Unless it’s another setter masquerading under a different pseudonym (which has happened), then welcome to another new compiler in the Indy, Silvanus. You can’t say that the Ed hasn’t introduced some new talent in the last couple of years. I thought this was a well-constructed puzzle with some neat surface readings. One or two I wasn’t so keen on, but I think I have managed to parse everything satisfactorily (famous last words …)
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Help out male relatives over lunch regularly
MUCK IN
An insertion of UC for the even letters of ‘lunch’ in M KIN.
4 Film star in cubicle nearest the door?
STALLONE
Nearly my last one in, since there are lots of ‘film stars’ and they’re all proper nouns. The setter is suggesting that the ‘cubicle nearest the door’ would be STALL ONE
9 Poles acquire stake in French city
NANTES
An insertion of ANTE for ‘stake’ in N and S.
10 Reveals Italian parting previously with Scottish football team
EXHIBITS
A charade of EX and IT inserted in HIBS for the ‘Scottish football team’ whose full name is Hibernian FC. I wasn’t that keen on EX for ‘previously’; for me it’s ‘previous’, as in ex-wife, ex-lover, ex-friend, ex-footballer.
12 Sue abandoning writing is shrewd
CUTE
[PROSE]CUTE. I got fixated originally on R for ‘writing’ as one of the three Rs.
13 England doing badly? Dropping one-paced openers is pleasing
GLADDENING
This appears to be (ENGLAND DOING)* with the first two letters of ‘one-paced’ removed, but I am happy to be corrected.
15 String instrument, it can play music from an earlier time
TAPE RECORDER
A charade of TAPE and RECORDER gives you the old-fashioned way of playing music. My kids wouldn’t even recognise a cassette now.
18 Leaving Austria, curious rally’s organised in a grossly abusive manner
SCURRILOUSLY
(CURIOUS R[A]LLY)* with ‘organised’ as the anagrind.
21 Coarse show entertains the Spanish
INDELICATE
An insertion of El for one of the Spanish words for ‘the’ in INDICATE.
22 Tenerife tempting somewhat for a holiday
FETE
Hidden in TeneriFE TEmpting.
24 Place reserved for dinner scraps setter’s intended treat?
DOGGY BAG
The ‘setter’ here is not Silvanus, but the red version. It’s a cd cum dd.
25 Discovered smart and trendy area in harbour
MARINA
Not that keen on this one either, but it just about works. The surface is smooth, but it should surely be ‘uncovered’, although of course that would knacker the surface. Anyway, it’s [S]MAR[T] plus IN plus A.
26 Doubt report that girl was tied up
MISTRUST
A homophone of MISS TRUSSED.
27 Cure an awkward situation
PICKLE
A dd.
Down
1 Pets for which Douglas provides a home?
MANX CATS
Douglas is the capital of the Isle of Man, where tailless MANX CATS are originally from. So it’s a dd, I guess.
2 Eccentric Eton chap’s memorial
CENOTAPH
(ETON CHAP)*
3 Virtually perfect concept
IDEA
IDEA[L]
5 Fluid artists mixed – they often work on former pet subjects
TAXIDERMISTS
(ARTISTS MIXED)*
6 Saw prominent feature the old face reflected
LAID EYES ON
A reversal of NOSE, YE and DIAL for ‘face’.
7 Source of old Rhode Island mother’s ruin
ORIGIN
A charade of O, RI and GIN for ‘mother’s ruin’.
8 Standard piece from Götterdämmerung is nevertheless uplifting
ENSIGN
Hidden reversed in GötterdämmeruNG IS NEvertheless. The flag.
11 Sparks panic in tea circles
ELECTRICIANS
(PANIC IN TEA)* I’m sure that you know but SPARK, or SPARKY is a slang word for an ‘electrician’. In fact it is, of course, (IN TEA CIRCLES)* with ‘panic’ as the anagrind. Thanks to flashling for pointing out my error.
14 One advancing career by completing course after course
BRICKLAYER
More professions: a whimsical way of suggesting that a BRICKLAYER would advance his career by laying course after course of bricks. An extended definition.
16 Star a little one over the eight sometimes?
ASTERISK
I think that this is referring to the fact that on a standard QWERTY keyboard, the ASTERISK is ‘over the eight’ so if you keep to lower case you’ll get the 8, but if you go to upper case you’ll get the *. Which is what I’ve just done. A dd.
