Since Dac’s sad death Wednesdays have been a problem. Nobody seems to have seized the day. Usually the gentle style has continued, but this crossword was an exception. Not that I have any problems though, since it was as you’d expect from Morph very good.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
My looking for a Nina usually consists of a cursory glance at the unches, and if I don’t see anything then it’s left to you, dear reader. As it is today.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SCALPEL | Set places with plate for starter and knife (7) |
| *(places L) — the L is as in L-plate, a plate for someone who is starting to drive — I solved this thinking it was *(places p{late}) and only just now, when doing the blog, noticed my error | ||
| 5 | GRASS UP | Plant on display in shop (5,2) |
| grass [plant] up [on display] | ||
| 9 | DISORDERLY HOUSE | Brothel in which speaker’s request goes unheard? (10,5) |
| The speaker says ‘Order, order’, so this isn’t listened to | ||
| 10 | LEVEE | Gathering at Embankment (5) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 11 | EMANATION | Pouring out tea in Oman sloppily (9) |
| (tea in Oman)* | ||
| 12 | WORDSWORTH | Poet‘s fraction of earnings when paid 3? (10) |
| If he is paid per verse [3] then he is paid by what a word is worth — but I don’t quite get this, since the definition seems to be Poet and yet the wordplay requires the poet, so it’s doing double duty, and it isn’t an &lit. | ||
| 14 | STUD | Nail unfinished work (4) |
| stud{y} | ||
| 17 | TOYS | Sports awards overlooking central name (4) |
| To{n}ys | ||
| 18 | LARYNGITIS | Try sailing at sea – it’ll leave you speechless! (10) |
| (Try sailing)* | ||
| 21 | WEEKNIGHT | Little man will be wanting an early bedtime then? (9) |
| wee knight [the chessman] — I’m not absolutely sure here, but presumably because it’s a weeknight one has to go to bed early so as to be able to get up and be at the desk at 5.30 in the morning, as seems to be the case nowadays | ||
| 24 | ON-OFF | Lennon’s ‘Woman’, very loud in bursts (2-3) |
| Ono [Yoko] ff | ||
| 25 | CABINET MINISTER | This Conservative in Britain meets in desperation? (7,8) |
| C (in Britain meets)* — &lit. — a brilliant clue | ||
| 26 | SARUMAN | Powerful wizard twice beheaded ruler of mortals (7) |
| {T}sar {h}uman — this is the ruler of mortals, someone of whom I’d never heard since I find all Tolkien quite toe-curling. No doubt I’m missing something, but — I’m also rather unclear how a Tsar and a human are either of them wizards, but it doesn’t seem to be possible to be anything else — so it goes without saying that this defeated me. | ||
| 27 | KRYPTON | Heads of public transport in York diverted number 36 periodically? (7) |
| kry(p{ublic} t{ransport})o n [number], the kryo being (York)* — the element krypton’s atomic number is 36 | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SOD’S LAW | I’ve had enough of salad – but this means I’m bound to get some! (4,3) |
| sod [I’ve had enough] slaw [salad] — by Sod’s Law what you don’t want to happen is bound to happen | ||
| 2 | ARSY-VERSY | Loo with no lid and double U-bend inside extremely contrary (4-5) |
| {k}arsy ver(s)y — karsy isn’t in Collins but is in Chambers and there are various spellings — this one seemed odd — to clue ‘s’ as ‘double U-bend’ is new to me | ||
| 3 | PERVERSE | It’s wrong, how poets get paid by results? (8) |
| per verse, by the verse | ||
| 4 | LIEGE | Belgian city‘s vassal (5) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 5 | GALLANTRY | Spirit of adventure is everything in bridge (9) |
| g(all)antry | ||
| 6 | ASHRAM | Rupees found in a fake holy man’s retreat (6) |
| a sh(R)am | ||
| 7 | SAUDI | Special car, one accustomed to hot, dry conditions? (5) |
| s Audi | ||
| 8 | PREENED | Before finale, gripping movie’s ending was self-congratulatory (7) |
| pre-en({movi}e)d | ||
| 13 | ORANG-UTAN | Primate looked after corporation, one presided over by head of order (5-4) |
| o{rder} ran gut an | ||
| 15 | TIT FOR TAT | Boob, allowing soldiers to penetrate stronghold in retaliation (3,3,3) |
