in?

    It does not seem to lead one to the answer EIGHT.

    Am I missing something?

  3. Hi Rishi.

    I think the wordplay in 26d is ‘them almost’ = THE, a grand = ‘1 G’, giving E(1G)HT.

    As jetdoc mentioned, this was mostly quite easy, perhaps befitting of a Sunday puzzle. Thanks, jetdoc, for the solving.

  4. Thanks for the comprehensive blog jetdoc; I’d forgotten that Men At Arms was one of Terry Pratchett’s.
    I had the same parsing as caretman for 26d.

    This puzzle was nicely within my capabilities, even in a bleary Sunday morning state, although I did get held up on the NW corner for a while. I liked 25ac for the misdirection; I spent quite a while trying to start the solution with various abbreviations for soldier, convinced that the answer would mean hard, until I got the initial P from 20d

  5. Thanks for the blog, jetdoc, and for an entertaining puzzle, Poins.

    This was a nice gentle start to the day I thought. Favourite was PERSEVERE. I hadn’t previously realised that the letter “D” can be used as an abbreviation for Dutch, but it obvious in the context of the clue (and later helped with Malta).

  6. Maybe it’s an age thing but the “Men at Arms” I thought the clue referred was the book in Evelyn Waugh’s trilogy – a great read BTW. I enjoyed the puzzle which was not too difficult.

  7. Come to think of it, I kind of expected my Google search to reveal someone like Evelyn Waugh, but the Pratchett reference came up in the first few hits.

    Thanks for clarification on 26d — I wasn’t thinking hard enough!

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