*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
This was interesting. We haven’t seen a weekday Tees puzzle for some time, and I certainly have never blogged one. I really struggled to get a handle on his style, which seems reminiscent of that of Nimrod, another setter I tend to struggle with. I look forward to hearing how others found this.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1/17 | FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD – a long charade, I think, with FAR FROM THE + MADDING + CROW + D. |
| 7/16 | ANNE HATHAWAY – obviously ANNE HATH A WAY, but I don’t know who Will is, and assume him to be a contemporary cinema reference. |
| 9 | QUAINT – QUANT “engages” I. |
| 10 | VAPORISE – (AI + PROVES)*. |
| 11 | SEA FLOOR – (ARE FOOLS)*. |
| 12 | REALLY – (E + ALL) in RY. |
| 13 | CAPTAIN BLIGH – cd. |
| 20 | SHOWER – dd. |
| 22 | RIFLEMAN – R + IF + something I don’t understand. “old lover”? |
| 24 | TWIN TOWN – (WI “in” TNT) + OWN. |
| 25 | REELED – EEL “caught by” RED. I struggle to see “reeled” being “thrown back”, though. |
| 26 | BYES – BY E[lm]S. Cricket reference. |
| 27 | SORRY STATE – self-explanatory. |
| Down | |
| 2 | AMULET – AT “carrying” MULE, as in cross-breed. |
| 3 | FAIR-FACED – (CARDIFF + A + E)*. |
| 4 | OUTDO – UTD “supplied by” O “on both wings”. “Best” seems to be doing double duty here, the man himself being a (Manchester) Utd player, of course. |
| 5 | TAVERNA – ([-m]AN RE VAT)<. |
| 6 | ESPERANTO – ([-osc]A[-r] PETERSON)*. |
| 7 | AORTA – [-Tramorf]A OR TA[-l-y-Cafn]. “Principal red route” makes for an interesting definition here. |
| 8 | NOSOLOGY – the wordplay is lost on me here, I’m afraid. |
| 14 | PENURIOUS – PIOUS “grasp on” RUNE<. |
| 15 | LODGEMENT – (LODGE MEN) + [-craf]T. |
| 18 | CORONER – (OR ONE) “experiencing” CR “crunch”. |
| 19 | TALENT – TALE + NT. |
| 23/21 | FORTY WINKS – (SKIN + FRY TWO)*. |
7/16: I believe the answer should be ANNE HATHAWAY. Maiden name of the wife of Willam Shakespeare.
In 22ac LEMAN is simply an archaic phrase for a lover
oh 8dn seems to be NO SOLO GUY minus the U
Well spotted Rishi – ANN/ANNE was just a typo, now corrected.
In 7 dn it’s “Principal red route,” of course. I don’t know if it’s de rigueur to mention typos in the blog on a puzzle. But I can’t overlook something that has hit my eye.
Someone in the Comments section of another blog entry said that the reader knows that a typo is a typo is a typo and seemed to imply that we needn’t try to be clever. Yes, we can indeed ignore mistakes in those postings but as this is part of a quote from the clue, I thought we should fix it.
Also fixed, thanks again. No offence taken whatsoever – I’m usually fairly diligent about spelling and must be having a bad day!
Well, yes, the contemporary cinema reference would be “Shakespeare in love” – if you didn’t spot that, it makes me reel.
I thought this was one of the best puzzles of the year, with novel and imaginative clueing. Hard, yes, but worth all the time spent at it. Re REELED, I thought the definition included ‘was’ i.e.’was thrown back’ which seems OK for ‘reeled’. Re OUTDO, I think ‘Utd’ could refer to any United of which there are a few. Favourite clue, CORONER.
Re 8: Yes, there are a lot of United’s but George Best is forever associated with Manchester United, thus “Best” serves double duty. This was, for me, the pick of a bunch of excellent clues.A tough puzzle with concise clueing.
No, NMS is right – the surface is completely arbitrary. If it conjurs up the image of a certain footballer playing for a certain club, then job done.
He’s correct for ‘was thrown back’ too.
A very good fun puzzle – I particularly enjoyed ANNE HATHAWAY and CORONER.
Could someone explain why QUANT is a “fashion house” in 9 across, or have I misunderstood the construction?
Mhl
Mary Quant, a famous fashion designer back in the ’60s.
Thanks, Geoff. My choice of Google searches before posting that comment must have been particularly inept…
Re. ANNE HATHAWAY
While it’s got a certain degree of wit attached to it once you have got the solution, how do you get the solution except from guessing from crossing letters?
There are no cryptic indications. I’m not even sure it qualifies as a CD(cryptic definition). Where’s the definition?…
I found this easier than some of the Tees puzzles I’ve tackled in the past. There were quite a lot of CDs, which are the clues that normally cause me problems, but perhaps I’m getting a bit better at spotting them now.
A nice neat puzzle which I didn’t need to google or use word finders for. But a bit of serendipity came into it. I was left with 9a, 2d and 4d, unsolved. ‘Cross’ in the clue for 2d made me think there should be an ‘x’ in it. And for 9a I was trying to find an anagram of ‘an’ (for one) and ‘Dior’. Then I noticed in the rest of the grid both a ‘v’ and a ‘k’ and thought it might be a pangram. But in that case the only place for ‘q’ had to be the first letter of 9a, and it all fell into place – and no pangram. Talk about kicking oneself!