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Clue 25 across new statesman crossword 524 jan 22nd
5 letters B -R -A
Old philosopher has no energy and slight antipathy

There don't appear to be any philosophers that fit this letter pattern, or words for slight antipathy. A possible interpretation of the wordplay is B(e)ARS (as in bear, have a child) + the rather iffy A from "slight antipathy", but if there is a philosopher called BARSA he or she is too obscure to be found on the Net!

Are you 100% certain of the crossing letters?

Susan Bordo is a philosopher but at 73 she's hardly old!
I was thinking of boredom for slight apathy.

The wordplay appears to lead to BURKA - [Edmund] BURKE ('Old philosopher') missing the E ('with no energy') followed by A ('and slight antipathy'), but the definition seems to be absent.

That makes sense Spoffy. Maybe it was a themed crossword with some clues undefined.
It would be good to have some feedback from the poster.

Spoffy's interpretation is better than mine and I suspect Rossim is right that maybe this was a themed puzzle. I've never done a NS puzzle but wouldn't be too enthusiastic about a series that allows "slight antipathy" as an indication for the first letter A!

I agree Loge. It's lazy clueing, IMHO anyway.