Independent 9,618 / Tees

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Tees has provided this Thursday’s cruciverbal entertainment, using a grid that I am more used to seeing in the Guardian than in the Indy.

I found this to be an easy puzzle to get started on, with a good few write-ins (8, 17, 25, 26 …), but one that was hard to finish. Indeed, the wordplay of some of the clues that I solved towards the end (5, 7, …) proved particularly fiendish. Nevertheless, I think that I have managed to parse everything to my satisfaction, with the exception of the definition at 1D and the wordplay at 27 – thank you in advance for any input on these! Many thanks – the blog has been duly amended!

My favourite clues today were 19A, 20 and 24, all for surface; and 5, for its sneaky use of “pussy”.

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

Across  
   
01 FACETIOUS Flippant curate terminally throttled by dissident

<curat>E (“terminally” means last letter only) in FACTIOUS (=dissident, seditious)
   
06 MALTA Once defiant island area with spirit

MALT (=spirit, i.e. whisky) + A (=area); Malta was awarded the George Cross for its bravery during the Second World War
   
09 LETHE Stream of consciousness? On the contrary!

Cryptic definition, since the River Lethe in the Underworld was reputed to induce oblivion, i.e. the opposite of “consciousness”
   
10 SPECTATOR Boxing ace, Prescott walloped onlooker

A (=ace, in cards) in *(PRESCOTT); “walloped” is anagram indicator
   
11 EXASPERATE Annoy divorcee worried about stewed pears

*(PEARS) in [EX (=divorcee) + ATE (=worried, nagged)]
   
12 PROP Support for progressives’ leader

PRO (=for, in favour of) + P<rogressive> (“leader” means first letter only)
   
14 IMPASSE Setter is past prime coming to standstill

I’M (=setter is, i.e. Tees) + PASSÉ (=past prime)
   
15 CHANCEL Where choir sings hymn‘s opening line

CHANCE (=opening, opportunity) + L (=line)
   
17 ENDLESS Enduring without purpose?

Cryptically, an activity “without purpose” could be described as being “end-less”
   
19 MARINES Serving men in battle ultimately dividing spoils

[IN + <battl>E (“ultimately” means last letter only)] in MARS (=spoils)
   
20 LOFT Sky will do play-off cricket finals

<wil>L <d>O <play-of>F <cricke>T; “finals” means last letters only; to loft or to sky is to hit a (cricket, golf) ball high up in the air
   
22 CONTINGENT Massive area hosts grand party

G (=grand, i.e. £1000) in CONTINENT (=massive area); a contingent is a party of people (on a mission), a delegation
   
25 SHEFFIELD Fife’s held after riot in Northern city

*(FIFE’S HELD); “after riot” is anagram indicator
   
26 TWIST Dance // an unexpected event

Double definition
   
27 SATYR It’s time to meet your god

SA (=it, i.e. sex appeal) + T (=time) + YR (=your); a satyr is a Greek god of the woodlands
   
28 STRANGLER Alien grabbing Lambert’s face is killer

L<ambert> (“face” means first letter only) in STRANGER (=alien)
   
Down  
   
01 FALSE Serving to supplement fine beer contaminated with sulphur

S (=sulphur, i.e. chemical formula) in [F (=fine) + ALE (=beer)]; e.g. a false keel on a ship
   
02 CATNAPPED Mounted soldier, having excelled all round, had little sleep

TNA (ANT=soldier; “mounted” indicates vertical reversal) in CAPPED (=excelled, outperformed)
   
03 TRESPASSER Sinner‘s very French monarch attending ball

PASS (=ball, in football) in [TRÈS (=very French, i.e. the French word for very) + ER (=monarch, i.e. Elizabeth Regina)]
   
04 OBSERVE Keep // watch

Double definition: to keep (a tradition) is to observe it
   
05 SCEPTIC Thomas perhaps, about to feed pussy?

C (=about, i.e. circa) in SEPTIC (=pussy?, i.e. containing pus); a doubting Thomas is a sceptic
   
06 MATE Husband or wife making tea?

Double definition: maté is Paraguay tea
   
07 LATER In while selling up – one has to leave

RETA<i>L (=selling); “one (=I) has to leave” means letter “i” is dropped; “up” indicates vertical reversal; “in (a) while” means “later”
   
08 ACROPOLIS Cool Paris knocked around in Athenian citadel

*(COOL PARIS); “knocked around” is anagram indicator
   
13 WARRINGTON Northern town‘s battling heavyweight?

WARRING (=battling) + TON (=heavyweight)
   
