Saturday the 15th June – and a tussle with Klingsor.
And quite a tussle it proved to be – some unfamiliar words certainly were in use, and some devious cluing.
Chitter, Dolce, Mediant, Reticules, Potto and wringer spring to mind. I though quite a number for a standard puzzle, albeit a prize one.
Some very devious wordplay too, or maybe I just didn’t attune to Klingsor’s wavelength this time.
I did like 5ac – short and very sweet and 25ac made me laugh, which is always a good sign.
Also some liberties, in my humble opinion, 23ac where the whole clue is the definition, 28ac Rott for red : Should there have been a reference to German in the clue – thanks to Penzephr, I see it differently now ; 10ac I found quite bewildering to parse (thanks to Dormouse – I now see it clearly) and 11ac Prime Mover for a chess player was an interesting way to define him.
Quite a battle Klingsor indeed, many thanks for the mental stimulation as always.
Key:
Rev. reverse, * anagram, underline = definition
ACROSS
1. Vile creature will be back shortly after 24 hours(7)
Mon (24 hours) + stern (back) – n (shortly) + MONSTER
5 Live TV is besieged(5)
Be (live) + set (TV) = BESET
9 Wagner lover is off before quarter past (5)
Isolde (wagner lover) – is + n (quarter) = OLDEN
10 Teacher keeping in tutee without uniform, possibly (9)
Don (teacher) around (in tutee – u)* = DETENTION
11 Wally’s backing TV company’s prime mover?
Rev. (sap’s (wally’s)) + sky (TV company) = SPASSKY (Boris the chess player)
12 Shiver from cold needing clobber associated with winter? not half
c(cold) + hit (clobber) + ter (half winter) = CHITTER
13 Fighting a by-election Conservative finally lost to a significant extent (10)
(a by election – e)* = NOTICEABLY
15 Obsessive fan alerted guards (4)
Hidden (fAN ALerted) = ANAL
18 A head’s no time to take classes (4)
teach (to take classes) – t (time) = EACH
20 Bite the dust defending say back alley (10)
Pass away (bite the dust) around Rev. (eg (say)) = PASSAGEWAY
23 Good starter of rabbit has me stuffing away? (7)
g (good) + [r (starter of rabbit) + me ] in out (away) = GOURMET
24 It’s hot and old man has a kip, knackered around mid afternoon (7)
Pa (old man) + (akip)* around r (mid afternoon) = PAPRIKA
25 Ten absinthes drunk, he’s out of it? He’s not this then (9)
(ten absinthes – hes)* = ABSTINENT
26 Leaving university Scot’s tense showing uneasiness (5)
Angus (scot) – u (university) + t (tense) = ANGST
27 Sweet and cheese but no coffee (5)
Dolcelatte(cheese) – latte (coffee) = DOLCE
28 Horse of note eclipsed by Red Rum for a start (7)
Te (note) around Rott (red) + r (rum for a start) Trot (red as in Trotskyist) around te (note) + r = TROTTER
DOWN
1 Note: move dynamite out of yard (7)
(dynamite – y(yard))* = MEDIANT
2 Black medick – it used to be an extraordinary thing (8)
Double definition = NONESUCH
3 Flatterer takes daughter for a drink (5)
Toady (Flatterer) swapping d for a = TODDY
4 After Ecstasy jerk breaks the law beginning to snatch handbags (9)
rule(law) around e (ecstasy) + tic (jerk) plus s (beginning to snatch) =RETICULES
5 Criminal gang’s extremely intelligent (5)
band (gang) + it (extremely intelligent) = BANDIT
6 Clear? Guy’s head over heels in love (7)
Rev (net (clear) + tim’s(guy’s)) = SMITTEN
7 Singer from X factor? No truth in that (5)
ten (X) + factor – fact (truth) = TENOR
8 Bull seen on rampage surrounded by a couple of Poles (8)
(seen on)* around N S (poles) = NONSENSE
14 Flat races to include people below a given standard (9)
a + par (given standard) + tt (races) around men (people) = APARTMENT
16 Destroy say with water left running?That’s not right (3,5)
(say + water = l – r)* = LAY WASTE
17 Craftily get around Government policy for fruit (8)
(get)* around g (government) + plan (policy) = EGGPLANT
19 Barrister needs briefly to sum up case of sabotage before end of trial (7)
count – t (sum up briefly) + se (case of sabotage) + l (end of trial) = COUNSEL
21 Sounds like double trouble when put through this? (7)
homonym (ringer (double) = WRINGER
22 English referee doesn’t have universal domination (6)
e (english) + umpire (referee) – u(universal) = EMPIRE
23 Plant briefly absorbs nitrogen for vital structure (5)
Glad. (plant briefly as in abbrev. for Gladiolus) around N(nitrogen) = GLAND
24 Climbing too much work for primate (5)
Rev. (ott (too much) + op (work) = POTTO
Surely, 10ac is an anagram of in tutee, less u for uniform, inside don, a teacher (at a university).
Couldn’t parse 28ac, thanks for explaining that. Yes, I would never think of going into German for that.
Oh, and 11ac, I spent a while trying to work out why it was “Sparsky”.
Re 28a, isn’t it TROT (= red) + R(um) eclipsing TE?
Thanks Dormouse and Penzephyr – for explaining thse 2 – I’ve update the blog
I managed to finish this without aids but it was a tough one because some of the wordplay and definitions were quite devious. Having said that, no quibbles because it was a prize puzzle.
My last one in was NONESUCH from the “it used to be an extraordinary thing” part of the clue. I had never heard of the plant so thanks for the parsing. As far as some of the more obscure answers are concerned, such as CHITTER and MEDIANT, the wordplay for the former was clear enough, and the latter was the most obvious use of the anagram fodder once all the checkers were in place.
At 11ac it took me a while to realise that “prime mover” was the definition for a chess player, but once I’d made the connection, and with the first ‘s’ and the ‘y’ already in place, SPASSKY became a write-in because I’m old enough to remember his epic showdown in 1972 with Bobby Fischer.
Afternoon folks,
Sorry to go off topic but… I bought the Saturday Indy for the first time in ages last week. I was after the Inquisitor puzzle but couldn’t find it anywhere. Can anyone help? Thanks.
Inquisitor has moved to the main paper – page number indicated alongside Prize Cryptic. (P36 last week.)
Shouldn’t update in the small hours. My comment at 2 was supposed to be I was trying to work out why it was Starsky, as in Starsky and Hutch.