This is a puzzle with allusions common to many previous Tees puzzles.
Tees likes his classics, history and mythology and the clues in today’s puzzle makes reference to characters or incidents from those subjects.
I thought the wordplay was clear which helped with one or two words that don’t feature in my daily vocabulary very often. I had vaguely heard of OUBLIETTE at 9 across. TREPANG [24 across]was a new word to me, as was BÊCHE-DE-MER which defined it. NOESIS [20 down]was the other fairly obscure word for me.
I liked the clues for SILHOUETTE (14 across) for its surface and the two long anagrams at 1 and 8 down. I wonder if ELITE was put into the grid to help the anagram at 1 down or was it just a bonus when Tees came to write the clue?
I thought this was towards the easier end of Tees’ spectrum. Cue the differing opinions from other solvers. The dominant cluing styles were container & contents, additions and anagrams. There was just one reversal and no exclusions.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 9 | In dungeon, but Eliot produced key! (9) |
Anagram of (produced) BUT ELIOT + E (musical key) OUBLIETT* E |
OUBLIETTE (dungeon with no opening except in the roof) |
| 10 | Can’t stand soldiers on violence charge (5) |
ABH (actual bodily harm; violence charge) + OR (other ranks; soldiers)
|
ABHOR (loathe; can’t stand) |
| 11 | Small man – university student one pushes (7) |
S (small) + TIM (man’s name) + U (university) + L (learner; student) + I (one)
|
STIMULI (pushes) |
| 12 | Something done about uranium sale (7) |
ACTION (something done) containing (about) U (chemical symbol for uranium) A (U) CTION |
AUCTION (public sale) |
| 13 | Tide‘s sleep that engulfs Endymion at the start (4) |
NAP (sleep) containing (engulfs) E (first letter of [at the start] ENDYMION) In Greek mythology, Endymion was a beautiful youth who spent much of his life in perpetual sleep. N (E) AP |
NEAP (tide with the smallest range, of least difference between high and low point) |
| 14 | Shadowy figure wrecking hotel suite (10) |
Anagram of (wrecking) HOTEL SUITE SILHOUETTE* |
SILHOUETTE (image of anything against a lighter background in which only the outline is seen in detail; shadowy figure) |
|
16
|
Group in most natural surroundings (7)
|
ELEMENT (group; faction – e.g. criminal ELEMENT)
|
ELEMENT (habitat; natural surroundings) double definition
|
| 17 | Amusing person provided female’s capital (7) |
CARD (comical or eccentric person) + IF (provided) + F (female)
|
CARDIFF (capital city of Wales) |
| 19 | Light-fitting for tenant? (4-6) |
LAND (come to earth; light) + HOLDER (housing; fitting)
|
LAND-HOLDER (possible descriptive of a tenant of an area of LAND) |
| 22 | Spinning bait in lake and river in Yorkshire (4) |
L (lake) + URE (river in Yorkshire)
|
LURE (brightly-coloured artificial spinner bait used in angling) |
| 24 | Bêche-de-mer good after time on vessel (7) |
T (time) + RE (with reference to; about; on) + PAN (vessel) + G (good)
|
TREPANG (se slug, sea cucumber; bêche-de-mer) |
| 25 | Mad sort out high status (7) |
Anagram of (out) MAD SORT STARDOM* |
STARDOM (high status, especially in the fields of theatre and film) |
| 26 | Best drunk enters Spain twice (5) |
LIT (drunk) contained in (E [International Vehicle Registration for Spain] + E [International Vehicle Registration for Spain] i.e. Spain twice) E (LIT) E |
ELITE (cream; best) |
| 27 | I’d successfully woo model in sea abroad when it’s chilly (9) |
(I’D + WIN (successfully woo) + T (reference Model T Ford]) contained in (in) MER (French for sea; sea abroad) M (I’D WIN T) ER |
