Indy regulars will know that there were no Tees in last Thursday’s Nestor puzzle; but there was a good helping of Tees today. A delightful crossword, which I really enjoyed solving and blogging. There are a couple where I could do with some help in the parsing.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
9/11/18 Texan, large-hearted, becoming world champion?
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
(TEXAN LARGE HEARTED)* with ‘becoming’ as the anagrind. And I guess if you study the history, Alexander did set out to rule the world, as it was then understood.
10 Writer travels on before noon to find companion
AMIGO
A charade of AM for ‘before noon’ and I GO for ‘writer travels’.
12 Retentive seaman, very crooked, banks rand
ABSORBENT
If I were ‘very crooked’, I would be SO BENT. The ‘seaman’ is AB and then if you put R for ‘rand’ into all that, you’ve got your answer.
13 Sky boss an idiot
AIRHEAD
Well, you can say whether you agree with Tees and tell me what you think of Keith Rupert Murdoch, but remember that this blog is read by sensitive folk. Whatever, it’s AIR plus HEAD.
14/8/23 Revised gambling regulations might be an improvement
A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER
A cd cum dd.
16 Time to find inspiration
ERATO
A charade of ERA and TO. ERATO was one of the nine Greek muses, or ‘inspirations’. She’s the most popular with setters, since naff all else fits E?A?O.
19 One bounds area between two American cities
NYALA
An insertion of A between NY for New York and LA for Los Angeles. And a NYALA, being a type of antelope, is indeed a bounder.
21 Old woman clubs Hebrew character in bloody drama
MACBETH
A charade of MA, C and BETH. And blood was certainly spilt in the Scottish play. ‘Out, damned spot! Out I say!’ and all that.
22 Monsieur in excellent Tuscan island returned with pleasant disposition
AMIABLE
It’s M for ‘Monsieur’ in A1 for ‘excellent’, followed by a reversal of ELBA. Able was I ere …
24 Splendidly full & lit unravelled through indication
RADIANTLY
Well, a bit self-referential, perhaps. An ‘& lit’ clue in a crossword is one where the whole surface defines the answer: ‘and literally so’. Here Tees is asking you to make ‘& lit’ full, so AND LIT, and make an anagram, (AND LIT)* Then stick that inside RAY for ‘indication’, as in RAY OF HOPE. I think. The setter has been known to go into rottweiler mode when it comes to what constitutes an &lit clue and what doesn’t. No dogs were offended during the production of this blog.
26 Repetitious complaint about volunteers in Eight Group
OCTAD
The ‘volunteers’ are the TA or ‘Territorial Army’, and the ‘repetitious complaint’ is OCD, or ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’, the mental health condition. Insert the former into the latter.
27 Spruce from small trading centre
SMART
A charade of S and MART.
28 Interest is reduced amount good chaps divide
AMUSEMENT
I’m not certain with this one. ‘Reduced amount’ is presumably AMT; then MEN inserted will be ‘chaps’; but how we account for the USE, I can’t see. Some kind soul will explain it for me, I’m sure. Edit: two kind souls, in fact. Thanks to Eileen and Muffyword.
Down
1 German prince to desecrate tomb?
MARGRAVE
A charade of MAR and GRAVE. ‘A military governor, especially of a German border province.’
2 Wartime flyer made contact with English soldiers
METEOR
A charade of MET, E and OR for ‘Ordinary Ranks’ or ‘soldiers’. It’s a WW2 jet fighter.
3 Fought over Scandinavian money racket
BATTLEDORE
Well, since it’s a down clue, it’s BATTLED over ORE. And a BATTLEDORE is a ‘racket’ used in the forerunner of badminton. I never knew that, but do now.
4 Plantagenet located within released war dogs
EDWARD
Hidden in releasED WAR Dogs.
5 Labour leader to restrict boastful chatter about horsey sport
DRESSAGE
What will setters do when Red Ed is no longer leader of the Labour party? It’s an insertion of GASSER for ‘boastful chatter’ in ED, all reversed. Whether you’d call posh folk prancing around on their expensive horses in an arena a ‘sport’ is another question.
6 Priest grabs very fit blonde
FAIR
I’m sure he would, given the opportunity. An insertion of A1 (again) in FR for father, or ‘priest’, at least in the RC community.
7 Erin‘s one born to prolong troublesome rift
HIBERNIA
Another insertion, of I and B in HERNIA. ‘Erin’ and HIBERNIA are both alternative names for Ireland.
15 Gimme hot sex in Hampshire town?
HAND IT OVER
As far as I know, the setter is a native of Hampshire, so I’ll say no more about the surface and just explain that it’s an insertion of IT for ‘sex’ in H ANDOVER.
17 Song about knave, knight and rustic
ARCADIAN
Yet another insertion: of CAD for ‘knave’ in ARIA, followed by N for ‘knight’ in chess terminology.
