The puzzle is available here.
Hello everyone.
This felt quite tricky at first, but after a not very fruitful first read through I warmed up and tuned in to finish in a Sunday-appropriate time, with DECEIT last in.
I didn’t note down any favourite clues, and can’t choose now, but that’s not through a shortage of candidates. In fact, I always enjoy Nitsy’s crosswords and feel he deserves more applause. So, together with the customary thanks, three cheers for Nitsy!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, explicit [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
Across
1a Regret taking away European politician’s seat (4)
RUMP
RU[e] (regret) removing (taking away) E (European) + MP (politician)
3a Picks pockets craving initially for food (4-4)
CHOC-ICES
CHOICES (picks) encloses (pockets) the first letter of (… initially) Craving
10a Whip has compliments about Conservative’s deeds (15)
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Make an anagram of (whip) HAS COMPLIMENTS around (about) C (Conservative)
11a Second vehicle left a bike race next to island, notes man? (9)
SCARLATTI
S (second) + CAR (vehicle) + L (left) + A (a) + TT (bike race) + I (island)
12a Strange sacrifices back at home for god (4)
ODIN
ODd (strange) loses its last letter (sacrifices back) + IN (at home)
13a Crowded square increased in temperature (7)
SWARMED
S (square) + WARMED (increased in temperature)
15a Suggested conclusion in article with very reasonable editor (6)
EVOKED
The last letter of (conclusion in) articlE + V (very) + OK (reasonable) + ED (editor)
17a Stopped girl squeezing bottom? On the contrary (6)
BANNED
ANN (girl) inside (squeezing … ? On the contrary) BED (bottom)
19a Follow tips from sports trainers and reveal heavenly body (3,4)
DOG STAR
DOG (follow) + the first letters of (tips from) Sports Trainers And Reveal
20a Cheese from France went bad on a regular basis (4)
FETA
F (France) + alternate letters of (… on a regular basis) wEnT bAd
21a Wrong rock concert sir succeeded leaving (9)
INCORRECT
Make an anagram of (rock) CONCERT [s]IR without S (succeeded leaving)
24a Harry is sensitive in covering Queen’s curiosity (15)
INQUISITIVENESS
Anagram (harry) IS SENSITIVE IN surrounding (covering) QU (Queen)
25a Master almost enthusiastic about head’s resignation (8)
MEEKNESS
M (master) + all but the last letter of (almost) KEEn (enthusiastic) reversed (about) + NESS (head)
26a Basho describes penning poems (4)
ODES
BashO DEScribes is surrounding (penning) the answer
Down
1d Judge again concerned with morons’ start of sentences (8)
REASSESS
RE (concerned with) + ASSES (morons) + the first letter (start) of Sentences
2d Drink instant tea (5)
MOCHA
MO (instant) + CHA (tea)
4d Aggressive horde that is surrounding Liberal (7)
HOSTILE
HOST (horde) + IE (that is) around (surrounding) L (Liberal)
5d Typical places where children might play? (6,2,6)
COMMON OR GARDEN
Literally, a couple of places where children might play
6d Optimistic about working with female before sign of current depression (9)
CONFIDENT
C (about) + ON (working) + F (Female) + I (sign of current) + DENT (depression)
7d Average portion of miso soup (2-2)
SO-SO
A portion of miSO SOup
8d Carrying out naughty child, lament tone I affected (14)
IMPLEMENTATION
IMP (naughty child) + an anagram of (… affected) LAMENT TONE I
9d Delighted overdue book’s lost (6)
ELATED
[b]ELATED (overdue) without B (book’s lost)
14d See Raab struggling with question put in precarious position? (9)
ARABESQUE
SEE RAAB anagrammed (struggling) with the insertion of (with … put in) QU (question)
16d Declares in favour of exams (8)
PROTESTS
PRO (in favour of) + TESTS (exams)
18d Rubbish is said about English flowers (7)
DAISIES
An anagram of (rubbish) IS SAID around (about) E (English)
19d Cold in river on Italian craft (6)
DECEIT
C (cold) in DEE (river) + IT (Italian)
22d This compiler brought up aim to improve (5)
EMEND
ME (this compiler) reversed (brought up) + END (aim)
23d Passion reduced with male for company (4)
FIRM
FIRe (passion) without the last letter (reduced) + M (male)
Was on Nitsy’s wavelength today and rattled this off. For me, the stand out clue was that for INQUISITIVENESS – really nice!
I like brief clueing and smooth surfaces, and this had both in abundance. Shame about the vague girl in 17a, but otherwise this was a splendid puzzle which was a lot of fun. Plus a splendid review to match.
Many thanks to Nitsy and to Kitty.
What a lot of vowels in INQUISITIVENESS!!! And most of them were crossers. I enjoyed some of the other anagrams as well – ARABESQUE has a great surface and IMPLEMENTATION and ACCOMPLISHMENTS were nicely done. COMMON OR GARDEN made me smile – though we might not feel so CONFIDENT sending our youngsters out to play on the Common these days, sadly. I raised a slight eyebrow over resignation = MEEKNESS but I’m sure it’s in the thesaurus.
Thanks Nitsy and Kitty (and I feel very grown up writing that sign off!)
I rattled three quarters of it off then struggled in the SW corner. I wasn’t sure about MEEKNESS = RESIGNATION, but it had to be that. Very enjoyable, so thanks Nitsy and Kitty.
What does You can be here mean in the scores?
I was able to get through this pretty quickly, but now realise I didn’t know the ballet meaning of ARABESQUE and I missed the parsing of BELATED, so it was a bit harder than I’d initially thought.
I agree about the multi-vowelled INQUISITIVENESS and also liked the ‘notes man?’ at 11a.
Thanks to Nitsy and Kittyt
Hi TangentPDC. I don’t recognise your name, so if you are new here, welcome.
I must be having a slow day – it took me a while to realise you were asking about the leaderboard on the Independent site! “You can be here” means that if you log in and play you could appear at the top of the leaderboard.
A brilliant surface for 14d, though this meaning of ARABESQUE was new to me. Pleased that no cats were harmed by 24a, in spite of the old saying
Yes, three cheers for Nitsy! And for Kitty. Thanks to both for the entertainment
Late in today – it’s been one of those days! Think this is the first time I’ve tackled one of this setter’s puzzles and I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Plenty of clues that made me smile, perhaps RUMP just had the edge.
Thanks to Nitsy and to our lovely Kitty for the review – pleased to see that you brought along a couple of your feline friends today.
Other than spelling SCARLATTI with an E this one was a quick & thoroughly enjoyable rattle through.
Many thanks
Very late but I had to thank Nitsy for a fine crossword and Kitty for the wonderfully illustrated blog. This was a quick solve except for the three I missed — easy until it wasn’t — but that’s always the case. Loved RUMP, CHOC-ICES, and ODIN.