i App Cryptic Crossword S0072 by Knut

Difficulty rating (out of five): ⏳⏳⏳

You won’t be surprised to learn that this was originally published on 2d, where it perhaps made a little more sense. Quirky, certainly, and sometimes obscure, but never dull, this was Knut being, well, Knut… Crossing that espionage writer with the horny Greek vessel was a little naughty, as both were less than obvious, but elsewhere there was always a way through, even if you couldn’t always parse everything.

Talking of parsing, that of 25d on Fifteensquared must surely be wrong – the band in question consist of more members than the rowing brothers, so it should be an &Lit, they being regularly seen in the band? Virtually, too, it should be noted now thanks to the dubious wonders of AI.

I suspect this will be one of the better offerings on display this morning in the cryptic world, so do give it a go.

CoD? I’ll go with 9ac – “When 2’s caught dropping ecstasy in front of the stage (5)”.

All the answers and parsing of the clues can be found in Fifteensquared’s blog from the aforementioned date:

https://www.fifteensquared.net/2019/04/01/independent-10129-by-knut/