Independent on Sunday 1556 Wire

Thanks to Wire for an enjoyable crossword. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

9 One who reprimands Mark goes very pale (9)

ALABASTER : A(article for one in number) + “lambaster”(a reprimander/a berater) minus(… goes) “m”(abbrev. for “mark”).

Defn: …, like the whiteness of alabaster, as in “an alabaster complexion”.

10 Packing sausages is common practice (5)

USAGE : Hidden in(Packing) “sausages“.

11 Impose recycling of essentially bin-end stuff (7)

ENFORCE : Reversal of(recycling of) middle 2 letters of(essentially) “bin-end” + FORCE(to stuff/to cram into a space).

12 Cat returns to eat lion, maybe seen via satellite (7)

MOONLIT : Reversal of(… returns) TOM(a male cat) containing(to eat) anagram of(…, maybe) LION.

Defn: …, the earth’s satellite, the moon, that is).

13 Irritable and sarcastic when starting direction switched (5)

NARKY : “sarky”(slang for “sarcastic”) with its 1st letter(starting) “s”(abbrev. for “south”,a direction) changed to(when … switched) “n”(abbrev. for “north”, the opposite direction).

14 Consequences of pursuing US subject (9)

AFTERMATH : AFTER(pursuing/coming from behind) + MATH(American/US short form for mathematics, the subject).

16 Stories are racy, but lent out by school head (10,5)

CANTERBURY TALES : Anagram of(… out) ARE RACY, BUT LENT plus(by) 1st letter of(… head) “school“. And some of them are indeed racy.

Two excerpts from The Miller’s Tale (it shouldn’t be too hard to get the gist of it):

Now sire and eft sire, so bifel the cas

That on a day this hende Nicholas

Fil with this yonge wyfe to rage and pleye

Whil that hir housbonde was at Oseneye,

As clerkes been ful subtile and ful queynte,

And prively he caught hire by the queynte

And sayde, “Ywis, but if ich have my wille

For deerne love of thee, lemman, I spille,”

And heeld hire harde by the haunche bones

And seyde, “Lemman, love me al at onesOr I wold dyen, also God save me!”

 

This Absolon gan wype his mouth ful drie.

Dirk was the nyght as pich or as the cole,

And at the wyndow out she pitte hir hole.

And Absolon hym fil no bet ne wers,

But with his mouth he kiste hir naked ers

Ful savourly er he was war of this.

Abak he stirte and thoughte it was amys,

For wel he wiste a woman hath no berd.

He felte a thyng al rough and longe yherd

And seyde, “Fy! Allas! What have I do?”

“Tehee,” quod she and clapte the wyndow to.

19 PC way to trade green car adopted by setter (1-8)

E-COMMERCE : ECO-(prefix signifying something that is related to environmental conservation/green) + [MERC(short for Mercedes-Benz, the German car marque) contained in(adopted by) ME(the setter of this crossword, using the self-referential pronoun)].

Defn: … ie. using the PC/electronically.

21 Good (but not the best) category for somewhere to stay (1,3,1)

B AND B : [BAND B](Category/range of values B, good but not as good as the best, Band A).

Defn: Abbreviation for a Bed and Breakfast place to stay.

22 Firm can shut when ruined (7)

STAUNCH : Anagram of(… when ruined) CAN SHUT.

Defn: …/unwaveringly faithful.

23 New supermarket across Norway impossible, I’m afraid (2,3,2)

NO CAN DO : N(abbrev. for “new”) + OCADA(a British online supermarket) containing(across) N(abbrev. for Norway).

24 Flanders city romance featuring two lecturers (5)

LILLE : LIE(romance/something unreal) containing(featuring) L,L(two times abbrev. for “lecturer”).

25 They watch attractive people running (7-2)

LOOKERS-ON : LOOKERS(attractive people to be looked at) + ON(running/functioning).

Down

1 Sack cleaner holding up key centre of worship (10)

TABERNACLE : Anagram of(Sack) CLEANER placed below(holding up, in a down clue) TAB(the key on your keyboard used to advance the cursor to set positions on the document you’re working on).

2 Medication husband nicked from quay inside of marina (8)

WARFARIN : “h”(abbrev. for “husband”) deleted from(nicked from) “wharf”(a quay, where ships dock) + middle 4 letters of(inside of) “marina“.

Defn: A blood anticoagulant used medicinally and as a rat poison.

3 Quite cunning to seal off vent (6)

FAIRLY : FLY(cunning/shrewd) containing(to seal off) AIR(to vent/to let out, as in “to vent your dissatisfaction”).

4 Complaint when tyres burst right away (4)

STYE : Anagram of(… burst) “tyres” minus(… away) “r”(abbrev. for “right”).

5 Mum in bother with desire for playwright (10)

DRAMATURGE : MA(informal term for one’s mother/mum) contained in(in) DRAT!(like “bother!”, an expression of mild irritation) plus(with) URGE(a strong desire to do something).

6 Official regret about old soldiers appearing in court (8)

EUROCRAT : Reversal of(… about) RUE(to regret/to feel sorry about something done or let happen) + O(abbrev. for “old”) + [RA(abbrev. for the Royal Artillery, soldiers in the British Army) contained in(appearing in) CT(abbrev. for “court”, as in a postal address)].

Defn: … in the EU Administration.

7 Food plate slyly hidden regularly by Australian (6)

PAELLA : 1st,3rd,5th,7th and 9th letters of(… hidden regularly) “plate slyly” plus(by) A(abbrev. for Australian).

8 Digitally experienced material (4)

FELT : Experienced/sensed digitally/with a finger/a digit.

14 London building a large place to sleep everyone (6,4)

ALBERT HALL : A + L(abbrev. for “large”) + BERTH(a fixed bunk in a ship, train, etc. to sleep in) + ALL(everyone).

15 Pig’s ear topping ex-PM’s potato bites (4,6)

HASH BROWNS : HASH(a pig’s ear/a mess/a jumble of things) placed above(topping, in a down clue) BROWN(Gordon, ex-UK Prime Minister)‘S.

17 Classic novel and French articles upset Macron? (8)

EMMANUEL : EMMA(classic novel by Jane Austen) plus(and) reversal of(… upset, in a down clue) LE,UN(2 articles in the French language).

Defn: For example/?, Macron, the French President’s first name.

18 Revolutionary squats in inelegant retro housing (8)

LENINIST : Hidden in reversal of(… retro housing) “squats in inelegant“.

20 Forecaster caught abandoning boat (6)

ORACLE : “c”(abbrev. for “caught” in cricket scores) deleted from(abandoning) “coracle”(a small round boat).

21 Stream clip here to see Boris? (6)

BECKER : BECK(a stream/a brook) + 1st and last letters deleted from(clip) “here“.

Defn: An example/? of a Boris, not Bojo, but the former tennis champion.

22 Season Six avoids tax, originally set around Luxembourg (4)

SALT : 1st letters, respectively, of(…, originally) “Six avoids tax” containing(set around) L(abbrev. for Luxembourg).

Defn: …, as a verb.

23 Gas planets get hot internally close to sun (4)

NEON : Central letters, repectively, of(… internally) “planets get hot” + last letter of(close to) “sun“.