MIDWINTER (the time of year when it’s particularly chilly) |
| Down | |||
|
1
|
Hate-mail from 26 opponents in disorder on Right (6-3,6)
|
Anagram of (disorder) ELITE (entry at 26 down) and OPPONENTS + R (right) POISON–PEN LETTE* R |
POISON-PEN LETTER (hate-mail)
|
| 2 | Sailor to expire whilst receiving whip, or give up (8) |
AB (able seaman; sailor) + (DIE [expire] containing [whilst receiving] CAT [whip]) AB DI (CAT) E |
ABDICATE (give up) |
|
3
|
Mike across the pond in deficit (5)
|
M (Mike in International Radio Communication) + IN US (in America; across the pond)
|
MINUS (deficit)
|
|
4
|
Cite this new moral philosopher (8)
|
Anagram of (new) CITE THIS ETHICIST* |
ETHICIST (moral philosopher)
|
| 5 | Angel cuts up hearts (6) |
PARES (cuts) reversed (up; down clue) + H (hearts) SERAP< H |
SERAPH (angel of the highest of the nine orders)) |
|
6
|
Nature reserve and sacred place (9)
|
SANCTUARY (nature reserve)
|
SANCTUARY (sacred place) double definition
|
|
7
|
Move to secure king’s confession (6)
|
SHIFT (move) containing (to secure) R (Rex; king) SH (R) IFT |
SHRIFT (confession)
|
|
8
|
Hamlet‘s name used in dreadful performance with kid (6,2,7) |
N (name) contained in (used in) an anagram of (dreadful PERFORMANCE and KID PRINCE OF DE (N) MARK* |
PRINCE OF DENMARK (Hamlet)
|
| 15 | Grass surrounding artists at pub is put down afresh (9) |
REED (grass) containing (surrounding) (PH [public house; pub] + RAS [Royal Academicians; artists]) RE (PH RAS) ED |
REPHRASED (put in different words; put down afresh) |
| 17 | Leaves papers and note for false lover (8) |
CRESS (name for many pungent-leaved cruciferous plants of various genera often used as a culinary garnish and in salads; leaves) + ID (identity papers) + A (musical note)
|
CRESSIDA (Trojan woman who becomes an archetype of a faithless lover) |
| 18 | I must attend appointment with pigeon in swamp (8) |
NUN (kind of pigeon with feathers on its head like a nun’s hood) contained in (in) (I + DATE [appointment]) I suppose a romantic DATE is an appointment that shouldn’t be missed I (NUN) DATE |
INUNDATE (swamp) |
| 20 | One naughty little sister displaying cognition (6) |
Anagram of (naughty) ONE + SIS (abbreviation for [little] SISTER) NOE* SIS |
NOESIS (purely intellectual apprehension or perception; cognition) |
|
21
|
Say Marvin eats sweet vegetable (6)
|
LEE (reference LEE Marvin [1924 – 1987], American actor]) containing (eats) GUM (sweet) LE (GUM) E |
LEGUME (vegetable)
|
| 23 | Indispensable as in pen that’s disposable (5) |
AS contained in (in) BIC (brand name of a disposable ballpoint pen) B (AS) IC |
BASIC (fundamental; indispensable) |
I found this of about average difficulty for Tees. I managed to get NOESIS and TREPANG, both unknown, by guessing from the wordplay, but missed ELEMENT, the parsing of MINUS and didn’t know NUN as a sort of pigeon. I liked the clues for ELITE and REPHRASED. A good and enjoyable post-work evening challenge.
Thanks to Duncan and Tees
Thanks Duncan, another great blog, and WordPlodder.
Cheers
Tees.
Bit of a frantic day, so haven’t had the chance to comment till now, although I did solve this one early this morning.
Good puzzle, with, as Duncan says, some interesting references. But all, in Tees’ usual fashion, clued impeccably. I learnt two new words, NOESIS and TREPANG; the fact that they were intersecting held me up in the SW corner. Otherwise an excellent daily Indy cryptic.
Well done, Tees, and thanks to Duncan for blogging.