Independent 9,498 / Serpent

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Serpent has directed his cruciverbal venom at us this Thursday morning. How many of us had the antidote to it?

I did have the antidote to it, although it took it quite some time to have the desired effect! Indeed, I had to chip away at this one from start to finish, solving clues singly or in pairs but never triggering a flurry of half a dozen solutions. In the end, I was left with the intersecting entries at 6D and 16. There was no real reason why I was held up by 6D, which is an everyday word for which a fairly standard clue had been set; 16, on the other hand, was a word that I was not familiar with and for which a more sophisticated clue had been set. Inevitably, 16 was my last-one-in.

My favourite clues today were 12, for the misdirection around “capital”; and above all 3, for maintaining the musical theme through definition and wordplay alike. 14 and 27 both raised a smile.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 OBSESSED Hung up and returned clothes not having right smell

D<r>ESSES (=clothes; “not having right (=R)” means letter “r” is dropped) + BO (=smell, i.e. body odour); “returned” indicates reversal
     
06 CHILD Lectured about conclusion of special issue

<specia>L (“conclusion of” means last letter only) in CHID (=lectured, rebuked)
     
10 OWLET One of the youngest Members of Parliament?

A parliament is the collective noun for owls, hence an owlet is one of its youngest members!
     
11 UNWRITTEN Understood article in French documentary

UN (=article in French, i.e. the French for a) + WRITTEN (=documentary, i.e. of evidence)
     
12 NEW RICH Those recently acquainted with capital reportedly recognised half of London borough

Homophone (“reportedly”) of “knew” (=recognised) + RICH<mond> (=London borough; “half of” means 4 of 8 letters only are used); the “capital” of the definition refers to money
     
13 YEARNED Felt desire made dogs start to yelp

Y<elp> (“start to” means first letter only) + EARNED (=made); “dogs” in the wordplay is to be understood as “follows, goes after”
     
14 ELITE The best low-calorie drug apparently

E (=drug, i.e. ecstasy) + LITE (=low-calorie)
     
16 ACCRETION Build-up about invention making a leap forward

C (=about, i.e. circa) + CRE -A- TION (=invention; “making a leap forward” means letter “a” moves to front of word); accretion is continued growth, especially as a result of a gradual accumulation of layers
     
18 FORBIDDEN Taboo representing attempt to reject everything but Christianity ultimately

FOR (=representing, on behalf of) + BID (=attempt) + DEN<y> (=to reject; “everything but Christianit-Y ultimately (=last letter)” means letter “y” is dropped)
     
20 DWEEB Bed-wetting’s not half upset this idiot

*(BEDWE<tting>); “not half” means 5 of 10 letters are dropped from anagram, indicated by “upset”
     
21 IMPOSED Translation of poems in papers set as a task

*(POEMS) in ID (=papers); “translation of” is anagram indicator
     
23 UPSTART Jerk at university is leading one in class of 12

UP (=at university) + START (=jerk, recoil); an upstart could be described as one of the new rich (=answer at 12)
     
25 ITINERANT Rambling point one preceded with tirade

I (=one) + TINE (=point, prong) + RANT (=tirade)
     
26 RURAL Religious leader defaced painting of the country

R<eligious> (“leader” means first letter only) + <m>URAL (=painting; “defaced” means first letter is dropped)
     
27 GONAD Try and broadcast seed in this

GO (=try, attempt) + *(AND); “broadcast” is anagram indicator
     
28 KEROSENE Fuel smoke rose near house

Hidden (“house”, i.e. accommodate) in “smoKE ROSE NEar”
     
Down    
     
02 BELOW Subordinate to shout half-heartedly

BEL<l>OW (=to shout); “half-heartedly” means one of the two central letters is dropped
     
03 ENTWINE Ravel composed ten new pieces, keeping only the second

*(TEN NEW <p>I<eces>); “keeping only the second” means that the second letter only is included in the anagram, indicated by “composed”
     
04 SOUTHWARD Misspell a word thus from Scotland to England?

*(A WORD THUS); “misspell” is anagram indicator
     
05 DOWRY Arrange crooked match payment

DO (=arrange) + WRY (=crooked); the “match” of the definition is a marriage
     
06 CLIMATE Atmosphere cut short victory on board

CLI<p> (=cut; “short” means last letter dropped) + MATE (=victory on board, in chess)
     
07 INTENSIVE Playing tennis with writer’s consuming a lot of resources

*(TENNIS) + I’VE (=writer’s, i.e. writer has); “playing” is anagram indicator; intensive farming, for example, uses a lot of e.g. water, fertiliser, etc
     
08 DING-DONG BATTLE Contest where participants beat seven bells out of each other?

Cryptic definition: ding-dong is the sound of bells ringing
     
09 COUNTERFEITING Consider report of a suitable way of making money?

COUNT (=consider, regard as) + homophone (“report of”) of “a fitting” (=a suitable)
     
15 IRRUPTION One officer not involved in dishonesty or breaking in

I (=one) + <co>RRUPTION (=dishonesty; “officer (=CO) not involved” means letters “co” are dropped)
     
17 CONDUCTOR Behaviour of gold and silver is optimal

CONDUCT (=behaviour) + OR (=gold); of metals, silver is the best conductor of heat and electricity
     
19 INSTEAD Foreign aid sent as an alternative

*(AID SENT); “foreign” is anagram indicator
     
20 DISARMS Perhaps dispels Arsenal’s charms

Cryptically, to dispel someone’s arsenal, i.e. cache of weapons, would be to disarm them
     
22 DRANK Knocked back having managed to invade Denmark’s borders

RAN (=managed) in D<enmar>K (“borders” means first and last letters only)
     
24 APRON Way of expressing interest about part on stage

APR (=way of expressing interest, i.e. annual percentage rate of charge) + ON
   

8 comments on “Independent 9,498 / Serpent”

  3. Excellent puzzle. I found it very tough so I was pleased to wrestle it to the floor eventually. I had same experience as RR; every clue solved was a minor triumph. Many thanks to setter and blogger.

  4. Well, it was a good mental workout though there were several I couldn’t fully parse, and I was just about to resort to a wordfinder for my LOI when it suddenly dawned on me – DOWRY. Too many excellent clues, though, to name a CoD.

    Thanks, Serpent and RatkojaRiku.

  5. Tough stuff that proved too good for me by about half. As ever, lots of nice clues with the brilliant 10a being my fave so thanks to The Snake for the puzzle and cheers to The Rattler for the enlightening blog.

  6. When Serpent is capable of outshining Picaroon (as he did for me today (or was it yesterday?)), well, he must be a giant.
    But enough of that kind of sweet talk.
    Great crossword which I didn’t find that hard but one that needed a couple of explanations.
    I didn’t see what was going on in ACCRETION (16ac) and APRON (24d).
    Now that I see it [so many thanks RR] I must say that what I missed in those clues is actually what makes Serpent so good.
    Both ‘making a leap forward’ and the misdirecting ‘way of expressing interest’ are magnificent.
    Hoskins may be a kind of Mozart (and Dac’s Haydn) but in that context Serpent feels like Brahms.
    [I love them all, by the way]

  7. Many thanks to RatkojaRiku for the blog. And thanks to everyone for their generous comments, especially Sil (I regard any favourable comparison with Picaroon – one of my favourite setters – as high praise indeed).

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