Independent 7349 by Morph

by

A fine puzzle, themed for General Election day in the UK.   A lot of clues had political references but quite a few were nicely misleading with the answers having nothing to do with it!   Slightly harder than average Indy for me, solving time 37 mins.

(Thanks to IanN14  for spotting the excellent Nina which I missed, obviously still alert despite the CL celebrations of the night before!)

* = anagram

ACROSS

1 REBUFFS    RE   BUFFS

5 STABLE     One of the four clues I marked as my favourites today.    Arab = horse

10 DOUBT    Another one of those four     (BUT DO)*  &lit    excellent

11 ADHERENTS     man = he    hires = rents

12 OPPOSITION      Complicated wordplay here     The second sentence of the clue in cryptic terms can be read as (NO IT IS) all reversed.     The first sentence gives OPPO  = opposing position which is the same if reversed ie a palindrome.

13 TSAR    Hidden reversal

15 LET RIP    LE  TRIP (take acid)

16 REJOICED    REsults     “Joist”     This was my last answer, but it’s not really a hard clue at all on reflection.

18 STRATEGY    (GET ARTS) reversed   Y (unknown quantity)

20 RESIST    I’S in REST     12 = OPPOSITION

23 BORE       B.O.  RE(on ie in relation to)     Good surface

25 PARTY PIECE     another of my favourites today    Labour = party    piece = man (chess)   definition = turn

27 INVIOLATE    I   (NAIVE LOT)*

28 AVAIL    “of ale”

29 YELLOW  STREAK     Colours of all three main parties appear in the puzzle, defined with name of party.

30 KISSERS      Good misleading context with X as on ballot.     UKIP essentially = KI (middle letters) then first letters of the next five words, indicated by ‘starting’

DOWN

1 REDPOLL     RED  POLL     a bird ie tweeter so nothing to do with Internet.

2 BLUE  PETER     Children’s TV programme in UK.   Peter = safe

3 FETISHISTS     FT (feet) around  SITE (reversed) and HIS (the guy’s)  then first letter of Seek

Definition:    like minds   ie foot fetishists, I guess

4 SCANTY    half of CANCAN in STY    ‘Nature of’  indicates it’s an adj

6 TIRO     Hidden reversal

7 BONUS   ON in BUS   &lit    Chambers confirms abbrev   bus = business

8 ENSURED    (RUDENES)*

9 THRONE      CameRON less came in THE

14 POWERPLAYS    (OPP LAWYER’S)*    Chambers confirms opp abbrev for opposed

17 CRIME WAVE    ME in   (VICE WAR)*   ME = two-thirds of MET (Metropolitan Police as London police force is known)

18 SUBSIDY    The 4th of the clues I marked as my favourites.   (BUYS ID cardS)*

19 GRAHAM    Football knowledge helpful here.    Surface refers, I think, to the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, perhaps criticizing, Ledley King, a player with their great local rivals Spurs.   But the answer is an earlier Arsenal manager, George GR A HAM   GR = King (George)  HAM = actor.

He also managed Spurs.      Maybe, after last night, those clubs may extend their rivalry to the European stage and meet in next season’s Champions League.

21 TRELLIS    Cryptic definition with misleading political surface and misleading capital letters that crossword convention allows.

24 RIVAL   Clever, this.   RI (Rhode Island) – Northern State V (against)  AL (Alabama) – Southern State.

26 YO-YO     (Oy Oy) reversed, I think ie exasperated question

15 comments on “Independent 7349 by Morph”

  1. Thanks nms,
    I believe Morph is an Arsenal fan.
    I hope Wenger wouldn’t have the temerity to criticise the magnificent Ledley King…
    (The less said about George Graham, the better).
    There is actually a nina in the second and penultimate rows…

  2. Well spotted, IanN14! [and belated congrats on yet another Genius triumph. 🙂 ]

    I thought this was excellent, even without that. I agree with all your 4, nms [thanks for the blog] with the addition of 30 ac – great surface!

  3. Yes, a good one – but ‘yesterday’s solution’ in my paper doesn’t look familiar 🙂

  4. Lots to enjoy, but my laugh aloud moment was using Conservative leader came out to clue ‘ron’.

    Great stuff.

  6. Nms,

    I interpreted the OPPO part of 12 Ac as OP (observation point) + PO (ditto reversed), and 26 Dn to be Y O Y (“why oh why”) + O(ver).

    Excellent puzzle, and politically impartial too as one should expect of a Channel 4 News journalist! Among lots of fine clues, the superb POWERPLAYS gets my vote.

  7. Thought this was brilliant, crowned by the Nina which I missed completely. I had to go back to the online version and cheat – again. How can you not admire all those topical clues, so many of them elegantly constructed, deceptive and apparently effortless? RIVAL and BORE were among the best. For me, as for Conrad Cork, the Cameron clue stood out.

  8. Good night last night for the old Gooners I reckon – The Tottenham steaming past them like a big ol’ train there. A good puzzle though, splendidly apposite for the Indy Lads.

  9. I couldn’t quite finish three or four clues, but a very good puzzle with a very apposite theme and scrupulous political disinterest (hope you’re still listening, Eileen …)

    And a clever nina to boot (which of course I didn’t spot). Unlike Pat @ no 5, I liked BORE; but share his/her question mark over oy-oy. Some excellent misdirections and &lits.

    Maybe just to add for those of a non-sporting disposition that POWERPLAYS are passages in one-day cricket where either the batting or the bowling side can dictate field placings to make aggressive tactics more effective.

    And yes, Paul A, the dead-tree version did have an interesting entry under ‘yesterday’s solution’. But the Saturday paper printed the concise crossword twice, once in the main part and once in the supplement, so seems there are some teething troubles with the new format. At least I can read the clues now.

  11. Thanks for the blog and comments. Richard Heald has it right re OPPOSITION and also YOYO – ‘expressed’ was to indicate the homonym of “Why Oh Why” – but using ‘over’ for O was obviously a little confusing.
    My esteemed editor Mike also pointed out Graham’s past managership of his club – but let’s wait until Sunday to judge whether the London North constituency’s turned blue!

  14. Thanks for the helpful comments on yesterday’s crossword but I found today’s even harder.Having seen some of the answers I should get them but not today.I did get 1a,19d,27a(love anagrams!) 29/22 15 and 28a but clues like 24d and 25a not a chance! Would never have thought of a horse for Arab.Nearly forgot! Got 3d.Didnt think tiro was ‘I’ thought it was ‘y’.What was the Nina?

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