We’ve not blogged a Tees puzzle before so we approached today’s offering with a degree of trepidation although we always enjoy his puzzles.
There were a number of clues that we solved but then sat and looked at for some time wondering how to parse them. If we hadn’t been blogging, we may have just resorted to accessing 225 but we were determined that having two brains (or at least two half-brains between us) we would endeavour to sort them out, as best we could!
Luckily 10 ac was fairly easy enabling us to find the theme early on.
However, a number of the thematic characters were not the most common ones and one wasn’t found on a list of Shakespearean roles (yes… we were desperate at this point!) because it was an assumed name.
Bert’s COD was 14d for its lovely surface reading. Joyce spent a long time looking at 12ac before she remembered that it wasn’t Hans in Star Wars, then the penny dropped, so this was her COD.
| Across | ||
| 1 | At Masherbrum weep convulsively about hotel being rubbish | |
| KIBOSH | K1 (the mountain in the Himalayas otherwise known as Masherbrum) + SOB (weep convulsively) reversed or ‘about’ + H (hotel) = rubbish | |
| 4 | Character 8 lasts in sumo wrestling among island people | |
| IMOGEN | (sum)O (wrestlin)G (last letters) in or ‘among’ I (island) MEN (people) = first of the themed answers – a Shakespeare character (from ‘Cymbeline’) | |
| 9 | Pious use oars drawn back with vessel almost loaded | |
| WORSHIPFUL | ROW (use oars) reversed or ‘drawn back’ + SHIP (vessel) + FUL(l) (loaded, with the last letter missing, or ‘almost’) = pious | |
| 10 | Wife sick in mind | |
| WILL | W (wife) + ILL (sick) = mind | |
| 11 | Mountain sport no good after having succeeded at Godwin-Austen? | |
| SKIING | NG (no good) after S (succeeded) + KII (K2, the Himalayan mountain otherwise known as the Godwin-Austen peak) = mountain sport | |
| 12 | Solo physician, in good health, left support on stair | |
| HANDRAIL | HAN (Han Solo, a character from ‘Star Wars’) + DR (doctor) + A1 (in good health) + L (left) = support on stair | |
| 13 | 18’s little cousin an architect | |
| WREN | We think that this is a reference to a WREN being a very small bird, particularly in comparison to a swan (18A), but whether you could call them ‘cousins’ because they are both birds seems a little fanciful! Or are we missing something literary? = Sir Christopher Wren, an architect. | |
| 14 | Harnessing gravitational pull, UK feet are out to find shelter | |
| TAKE REFUGE | G (gravitational pull) in, or ‘harnessed by’ an anagram of UK FEET ARE (anagrind is ‘out’) = find shelter | |
| 16 | Stuff on coniferous trees comes to Magazine One | |
| FIRST ISSUE | TISSUE (stuff) after, or ‘on’ FIRS (coniferous trees) = Magazine One | |
| 18 | Sweet name 8 workers’ leader used in convalescent home | |
| SWAN | W (workers’ leader or first letter) in SAN (sanatorium, or convalescent home) = Ben Jonson referred to Shakespeare in his memorial poem as the ‘Sweet Swan of Avon’ | |
| 20 | New entertainment by brilliant old Persian character 8 | |
| GANYMEDE | N (new) in, or ‘entertained by’ GAY (brilliant) + MEDE (old Persian) = another Shakespeare character (the name adopted by Rosalind in ‘As You Like It’ when she disguises herself as a young man) | |
| 22 | Nasty old woman saving money for slingback shoe | |
| GALOSH | HAG (nasty old woman) round, or ‘saving’ SOL (money in Peru) all reversed, or ‘slung back’ = shoe | |
| 23/8D | 10’s 1Ds? | |
| BUST OF SHAKESPEARE | Will’s (10’s) knockers (1Ds) could be described as a bust of Shakespeare, given a bit of schoolboy humour! | |
| 24 | Practice 9 8 disturbing to lad impressed by composer | |
