Independent 9,986 by Tees

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I found this quite tough in places.

There were a couple of fairly obscure answers such as 18 and 23.   The clues were sound, though, and read well.

Across
1 LUMPEN Boorish northern smoker meets author (6)
  Lum(=Scottish word for a chimney) + pen(which you could take as a verb e.g. to pen or author something)
5 DOUBLOON Knight detaining old silly demands gold coin (8)
  Dub around o(ld) + loon
9 PORTSMOUTH Harbour gates opening (10)
  Ports(=gates) + mouth.  A port can be a gate in Scots dialect; also ports can be apertures in machines, which could be considered to be gates of a sort.
10 ABET Criminally endorse last thirteen letters? (4)
  The last 13 letters being the second half of the [alph]abet.
11 RINGED Surrounded in Reading – molested leaving area (6)
  (Re[a]ding)*
12 LATINIST Can one enter final as classics scholar? (8)
  Tin + I in last
13 ANON Man one to be flayed soon (4)
  [m]an on[e]
14 SAND HOPPER Don perhaps changing jumper on beach (4,6)
  (Don perhaps)*
16 HOWARDS END Catherine’s execution in this tale? (7,3)
  DD/CD.  Ref to Catherine Howard, one of Henry the Eighth’s less fortunate wives, and of course the EM Forster novel.
19 RUSE Republican to employ stratagem (4)
  R(epublican) + use
21 BRINDISI One follows exotic birds in Italian port (8)
  I after (birds in)*
23 SCHOOL Second husband in sophisticated company (6)
  S(econd) + (h(usband) in cool)
24 SMUT Obscene material corporations rejected (4)
  Tums<.  Corporation in this context is an old crossword favourite, being a slang term for a large belly.
25 STONEHENGE Whole chicken gets cooked outside tourist site (10)
  Gets* around (One hen)
26 ANTECEDE Come before volcano in retreat and surrender (8)
  Etna< + cede
27 RATING Seaman in position (6)
  DD
Down
2 UTOPIAN Impractical UN holding up seaworthy vessel (7)
  UN around (A1 pot)<, I think.
3 PATAGONIA Secretary travelling again to arid tableland (9)
  PA (abbrev for Personal Assistant) + (again to)*
4 NOMAD Wanderer bathes old woman in green light (5)
  Ma(=old woman) in nod(=green light in the sense of giving the green light to something)
5 DRUMLIN Drive home skirting large oval mound (7)
  Drum(=drive, perhpas in the sense of drumming something or driving something into one’s head) + in(=home) around l(arge)
6 UNHITCHED Single male penetrates novel in Dutch (9)
  He in (in Dutch)*
7 LEARN Shakespearean king with new master (5)
  Lear + n(ew)
8 OVERSEE Manage lines in Old English (7)
  Verse in O(ld) E(nglish)
14 SIDE ISSUE Face children to reveal minor affair (4,5)
  Side(=face) + issue(=children)
15 PARCHMENT Paper page merchant distributed (9)
  P(age) + merchant*.  True parchment is, of course, not paper but there is a type of stiff white paper called parchment.
17 OARSMAN Blade-wielder beheaded sailors in sultanate (7)
  [T]ars in Oman
18 EPIGONE Ultimately servile brute an individual who succeeds (7)
  [Servil]e + pig + one.  An epigone is an undistinguished successor to an accomplished person.
20 SHOTGUN Warlord keeps head from thermonuclear weapon (7)
  Shogun around t[hermonuclear]
22 NITRE Fool about with explosive component (5)
  Nit + re
23 SPEAR Bayonet in male side (5)
  DD.  This was a new one on me, but the spear side of the family is apparently the male side (as opposed to distaff).

*anagram

8 comments on “Independent 9,986 by Tees”

  1. Good fun for the most part.

    Didn’t know “Brindisi” and couldn’t be bothered to trawl through the various possible anagrams.

    Bunged in “spear” as my LOI and came here to find out why. Live and learn.

    Didn’t know “drumlin” and would never come up with ‘drum’ for ‘drive home’ but seems fair.

    Didn’t know “lumpen” but eventually guessed it, only thinking of ‘author’ as a verb at the last moment.

    Don’t really understand the a1 pot in 2d and what ‘demands’ is doing in 5a (link word?).

    So, a mixed bag for me, but enjoyable all said. Thanks to Tees and Neal.

  2. Hovis @1

    “Don’t really understand the a1 pot in 2d …”

    A1=’seaworthy’, POT=’vessel’ (in eg the kitchen). One of the definitions of A1 is:

    Chambers – indicating a first-class vessel in Lloyd’s Register of Shipping
    Collins – (of a vessel) with hull and equipment in first-class condition
    ODE – (of a vessel in Lloyd’s Register of Shipping) equipped to the highest standard; first-class

  3. Thanks Gaufrid. On checking, it would seem the usual meaning of ‘excellent” for ‘a1’ derives from its nautical meaning. As I said – live and learn.

  4. Thanks Tees and NealH

    I finished but didn’t understand SPEAR or RATING – I still don’t see how the latter is “in position”. What’s the context?

  5. In 5D I think the intention is that to DRUM IN means to drive home, so that the IN does not represent, as it often does, “home” in the sense that it has been blogged.

    Also not familiar with this meaning of SPEAR and also my LOI on the basis is of what else could it be?

    Thanks to Tees and NealH

  6. We got it all but couldn’t understand everything.  EPIGONE was a new word to us, worked out from crossing letters and wordplay then confirmed in Chambers.  Although familiar with ‘antecedent(s)’ ANTECEDE was new also but obvious without checking.  We guessed the ‘male side’ had to be term corresponding to ‘distaff’ and got SPEAR from the cross-references to ‘distaff’ in Brewer.  After putting ‘atom’ in very faint pencil for 10ac (a to m but we didn’t really think it could be) we got ABET from the definition but couldn’t see the parsing – Doh!  And we couldn’t work our where ‘um’ came from in DRUMLIN.

    Lots to enjoy, though.  HOWARDS END, STONEHENGE, UTOPIA and PATAGONIA among our favourites, but it’s just coincidence that they’re all places, either real or imaginary.

    Thanks, Tees and NealH.

    PS. Muffin@4: We think the second definition in 27ac is simply ‘position’ as in “what’s your position (= rating) in the league tables?” – the ‘in’ is simply a link word.

  8. Thanks Tees and NealH; an entertaining crossword.

    I couldn’t parse ABET, DOUBLOON or SPEAR, but I think gwep@5 is right in that drive home and drum in are nearly synonymous.

    I liked Catherine’s execution among others.

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