Serpent has become one of the most regular setters in the Indy so far as I can see, and who can object? As is customary this was a pleasant solve with some excellent clues. I have a phobia about the use of ‘with’ as a link-word, but although Serpent uses ‘with’ quite often here it is always w, part of a definition or instruction, or a juxtaposition indicator. (I think, although as I say below, 5dn may contradict this. But if it does, it was so necessitated by the surface.)
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Surely something interesting is happening: we have two words ending -slip, quite a lot of &littery, and I sense that it should be obvious. But of course it isn’t.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PAROCHIALISM | The reason Liberal leaves local parish? I’m shocked (12) |
| (local parish I’m – L)* — I’m not absolutely sure about the definition: perhaps it’s an &lit. of some sort — whatever it is it doesn’t entirely convince me [Thanks Sil@4: yes the definition is simply ‘The reason’] | ||
| 9 | CRAZY | Exclamation describing extreme characters? (5) |
| cr(A, Z)y — now this is definitely an &lit. and a good one | ||
| 10 | WASHBOARD | It can be played with wooden plank (9) |
| w ash board | ||
| 11 | UNION FLAG | Working with college before decline in national standards collectively (5,4) |
| uni on flag — I think this refers to the fact that the Union Flag is an amalgamation of the flags of all the home countries | ||
| 12 | ADD TO | Supplement and leaders in Daily Telegraph welcomed by American party (3,2) |
| A d(D{aily} T{elegraph}o | ||
| 13 | TRIP-HOP | Take LSD and dance to this (4-3) |
| trip [take LSD] hop — a type of &lit. again — this is trip-hop (of which I’d hardly heard and no wonder) | ||
| 15 | TUITION | 4 not having the benefit of home schooling (7) |
| 4dn being insight, and insight being intuition, this is {in}tuition | ||
| 17 | PAYSLIP | What indicates one’s ready to be taken home? (7) |
| CD — ready = cash, take-home pay | ||
| 19 | CANVASS | Broadcast medium on which one might draw for campaign (7) |
| “canvas” | ||
| 21 | ANVIL | It helps forger framed by Machiavellian villain (5) |
| Hidden in MachiavelliAN VILlain | ||
| 23 | ORPHARION | Hunter carrying harp-shaped instrument (9) |
| Or(phar)ion or O(rpha)rion, both the bits in brackets being (harp)* and both the bits outside being Orion — an old musical instrument | ||
| 25 | INDIGNANT | Shortage of accommodation in hostel gets social worker annoyed (9) |
| in(dig{s})n ant | ||
| 26 | TRACT | Political pamphlet traced to dictator (5) |
| “tracked”, the homophone indicated by ‘to dictator’ | ||
| 27 | PARTICULARLY | Very typical rural dancing (12) |
| (typical rural)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PLACIDITY | City Police admitted to compassion and calmness (9) |
| p(LA CID)ity | ||
| 2 | RAYON | Material in contact with supporting beam (5) |
| on [in contact with] is supporting, ie is below, ray | ||
| 3 | COWSLIP | Flower‘s lower rim split by tip of stamen (7) |
| cow (s{tamen}) lip — the cow is a lower, a low-er | ||
| 4 | INSIGHT | Ability to understand things I arranged (7) |
| (things I)* | ||
| 5 | LIBRARIAN | British Rail in a mix-up with employee in Reading office? (9) |
| (Br. Rail in a)* — you need to see it as reading not Reading — maybe my praise of Serpent for not using ‘with’ as a link-word is rather stretched here | ||
| 6 | STAND | Base put up with resistance (5) |
| 3 defs | ||
| 7 | ACQUIT | Clear lack of intelligence loses case, without question (6) |
| {v}ac(Q)uit{y} — the case of vacuity is the pair of letters on the outside | ||
| 8 | ADJOIN | Neighbour‘s home flattened by trouble around beginning of June (6) |
| ad(J{une})o in | ||
| 14 | HALF-LIGHT | Poor visibility almost put an end to escape (4-5) |
| hal{t} flight | ||
| 16 | IMAGINARY | Pretend writer’s against change with no leadership (9) |
| I’m agin {v}ary — pretend is an adjective here | ||
| 17 | PRAXIS | Application of theory requires political alliance to support proportional representation (6) |
| PR axis — probably not a very familiar word but known to those chess-players who have read their Nimzowitsch (not that I have, but I’ve seen many references to it) | ||
| 18 | PROSAIC | Pedestrian in favour of special constable patrolling main road (7) |
| pro S(A1)C | ||
| 19 | CAPITAL | Money invested in London? (7) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 20 | SANITY | Godliness has no heart or presence of mind? (6) |
| san{ct}ity | ||
| 22 | VODKA | What leads to kulak vomiting all over dacha when drunk? (5) |
| (k{ulak} v{omiting} a{ll} o{ver} d{acha})* — much &littery is going on but it is not a full one I think because ‘What’ has no role in the wordplay | ||
| 24 | ACTOR | Performer works naked (5) |
| {f}actor{y} | ||
*anagram
Another good crossword from Serpent with (sorry John) all the unknowns being fairly clued.
