Independent on Sunday 1,459 by Tees

8 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,459 by Tees”

1. Nice, easy level for the main part. My only criticisms are: why put ‘returned’ in 22a since member usually denotes M.P. (as in blog) but this is not reversed; and, to me, an ohmmeter is a measureR of resistance not a measure. Should particularly mention yet another brilliant anagram at 8d. Thanks to S&B.

2. A nice smooth solve. An MP is a member who has been returned (i.e. confirmed as elected) to parliament. I’m inclined to agree about ohmmeter, but Collins does give measure = “a device for measuring …” so perhaps Tees has got away with it.

3. Thanks to Tees and PeeDee. Held up by bunging in ADULATORY at 9 but SLEEPING DRAUGHT was plain enough.

4. Mr W @2. Ok I’ll let Tees of the hook. To be fair, given the general feel of the crossword, I still think 22a would be better with ‘returned’ removed, as it doesn’t spoil the surface. Adding R to measure in 16d would ruin the surface, so I rescind my criticism for that at the very least.

5. I think ‘returned’ in 22a is a clever bit of legitimate misdirection. It certainly had me head-scratching for a bit until the ‘“Aha! + smile’ which I suggest is the reason we do these things.
   Thanks to Tees & PeeDee for lightly brightening a bleak, snowy Buxton morning.

6. I didn’t find this all that easy but did find it well worth the time taken.

   Thanks Tees and PeeDee.

7. A nice steady solve in the traditional IoS style.  A bit of head-scratching over one or two clues, and 3dn was our LOI as it took us ages to think of ‘deign’ for ‘stoop’ and we thought ‘Hamlet’ might be a case of false capitalisation.  On reflection, we think ‘returned’ is fair enough in 22ac since ‘member’ can just be ‘M’ as in numerous professional affiliations (e.g. MRCS, MRCVS, etc).  Apropos 16dn, Chambers also allows ‘an instrument for finding the extent of anything’, although it does qualify it with ‘esp a graduated rod or tape for length, or a vessel of known content for capacity’.

   19ac for us was a case of the wrong reasoning leading to the right answer.  We thought ‘enclosures’ indicated ‘enc’ (as sometimes found on business letters) and guessed RECOMPENCE before realising it is spelt with an S – but we did find it with a second C, indicated as a former spelling, in Chambers.  Not that one can parse it with that spelling as the P is then unaccounted for.

   Plenty to like.  Favourites were EL GRECO, ABOMINABLE, UPSWEEP and IMMATURE.  Thanks, Tees and PeeDee.

8. An enjoyable puzzle which kept me on my toes with plenty of lateral thinking required. I liked the long clues down the sides. Only the parsing of MESSIAH eluded me until I came here, even though it was the obvious answer. DANE was my LOI after sayiing to my self “it’s not the Scottish Play” at which point the Krone dropped.Thanks Dutch and PeeDee.

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