18 Islander appreciated Scotsman landing punch
TAHITIAN
I think this is HIT for ‘punch’ inserted in TA for ‘appreciated’ and IAN for the setters’ favourite ‘Scotsman’, but I can’t see how ‘landing’ is the insertion indicator, except perhaps in the sense of ‘getting’. ‘I got/landed the job.’ TAHITI always reminds me of the paintings of Paul Gauguin.
20 Worried about party supporting NEC – that’s the story
ANECDOTE
Another insertion, of NEC and DO for ‘party’ in ATE for ‘worried’.
21 Rear Admiral in bog muddled situation
MORASS
This puzzle is a bit of an insertionfest. RA in MOSS.
22 Refuge from Bedlam?
ASYLUM
A dd. Bedlam is an archaic word for an ‘insane asylum’, derived from a popular name for the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London in the 1400s.
25 Does spiritual work
ACTS
A dd. Referring to the Biblical work.
Many thanks to Tees for a pleasing puzzle to start the Indy week.
Many thanks, Tees and Pierre – I enjoyed both the puzzle and the blog!
I was going to pick out some excellent surfaces but then found that there wasn’t a dud one among them. However, double ticks from me for 13 and 21ac and 6 and 15dn!
Re 28ac: I read USE = GOOD as in ‘It’s no use / good’ – and I took ‘landing’, in 18ac as you did, Pierre.
Thanks Pierre and Tees – an amusing blog of a puzzle that was, for me, a little harder than many found on Mondays, and a little easier than many from Tees.
I parsed TAHITIAN as your suggestion.
Re AMUSEMENT: It’s no use/good.
NYALA was very nice.
Thanks for the no use/no good explanations. Bit of brain fade when I was writing up the blog.
I agree that this was on the tricky side for a Monday. RADIANTLY went in unparsed so thanks for that Pierre, as did my LOI, AMUSEMENT, because I didn’t see use=good, so thanks also to Eileen and Muffyword.
HIBERNIA was my next-to-last in and I wasn’t that impressed with “prolong” as an inclusion indicator. To me “prolong” would suggest adding something to the end of a word. Having said that I solved the clue and saw the wordplay so I suppose it is ok, and I did like “hernia” defined as “troublesome rift”.
Thanks for the parsing, very welcome as usual.
HOWEVER, many of us carry out basic level dressage(Preliminary and Novice levels) on our far-less-than-expensive horses. And, putting one’s own body into the position one wishes the horse to adopt (difficult enough for me) and feeling it respond: You want WHAT? Can I just do this instead? All that makes it very much a sport!
Thanks Tees for an enjoyable puzzle and Pierre for the blog.
18dn: I rather liked “landing” as an inclusion indicator. Chambers 2008 gives land¹ vt to capture; to secure.
7dn: I take your point Andy@4, but Chambers 2008 gives prolong vt to lengthen out. I think one could regard someone wasting time in the middle of a meeting as acting to prolong the meeting, and I think the sense here is similar.
When I saw it was Tees I thought it was going to be a struggle, but I found it no more difficult than the usual Monday offerings. Perhaps it helped that I got the two long multiple-light answers almost at once so had plenty of crossing letters. CoD was NYALA.
Re 1dn, Margraves were originally military commanders or governors, but the title was later applied to some (hereditary) princes, e.g. the Margrave of Brandenburg who famously didn’t give J S Bach a job despite being presented with a set of six concertos. More information here.
Thanks, Tees and Pierre
Every answer (if one takes the multi-word answers to be single answers) includes the letter ‘a’ except 2d. Presumably it is just coincidence given that e.g. ‘rehear’ would have fit at 2d if the settee had wanted. Nice puzzle. Thanks to setter and blogger.
I was teasing about dressage, of course, Heather. It’s golf that’s not really a sport.
Thanks to the Teeser for whiling away a few minutes in the hotel bar. Liked the &lit. Thanks privately to Pierre for his translation offer but everyone seems to Scottish or French. 🙂
And thanks to all youse mugs for turning up to chinwag. Great blog as well, so many thanks there too Pierre. I think you got the lot, so no remarks, save to agree that I am indeed gobby about &lits, or in particular about people calling clues &lit when they’re not, quite frequently. My &lit today certainly wasn’t, o’ course.
Only 1.5 heads working on this one this evening but the one that was working, thought it was a bit tougher than usual for a Monday. Still enjoyable though, so no complaints. We were delayed somewhat by looking for an anagram in 14/8/23!
LOI was 7d but struggled a bit with 24 and 28.
Thanks Pierre and Tees.
Well, having cracked 9/11/18, it was obvious to me that 14/8/23 was an anagram. Checked and re-checked the length of the fodder.
Nice to see MARGRAVE again. One of the words I only know from long years of doing crosswords. Like adit and etui. Site search showed last appearance in Jan 2013 in a Shed. Its cousin LANDGRAVE appeared in the Tees in Aug 2013.