Independent on Sunday 1,128 by Poins

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I must admit that I’d overlooked that it was my turn to blog this week, so unfortunately I didn’t take detailed notes as I solved. A week on, this all seems relatively straightforward, though I suppose it would do with the answers in front of me! That said, I can’t fathom how I got to the answer for 22ac, so I’ve reproduced the clue here.

There seem to be several political references here, in particular to the Conservatives, though whether these are substantial enough to constitute a theme, I can’t quite decide.

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.

Across
1 ABSTRACT – (B in ASTRA) + CT.
5 THESIS – THE + [i]SIS. This is “downbeat” in the musical sense, i.e. the downward stroke of a conductor’s baton.
9 STRIDENT – STRIDE + [dow]N + [me]T[al].
10 ANNALS – L[ulu] in (ANNA + S).
11 RESOLUTE – ROSE* + LUTE.
12 TIMBRE – BR in EMIT<.
14 LAY READERS – READ in LAYERS.
18 PRONOUNCED – PRONOUNCE + D.
22 TITIAN – I think this is correct, but I can’t quite see it: Object after model goes to fellow artist. Presumably IAN is the “fellow”, but that’s as far as I got.
23 COLLAPSE – CO + L + LAPSE.
24 ELICIT – [isra]ELI CIT[izens].
25 BASS VIOL – BASS + V[ivaldi] + OIL*.
26 SEETHE – [childcar]E in THESE*.
27 ALL RIGHT – dd.
Down
1 ASSURE – A + (S in SURE).
2 STRESS – [thi]S + (R in TESS).
3 RIDDLE – R + (D in LIED*).
4 CONSTRAINT – CON + STRAIN + T.
6 HANDICAP – hom. of “handy” + CAP.
7 SHAMBLES – SHAM + BL[u]ES.
8 SUSPENSE – (US + P) in SENSE.
13 FREE-FOR-ALL – F[iddling] + REEF + ORAL + L.
15 SPOTLESS – SPOT LESS.
16 CONTRITE – (N in COT) + RITE.
17 WOMANISH – (O + MAN) in WISH.
19 CLOSER – CLOSE + R.
20 SPRING – dd.
21 PELLET – P.E. + William TELL<.

2 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,128 by Poins”

  1. Thanks Simon and Poins, I found this quite tricky especially as the grid gives few connections between the four quarters of the puzzle. An enjoyable solve.

    I read TITIAN as: Object = IT, (as in the object of a sentence) after model = T (Ford, as usual) + IAN, the fellow as you mention.

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