Independent on Sunday 1282/Kairos

I thought this was an excellent IoS puzzle from Kairos.  Just one or two where I’m not entirely sure of my parsing.

I don’t normally big up setters, because they are overweening and overpaid.  (Joking, joking … they are invariably self-effacing and poor.)  But I will give Kairos a special pat on the back for this puzzle: shedloads of excellent surfaces and clever wordplay while remaining accessible in the IoS style.  A number of religious references this morning.  On checking Kairos’ profile, I see that he is – among other things – a CofE priest, so that might have something to do with it.

Across

1  Navigator breaking record crossing Roman square
CO-DRIVER
An insertion of IV for the Roman numeral for four in (RECORD)*  And four, whichever way you look at it, is a ‘square’ of two.

5  Rhode Island blocks special award for writer
SCRIBE
An insertion of RI for ‘Rhode Island’ in S CBE.

10  Hammer a bit of rock from stones
GAVEL
G[R]AVEL.  The auctioneer’s favoured hammer.

11  Instruments of death returned by doctor
TROMBONES
A reversal of MORT for ‘death’ and BONES for a slang word for ‘doctor’, especially in Star Trek.  MORT is French, of course; but it is also in my SOED with this definition.

12  Open University’s up-to-date welcoming lecturers?
UNSCREW
Well, I think this is U followed by SCR in NEW.  SCR in Oxbridge circles is Senior Common Room, and since this is a room reserved for postgraduates, then I suppose some of them could be ‘lecturers’.  Someone out there may have a better parsing.

13  Coded language seen in unlooked-for translation
FORTRAN
Here’s a blast from the past.  Hidden in unlooked-FOR TRANSlation.  A computer coding language that I learned when I was at uni.  Which was a very long time ago.

14  Ugly person‘s outburst about drunken orgy
GARGOYLE
An insertion of RYGO, which is (ORGY)* in GALE.  I wouldn’t use GARGOYLE to describe an individual who was ugly, but the ones stuck at the top of buildings wouldn’t win any prizes for beauty.  GALE for ‘outburst’ as in GALE OF LAUGHTER.  On checking, I find my Collins has ‘a person with a grotesque appearance’, so the setter is on firm ground.

16  Christian’s love showing disbelief
AGAPE
There were several types of love in Ancient Greece.  AGAPE (pronounced ‘a ga pay’) was unconditional love, almost of a charitable nature, which was associated with the early Christians.  EROS, on the other hand, was getting your leg over love.  It’s a dd.

19  Joy embraces bishop in church property
GLEBE
An insertion of B in GLEE.  ‘A piece of land serving as part of a clergyman’s benefice and providing income.’  If you’re a fan of The Archers, you’ll know that Glebe Cottage is one of the residences in Ambridge, presumably getting its name from this meaning.  What the hell does Elizabeth think she’s doing?

20  Stops Susanna acquiring pass
SUSPENDS
This appears to be an insertion of SPEND for ‘pass’ (time) in SUS.  Is SUS a shortened form of ‘Susanna’?

23  Attempt to refurbish an old boat
GONDOLA
A charade of GO for ‘attempt’ and (AN OLD)*

25  A European welcomes British entertainer
ACROBAT
An insertion of B in A CROAT.

27  Sketching what a groundsman may be doing!
OUTLINING
A groundsman at a football club may very well be OUT LINING, painting the white lines on the grass so the beautiful game can take place.  A cd cum dd.

28  Bend in left hand tree
LARCH
I think this is L and ARCH, but I can’t quite parse it.  Is the setter telling us to put L for ‘hand’ to the left of ARCH?

29  Expert briefly returns books for formalist
PEDANT
Kairos is asking you to reverse ADEPT, take off the last letter, then add NT for New Testament, or ‘books’ to give you a word that describes someone who likes everything to be tickety-boo and formally correct.  Never met a crossword fan who was a pedant.

