Independent 9593 / Tees

by

Tees fills the Wednesday slot this week.

 

 

 

Tees has forsaken his usual classical and mythological path today and homed in on a more modern theme that fits with my childhood.  The puzzle focuses on the stories of BILLY BUNTER written by FRANK RICHARDS (a pen name for Charles Hamilton who wrote a number of series for comics and books).  I can’t find any obvious reason why BUNTER should be centre stage today.  He first made his appearance in The Magnet in 1908, so no anniversary there.  Neither is there any anniversary of Hamilton’s birth or death.

The only real problem I had was of my own making when I decided the long answer was FAT OWL OF THE REMOVE rather than the plainer correct THE OWL OF THE REMOVE.  For the second week in a row I failed to look at the anagram fodder properly before I entered an answer.

I did think about the component parts of 1 down and stopped myself sticking in GRAFFITI rather than GRAFFITO.

Good fun and an enjoyable crossword.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

9

 

Plants sister next to copper in labyrinthine lair (9)

 

(NUN [sister] + CU [chemical symbol for copper]) contained in (in) an anagram of (labyrinthine) LAIR)

RA (NUN CU) LI*

RANUNCULI (plants of the buttercup genus)

 

10 / 4

 

Stout schoolboy can joke where Ungraded replace A (5,6)

 

BILLY (cylindrical container with a wire handle and lid for boiling water, cooking, etc out of doors; can) + BANTER (joke) with A replaced by U (ungraded, an abbreviation used by many exam boards when classifying a students exam result)

BILLY BUNTER

BILLY BUNTER (stout schoolboy who is the theme of today’s puzzle)

 

11 / 5

 

10 4 creator‘s plain ridiculous when crossing road (5,8)

 

FRANK (plain) + RICH (ridiculous) + (AS [when] containing [crossing] RD [road])

FRANK RICH A (RD) S

FRANK RICHARDS (pen name used by Charles Hamilton   [1876-1961] when writing the BILLY BUNTER stories)

 

12

 

Islanders in volunteer force wallop Scotsmen (9)

 

TA (Territorial Army; volunteer force) + HIT (wallop) + IANS (common names for Scots men)

TA HIT IANS

TAHITIANS (pacific islanders)

 

13

 

Eric drunkenly presses buzzer for cold booze (3,4)

 

Anagram of (drunkenly) ERIC containing (presses) BEE (buzzer)

ICE (BEE) R*

ICE BEER (cold booze)

 

14

 

Borders in resurgence and Greek publisher in form again (7)

 

RE (first and last letters of [borders in] RESURGENCE) + GR (Greek) + OUP (Oxford University Press [publishers])

RE GR OUP

REGROUP (from again)

 

16

 

See 21 Down

 

 

 

 

 

18

 

Energy expended, departs soul venue (3)

 

DIES (departs) excluding (expended) E (energy)

DIS

DIS (the infernal world, considered by some to be the place that souls go after an unsatisfactory judgment; soul venue)

 

19

 

Still time to ride competitively (5)

 

EVEN (calm; still) + T (time)

EVEN T

EVENT (compete in an equestrian EVENT)

 

21

 

Finances in order, presumably (4,3)

 

TIDY (keep things in order) + SUM (descriptive of money) – a TIDY SUM would be a good contributor to ones finances.

TIDY SUM

TIDY SUM (could be cryptically descriptive of keeping ones finances in order)

 

22

 

Character witness on ecstasy cutting loose (7)

 

RE (with reference to; on) + (E [ecstasy] contained in [cutting] FREE [loose])

RE F (E) REE

REFEREE (character witness)

 

24

 

Worried guard finally joins train (9)

 

EXERCISE (train) + D (last letter of [finally] GUARD)

EXERCISE D

EXERCISED (worried)

 

26

 

Poetic content from Tees is nonsense! (5)

 

I (setter; Tees) + AM + BS (bullshit; nonsense)

I AM BS

IAMBS (poetic feet of two syllables, a short followed by a long, or an unstressed by a stressed)

 

27

 

Ring supremo with security group’s backing (5)

 

W (with) + NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; security group) reversed (backing)

W OTAN<

WOTAN (major deity in continental German and Anglo-Saxon paganism.  Chief of the Gods in Wagner’s Ring Cycle; Ring supremo)

 

28

 

Estuary bear skinned one struggling (4,5)

 

EA (letters remaining in BEAR when the outer letters B and R are removed [skinned]) + STRIVER (one struggling)

EA ST RIVER

EAST RIVER (The  EAST RIVER is a salt water tidal estuary in New York City

 
Down

1

 

