Thank you to Filbert. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Is she worried by French driver’s glass eye? (10)
PROSTHESIS : Anagram of(… worried) IS SHE placed after(by) PROST(Alain, French F1 motor racing driver).
Defn: An example of which/? is a glass eye.
7. Avoid rear-end collision when Tesla moves off (4)
SHUN : “shunt”(a rear-end collision, as in one car against another) minus(when … moves off) “T”(symbol for magnetic field strength in physics).
9. Cricket boundaries rolled back for test, favouring beefier types? (6)
SEXIST : Reversal of(…. rolled back) SIXES(cricket boundaries, when the batsman hits the ball over the pitch boundary without contact with the ground, thus scoring six runs) plus(for) T(abbrev. for “test”).
Defn: .. or discriminating against, in this case, the female sex, which you might term the less beefy or muscular type.
10. Some sponging as Mexican beans are cooked for Spooner (4,4)
FREE RIDE : Spoonrism(… for Spooner) “refried”(in Mexican cuisine, describing a dish where beans are cooked well-fried, not fried again).
11. Migrant protestor catches old marines assaulting Nazi (5,7)
STORM TROOPER : Anagram of(Migrant) PROTESTOR containing(catches) [ O(abbrev. for “old”) + RM(abbrev. for the Royal Marines in the British Royal Navy) ].
Defn: A member of the SA, a militia of the Nazi Party.
14. Max caught by cat swung round makes feelings clear (6,2)
SPEAKS UP : PEAK(the maximum level/max of something) contained in(caught by) reversal of(… swung round) PUSS(informal term for a domesticated cat).
15. Age stomach’s beginning to go from drinking a lot (6)
THIRTY : 1st letter of(…’s beginning) “stomach” deleted from(to go from) “thirsty”(drinking a lot, as in “a thirsty drinker”).
A loose definition, I think.
17. Cryptic note by doctor put with dead bodies (6)
ENTOMB : Anagram of(Cryptic) NOTE plus(by) MB(abbrev. for Medicinae Baccalaureus, translated to Bachelor of Medicine, a doctor).
18. Miss one stair, taking a tumble (8)
SENORITA : Anagram of(…, taking a tumble) ONE STAIR.
Defn: An unmarried Spanish girl/….
19. Among others, world champions heading for seaside as reward (3,4,5)
FOR ONES PAINS : FOR ONE(an example of/one of many/among others) + SPAIN(current world champions/World Cup holders in football) + 1st letter of(heading for) “seaside”.
22. What appears to be bubbly text copied to Oscar (8)
PROSECCO : PROSE(the normal form of written language/text, as opposed to poetry) + CC(abbrev. for “copied”) plus(to) O(letter represented by “Oscar” in the phonetic alphabet).
Defn: …, from Italy:
24. Patents, trademarks etc. perfect for high-tech brand (6)
IPHONE : IP(abbrev. for “intellectual property”, including patents, trademarks and more) + HONE(to refine/to perfect).
Defn: …/line, in this case, of smartphones.
25. Pickle Anne gets out of cruelty (4)
MESS : “Anne” deleted from(gets out of) “meanness”(cruelty/unkindness).
Defn: …/a difficult situation.
26. Confuse Asian visiting Nottinghamshire for audition (3,2,5)
TIE IN KNOTS : Homophone of(… for audition) [ “Thai”(an Asian, in this case, one from Thailand) “in”(visiting/staying in for a while) “Notts”(abbrev. for Nottinghamshire) ].
Down
2. Bank without any charges putting foot down (4)
REEF : FREE(without any charges/at no cost) with F(abbrev. for “foot”) moved to the bottom(putting … down, in a down clue).
Defn: …/a raised line of rock, coral or sand in the sea.
3. Mao and Stalin worked out an end to Channel crossings (5-4)
SAINT-MALO: Anagram of(… worked out) [MAO plus(and) STALIN ].
Answer: The French port with a terminal for ferries crossing the English Channel from England.
4. Stop mad bishop getting into barrel for Easter tradition (3,5,3)
HOT CROSS BUN : HO!(an exclamation used to stop movement) + [ CROSS(angry/mad) B(abbrev. for “bishop” in chess notation) ] contained in(getting into) TUN(a large barrel for holding and aging, say, beer).
5. Car frequently breaks down (4,3)
SOFT TOP : OFT(often/frequently) contained in(breaks) STOP(to cease an action, as commanded to by the expression “Down!” to a dog – or by bringing down, say, an opponent).
6. These egg boxes detect surroundings (3)
SEE : Hidden in(… boxes) “These egg”.
Defn: … using one’s sense of sight.
7. Fight with spades and manure (5)
SCRAP : S(abbrev. for “spades”, the playing cards suit) plus(and) CRAP(excrement, in this case animal faeces/manure, used as fertiliser)
8. Play down south of Texas, say (10)
UNDERSTATE : UNDER(in most maps, where north is at the top, a location that is south of another will be shown below/under the latter) STATE(an example of which/say, is Texas, USA).
