Independent 9,067 / Tees

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It has been a while since it has fallen to me to blog a Tees puzzle, and I hope that I have done justice to it, despite being rather bleary-eyed after a long rail journey.

I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle, which I needed the dictionary to complete, first to confirm 14A and 16 and then to find 2, where I had worked out the first four letters of the solution but not the last four. Hardly surprisingly, 2 was a new word for me, and doubtless for the majority of solvers, since Bhutan is unlikely to figure high up on the list of popular holiday destinations for Brits!

As for my favourite clues today, I rather liked 12, since the mental image of chickens being stuffed on Mount Helicon made me smile; 21, for the splitting of Latin-American in the wordplay; and 14D, for its smooth surface.

(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across  
   
09 ARGENTINA Auckland’s first great inn revitalised country

A<uckland> (“first” means first letter only) + *(GREAT INN); “revitalised” is anagram indicator
   
10 USING Addiction evil and good after university

U (=university) + SIN (=evil, as noun) + G (=good)
   
11 TALLEST Most High to examine everyone within

ALL (=everyone) in TEST (=examine)
   
12 HELICON Crazy Clio stuffs chicken – here it’s said she dwells

*(CLIO) in HEN (=chicken); “crazy” is anagram indicator; Clio, the muse of History in Greek mythology, lived with the other eight muses on Mount Helicon
   
13 FIRST Right hand closed around before all others

R (=right) in FIST (=hand closed, i.e. clenched)
   
14 SEROTONIN Neurotransmitter on stonier ground

*(ON STONIER); “ground” is anagram indicator
   
16 COME THE RAW PRAWN Offend down under when the uncooked seafood arrives?

Cryptically, “come the raw prawn” is “when the uncooked seafood arrives”; “to come the raw prawn” in Australian (“down under”) slang means “to attempt to deceive, put one over on someone”
   
19 DISMISSED Sacked – failed to entertain society girl

[S (=society) + MISS (=girl)] in DIED (=failed, e.g. of engine, battery)
   
21 HOCUS This Latin-American cheat

HOC (=this Latin, i.e. a Latin word for this) + US (=American); to hocus is to cheat someone
   
22 CLASSIC Excellent rescues dog detailed to enter clubs twice

LASSI<e> (=rescue dog, in film and TV; “de-tailed” means last letter dropped) in C C (=clubs twice, i.e. 2 x C)
   
23 ECTOPIC Matter for discussion on Eastern Cape displaced

E (=Eastern) + C (=Cape) + TOPIC (=matter for discussion); ectopic, e.g. of pregnancy, means in an abnormal position, hence “displaced”
   
24 VERDI Some clever Dick or musical Giuseppe?

Hidden (“some”) in “cleVER DIck”; the reference is to the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
   
25 EPICUREAN Gobbler wants skinless meat served in long pot

<m>EA<t> (“skinless” means first and last letters dropped) in [EPIC (=long, e.g. of journey) + URN (=pot)]
   
Down  
   
01 PASTY-FACED Meat pie looked unhealthy and pale

PASTY (=meat pie) + FACED (=looked)
   
02 NGULTRUM Treated lung and time off demands foreign cash

*(LUNG) + T (=time) + RUM (=off, peculiar); “treated” is anagram indicator; the ngultrum (=100 chetrum) is the standard monetary unit of Bhutan!
   
04 FIAT Order big one to be inserted

I (=one) in FAT (=big); a fiat is a formal or solemn command, hence “order”
   
05 FATHERLAND Procreate also after having left mother country’s counterpart?

FATHER (=procreate, sire) + L (=left) + AND (=also)
   
06 FULL STOP End of the line when stuffed on stage?

FULL (=stuffed) + STOP (=stage, stay, in Chamber’s Thesaurus)
   
07 TIN CAN Container has tons made by old Peruvian people

T (=tons) + INCAN (=made by old Peruvian people)
   
08 AGON Unspecified number supporting earlier Greek festival

AGO (=earlier) + N (=unspecified number)
   
14 SEERSUCKER Material witness right on the mark

SEE (=witness, as verb) + R (=right) + SUCKER (=mark, i.e. easy target, gullible person); seersucker is a thin Indian linen or cotton fabric
   
15 NANOSECOND Seed-spiller up and back in very little time

NANO (ONAN=seed-spiller, in the Book of Genesis, cf. onanism) + SECOND (=(to) back, support)
   
17 TAILSPIN Agitated state ends with ‘immobilise’

TAILS (=ends) + PIN (=immobilise, as in to pin to the ground)
   
18 ACCEPTED One parking round about little man authorised

{[C (=about, i.e. circa) in [ACE (=one, in cards) + P (=parking)] + TED (=little man, i.e. abbreviation of Edward)}
   
20 STARRY Sons stay a while – such a beautiful night

S (=sons) + TARRY (=stay a while)
   
21 HATFUL Raft starts from here as taking folks up Limpopo

First letters (“starts from”) of H<ere> A<s> T<aking> F<olks> U<p> L<impopo>; a “raft” of e.g. proposals, measures is a large number, hence a hatful
   
22 CAVE Guard // hollow chamber

Double definition: “cave” (from Latin) is an exclamation meaning “beware”, hence “guard”
   
23/3 EVIL INTENT Beelzebub’s presence unfortunate camper may observe

Cryptically, an unfortunate camper may observe “evil in (his) tent”!
   
   

 

8 comments on “Independent 9,067 / Tees”

  1. While some people have opined that Monday is no longer the easy puzzle, I would say, on the evidence of today’s puzzle that maybe Thursday is no longer the difficult one. I found this remarkably easy for a Tees puzzle, the only real head-scratcher being 2dn. I wasn’t familiar with 16ac, but it was easily worked out from the clue; and I needed the blog to understand why sucker = mark in 14dn.

    Thanks, Tees and RatkojaRiku

    PS: To avoid going ’roundabout’ to the current day’s puzzle on the Indy website you can get it by going to http://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent/?puzzleDate=yyyymmdd, where ‘yyyymmdd’ represents the current day’s date. The puzzle will take a little while to load but there is no need to click on the link that appears at the top of the list.

  2. My night-time solve (can’t beat a nice puzzle to get one back to sleep after the nocturnal pee – I so enjoy a milky coffee on retiring!).
    Like allan_c I found this less tricky than I’d expect from a Tees but no less enjoyable for that.
    Shocked to find just one comment, so feel it only proper to send my appreciation to RR for your sterling work. The Bhutan money foxed me (’twas the crafty “off” as I was thoughtstuck looking for a word for demands from which to subtract a ‘t’) even though it’s my go to destination for weekend breaks, naturally!
    So it’s a big thank you to Tees – and something remarkably similar for RatkojaRiku!
    Now to nod back off to Nod for a couple of hours.
    (and thanks allan_c for the url)

  4. I managed the puzzle (with help from my two internet aids sites) but found 21d the trickiest – hence most satisfying clue! Thanks to both.

  5. Apollywollies for not showing up yester. Thanks to all, esp. Ratko Rothko for his artful bloggery.

    Cheers
    Tees.

  6. Well – we are two Brits who have been to Bhutan and we still missed the currency although we worked out the beginning part from the parsing. Our memories are that we paid for most things in dollars!

    Thanks Tees and RR.

  7. Thanks tees, was busy blowing things up yesterday. Some I was just too tired to justify so thanks RR for those.

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