| BARDOLATRY | Anagram of TO LAD (anagrind is ‘disturbing’) in, or ‘impressed by’ BARRY (John Barry, composer of the James Bond theme as well as numerous other film scores) = worshipful (9A) of Shakespeare (8D) | |
| 25 | Confronts criminal as previously on heroin | |
| HAS A GO | AS + AGO (previously) after, or ‘on’ H (heroin) = confronts criminal | |
| 26 | The Lenaean’s character 8 | |
| HELENA | Hidden in (t)HE LENA(ean)’s = another Shakespeare character, or two – one in ‘A Midsummer Night’s dream’ and another in ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Ken eviscerated boorish Australian critic | |
| KNOCKER | K(e)N (Ken eviscerated, or with the innards taken out) + OCKER (boorish in Australia) = critic | |
| 2 | Character 8, fool and Scotsman boarding transport | |
| BASSIANUS | ASS (fool) + IAN (Scotsman) in, or ‘boarding’ BUS (transport) = another Shakespeare character, from ‘Titus Andronicus’ | |
| 3 | Sons back the Big Band Sound | |
| SWING | S (sons) + WING (one of the ‘backs’ in Rugby) = Big Band Sound | |
| 5 | Fruit from these branches torn out in riotous brawl | |
| MELON TREE | Anagram of TORN (anagrind is ‘out’) in MELEE (riotous brawl) = fruit from these branches | |
| 6 | Feasible idea comes about with character 8 | |
| GOWER | GOER (feasible idea) around W (with) = another Shakespeare character, from ‘Pericles’ | |
| 7 | This cancels out meal served up where companion refused fish | |
| NULLING | LUN(ch) (meal) reversed, or ‘served up’ without CH (Companion of Honour) + LING (fish) = this cancels out | |
| 8 | See 23A | |
| See 23A | ||
| 14 | An essential travel item, BA let it go astray | |
| TOILET BAG | Anagram of BA LET IT GO (anagrind is ‘astray’) = travel essential – very neat surface reading! | |
| 15 | Onslaught gives everyone lift in following United team | |
| FUSILLADE | ALL (everyone) reversed, or ‘given a lift’ in F (following) U (united) SIDE (team) = onslaught | |
| 17 | Current artist hot sun bathes got up too quickly | |
| IN A RUSH | I (current, in Physics) + RA (artist) in, or ‘bathed’ by H (hot) SUN, all reversed, ‘got up’ = too quickly | |
| 19 | Regularly able to leave one country for another | |
| AUSTRIA | A(b)L(e) alternate or ‘regular’ letters of ‘able’ removed from, or ‘leaving’ AUSTR(al)IA (country) = another country | |
| 21 | Unknown colleagues topped the star from ‘Stars on Sunday’ | |
| YATES | Y (unknown, in algebra) + (m)ATES (colleagues, ‘topped’, or with the first letter removed) = Jess Yates, presenter of ‘Stars on Sunday’ on Yorkshire TV | |
| 22 | Start with Garrick, then look to live in House 8 | |
| GLOBE | G (start, or first letter of Garrick) + LO (look) + BE (live) = Shakespeare’s theatre on the south bank of the Thames | |
Trepidation is also a word that comes to my mind with Tees, especially when it’s a Thursday puzzle. This one was actually a lot of fun, with the theme gradually becoming apparent once I’d got the OF SHAKESPEARE bit. Shakespeare wouldn’t be my specialist subject on quiz night, but I knew just about enough to finish this, although as you say, some lesser characters featured.
I thought NULLING was a clever clue, but there were others too. Had to resort to a wordsearch for BARDOLATRY, and in fact BUST was my last in. My mind is too pure, obviously.
Good puzzle – thanks to Tees and B&J.
Thanks to Tees and Bertandjoyce.
Is there any significance to “Bust of Shakespeare”? It’s not a phrase I’ve come across before.
Ta B&J and Tees. Had to come here to parse handrail. Never heard of Han Solo (mind you I’ve never seen Star Wars, pace Marcus Brigstocke).
I enjoyed solving this one, although I will admit to two applications of Tippex as I went along.
Thanks to Tees and B&J too.