17 Courier perhaps is an outside carrying kind
TYPEFACE
Since it’s a down clue, it’s FACE for ‘an outside’ supporting TYPE for ‘kind’. ‘Courier’ is an option for a TYPEFACE, like Times New Roman (hate it) or Arial (like that a bit better).
19 An old comedian‘s knowledge
WISDOM
A dd, referring to Norman WISDOM, the cheeky chappie comedian.
20 No place initially in newpaper’s classified section for gnomes
ADAGES
This is AD [P]AGES, and my SOED tells me that a ‘gnome’, apart from being in your garden with a fishing rod, or in Zurich, is ‘a short, pithy statement expressing a general truth’. So there you go.
23 Revolutionary terrorist organisation’s traditional garment
SARI
A reversal of IRA’S.
Congratulations to Silvanus on his debut, and thanks to him (I imagine him) for the Monday Indy puzzle.
Co-incidence – look at 15d in today’s Guardian Rufus!
I didn’t do this one, but reading the blog I think I would have complained about GLADDENING – “one-paced openers” should be O P, not ON, by any reasonable interpretation.
Many congratulations to Silvanus on his debut. I found plenty to smile about, though did have a furrowed brow for a while in the SW. I wondered too about the 13a one-paced openers and had trouble thinking of panic in 11d as an instruction to anagram the remaining letters, but I have no doubt it’s ok.
My favourite is 16d. Thanks to Silvanus and Pierre.
Hi Pierre, methinks 11d is “in tea circles”* panicking…
Hey, congratulations Silvanus, great to see you here with a wonderful debut!
I enjoyed the puzzle, favourite was STALLONE, with many other smiles. I missed the parsing for ASTERISK and CUTE, so thanks very much Pierre for the enlightenment there.
Well done, keep them coming
I enjoyed this one thank you Silvanus, whoever you are. And thank you Pierre for a clarifying the parsing. I smiled at STALLONE, my favourite.
In my head I didn’t separate the EX – if I was EX-HIBS I would have been previously with a Scottish football team. Worked for me!
Oh why oh why can’t one edit a post?
Enjoyed this puzzle, most of it being nice and easy, but with tougher stuff in the SW where I got a bit stuck. Lots to like here with my fave clue being the amusing 20d so thanks and welcome aboard to Silvanus and cheers to Pierre for the enlightenment.
Great to see your talent being given a wider audience, Silvanus.
Enjoyed this one – 6d was my favourite.
Nice one Silvanus. Found this blog for the first time after tip off from Telegraph blog site. Many good clues. I especially liked 4a, 16d, 24a and 17d. I like some others struggled to parse 13a, it does appear that OP should go rather than OG. Have I/we missed something or, perish the thought, a slip of your pen?
Thanks Silvanus and Pierre
An excellent debut puzzle, I thought, with a special smile at 24.
I don’t get all the fuss about 13. If someone asks you to spell out ‘one-paced’ you would say O N E Hyphen P A C E D, so O and N are clearly the openers. I would accept the difficulty absit the hyphen.
Good spot, Simon. Cunning Silvanus!!
Setter here, many thanks to everyone who tackled my first Independent puzzle and especially those who took the time to leave a comment. Much appreciated.
Thanks also to Pierre for his excellent interpretation of all the parsings.
I found this quite tricky and needed a lot of help to finish. Couldn’t see 12ac at all.
The version I printed out this morning had an unknown character in 5dn so I as I subscribe to the online Indie I thought I check the version there. The clue was quite different – Artists mixed fluid and stuff to animate their subjects?
Welcome to the Indy, Silvanus.
Quite a tricky solve in places. Like Dormouse, we couldn’t parse 12ac so thanks Perre for enlightening us. We weren’t overly keen on the parsing for 13ac though.
All good fun so more please.
A very enjoyable debut. Nice clueing, some easy, some tricky. Perfect for a Monday.
Welcome aboard Silvanus
Best congratulations on your debut, Silvanus! Very well done. And I do apologise for the lateness of this comment.
I found much to enjoy in this puzzle, and enjoy it I did. My favourites were 4a and 20d.
I couldn’t parse 12a, and am grateful to Pierre for the enlightenment. It’s very clear when one knows how!
I did eventually work out the parsing for 13a, but the ‘one-paced openers’ doesn’t sit comfortably with me.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to Pierre.