12. Revered old novelist heard cheers wandering into exhibition (11)
OSTENTATION : Homophone of(… heard) “Austen”(Jane, revered old/once English novelist) + TA(like “Cheers!”, an expression saying “Thank you!”) + anagram of(wandering) INTO.
Defn: …/flamboyance.
13. Saint shut up as church wasted power (5,5)
SPENT FORCE : S(abbrev. for “Saint”) + PENT(confined/shut up) + FOR(as/because as a conjunction joining 2 clauses, as in “She didn’t want to eat for she was feeling full”) + CE(abbrev. for the Church of England).
16. “I’m stinking and hot” – an imprisoned ex-PM (5,4)
IMRAN KHAN : I’M + RANK(stinking/foul-smelling) plus(and) H(abbrev. for “hot”) + AN.
Defn: … of Pakistan.
18. Outsiders in Surrey wrongly took bloody beating (7)
SYSTOLE : 1st and last letters of(Outsiders in) “Surrey” + STOLE(wrongly took/illegally gotten).
Answer: The part of the heart’s beating when blood is being pushed out.
20. Romantic gift went up Charles’s backside (5)
ROSES : ROSE(went up/moved upwards) + last letter of(…’s backside) “Charles”.
21. One egg you should sit on (4)
UNIT : NIT(egg of a louse or similar parasitic insect) placed below(… should sit on, in a down clue) U(shorthand text abbreviation for “you”).
23. What might be serious for patient wanting A&E? (3)
CUT : “acute”(describing a serious condition of a patient wanting emergency medical treatment, such as one with acute appendicitis) minus(wanting) [“A” and(&) “E”].
Answer: An injury to a patient that might be serious enough to want treatment in the A&E Department.
In 9a, I took “rolled” for the reversal and T as ‘back of tesT’.
Beaten today, but I always enjoy Filbert. Just couldn’t see SEXIST, was stuck looking for boundaries of cricket being CT or otherwise being ‘fours’. Storm troopers were first used in WW1.
Thanks to both.
This is a super puzzle, quite tricky but totally fair and expertly clued.
A wide range of devices, well-chosen solutions.
On the “test” = T thing, 9(ac), I’ve seen it before, and just concluded it’s the T in MOT. Which, for once, I don’t have a problem with.
Only one tiny quibble, I never like “number” turning out to be a random number, so in 15(ac), “age” = THIRTY is a bit weak, for me.
I give ticks as I go when I think a clue is a good one. Here, 5 clues were 2 ticks, and 4 clues were 3 ticks, a record score. So, I conclude, it’s a cracker.
Thanks and thumbs up, Fil & scchua ( great blog )
Thanks Filbert for the Sunday challenge full of clever clues such as STORM TROOPER, ENTOMB, FOR ONES PAINS, SAINT MALO, SOFT TOP, and ROSES (liked the surface). I failed with SEXIST (thought the definition was a stretch plus I know little about cricket) and IMRAN KHAN. Thanks scchua for the blog.
Doh@3 It just dawned on me, the T in MOT is not TEST! But it is widely an abbreviation in medical and chemistry fields.
Ergo, a stretchy one.
Surely Hovis @ 1 is right about “back for test” being T. If “rolled back” were the reversal indicator and “test” indicated T as an abbreviation, the “for” wouldn’t be doing anything, and I don’t think Filbert would be happy with that.
This was a typically great Filbert. A real shame that this weekly treat is probably going to disappear with the rest of the Independent cryptic series. Thanks scchua for the blog.
Tony @4: if you hit the ball such that it crosses the field’s boundary on the fly, it scores six runs. (Analogize to a home run in baseball.) If it crosses the boundary having bounced or (more often) rolled first, that scores four runs. (Analogize to an automatic double, although that makes fours sound less common than they are.) Together, sixes and fours are called boundaries.
[Thanks mrpenny, but I doubt if I’ll remember any of that! ]
I thought this was on par with Folbert’s usual difficulty but above his usual high standards. One of the best puzzles I’ve done for weeks. Hard to pick a favourite but FOR ONES PAIN and STORM TROOPER immediately come to mind.
Thanks Schuaa and Filbert
Nice puzzle. We are another couple who subscribe to the Independent mainly for the crossword. They won’t get a website hit from this, but they do risk losing £150 per year if the crossword goes multiplied by however many of us subscribe for the crossword. How can we help them understand that?
@ericw 10
not sure what you mean as you can do the crossword for free online?
ENBoll& @5 I parsed this as Cricket boundaries rolled (SEXIS) back for test (T), which eliminates the t = test? I didn’t think “favouring beefier types?” was Filbert’s best work, though. Great puzzle, all the same
Jon @11. We like the format of it in the subscribed paper. Call us old fashioned…