Thanks B&J and Tees for this none too ‘bardolatrist’ crossword. Thinking of Shakespeare with, shall I say, womanly attributes makes me snigger, especially with all the cross-dressing that goes on in Twelfth Night!
Some very fine entries, and very neatly done. Liked many clues esp the reversals which seemed clever. CoD the boobs joke, closely followed by the ‘mountain clues’. WREN I was okay with as a ‘cousin’ to another bird.
Just a small point. There is a Gower in Henry V as well as in Pericles. Wonder which one Tees had in mind.
Thanks, B&J, and Tees for an enjoyable puzzle. Favourite clue BARDOLATRY. Thanks for explaining HAN in HANDRAIL. I also got YATES without knowing why (thinking it might be Paula) so good to have straightforward wordplay there for what turned out to be a breakthrough answere. Puzzle about average Indy difficulty.
I didn’t get too far with this at first, having misread the clue to 23/8 as “10’s 10s”, and then thought from “lenaean” in the clue to 26 the theme might be related to ancient Greek drama. Then BASSANIUS emerged from the wordplay and it was just about plain sailing from then on. Had to google for ‘Masherbrum’ and ‘Godwin-Austen’ though to check the wordplay for 1a and 11.
To answer Querulous there are a number of portraits of actors depicted with busts of the Bard, such as ‘Garrick turning to a bust of Shakespeare’ by Nathanial Marchant (circa 1773).
Interesting, too, to find ‘gay’ with its original meanings in clues on two consecutive days; ‘happy’ in 21a in yesterday’s Dac and ‘brilliant’ in 20a today.
Phew. That was hard work…
Thanks, allan_c – I wonder if that was Tees’ thinking also, or if it was just a set-up for the knockers clue.
Many thanks to all concerned, esp B&J.
It’s some cultural festival or other this year you see, although no-one could really tell you why, other than the obvious fact that all things English are ‘good’ in the year of the Olympics (TM). But around the time I’d blagged my way into a place of higher education, Deconstruction was all the rage, Jacqueses Lacan and Derrida ruling the roost along with Roland Barthes, Paul de Man, Harold Bloom (whose brilliant deconstructive work The Anxiety of Influence – which is about amongst other things the effects of Shaks and Milton on the Romantics – I simply must recommend, dahlings), and only old squares (New Critics and those awful Leavisites) liked the ‘heritage of Shakespeare’ mythology. All us moderns thought him an old fraud and a racist colonialist. And the Queen’s Number One Bumlicker. When she karked he didn’t really know which way to go, so his plays became more ‘ambiguous’. Or ‘even worse’.
Anyway, cheers to you all. Have a gay night. And read some Marlowe before bedtime.
Very nice crossword, but two small things: how in 10ac does will = mind? Obvious I’m sure but I can’t see it. Also if the answer is a phrase then shouldn’t it be a standard one? I’m not really sure about ‘bust of Shakespeare’ and ‘First issue’.
Wil@12 will = mind is in Chambers Thesaurus under wish, desire etc. We had to look it up to check.
Thanks Tees for dropping in but we think we’ll pass on Marlowe before bedtime!
@Wil my chambers thes says mind=inclination=will.
Found this really too tough for a morning commute and gave up sorry Tees but thanks B&J for the explanations
I have the will to do it/I have a mind to do it works for me.
Concise OED has mind = a person’s will or determination. It was the 1st clue I solved in this puzzle.
So there.
And …
From jigging veins of rhyming mother-wits,
And such conceits as clownage keeps in pay,
We’ll lead you to the stately tent of war,
Where you shall hear the Scythian Tamburlaine
Threatening the world with high astounding terms,
And scourging kingdoms with his conquering sword.
View but his picture in this tragic glass,
And then applaud his fortunes as you please.
… I give you the pre-eminent Elizabethan dramatist.
Tees – you may notice that we are blogging the Guardian puzzle today. Joyce couldn’t sleep last night but that wasn’t a result of reading pre-eminent Elizabethan dramatists! Perhaps you should have posted your comment earlier and she may not have been awake when your mesage came through!
Thanks!?