Independent 6764/Phi

by
Across
1 (MATERIAL SNAG)* – MARGINAL SEAT.
9 ORPHANAGE – I think this is a reference to Wilde’s line from The Importance of Being Earnest: “to lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness”.
11 S in THIRTY
12 SQUARED – 12 SQUARED is 144, which is a gross.
15 A,FOR,E S,AID
17 PS in PIQUE,A,K – I knew the word but didn’t know it could mean “minor functionary”.
18 TWINS – don’t get this one: “Women apparently preserved offspring”.
19 EIRE< in QU,D
23 T,(LUCK)* in ROAD
24 I,N,TELL,GEN in ICE
 
Down
1 PHI in (HELPS ONE MATE)* – MEPHISTOPHELEAN.”Setter of Beelzebub” is a nice touch, although something of an in-joke, as Phi does actually set the Beelzebub crossword (along with ex-Indy compiler Columba).
4 R in AYES,ROCK
5 US (going up),CU,L in CENT – SUCCULENT. I think this is a great clue, with a very well hidden definition.
6 ALTERNATIVE VOTE – another way of saying (VETO)*.
8 B[-arel]Y,R[ecorde]D
14 AC,QUIESCE[-nt]
15 (ONCE DATA)*,L
16 A D in D,ISSUE
20 W,RUNG – W for “weak” is not in the COED or Chambers Online but it may well be in proper version of C but I don’t currently have access to it so I can’t check.
21 TO,KEN

7 comments on “Independent 6764/Phi”

  4. That’s right – w is in Chambers, related to physics. I do not think it would have caused problems esp as it’s crossed by another word.
    Excellent puzzle, I particularly liked ORPHANAGE.

  5. 12 across fooled me, ridiculously. Having got S-U-R-D, I could only come up in my mind with SLURRED and SPURRED, neither of which worked.

    Although it’s a clever idea, I have a vague doubt about it. Although it is 12 in the sense that there isn’t a 12 down, it is a long leap to get from “this clue” to “gross” (144, etc).

  6. I always like this sort of thing (bravo Phi), but you make an interesting point – what would the nomenclators say? Will ‘X’ suffice, or is an across clue ‘Xac’ regardless of whether there’s an Xdn? If the latter applies, can you square ‘Xac’ and get X squared?

    I think we should be told.

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