Excellent puzzle full of references appropriate to the day from Radian, which I found ranged from very easy to quite tricky. Solving times, 27 mins, with the top half much harder than the bottom half.
* = anagram
ACROSS
9 EVER READY I got this eventually from the wordplay – read (studied) in every (each). The clue is “Each has studied old words on cell walls”. I think what the definition is getting at is the name of a battery manufacturer and that the cell walls are in battery cells, and the ‘old’ may mean the firm is no longer in business. Very happy to be put right on this if I’m barking up the wrong tree – a quick look at dicts does not show the phrase as an entry.
10 ADORE ado = fuss re = about
11 PURSUED up reversed Sue in Dr = doctor reversed
12 BESEECH es (French art) in beech because tu es in French = thou art in English so es = French art. This device goes way back.
14 HILL CLIMB hi LL I’m replacing u (start of uncomfortably) in club
16 ST VALENTINE’S DAY (Lynn is devastate)* 4 = CARD
19 SHADOWING AD (these days) in SHOWING ‘skirts’ used nicely as a containing indicator
20 DONOR N = Nag’s head in door Definition refers, I guess, to blood donors
22 SMILING l (large) in (minis)* Girls (initially ie 1st letter)
23 LOVABLE Have not been able to understand the wordplay here apart from ‘ lo’ probably meaning ‘behold’ “Behold our business secretary caught out inspiring affection”. Help would be much appreciated
24 MAINE US state main = deep = sea e =ecstasy
25 REKINDLED kindle = new reader (electronic books) in red ie debt-ridden (in the red)
DOWN
1 DEEP KISSES (keeps sides)*
2 HEARTH heart = love seat! Good misdirection h = husband
3 PROUST (sour)* in pt, referring to his famous work
4 CARD cared less e
5 EYEBALLING (any eligible)* less i = one
6 MASSACRE Mass acre
7 LOVEBIRD vol = book about ie volume. Girl undressed = IR (middle letters) in (bed)*
8 LECH hidden in maLE CHauvinists
14 HUNTING CRY c = canine in Hun (trying)*
15 BOYFRIENDS love = o in by aim = end between Fri and S (Sunday)
17 VLADIMIR Putin dim in (rival)*
18 LIONISED My favourite clue today with misleading context (one is)* in lid (cap)
20 DIVINE VI (6) in dine I liked this a lot too
21 NUBILE (in blue)*
22/23D/13 SOME LIKE IT HOT (Titles hook me I)* V well-known comedy film from 1959 starring Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe etc set at the time (1929) of the St Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago
23 is lo + V(ince) Cable with c (caught) out.
Some very good clues and mostly easy, but I spent ages puzzling over 7 down.
Thanks nmsindy for the blog and Radian for a theme-for-today puzzle, which theme slightly hastened the solving of it.
23A LOVABLE I think is LO=behold + V. (c)ABLE=UK Business Secretary, defn: inspiring affection.
Favourites were 1A EVER READY, a reference to Ever Ready dry cell batteries, 25D REKINDLED first time “Amazon reader” is in an Indy puzzle?, 7D LOVEBIRD, the last one in, but perhaps the most apt for the theme, and 14D HUNTING CRY, a great &lit, but not sure about using HUN as an adjective (“of vandals”) when HUN as a noun (“vandal”) would fit in better without question?.
7down was my last one in as well, some nice stuff, very few answers put in because the setter couldn’t think of a themed answer. Very nice stuff all round. Thanks NMS & Radian of course.
Thank you for blogging, nms.
For those of us born on 14th February, St Valentine’s day tends not to be such an important twenty-four hour period in our lives, but I will forgive Radian for the theme, because it was an enjoyable, light-hearted and well-constructed puzzle.
PURSUED and LOVABLE were excellent. I got LECH eventually but was fixated on reducing the letters in LECHERY. The Monroe film was my first in, which gave me a hint at the romantic undertones.
Given Saturday’s distressing result, I shouldn’t really invite eimi onto the blog, but since EVER READY is a trade mark, what is the Indy rule about this? I can’t remember seeing a trade mark appearing before, but obviously my advancing years might mean that I have in fact seen one but have forgotten.
I think Kindle is also a trademark, not to mention the (Nintendo) DS, which was also used recently. So I don’t think there is any embargo on this.
Very nice this one. I have but one quibble which is ‘each has studied’ doesn’t mean READ is inside EVERY. Also there is the point already made that advertising has not hitherto been okay in crosswords, as far as I know. Can MR Eimi comment please?
Ever Ready is a defunct company in the UK so hardly advertising.
Apparently I could have powered my appliances using either Ever Ready, or Eveready batteries. They were one and the same until 1914, it says in Wiki.
I know, I am hardly Ever Ready to comment here, but today I am! 🙂
Not being here doesn’t mean I do not solve Indy puzzles, but I have to admit I am very selective (Anax, Klingsor, Tees, Radian, Dac) for probably no good reason [other than having a 9-to-5 job in real life].
I liked this puzzle but I struggled with the NE.
Didn’t get ADORE for example, which is from a construction POV not really a neat clue, I thought – but I see the ‘fun’ of it.
Just like scchua I question ‘Hun’ for ‘vandals’ (plural) – it isn’t an adjective anyway – in 14d. Dare I say it is wrong or even a mistake? Or is that too harsh?
Apart from that a very well-written crossword as I’ve come to expect from this excellent setter.
Only a pity of 6d.
What has MASSACRE to do in a puzzle on a day like this? 🙁
Thank you, radian & nmsindy.
Well to be fair Sil the St Valentine’s day massacre is hardly unknown and links nicely with Some Like It Hot. Re Hun / Vanadals my memory may be failing me but I thought that was how the tribes were called, it was the Hun not the Huns, it seems fair to me but I could well be wrong. Will try your crossword at Klingsor’s site tomorrow, my printer’s died and trying to do it in my head is proving tricky.
Well, flashling, if what you say is true (about this massacre and Some Like It Hot) then this is something I didn’t know and once more a sign that Valentine’s day’s a thing that always passed me by and (probably) will do so in the future.
How unromantic …
For Hun meaning “vandals” or “the tribe” I cannot find justification in Chambers, nor in Oxford. Maybe Collins thinks differently.
That said, it was a excellent crossword – it is not that easy to make so many clues/surfaces that fit the ‘theme’ (well, that’s what I think).
Thoroughly enjoyed (perhaps because I actually finished it) – many thanks Radian and nmsindy for the blog, especially of 7d which I couldn’t parse. LOVABLE and EVER READY my faves. Cell walls indeed!
Some online dictionaries give Hun as either singular or plural. Trade names seem fine to me, provided they’re universally well known enough. Ever Ready certainly passes the test. My only quibble with Massacre was that, like Card at 4d, it was a write in, without even looking at the clue, from doing16ac and 22d.
Some online dictionaries give Hun as either singular or plural. Trade names seem fine to me, provided they’re universally well known enough. Ever Ready certainly passes the test. My only quibble with Massacre was that, like Card at 4d, it was a write in, without even looking at the clue, from doing16ac and 22d. Absolutely brilliant puzzle, btw.