Independent 8,428 by Phi

Sorry this is on the late side. I always do the puzzle in the morning by downloading it from the site, but today for some reason my computer decided that its version of Java was too old and whatever I did it seemed to be impossible to go any further, so I had to go down the road and buy a paper copy. Good news for the Indy — it has always struck me as rather odd that a paper which is suffering such financial hardship lets you do its crossword for nothing. But if that’s what they’re going to do I’ll take advantage of their kindness and I hope my computer problems are sorted out by next time.

The usual enjoyable crossword from Phi today. There aren’t many clues that rely on the gateway clue 11ac, but those that do ask the solver to find different expressions for “I haven’t a clue”. When I first did this, I was expecting there to be a reference with “I’m sorry” preceding it, and the radio programme.

Phi often uses question marks in his clues when it seems to me that they are unnecessary. But far be it from me to question the great man’s methods. Although that’s exactly what I’m doing. Just politely, mind you.

I’m happy enough with most of this, but am not sure about the parsing of 16dn. No doubt people will explain.

Definitions (where possible) in italics.

Across

1 Snooty humans involved with fad for ages (1,5,2,7)
A MONTH OF SUNDAYS
(snooty humans fad)*

9 Only some point elaborating military info (5)
INTEL
Hidden in poINT ELaborating

10 Role in theatrical event for men (4,5)
STAG PARTY
part [= role] in stagy [= theatrical]

11 (1,6,1,4)
I HAVENT A CLUE
Not the most conventional of clues, but easy enough — in fact it was the first one I solved.  “I” refers to the answer, so the answer hasn’t a clue to it. But it does have one, and this is it. One of those difficult philosophical questions that Bertrand Russell could cope with but which I never really could.

14 11 fish carried by historic sailor? Not entirely (2,4)
NO IDEA
ide in Noa{h}

15 Threaten to imprison a sovereign (8)
IMPERIAL
imperi(a)l — sovereign is an adjective here

17 11 knots? Put on tug to secure that (4,4)
DONT KNOW
don [= put on] t(kn)ow — kn is the abbreviation for knots

19 Sharpness of mind universal in a financial centre (6)
ACUITY
u [= universal] in (a city)

22 11 anoraks excited with theme (3,2,7)
ASK ME ANOTHER
(anoraks theme)*

25 Seed? Queen Elizabeth recalled end of garden, entering objection (6,3)
BRAZIL NUT
(R [= Queen] (Liza)rev. {garde}n) in but

26 Declining and declining, with expert backing out (5)
DYING
d{eca}ying — eca is (ace)rev.

27 Suburbia: standard stony fronts to regular buildings let in arrangement (11,4)
STOCKBROKER BELT
stock [= standard] broke [= stony, as in stony broke] r{egular} b{uildings} (let)*, with an &lit. aspect to all this, for one might think of suburbia this way: paradoxically this is one time when I’d have expected there to be a question mark

Down

1 Articles about timeless story to suffice for fan (10)
AFICIONADO
a(fic{t}ion)a do [= suffice] — the two articles are a and a

2 Losing head, reputation destroyed – term of imprisonment – one needs treatment (10)
OUTPATIENT
({r}eputation)* {imprisonmen}t — the word ‘term’ for the last letter is something I only came across a year or two ago in Azed: it seems odd but the first definition given in Chambers is ‘end’

3 Explosive material: new German consignment turned up before English (7)
TOLUENE
(neu lot)rev. E — neu is the German for new

4 Individual holding session in the immediate area? (2-4)
ON-SITE
sit [= session] in one — sit = session seems odd, and one thinks of a session as more a sitting, but sit is given as a noun in Chambers as an act of sitting

5 11 seem upset about bridge feature (6,2)
SEARCH ME
(seem)* around arch

6 Writer picked up melody in Holst movement? (7)
NEPTUNE
(pen)rev. tune — ref one of the movements from Holst’s The Planets

7 Risky for some Londoners affecting nonchalance (4)
AIRY
hairy — ‘airy — the ‘some Londoners’ are those who drop their aitches

8 Video network losing power in Scottish location (4)
SKYE
Sky{p}e

12 Topcoat mostly of flax? It’s often breasted (6,4)
FINISH LINE
finish [= topcoat, as in painting and decorating] line{n}

13 Writer’s first shot at porn: what girly larks! (10)
PLAYWRIGHT
p{orn} (what girly)* — “first shot at” indicates the first letter

16 Military officer married single monarch – despite being this? (8)
COMMONER
com [= military officer, but I’m not sure what military officer; if it had said Naval officer that would have been Commander or Commodore] m [= married] one [= single] r — perhaps the word ‘military’ covers the Navy, but I don’t think it does, really

18 Classic film, slow burner, perhaps, in Lakeland town (7)
KESWICK
Kes [the classic film of 1969] wick [= slow burner, perhaps]

20 Chef’s initial question over German article giving recipe for soup (7)
CHOWDER
C{hef} how [= question] der [= German article]

21 Bass’ skill satisfactory for composer (6)
BARTOK
B art OK

23 One request for another wader (4)
IBIS
1 bis [a musical instruction to play the piece over again]

24 Suggest banishment, ditching unknown cereal (4)
SAGO
Sa{y} go — y is the unknown — if you say “go”, then you are suggesting banishment