Independent 7903 by Quixote

by

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

A nice puzzle from Quixote, although possibly a bit two much of the two Rs – Royalty and Religion – to be entirely enjoyed by an atheistic republican like myself.
 

Across
1 Trappist: Part< + p(=quiet) + 1 + st. Def is "who likes to be silent?"
5 Smug: S + mug.
9 Anticlimax: Antic + limax, which the scientific name for molluscs like the common garden slug.
10 Agha: Aha around g[arrison].
12 Rests on ones oars: CD. I’d never heard the expression, but it seems quite reasonable that it should exist.
13 Abseil: Ab + lies<.
15 Trailers: T(ime) + railers i.e. people who rail.
17 Dampness: Danes around MP + [succumb]s.
19 Appeal: Hom of “a peel”.
21 Appearance Money: CD.
23 Cook: DD, referring to Captain Cook.
24 Rolling Pin: Reverse reversal clue referring to pin being nip backwards.
25 Teem: Meet<.
26 Strategy: (Gets arty)*.
Down
1 Titus: Tit + us, referring to Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake.
2 Accession Day: (Any race discos)*. I did initially think “Ascension Day”, but apparently that’s not until May. From all the free advertising given to it by the supposedly impartial BBC, I gather that the titular head of some archaic, irrelevant institution is having an anniversary of some sort this year and I think the clue might be referring to that.
3 Pliant: Plant around 1.
4 Stainer: DD referring to John Stainer.
6 Magdalene: (Dame angel)*.
7 Grass: DD, with sing used in the slang sense of to inform.
8 Hairband: Hom of “hare banned”.
11 Asti Spumante: (Aunt’s pastime)*.
14 Semaphore: Shore around E(lectronic) map.
16 Sallying: Sing around ally.
18 Seaport: (A poster)*.
20 Scylla: Hom of “Cilla”, referring to Cilla Black.
21 Ascot: Hidden in “grandpa’s cottage.
22 Nappy: &lit. Nay around p p.

10 comments on “Independent 7903 by Quixote”

  1. Thanks, Neal.

    Just the last few that I struggled with today. I’m glad I’m not the only one who didn’t know REST ON YOUR OARS, but as you say, it sounds like it ought to exist. Couldn’t parse ANTICLIMAX, but I should have been able to, because slug in French is une limace, which obviously has come straight from the Latin. NAPPY and ROLLING PIN were the ones I specially liked.

    I did myself have a severe rant about the Indy puzzle last year themed on the royal wedding, but I think one clue out of 28 is acceptable … The clue won’t age well, though! Thanks to the Don for the puzzle.

  2. I am surprised that neither NealH nor KD had heard of the expression “rest on one’s oars”.

    This is quite common in India. Is it that we in this country have come across these idioms and old-fashioned phrases (e.g., ‘needs must’) from our strenuous reading “Book of English Idioms/Phrases”? Is our knowledge a legacy from the Raj?

    Suppose any of you hear me speak English, would you squint your eyes or raise your eyebrows now and then?

  3. I don’t know whether I could squint and raise my eyebrows at the same time – that sounds like a trick of some kind.

    Resting on your oars is similar to resting on your laurels, I’d guess, with the latter coming to mind most readily.

  5. We’d heard of ‘rest on one’s oars’ but were led astray trying to get ‘ascension day’ and ‘attendance money’ to work but soon found the errors of our ways. We were out of the country last week and weren’t aware (thankfully?) of the significance of last Monday. Despite being ‘devout atheists’ we were confused because we do know that Ascension Day follows Easter!
    Thanks Neal and Quixote for a good blog and solve respectively.

  6. A nice relaxing solve in about 15 minutes, despite one or two false trails, e.g. ‘attendance’ in 21a and looking for a reversal in 16d because I misread the end of the clue as ‘going north’. Also had a minor problem parsing 17a thinking it had to be ‘amp’ in ‘dness’ which didn’t make sense; the ‘a’ in the clue before ‘politician’ wasn’t really necessary, imho.

    Thought we might be in for a “heavenly” theme (to counter Nimrod’s recent devilish one) with TRAPPIST, STAINER and MAGDALENE, but it didn’t come to anything.

  7. Thanks, NealH and Quixote. Enjoyable, quite easy I thought, and I was familiar with RESTS ON ONES OARS.

    It is said HM is a keen solver though not of the Indy puzzle so she is unlikely to be reading the blog…

    I did wonder if Quixote had thought that the 60th anniv on that previous Monday was the Monday on his rota…

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