It is a while since I have either solved or blogged a puzzle by Tees, so I found myself wondering quite what to expect.
What I got was a puzzle with two highly entertaining 15-letter entries at 1 and 8, both of which put a big smile on my face when the penny dropped; in the case of 8, the misdirection kept me guessing until almost all the crossing letters had been filled in. The Corrie theme started at 8 is even continued in the next down clue at 16, a fact not wasted on a fan of the soap such as myself; the clue reminds us of Elsie Tanner’s fondness for a tipple, often at The Rovers of the previous clue!
These three were my favourite clues by far, although I very much appreciated the surface at 20. On the parsing, I was not sure about “air” for “space” at 17A and was wondering what other solvers made of it; similarly, the definition at 19 seems at tad vague. Otherwise, there were some rather surreal surfaces – at 2, 17A, 25 … – in what was an enjoyable, medium-difficulty puzzle, just right for the amount of solving time that is available to me mid-week.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 09 | URTICARIA | The Hives’ original song about facial twitch
TIC (=facial twitch) in [UR (=original, primitive, as a prefix) + ARIA (=song)]; urticarial is nettle rash, hence “(the) hives” |
| 10 | HARSH | Stuffing rook into pot is cruel
R (=rook, in chess) in HASH (=pot, i.e. drug) |
| 11 | AEROBES | Organisms in bubbly confectionery with lots of cream
AERO (=bubbly confectionery) + BES<t> (=(the) cream (of); “lots of” means last letter is dropped); an aerobe is an organism that requires free oxygen for respiration |
| 12 | ENAMOUR | Locks turned by soldiers protecting uniform’s charm
ENAM (MANE=locks, of lion; “turned” indicates reversal) + [U (=uniform) in OR (=soldiers, i.e. other ranks)] |
| 13 | CHIC | Stylish husband, one going into clubs twice
[H (=husband) + I (=one)] + [C C (=clubs, i.e. in cards; “twice” means 2 x C)] |
| 14 | KHRUSHCHEV | Red leader and King Henry attack Revolutionary Five
K (=king) + H (=Henry) + RUSH (=attack) + CHE (=revolutionary, i.e. Guevara) + V (=five, in Roman numerals); the reference is to Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971), Soviet leader from 1953-64 |
| 15 | NEGLECT | Disregard information about displaced Celt
NEG (GEN=information; “about” indicates reversal) + *(CELT); “displaced” is anagram indicator |
| 17 | CORSAIR | Horse discards wings in beginning to catch space ship
<h>ORS<e> (“discards wings” means first and last letters are dropped) in [C<atch> (“beginning to” means first letter only + AIR (=space, i.e. between things)]; a corsair is a privateering ship |
| 19 | OPEN SESAME | Old authors echo identical means to achieve result
O (=old) + PENS (=authors, as verb) + E (=echo, in radio telecommunications) + SAME (=identical) |
| 22 | POOR | Penniless piano player finally gets rounds in
O O (=rounds, i.e. pictorially) in [P (=piano) + <playe>R (“finally” means last letter only)] |
| 23 | BRAINED | Put into bed, come down with serious head problem
RAIN (=come down (on)) in BED; to “brain” is to hit hard over the head |
| 24 | SACKBUT | Instrument once used to fire on vessel coming about
SACK (=fire) + BUT (TUB=vessel; “coming about” indicates reversal) |
| 26 | LOSER | More intimate when leaderless one defeated
<c>LOSER (=more intimate); “when leaderless” means first letter dropped |
| 27 | LATECOMER | Perhaps meet Carol – she’s turned up after all!
*(MEET CAROL); “perhaps” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | HUMAN CANNONBALL | One might be hired and fired the same day!
