Independent 10,542 by Tees

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I found this quite hard going with the longer clues proving to be quite a struggle.

1 across was particularly difficult with lots of short words, each of which had numerous possibilities. There was a smallish tribute to the late Vera Lynn, although just a couple of clues as far as I can tell (unless you count cliff as well). 8 down was very clever and difficult to work out without a few crossing letters.

ACROSS
1 AS THE CASE MAY BE Carried on board, or stored in hold, depending on circumstances? (2,3,4,3,2)
 

DD – different things that could happen to a case.
9 CARTOUCHE Anxiety about pet in case of bullets (9)
 

Care around touch
10 ABATE Adult temptation said to subside (5)
 

A{dult} + hom of bait
11 CLIFF Richard so named 151 females (5)
 

CLI (=151 in Roman numerals) + f{emale} twice – ref to Cliff Richard
12 POTENTIAL Latin poet breaking promise (9)
 

(Latin poet)*
13 ARRIVING Four in a Republican cartel reaching destination (8)
 

IV in a r{epublican} ring
14 IMOGEN Girl lasts in sumo wrestling among island people (6)
 

[Sum]o [wrestlin]g in I{sland} men
17 DROPSY Falls down with unknown ailment (6)
 

Drops + y(=unknown, used in algebra along with x and z)
19/6 WELL MEET AGAIN Fortunate encounter an achievement in song 16 made famous (4,4,5)
 

Well(=fortunate) + meet + a gain
22 REFERENDA Arbitrator stopped early and fixed votes (9)
 

Refere[e] + nda*
24 OSMAN Turkish leader invests son in Arab land
 

S{on} in Oman. Never heard of Osman but he appears to be have been an emir who founded the Ottoman dynasty.
25/7 WORLD BEATING As Johnson spins response misrepresents a right big let-down (5-7)
 

(A r{ight} big let-down)* – maybe he means world beating in terms of infection rates?
26 HEY PRESTO Here to spy producing tricky words? (3,6)
 

(Here to spy)* – tricky in the sense of relating to a magic trick
27 PRESIDENT ELECT Drunken client pestered one coming into office (9-5)
 

(Client pestered)*
DOWN
1 ALCOCK AND BROWN Pioneers flying in a country raise toast (6,3,5)
 

Cock(=raise) in a land + brown(=toast). Not entirely sure about cock for raise – you can cock a weapon but that's more to do with preparing the firing mechanism than lifting the weapon.
2 TERRIER Row about stray dog (7)
 

Tier around err
3 ETON FIVES Game is on TV — fee outrageous (4,5)
 

(Is on TV fee)*
4 AL CAPONE Mobster needs beer having eaten chicken (2,6)
 

Ale around capon
5 EJECTA Etna’s insides become black, containing cold material thrown out (6)
 

Etna with the middle letters replaced with jet around c{old}
6 AGAIN See 19 Across
 

See 19 Across
7 BEATING See 25 Across
 

See 25 Across
8 WELLINGTON BOOT Water thus rising further round end of garden? Wear this (10,4)
 

(Welling to boot) around [garde]n
15 MELBOURNE Girl carried round university city (9)
 

Mel + Borne around U{niversity}
16 VERA LYNN Singer very nearly changed name (4,4)
 

(V{ery} nearly)* + n{ame}
18 OFFEROR Assassin perhaps: or one selling shares (7)
 

Offer (=one who offs people) + or
20 EN MASSE As one‘s despicably mean, small tips for servants materialise (2,5)
 

Mean* + s{mall} + s[ervants materialis]e
21 INCHED Made slow progress: stole quietly away (6)
 

[P]inched
23 RIDES Gets lift in Kalahari desert (5)
 

Hidden in kalahari desert

8 comments on “Independent 10,542 by Tees”

  1. In 1dn “cock” may refer to the idea of raising an eyebrow quizzically, or wearing a hat at an angle

     

  2. I thought this was tricky for a Tees, and especially on a Monday when we traditionally expect our crosswords to be a little kinder to the solver.  As enjoyable as ever so worth a bit of a battle – and the use of Tippex in a couple of places where I originally barked up the wrong tree

    Thanks to Tees for the crossword and NealH for the blog

  3. Thanks Tees and NealH

    Pace Stevo67 @ 1, I think cock = raise comes from early firearms, eg fllintlocks, which you would cock by raising the striker before releasing it with the trigger. Maybe the other meanings stem from that.

  4. … and it’s what dogs do with their legs.

    Agree it was a rather tough challenge and, as crypticsue says, as enjoyable as ever.

    Favourites were WORLD-BEATING, EJECTA, VERA LYNN and PINCHED.

    Many thanks to Tees and NealH

  5. I made a good steady fist of this, finally coughing to a halt with 1d, 25a/7d and 14a unsolved.

    I too had to look up Osman, once parsed, and shamefully have never heard of Alcock & Brown – though I twigged the answer would be aviation pioneers. Zero aids/cheats today though, which is good for me!

    Was barking up the wrong tree entirely with IMOGEN; I was looking for islanders along the lines of Samoan, Tongan etc. The parsing is like a scrapbook!

    REFERENDA, HEY PRESTO and PRESIDENT ELECT were faves.

    A nice start to the week; thanks Tees and NealH

  7. We made steady progress on this, helped by 16 and 19/6 which were practically write-ins when taken together.  We vaguely knew of OSMAN but had to check and were surprised to discover it was a personal name, not a title.  WORLD-BEATING raised a smile.

    Thanks, Tees and NealH.

  8. @5 EggCustard – I felt the same about IMOGEN, and the parsings for VERA LYNN and EN MASSE as well. My least favoutire was 1a – it just doesn’t seem to be a phrase of particular note, not one I’d recognise or that would ring any sort of bell if I read it anywhere.  It’s just a chunk of a sentence to me. Was it a catchphrase for a literary detective/policemen or anyone else for that matter?

    I very much enjoyed the rest though. Thanks Tees and NealH.

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