We struggled a bit more than expected with this one.
We solved this independently for a change and found that we each struggled with the same clues in the SE corner although all were fairly clued. Joyce wrote in 2d without a quibble but Bert was a little more concerned about the definition!
We had never come across 6d or 8d before, but the wordplay and crossing letters gave us the answers, which we then checked electronically.
We are not convinced that we have parsed 3d and 18d correctly, so any suggestions will be much appreciated!
All-in-all, a good Tuesday work-out
| Across | ||
| 9 | 3 1 7 in Nottinghamshire also hires out club | |
| ISHERWOOD | Double wordplay in this one! (a): I (1 – not 1down as we first assumed!) + SHERWOOD (forest (7d) in Nottinghamshire) – just up the road from us! (b): anagram of HIRES (anagrind is ‘out’) + WOOD (club) | |
| 10 | Mad Percy eviscerated going after game | |
| LOOPY | P |
|
| 11 | Favourite pig close to sentient revived old dance | |
| TWO-STEP | PET (favourite) SOW (pig) + T (last letter of, or ‘close to’ sentienT) all reversed or ‘revived’ (brought round?) | |
| 12 | Devil won’t need Black Death area in London | |
| EAST END | ||
| 13 | Leader in Aerosmith quits festival compound | |
| ESTER | E |
|
| 14 | Such fat as may cause disease is dripping | |
| SATURATED | Double definition | |
| 16 | Huguenot in front posed no threat | |
| OUT OF THE RUNNING | Anagram of HUGUENOT IN FRONT (anagrind is ‘posed’) | |
| 19 | Dark clothing | |
| NIGHTWEAR | A play on clothing worn in the dark | |
| 21 | Senior electrician, being short, makes tactless remark | |
| GAFFE | GAFFE |
|
| 22 | More goes into personal best, this for season | |
| POTHERB | OTHER (more) in PB (personal best) | |
| 23 | Slang used by gay son for weapon sailors unleash | |
| POLARIS | POLARI (slang used by gay) + S (son). Brings back memories of Julian and Sandy in ‘Round the Horne’ – compulsive Sunday lunchtime radio listening in the mid- to late-60s | |
| 24 | Liberal called about lump of wood | |
| GNARL | L (Liberal) RANG (called) reversed or ‘about’ | |
| 25 | Salad ingredient sent lead-free from Ottawa | |
| RAW TOMATO | Anagram of |
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | Diminutive client in brothel is big man in 7 | |
| LITTLE JOHN | LITTLE (diminutive) JOHN (client in brothel) | |
| 2 | Informer stopped by those working for Resistance | |
| RHEOSTAT | RAT (informer) round or ‘stopped by’ an anagram of THOSE (anagrind is ‘working’) – we’re not sure about the definition here – a rheostat varies resistance, so we suppose it could be considered synonymous with resistance, but it doesn’t quite seem to work | |
| 3 | Quiller Memorandum could one produce | |
| WRITER | We’re not 100% sure about this. A ‘quiller’ could be a cryptic definition for a writer who uses a quill pen, and a writer would presumably produce a Memorandum – the grammar in the clue is somewhat archaic and might refer to the use of quill pens? Any better parsing out there? | |
| 4 | Successful stroke from firm now more valued in FTSE? | |
| COUP | CO (firm) + UP (more valued in FTSE) | |
| 5 | Speculator, ace, returned in happy state around five | |
| ADVENTURER | A (ace) + anagram of RETURNED (anagrind is ‘in happy state’) around V (five) | |
| 6 | Prince appearing at the end eats rook and turtle part | |
| PLASTRON | P (prince) + LAST ON (appearing at the end) round, or ‘eating’ R (rook) | |
| 7 | Following others to stay over in green area | |
| FOREST | F (following) + REST (others) round or ‘staying’ O (over) | |
| 8 | Pair in which old man retains pant-front shape? | |
| DYAD | DAD (old man) around or ‘retaining’ Y (pant-front shape) | |
| 14 | Austrian scorer to live invested in groschen which is crazy | |
| SCHOENBERG | BE (live) ‘invested’ in an anagram of GROSCHEN (anagrind is ‘crazy’) | |
| 15 | Departure where King George breathes his last outside holy city | |
| DIGRESSION | GR (King George) with DIES (breathes his last) outside + SION (holy city) | |
| 17 | Being kind vergers in Foula, they must hold hands | |
| FATHERLY | F |
|
| 18 | Irritating as first part in Dantean work | |
| INFERNAL | We think this is a play on a possible adjective describing Dante’s ‘Inferno’, but we’re not sure about the ‘first part’ reference, unless it refers to the first seven letters? | |
| 20 | Crowd with Paul’s inside for cake | |
| GATEAU | GATE (crowd) + |
|
| 21 | Eight pints of something bitter available | |
| GALLON | GALL (something bitter) + ON (available) | |
| 22 | Send for servant-boy | |
| PAGE | Double definition – although, being pedantic, we’re not sure that ‘page’ as a verb necessarily means ‘send for’ | |
| 23 | Man and wife into god | |
| PAWN | W (wife) in PAN (god) | |
Thanks Bert and Joyce, for the blog – quite tough going, as you say, but very satisfying to finish.