30  Innsbruck nervously entertains composer
BRUCKNER
Hidden in InnsBRUCK NERvously.  The hidden indicator is ‘entertains’.  The Austrian composer Anton BRUCKNER; and Innsbruck is in Austria, which gives an added dimension to the clue.

Down

1  Flippin’ Young Conservative animals in The Swan
CYGNUS
This is a reversal of YC for ‘Young Conservatives’ followed by GNUS.  But why Kairos chose to use “flippin'” as the reversal indicator rather than “flipping” I don’t rightly know.  It’s referring to the constellation CYGNUS, which comes from the Latin and is the root for our word CYGNET for a young swan.  Don’t argue with a swan: it’ll seriously damage you if you get in a fight.

2  Destroy Chester, say
DEVASTATE
DEVA was the Roman settlement that became Chester; so it’s DEVA and STATE.

3  Lollard queen mounted by Eric?
IDLER
Since it’s a down clue, it’s Eric IDLE over R for Regina or ‘queen’.

4  Take in a means to worry
EAT AWAY
A charade of EAT for ‘take in’ or ingest and A WAY.

6  Wacky baccy free in coffee shop
CYBERCAFE
Brilliant surface and clue, conjuring up the coffee shops in Amsterdam.  (BACCY FREE)* with ‘wacky’ as the anagrind.  What some folk call a ‘lift and separate’ clue, since you have to disassociate ‘wacky’ from ‘baccy’.

7  Private decapitated evildoer
INNER
[S]INNER.

8  Religious group bottles many perfumes
ESSENCES
An insertion of C for one hundred or ‘many’ in ESSENES, the 2nd century BC Judaic sect.  Usually it’s D, five hundred, for ‘many’, but C works just as well.

9  Sweet refined man kisses Mr Cummings
TOFFEE
A charade of TOFF for ‘refined man’ and EE for ee cummings, the American poet.  ‘Kisses’ is the hint to put the two together, like lips would do during osculation.

15  One of two men maybe chants?
GREGORIAN
Another of my favourites today.  GREG OR IAN.

17  Star graduate boards a modified lander
ALDEBARAN
An insertion of BA in (LANDER)*  A giant orange star in the constellation of Taurus.  We’ve had a bit of astronomy as well as a bit of church this morning.

18  Mature adult leaving with new teenagers?
AGE GROUP
This baby took a bit of parsing: it’s AGE for ‘mature’ (as in cheese) then GRO[W][N]UP.  ‘Leaving’ is the removal indicator.

20  Dictator of southern city in Estonia we hear
STALIN
A charade of S for ‘southern’ and TALIN, which is a homophone of TALLINN, the capital of Estonia.

21  Strut and length of material on Mongolian tent
SWAGGER
A charade of SWAG and GER.  SWAG: ‘a curtain or piece of fabric fastened so as to hang in a drooping curve’. GER: ‘a Mongolian tent, also known as a yurt’.  So there you go.

22  Artist using carbon in medium
ETCHER
An insertion of C for ‘carbon’ in ETHER, which could be said to be a ‘medium’.  In the ether, and all that.

24  Remarkable denial of 1950’s teenager?  I’m ______ !
NOTED
Well, if I’m a ROCKER, then I’m NO TED.  Referring to the gangs from the fifties.  Since I am a 29ac, I will point out that Kairos has got his apostrophe in the wrong place.  Since Mods and Rockers were from the 1950s, then it needs to be 1950s’ in the surface and not 1950’s, which would suggest that all the aggro finished on 31st December 1950.  And anyway, I fancy Mods and Rockers were more of a 1960s’ phenomenon.  I’ll stop being a 29ac now.

26  Remains of local taken from country?
RELIC
A country could be a REPUBLIC and if you do this – RE[PUB]LIC – what remains are, well, ‘remains’.

I very much enjoyed solving and blogging this one.  Thank you to Kairos.