Independent 7,134/Tees

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Nice stuff from Tees. Some excellent clues here, though there are one ot two I can’t quite piece together, so any pointers appreciated.

This looks like the kind of grid which screams Nina, but I can’t see anything.

Across
1 BAG – Double def.
8 TUG-OF-WAR – Cryptic def.
9/27 OUT FOR THE COUNT – A lovely cryptic def.
10 ONE OVER THE EIGHT – (VAN GOETHE HERE + IT)* – A nice anag. &lit., ‘stotious’ doing double duty as the definition and anagrind
11 LAMBASTE – B in LAMAS + T[-empl]E
13 NOTICE – OT in NICE
15 SLENDER – S,LENDER
17 ADVANCE – Double def.
20 AT ONCE – C in ATONE
22 CISTERNA – STERN in CIA
24 LEG BEFORE WICKET – (OF BERG TWICE KEEL)* – A nice anagram and definition
26 DETAIL – ET in DAIL
28 LIE – Hidden in colLIErs
Down
1 TURN TAIL – (ULTRA-T[-h]IN)*
2 POLO – I think this is PO,LO[-w]
3 SWEEPS – WEE P in SS
4 BROTHER – R in BOTHER
5 GOVERNED – (Jules) VERNE in GOD
6 STRIPTEASE – (TAPESTRIES)* – Another cracking anagram
7 GOTHIC – GOT,HIC
12 BANANA BOAT – Lovely cryptic def.
14 EVE – EVE[-n]
15 SKA – S,KA
16 EVENFALL – EVE,N,FALL
18 CANOEING – OE (ends for OncE) in CANING
19 ACCRETE – Not sure on this one – “Make bigger imbecile homeless where housing’s excellent”
21 THEBES – HEBE in T.S (Eliot)
23 SAW RED – Another one I guessed without knowing why – “Became angry with evidence linked to Texas massacre”
25 CHOW – H in COW

7 comments on “Independent 7,134/Tees”

  1. Hi Ali

    19d is CRET[in] (imbecile homeless) in ACE (excellent)

    23d is a reference to the film ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ where the evidence afterwards would be a red (bloody) saw.

    In 10a I don’t think ‘stotious’ is doing double duty. It is the anagram indicator and the definition is ‘in his cups’, though as both mean ‘drunk’ the roles could be reversed.

  2. Agreed – this was a delightful solve with some spectacularly good CDs; top marks for TUG OF WAR and BANANA BOAT. The subtraction anagram fodder at 1D is also top class.

    Something of a rarity among cryptic puzzles, the clues were brilliantly imaginative but solving certainly wasn’t a slog. Despite being just a tad tired (solved at around 1am) I think it took around 15 minutes online.

    Lovely work – thank you Tees.

  3. Yes, this was excellent, particularly liked TUG-OF-WAR and OUT FOR THE COUNT.
    Very tough, a lot more than 15 minutes and with the benefit of the paper.

  4. I liked this — quite tricky but still perfectly accessible. Not being a fan of CDs, I look for as few as possible and think 9/27 is not a CD but a double definition, ‘Perhaps hunting Dracula’ a rather good jokey one and ‘down permanently in fight’ the straight one.

    18dn was brilliant, although I prefer [wordplay] for [def] rather than this way round, and I wondered in what sense ‘God’ is equivalent to ‘religion’ in 5dn.

  5. ‘I’ve found God’, etc: perfectly correct about 9/27 though Wil.

    Many thanks to commenters, and to Ali for an extremely well-informed blog.

  6. was it 6 down Igot the answer striptease but not the connection with Chippendale
    unless it refers to the furniture -ie the legs if so a very sedate clue indeed.

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