I don’t think I’d have got PLASTRON without having met it for the first time in the Tramp puzzle I blogged a couple of weeks ago, where it was clued as ‘Shells protect other Ninja Turtles: Leonardo and Rafael initially damaged part of theirs?’.
I think you’ve got it right with 3dn and I think the clue in 18dn refers to the fact that ‘Inferno’ is the first part of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’.
Many thanks, Tees, for an enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks B&J I struggled to get going on this but finished despite putting nightgown for nightwear. I’m still not quite convinced the wordplay for 18d really works.
Wot no theme ghost or otherwise, well I mostly missed yesterday’s too.
Cheers Tees a few head-scratchers for sure.
I struggled to get going with this one, but got there in the end with DYAD my LOI from the wordplay. I found the bottom half easier than the top. I also entered PLASTRON from the wordplay, although it did sound vaguely familiar, and as it appeared only a couple of weeks ago in Tramp puzzle per Eileen@1’s comment then I really should have remembered it.
I usually find Tees in the middle range of difficulty for the Indy dailies: he’s neither Quixote, nor – as flashling once memorably put it – Bannsider on speed.
Didn’t find this too tricky, although there were some I couldn’t (or cba to) parse. I enjoyed it. Couldn’t remember where PLASTRON came from but knew I’d seen it somewhere recently.
I liked ESTER (bit of science never goes amiss); was pleased to get DYAD from the wordplay; and POLARIS was good too.
Thanks to Tees and also to B&J (are you sleeping in separate beds now as well, btw?)
Thanks for the blog.
I couldn’t get the logic of the WRITER clue either. The Quiller Memorandum (the film script) is the work of Harold Pinter – I’m not sure if this contributes to the logic. I took the INFERNAL as making an adjective for The Inferno.
Sorry – half-asleep still — I meant to say that the adjective of INFERNAL is hinted at by the making an adjective of ‘Dantean’ – at least that was my reasoning.
Mad but just about plausibler surfaces all over this one, very funny in places., plus the excruciating neatness!!
The Inferno is the first part o f The Divine Comedsey, so antying like it would be infernal I guess. PAGE is ‘to summomn ‘, so also okay for me. Best one the gay slang/ weapon joke.
Cheers
Rowly happy in the sunshine!
aztobesed
I took the ‘as’ as indicating the adjective.
Sorry, Rowland, we crossed.
Thanks Eileen, yes the ‘as’ gives it. the right sense
I guess the mini-theme was the Sherwood Forest stuff. Re WRITER, my guess is that you’ve parsed this right with ‘Quiller Memorandum’ appearing in the clue as there was a film called that, quite a while back now.
Hi Eileen – yes I see that.
All I meant was that if you Dantean Dante, then it makes sense to Infernal Inferno.
There was plenty to enjoy in this puzzle, although I took quite a lot longer on it than I hoped. I particularly liked 19a, 16a, 17d, 14d, 7d, 12a, 21a, 2d & 4d (last in) and my favourites were 1d LITTLE JOHN & 9a ISHERWOOD.
Thanks for the blog B&J. I needed your help to parse 24a & 23a.
Thanks for the comments about the clues we weren’t sure about – the less said about K’sD’s comment, the better probably!
We meant to say something to Rowly the other day – it’s good to hear that you are getting better!
Thank s B&J!! New regimen, drugs ‘fit’ me much better.
Thanks indeed B&J and all for chiming in.
I think you’ve nobbled them all with the possible exception of WRITER: that’s supposed (by me) to be something of a CD (‘Quiller’) and straight def (‘Memorandum could one produce’) plus a QM (‘?’) to draw attention to same. As you see, they are in effect two very if not exactly similar definitions, but they do allow me to get in the film reference, which is the whole point of bothering with all that.
RHEOSTAT is defined as ‘a variable resistance’ in Collins, so I’m off the hook there, and I see I’m also out of the stocks for INFERNAL.
Lucky me!
Tees.
Two weeks late!
Nothing to add except that I had NIGHTGEAR in 19ac which, I think, is just as valid as the actual NIGHTWEAR.