14 IDEALISTS Romantics plan to hear from Poets Society

IDEA (=plan) + homophone of “list” (=hear from poets, i.e. poetic form of “listen”) + S (=society)
   
16 CONGENIAL With gin and ale getting sloshed is nice

CON (=with, in Italian, as in con amore, in music) + *(GIN + ALE); “getting sloshed” is anagram indicator
   
18 SHOVELS Implements third-rate accommodation in steamship

HOVEL (=third-rate accommodation) in SS (=steamship)
   
19 MATADOR Beastly fighter Mike runs round at a party

[AT + A + DO (=party)] in [M (=Mike, in radio telecommunications) + R (=runs, in cricket)]
   
21 FLEET Certain measures taken about student in prison

L (=student) in FEET (=certain (imperial) measures); the Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison, in use until 1844
   
23 TUTOR Cheap booze that’s no good upset teacher

ROT<g>UT (=cheap booze); “no good (=G)” means letter “g” is dropped; “upset” indicates vertical reversal
   
24 AFAR Bankers withdrawing from hunting expedition miles away

<s>AFAR<i> (=hunting expedition); “bankers withdrawing” means first and last letters are dropped
   
   

 

 

19 comments on “Independent 9,618 / Tees”

  1. 1d The office dictionary has ‘serving to supplement or replace, often temporarily eg a false keel’

    I too started off thinking that it was easy as Tees doesn’t do ‘read and write’ but then as I got further down the grid, normal service was resumed.

    Lots to enjoy so thank you to both setter and blogger

  2. Really not too keen on SATYR =GOD. Lecher, pervert yes…
    And I reckon FLEET is obscure unless youve just read the appropriate novel.The river is fine.

  3. Very good puzzle imo. Quite a few easy ones to get you going but many hard ones. I parsed SATYR as SA (it, sex appeal) + T (time) + YR (your). Otherwise the initial It’s plays no role. For 1d, one of the definitions of ‘false’ in my dictionary is ‘serving to supplement or replace, often temporarily, e.g. A false keel’. Thought the surface for 10a was excellent. 22a was also v good. Thanks to RR and Tees.

  5. We thought this was fairly easy for Tees – my apprentice spotted a handful of the answers and saw the wordplay in others before I did.

    I was a bit doubtful at first about the definition of FALSE; I knew about falsework in construction – support needed till the structure can support itself but thought that meaning might be a bit too way-out for the average solver – should have looked in the dictionary!

    But I did check in Chambers for SATYR: the first definition there is “A Greek god of the woodlands …”

    We weren’t too happy about con = with in 16dn but see it is in Collins (though not Chambers).

    All told, though, an enjoyable solve. Favourite was SCEPTIC for the misdirection of ‘pussy’.

    Thanks, Tees and RatkojaRiku

  6. Allan C – Con for with is commonplace as a musical direction.
    I’m with Hovis on the wordplay for satyr.

  7. If you remember the incident in question, 10a is one of the best surfaces I have ever seen. Bravo Tees. And thanks RatkojaRiku.

  8. David – As a (mediocre amateur) musician I knew ‘con’ = ‘with’ as a musical direction; I just wasn’t sure it was fair to use it in that sense in the clue. And we too parsed SATYR as did Hovis; my comment was that ‘god’ is a valid definition.

  9. Thanks to fellow solvers for explaining 1D and 27. I’d be interested to hear which dictionary carried this definition of “false”, as it wasn’t in my Chambers.

  10. Brilliant puzzle, I thought.

    Great surfaces, humour, misdirection and, bar 3 clues and 1 very tough clue, pretty easy as I had most done in 25 mins. Honours today go to the aforementioned solve, surfaces and the like (like CC @7 I though spectator was great).

    Basically I loved it and the solve was so enjoyable that I even got over me grump about never having a chance with 9a (completion of that would’ve been the cherry on the top of the icing on the cake that covered a million pounds wrapped round a collection on unreleased Bob Dylan tunes stapled to my current object of desire who was reciting my favourite poem.

    Cheers to the Teaser for a top-notch puzzle and to RR for the blog.

  12. RatkojaRiku, that definition of ‘false’ is in Collins (2006); it’s the 9th in a list of 11.

  14. I agree entirely with @ConradCork about the clue for SPECTATOR.
    Lovely puzzle; thanks to Tees and RR

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