Airmen, well into journey, scratched message (8)

 

(RAF [Royal Air Force; airmen] + FIT [well]) contained in (into) GO (journey)

G (RAF FIT) O

GRAFFITO ( mural scribbling or drawing, as by schoolboys and idlers at Pompeii, Rome, and other ancient cities)

 

2

 

Stupid and senseless to incarcerate son (6)

 

INANE (senseless) containing (to incorporate) S (son)

IN (S) ANE

INSANE (stupid)

 

3

 

Taverners‘ spy turned up in secret society (10)

 

(PEEK [spy] reversed [turned up; down clue] contained in [in] INNER [secret]) + S (society)

INN (KEEP<) ER S

 

INNKEEPERS (taverners)

 

4

 

See 10 across

 

 

 

 

 

5

 

See 11 across

 

 

 

 

 

6

 

Passing mention (4)

 

cryptic definition of OBITUARY which can be shortened to OBIT

OBIT

OBIT (account [mention] of a deceased person [one who has passed away]; passing mention)

 

7

 

Swimmer ordered Cobra beer to be taken round (8)

 

Anagram of (ordered) COBRA contained in (taken round) ALE (beer)

AL (BACOR*) E

ALBACORE (large tuna with long pectoral fins; swimmer)

 

8

 

Husband rejected nosegay, grasping small aromatic plant (6)

 

H (husband) + (POSY [nosegay] reversed [rejected] containing [grasping] S [small])

H YS (S) OP<)

HYSSOP ( aromatic plant used in perfumery and folk-medicine)

 

15

 

10 4’s institution for older brothers? (10)

 

GREY (related to the elderly; older) + FRIARS (monks; brothers)

GREY FRIARS

GREYFRIARS (name of school where BILLY BUNTER [10 / 4] stories were set)

 

17

 

PM gone to shake out hay on moorland (3,5)

 

TED (spread new-mown grass for drying; shake out hay) + HEATH (moorland)

TED HEATH

TED HEATH (reference Edward HEATH [1916 – 2005] former [gone] Prime Minister)

 

18

 

Politicians brought in to intimidate columnist once (8)

 

MPS (Members of Parliament; politicians) contained in (brought in) DETER (intimidate)

DE (MPS) TER

DEMPSTER (reference Nigel DEMPSTER [1941 – 2007], former [once] gossip columnist in then Daily Express, Daily Mail and Private Eye)

 

20

 

Regularly target a certain prize (8)

 

TRE (letters 1, 3 and 5 [regularly] of TARGET) + A + SURE (certain)

TRE A SURE

TREASURE (prize)

 

21 / 16 / 23

 

Rotten omelette for he who rails against 10 4 (3,3,2,3,6)

 

Anagram of (rotten) OMELETTE FOR HE WHO containing (rails) V (versus; against)

THE OWL OF THE REMO (V) E*

THE OWL OF THE REMOVE (a phrase often used in the stories to refer to BILLY BUNTER 10 / 4)

 

22

 

Salad ingredient little girl spots outside (6)

 

RASH (spots) containing (outside) DI (shortened form of DIana; little girl)

RA (DI) SH

RADISH (salad ingredient)

 

23

 

See 21

 

 

 

 

 

25

 

Stephen, a crusader, holds up defeat (4)

 

CANE (hidden word [holds] reversed [up; down clue] in STEPHEN A CRUSADER)

CANE<

CANE (defeat)

 

 

15 comments on “Independent 9593 / Tees”

  1. Thanks to Tees for a fun puzzle, and to Duncan for the blog.
    I especially liked the cd for TIDY SUM and the clever use of the brand Cobra Beer. I haven’t seen Nigel Dempster’s name for years and that was a pleasant penny-drop moment!

  3. A fun puzzle indeed, with an easy gateway clue and then the other themed items clearly signposted (THE OWL OF THE REMOVE was my last one in, though). I was never a big fan of the books, although they are well-known enough to warrant a cryptic based around them, I think.

    OBIT was neat and I also liked IAMBS.

    Well done, Tees and thanks to Duncan for blogging.

  4. Not so easy for me, with BILLY BUNTER’s popularity peaking some time before I was born. I had heard of him though, and after a few crossers and a lot of scouring of the mental archives for synonyms of joke, I finally got the gateway clue. Then Wikipedia helped me with the other themed clues.

    WOTAN was LOI. Favourite was IAMBS.

    Thanks Tees for the workout and Duncan for the explanations.

  5. Not done the puzzle yet (I’ve scrolled down without reading the answers) but a first glance at the clues gave away the theme. The only anniversary I could find was the 70th of the publication of the first BB book in 1947, although that isn’t till September.