Cryptic definition: the human cannonball could well be hired and “fired”, i.e. expelled from the cannonball”, on the same day! |
| 02 | STIRLING | Move liquid around swimmer in castle environs
STIR (=move liquid around) + LING (=”swimmer”, i.e. fish); the city of Stirling in Scotland has a famous medieval castle |
| 03 | SCAB | Second taxi for blackleg
S (=second) + CAB (=taxi) |
| 04 | BRASS HAT | Officer gets supporters positioned round hilltop
BRAS (=”supporters”) + [H<ill> (“top” means first letter only) in SAT (=positioned, placed)], brass hat is military slang for a staff officer with gold braid on his hat |
| 05 | GATEAU | Crowd needs gold for elaborate cake
GATE (=crowd, e.g. at football match) + AU (=gold, i.e. chemical symbol) |
| 06 | THRASHER | Mockingbird takes time with hot meat slice
T (=time) + H (=hot) + RASHER (=meat slice); a thrasher is an American bird of the mockingbird family |
| 07 | BROOCH | Black companion wrapping small jumper finds jewelled badge
ROO (=”small jumper”, i.e. short form of kangaroo) in [B (=black) + CH (=companion, i.e. Companion of Honour)] |
| 08 | THE ROVERS RETURN | Bet was placed here, evens, with truth and error recalculated
*(EVENS + TRUTH + ERROR); “recalculated” is anagram indicator; the reference is to Bet Lynch, played by Julie Goodyear, a barmaid/landlady at The Rovers Return in Coronation Street |
| 16 | ELSINORE | Say Mrs Tanner drinks no rum to start with, but this is port
[NO + R<um> (“to start with” means first letter only)] in ELSIE (=say Mrs Tanner, i.e. Coronation Street character); Elsinore is a port in Denmark, the site of Hamlet’s castle |
| 17 | CAMP SITE | Holiday venue needs quote to install electrical units
AMPS (=electrical units) in CITE (=quote, as verb) |
| 18 | ATOM BOMB | Alpha male with something excellent that would devastate
A (=alpha, i.e. Greek letter) + TOM (=male, e.g. cat) + BOMB (=something excellent, colloquially) |
| 20 | ELAPSE | Pass close to Awatere Fault
<awater>E (“close to” means last letter only) + LAPSE (=fault) |
| 21 | SADDLE | Duke and daughter occupy Manchester town land
[D (=duke) + D (=daughter)] in SALE (=Manchester town); to “land” someone with something (burdensome) is to “saddle” someone |
| 25 | COCK | Male lobster // seen in lift
Double definition: a cock is a “male lobster”, salmon, crab, etc AND to cock is to “lift” up, e.g. a leg or the brim of a hat |
“Bet was placed here”. Chortle.
Excellent stuff from Tees, and thanks to RR for the blog
As you say, an enjoyable, medium-difficulty puzzle. Some great clues, including HUMAN CANNONBALL, STIRLING (which I took ages to see) and BRASS HAT. And King Henry turned up for the second time this week after being in Radian’s puzzle on Monday – a neat way of cluing KH in the spelling of Russian.
Thanks, Tees and RatkojaRiku
Really enjoyed this. LOI 9a which went in with crossed fingers as I guessed at the previously unknown to me UR prefix (now stashed in the old noggin for next time). Lots of nice stuff like the def of 8d, but my COD goes to super 1d. Many thanks to RR for the blog and to Tees for a fun and nicely pitched puzz.
Perhaps ‘give it some air’, a colloquialism. But as you say, ‘the air’ is ‘the space’.
Thanks for blogging, RR. For once, didn’t need the blogger’s help with parsing (and solving) a Thursday puzzle.
I thought that this was the usual Tees: well-constructed, fair, plenty of different reference material and a good variety of clues. Favourite today was AEROBES, because we don’t get enough science-based clues in cryptics.
Thanks to Tees too.
many thanks Tees, took me a while. Last one in was COCK, considered jack, well, i forgot me lobsters until I remembered SACKBUT. Favourites are 1d, 8d and 20a – I see I am not alone there. I had to write out the anagram for 8d which gave a lovely penny drop moment.
and many thanks for the blog RatkojaRiku
Thanks Tees and Ratkoja Riku.
Lovely puzzle, I really enjoyed this. Unfussy, clever and funny.
1 down was the lol-est moment, 8 down the cleverest.
Many thanks.