Independent 9,361 by Radian

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A nice crossword from Radian today.  Lots of pleasant clues with smooth surfaces, although as an ex-maths teacher I have misgivings about 14ac.

Today is the 950th anniversary of the Battle of 16dn. Participants were 20/15 and William the Conqueror, although I can find no reference to him.  The battle of 9dn was shortly before it, nothing to do with Chelsea. 5dn no doubt had something to do with it, and 3dn is a pictorial record of it all.

Across
1 BLUE BLOOD Obscene humour once that flowed from 20 at 16? (4,5)
blue [= obscene] blood [= humour, once: an old word for blood] — 20 being HAROLD and 16 being HASTINGS, this referred to the blood spilt by Harold at the Battle of Hastings
6 TWOC 200 steal vehicle? (4)
two C — this is two hundred — to TWOC is to take without owner’s consent, in the legal/police terminology
10 TUBBY Portly 20 went out to pinch classy books (5)
This time 20 doesn’t refer to an answer in the grid, but to the number twenty, where you remove the centre [= went] and pinch U [= classy] b b [= books]
11 CINCTURES Belts French priests hiding in court (9)
c(in ct)urés — I didn’t know the word, but it is similar to the French word ‘ceinture’, meaning ‘belt’
12 LAWSUIT City wife fit for action (7)
LA w suit
13 LAMP OIL Fuel strike Italy tackled during cutback (4,3)
lam I in (lop)rev.
14 RIGHT AND WRONG Only marks in maths grading thrown out (5,3,5)
(grading thrown)* — right and wrong aren’t the only marks in maths, as Radian says, but I see what he means
17 DEPRESSED AREA Papers in fact are taking a dip; … (9,4)
de(press)ed are a
21 AT ISSUE … one of them is under discussion (2,5)
one of the papers is a tissue
22 UPRIGHT Joanna, goody-goody, tucked into some milk? (7)
U(prig)HT — rhyming slang for a piano, not Joanna Somebody
24 OBSERVANT Eagle-eyed baronets struggled to win victory (9)
v in (baronets)*
25 DEIGN Stoop to lift first of snowdrops from plot (5)
de{s}ign
26 DYNE Small force needs some steady nerves (4)
Hidden in steaDY NErves — the dyne is I suspect talked of little nowadays but was a staple of my maths classes at schooI
27 LISTENERS Play set among cruise ships getting audience (9)
(set)* in liners
Down
1 BATTLERS Those in contention left to block attacks (8)
batt(l)ers
2 UP-BOW Order to archers? “Apply horsehair to string” (2-3)
2 defs — I’m not sure if archers are actually given this order or if it is merely whimsical — the other definition refers to musicians on stringed instruments
3 BAYEUX TAPESTRY Crudely sexy, arty, upbeat yarns in this pictorial record (6,8)
(sexy arty upbeat)*
4 OCCITAN Nice language clubs in action abroad (7)
c in (action)* — Nice the place in France — occitan is another name for the langue d’oc, a language spoken in that part of France
5 DANELAW A land we disputed (7)
(a land we), &lit. — Danelaw was the land ruled over by the Danes as opposed to the Anglo-Saxons
7 WARMONGER Mild joke about German king’s hawk (9)
(warm on(G)e) r — mild = warm, joke = one, as in ‘have you heard the one about …’
8 CASTLE Keep the French behind shed (6)
cast le — but a keep is part of a castle, not the castle itself — still, the equivalence seems widely accepted in crosswordland
9 STAMFORD BRIDGE Battle ground (8,6)
2 defs — a battle (25 September 1066) and a football ground
15   See 20
16 HASTINGS Port holds baggage abandoned by 20 originally (8)
has t{h}ings, the h being the original letter of Harold, 20dn
18 EYEBALL Stare at 20’s fatal spot (7)
2 defs: King Harold was shot in the eye — although as we are told by Wikipedia, ‘The notion that Harold died by an arrow to the eye is a popular belief today, but this historical legend is the subject to much scholarly debate’
19 SHUFTIS Glimpses fellow opening closed eyes, say (7)
shu(f)t “i’s”
20/15 HAROLD GODWINSON Dragoons win and hold ground he lost at 16 (6,9)
(Dragoons win hold)* — 16 being HASTINGS, this refers to the battle of Hastings: King Harold’s full name was Harold Godwinson
23 GUISE State stays in front (5)
“guys”, the homophone indicated by ‘State’

*anagram

6 comments on “Independent 9,361 by Radian”

  2. Thanks Radian and John

    I very much enjoyed this, though similarly to copmus I had GUIDE for 23 (as a guide generally stays in front). No wonder I couldn’t parse it fully.

    Chambers eThesaurus gives KEEP and CASTLE as mutual synonyms, so I think the usage is wider than just crosswordland.

  3. Thanks, John, for a great blog of a really lovely puzzle.

    I’d heard on the radio that this was the anniversary and so it was clear early on which way we were heading. And how skilfully Radian has incorporated so many clues into the theme – right up my street. I really enjoyed tracking them all down.

    My favourite non-theme clue was JOANNA, I think – but I also liked EYEBALL [although it’s clearly wrong! – If you look at the Bayeux tapestry http://www.bayeux-tapestry.org.uk/deathofharold.htm it’s far more likely that Harold is the one falling to the ground than the chap plucking the arrow from his own eye.]

    I can see John’s objection to 14ac but I had a wry smile remembering how we Arts folk used to reckon that Maths teachers had an easier time marking than we did. 😉

    Many thanks to Radian for a most enjoyable puzzle.

  6. Phi’s appearance on Monday suggested there was something appropriate in the pipeline for today, and having also heard about today’s anniversary I didn’t need much guesswork to work out what the theme was – which all made it rather easy but nevertheless very enjoyable. Some great clues and I’m with Eileen and baerchen in unhesitatingly nominating UPRIGHT as my CoD. I also liked TWOC for its conciseness and TUBBY for the misdirection.

    Thanks, Radian and John

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