Thanks to Serpent for the cruciverbal enjoyment and to John for the blog
This is a lipogram (no E). Not as spectacular as the one Brendan produced a couple of months, or so, ago where he also avoided E in all the clues. Perhaps something more is going on here but I didn’t spot it.
Didn’t know ORPHARION or TRIP HOP and only vaguely remember PRAXIS.
Thanks to Serpent and John.
Pangram lacking drug?
Thanks Serpent- I was almost put off PRAXIS by a nina of INCISION which became INCISIOX
Thanks, John.
1ac is an anagram of LOCAL PARISH I’M minus L (liberal). And yes, therefore a sort of (semi-) &lit.
Very good puzzle, again!
Thanks Sil. Blog amended.
Another great Serpent crossword. I missed the lipogram of course.
I particularly liked CRAZY, HALF-LIGHT and the wonderful PAYSLIP.
Thanks Serpent and John.
Serpent can be challenging but we found this quite tractable although one or two guesses had to be confirmed in Chambers – but we did spot that it was a lipogram. We particularly liked PAYSLIP, PLACIDITY, STAND, and IMAGINARY.
One minor niggle – the use of ‘home’ for ‘in’ twice – in 15ac and 8dn – although in one case the letters had to be removed rather than added to get the answer.
Also, John, you won’t be very popular in Wales referring to the Union Flag as an amalgamation of the flags of all the home countries – Wales proudly flies its own Red Dragon.
Thanks, Serpent and John
I think I’ll make myself even more unpopular in Wales by saying that it isn’t a country but a principality. That’s what I meant anyway.
I’m not sure that 13 across is really cryptic rather than a straightforward description. (I have a neighbour who occasionally plays it very loud, so I know whereof I speak.)
John @8 you are at perfect liberty to make up your own definition of what constitutes a ‘country’ as opposed to a nation, a nation state, a member of the United Nations, a state, a de facto independent state or whatever – the term is a loose one; but the ISO (Interational Organisation for Standardisation) has granted Wales country status since 2011, which is good enough for me.
Great puzzle by the way. 🙂
I’d never heard of TRIP-HOP and assumed there was something called ACID HOP (I was obviously thinking of acid house) which scuppered 7dn.
Thanks to John and Serpent
Special mention for 17a and 25a in a very good crossword, but a couple of things felt iffy:
10a Shouldn’t it simply be WOOD?
8d I see no sign that IN is in any way deformed.
This kept us occupied on and off through the day after finishing Boatman early but we got there in the end. Everything seemed fair and it was a very enjoyable challenge – thanks to Serpent (this is the first of yours we’ve done and look forward to doing more) and John.
@12Dansar – 10a – no, otherwise a board made of ash (or any other wood) would have to be described as a wood board; when it would in fact be called a wooden board.
8d – not sure what you mean, but the home is “flattened” by being placed beneath “trouble around the beginning of June”.
Thanks to Serpent and John.
Many thanks to John for the great blog, and to everyone who took the time to comment.
gwep @ 14
That’s my point – WOODEN is an adjective ASH is a noun.
IN is simply beneath ADJO. A ? might have sufficed to suggest a whimsical flattening.
Dansar@16: The names of different woods are often used as adjectives as, for instance, in “an oak table” or “a mahogany chest of drawers”.
allan_c @ 17
That’s true, and both oak, and mahogany are listed as adjectives in my Collins and Chambers but ASH is not.
WOOD may also be used as an adjective, whereas WOODEN cannot be used as a noun.