Independent 10,424 by Morph

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Well I suppose it is Tuesday [don’t even know what day it is, as Rabbit Dave reminds me], so we must expect something difficult [On Wednesday? Not in recent times, although things may be changing at Indy Towers], and can have no complaints. In fact no complaints at all really, since this was a meaty but good crossword in Morph’s usual style, with some very nice surfaces.

Definitions underlined, in red. Anagram indicators in italics.

I see nothing. Which proves nothing.  Well not much, anyway. When there are two across words on a line, you can read across to get another word: Tim, eh, two and term. But that’s pretty feeble and surely nothing.

ACROSS
1 BACK TO SQUARE ONE Try again – that’s the opposite of how this answer goes! (4,2,6,3)
This answer doesn’t go back to square one, it goes from square one
9 ARIDEST Take a spin on street that’s most lifeless (7)
a ride st — not a word in Collins, so I don’t feel all that guilty about cheating here; the fact that we have A on B = AB didn’t throw me, because we have had several examples of this over the years despite our being told that it was outlawed in an Indy across clue
10 IMAGING One’s getting on in x-ray department (7)
I’m aging
11 SUPPOSITORY With no backing, presume Morph’s Conservative? You know where you can stick that! (11)
suppos{e} [that] I [am a} Tory — perhaps from this we can deduce where Morph’s political leanings lie
14 ANNIE Young woman touring Vienna heading off (5)
*({V}ienna) — my first thought was why is Annie especially young? But I think it refers to this Annie
15 HUMUNGOUS Giant antelope heading back over to probe rotting matter (9)
((gnu)rev. o) in humus [thanks to Hovis for correct parsing.  Can’t spell humus.]
16 KEEPS ON AT With financial support, boy volunteers to back nags (5,2,2)
keep son (TA)rev. — keep = financial support (‘keep’ a noun) — the fact that the TA is no longer called the TA (? I think it’s now called the Army Reserve) doesn’t stop its members from being volunteers once
19 WROTE Rubbish you and I have committed to paper (5)
w(rot)e — you and I = we, rubbish = rot
20 HAVE IT LARGE Eight rave boisterously around city to do this? (4,2,5)
(Eight rave)* round LA — not an expression I knew, but easy enough from the wordplay — semi-&lit.
23 COASTER Vessel that may be covered by another, e.g. schooner (7)
The primary meaning of coaster is a type of ship, but in the wordplay the covering schooner is the glass/tumbler type of schooner and the coaster is like a beer mat
24 MAIL-OUT Man loudly open about sexuality in publicity blitz (4-3)
“male” out
25 SNAKE IN THE GRASS Almost nude, caught in transgression, gets rash about hidden danger (5,2,3,5)
s(nake{d})in (gets rash)*
DOWN
1 BRASS TACKS Business details underwear mountains (5,5)
bras [underwear] stacks [mountains]
2 CHIMPANZEE Tank’s run out – ring around for relative skilled with tools? (10)
chim(panze{r})e — I can’t see what the definition is all about: is it a reference to the facts that a chimpanzee is a relative of the human being; and that a chimpanzee is intelligent, so skilled with tools? — not sure about chime = ring but close enough I suppose
3 THE POWERS THAT BE ‘Wet’ beer shop – that drunken establishment (3,6,4,2)
(wet beer shop that)*
4 SOTTISH Say Glaswegian clubs kicked out drunk (7)
S{c}ottish — this has no ‘British English’ entry in Collins, just ‘American English’, which no doubt reflects the fact that it’s not a word used every day
5 UNIFORM Dull college class (7)
uni [university, college] form
6 READY AND WILLING Gain land, weirdly knackered but up for it (5,3,7)
(Gain land weirdly)*
7 OMIT ‘Five Go Off To Be Sick’? Leave it out! (4)
{V}omit
8 EDGE Moneyed gentleman holding advantage (4)
Hidden in MoneyED GEntleman
12 LOGORRHOEA Fouled goal hero, collecting yellow, not holding back verbally! (10)
or [yellow in heraldry] in *(goal hero)
13 USHERETTES Young women from house of horror may be leading lights in cinema (10)
CD, referencing The Fall of the House of Usher, by Edgar Allan Poe
17 NAVARIN Nirvana hit that may be put out on a platter? (7)
(Nirvana)* — a navarin is this — I’m afraid my culinary ignorance almost matched my ignorance of Nirvana hits, which I looked up at first!
18 TRIUMPH Hard to support narcissistic politician with ego in victory (7)
Tru(I)mp h — one of these days someone will compile a list of all the crossword clues that have referenced Trump — I bet there are many, for he is a boon to cartoonists and crossword setters
21 ACTS Legislation plays a part (4)
2 defs
22 DATA Turned up a bit of information (4)
(a tad)rev.

 

8 comments on “Independent 10,424 by Morph”

  1. This was very challenging which is fine of course, but I didn’t enjoy it with too many contrived clues and definitions, and several obscure answers.

    Thanks anyway to Morph and also to John.  By the way, it’s not Tuesday.

  3. I would never have gotten CHIMPANZEE without a word fit. I admit to also cheating on ARIDEST, which doesn’t look like a word but must be. Never seen SOTTISH but easy to get.

    I think HUMUNGOUS should be GNU< (antelope heading back) + O (over) in HUMUS.

    Thanks (I think) to Morph and John.

  5. We managed it all without assistance apart from googling to check that HAVE IT LARGE is a common expression (it was new to us).  As for ARIDEST, we would never use the word, but it complies with the rule for creating comparatives and superlatives: one syllable, add -er/-est; two syllables, add -er/-est or use more/most; three or more syllables, only use more/most.

    We agree with your reading of the definition of CHIMPANZEE, which was our LOI.

    Thanks, Morph and John.

  6. Thanks Morph and John

    I think RING = CHIME is fine: “I heard the clock ring/chime 12”, for instance.

  7. I struggled with this at first but gathered pace later and managed to finish with an extended breakfast.  I’m in the anti-aridest camp.  Thanks Morph and John.

  8. I hadn’t previously encountered ARIDEST, SOTTISH or HAVE IT LARGE although I can recall hearing ‘giving it large’ in the dim and distant past.

    Top two here were SUPPOSITORY and BRASS TACKS.

    Thanks to Morph and to John – particularly for the parsing of CHIMPANZEE.

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