| tit [boob] for(TA)t — the TA doesn’t exist any longer under the name Territorial Army but still the TA were once soldiers, and that’s good enough. Setters will probably go on using them for years since ‘…ta…’ appears in so many words. | ||
| 16 | IGNOMINY | International financier dropping ecstasy in Yemen’s heading for disgrace (8) |
| I gnom{E} in Y{emen} | ||
| 17 | THWACKS | Changes course to take in principally how wind blows (7) |
| t(h{ow} w{ind})acks | ||
| 19 | SAFFRON | Stick tip of tongue out and run about, being yellow (7) |
| s{t{ongue}}aff r on [about] | ||
| 20 | ANONYM | Crummy no-name covering up one such? (6) |
| Hidden reversed in CrumMY NO-NAme, with some &littery | ||
| 22 | EMBER | Glower when MP rejects leader (5) |
| {m}ember — something that glows, a glow-er | ||
| 23 | TRICK | Have John do turn (5) |
| 4 defs, the first one as in ‘you had me there’; for the second I had to go to the Urban Dictionary: they’re both prostitutes’ clients; the third as in to perform a confidence trick; and for the fourth I think we’re back at the prostitute | ||
*anagram
Wow, yet another tough Independent. Loved it.
The definition in 26a is “powerful wizard” and the beheading is for TSAR (ruler) and HUMAN (of mortals).
Didn’t know the term for brothel at 9a and have only seen the KHAZI spelling for loo so had to check in Chambers.
For a while I thought 1a was erroneous but the penny finally dropped for L not P at the end.
Thanks to Morph and John.
Always good when Morph provides the crossword – the only one I was really held up by was 2d
Thanks to Morph for the fun and John for the blog
Perhaps the weather has put me in a grumpy mood this morning but I wasn’t particularly keen on this. It was certainly tough and much of it was good fun. However it seemed to me to have an overdose of poor taste (even by the Indy’s normal standards!) and I thought there were a few iffy clues, e.g.:
17a – why is SPORTS synonymous with TOYS?
21a – very odd definition
2d – double U-bend = S ??
Thanks to Morph and John
Personally, I liked S for double U-bend. An S bend is essentially two U-bends put together.
I wasn’t mad keen on the definition for 21a either. Friday night is a weeknight when you may well stay up late. Nevertheless, the question mark at the end can indicate a somewhat loose definition so I’m not too critical.
‘Double U-bend’ for S was very original. Who knows, it may become a cryptic staple in years to come.
I enjoyed this, though found it hard to solve the last few in the NW. After eventually getting ARSY-VERSY, I then missed the much more conventional DISORDERLY HOUSE.
Worth doing for SOD’S LAW by itself. I’ll never look at coleslaw in the same way again.
Thanks to Morph and to John
What crypticsue said.
Three of my favourite setters in one day and all on top form. I feel very blessed – never mind the rain. Many thanks to all.
Enjoyed this. Particularly liked weeknight, cabinet minister, Saruman, and especially Sod’s law.
I didn’t see any double duty in 12a. Def=poet, wordplay is a fraction of earnings when paid per verse = word’s worth
Sports=toys as in plays, frolics.
Good puzzle, though I hadn’t come across the expression for brothel (sheltered life).
Many thanks morph and John
Defeated by 26 as we’re not into Tolkien (although we like some of the settings of his poems by Paul Corfield Godfrey )
Otherwise we quite enjoyed this although we couldn’t parse ARSY-VERSY and took a while to get KRYPTON, despite one of us being a chemist.
‘Disorderly house’, we think, originated as a legal term, as in the charge of ‘keeping a disorderly house’.
Favourites were PERVERSE, WORDSWORTH and IGNOMINY.
Thanks, Morph and John
This one put up quite a fight and I scored a ‘fail’ on 17&26a along with 2d.
I knew only one of the definitions of 10a and didn’t find 21a very convincing.
Apart from all of the above, it was a good puzzle!
Thanks to Morph and to John for the unravelling.
Thanks to John and Morph
Excellent.
21a I read WEEKNIGHT as school night and LITTLE MAN as a schoolchild. A parent might often say “no you can’t it’s a schoolnight/weeknight” – school night’s eve really, but who’s going to say that?
No ? needed @25a