    Might drop back later with comments when I’ve had time to do the puzzle.

  6. Thanks Duncan and Tees. I enjoyed this a lot, although some of the answers were write ins, once the gateway clue cracked. Certainly well enough known to warrant a crossword K’s D, and important enough to have attracted the attention of George Orwell in his essay Boys’ Weeklies.

    FWIW my hyssop (a blue one) is just coming into flower. I use the leaves instead of tarragon on tomato salads.

  7. I struggled through this, despite knowing nothing about Billy Bunter apart from the name. The Owl of the Remove clue flummoxed me completely, mainly because I was convinced that the def must be “one who rails against BB”, presumably some sort of nemesis of his. In the end, I was reduced to guessing the words in a phrase that seemed to make no sense at all.

  8. All themed puzzles run the risk of solvers not knowing the theme. Billy Bunter seemed fine to me, as reasonably well-known. And it could be argued that, if you don’t know the theme. it’s an enjoyable challenge to get to know it as you solve. In the Araucaria days, especially early on, I never knew what half the answers meant, let alone any theme he might do. What the hell were ‘Mother Carey’s chickens’?

    Anyway neat clues as ever from Tees, couldn’t see any anniversary related to it. Loved the IAMBS idea among many good ones.

    Ta Duncan.

  9. Agree with the general gist of posts. Theme brought a wry smile as, while a fattish youth (before rugby saved me), I was ‘Billy’ Bull (my surname), a nickname derived from the Bunter stories.

    One thought for themes, anniversaries, and Duncan: Nigel Richard Patton Dempster, I find, died ten years ago to the day. Coincidence?

  10. Minimal knowledge of the theme wasn’t really a hindrance, with the wordplay being very helpful, including for the long 21/16/23 clue. Some of the parsing escaped me though, including the clever use of ‘rails’, and I thought WOTAN might be something to do with a Ring à la Stonehenge rather than Wagner.

    Spent too long on GRAFFITO my last in, but didn’t spoil my enjoyment. I’ll go with the flow and nominate IAMBS, a sentiment with which I can empathise, as my pick of a good crop.

    Thank you to Tees and Duncan.

  11. Enjoyable and harder stuff from Tees, I thought. I’d heard of Bunter and his books, but that only really helped me with him and the pen name. Solve itself was quite tough and one in which I filled up the top half, but ultimately got beat by a fair few in the bottom. Lots of fun clues here as you’d expect, but my honours go to 9a and 8d both of which I’d never heard off but got from the WP. Thanks to The Supporters (of course) for the puzzle, and to DS for the enlightenment.

  12. Many thanks Tees for a fun puzzle and Duncan for the review. I liked on ecstasy cutting loose (22d), soul venue 18d, secret society (3d), also 20a and 26a.

    I tried hard to get Theresa May minus Hay for 17d ( it was never going to fit) and I missed WOTAN.

    I’ve heArd of billy bunter and remember reading some comic strips perhaps?, but had to do a few lookups.

    Thanks again

  13. Another of those puzzles where multiple light clues make a pig’s ear of it – why don’t the Indy get some decent software? Actually I usually make my own dead tree version by first “printing” the puzzle as a PDF (various programs are available to do this), then taking a screenshot of the grid as an image file before copying and pasting the clues into a word processor. This means I can reformat the clues in decent length lines, deleting any duplicate/triplicate clues at the same time, add the grid image and then print as hard copy.

    Anyway, to the puzzle itself. The theme simply asked to be recognised (at least by those of my generation) and the themed answers were write-ins, except that we fell into the same trap as Duncan, with FAT OWL instead of THE OWL, which delayed us in the SW corner. But the rest was good stuff too; favourite was TED HEATH – which the apprentice spotted before I did!

    Thanks, Tees and Duncan.

  14. Maybe this was a case of knowing the theme being a disadvantage. My father was a great fan and we had some of the books about the house and I remember watching the television series back in the sixties, so it was so obviously FAT OWL I didn’t even bother to check the anagram and I thought I couldn’t get 21 and 24ac because they were something obscure I couldn’t see. (Thought 24ac might be TRENCHAND but I couldn’t see why.) Was he ever called just The Owl of the Remove? So, a defeat for me.

  15. Methinks he is ‘the owl’ more correctly.

    Themed puzzles, ah, the ease/ difficulty of them! This one was easy for me, as well-versed in these old tales, but I did rather enjoy the clues nonetheless. I don’t just write them in you see, I like to ponder, especially when something nice like ‘rails’ comes along.

    Great stuff, thanks Tees, and Duncan for his detailed explanations and blog.

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