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Tees has previously set a triple pangram. This wasn’t one of those.
It was in fact a reasonably straightforward cryptic, but with some headscratching required: just right for a Monday, imho. I always enjoy Tees’ puzzles, because the range of references that he includes is extensive, which means I spend time looking up stuff and discovering more about the world. There is no triple pangram, but there is a nina: we have LEFT BANK in the left-hand column and RIGHTY-HO in the right-hand column. If there is more than that, then I can’t find it.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Settled problem about paper used in chemistry test
LITMUS
A charade of LIT and SUM reversed. Had to dig into my SOED to sort the first synonym out (and the entries for ‘light’ and ‘settle’ are both about two pages long – thanks, Tees). LIGHT and SETTLE are synonymous. Entry 7 for light has: ‘fall and settle or land on a surface’. It gives a quote from the American novelist Walter van Tilburg Clark which uses the past tense:
One of the coins lit on its edge and started rolling.
5 Show less restraint in puzzle
BEWILDER
A dd cum cd. You need to separate it out into BE WILDER for one sense.
9 Bin stealer shot in Soviet sector once
EAST BERLIN
(BIN STEALER)*
10 Books in excellent political opponent
ANTI
An insertion of NT for New Testament in AI for A1 or ‘excellent’.
11 Wrong iron taken by heartless nutter
FELONY
A charade of FE for the chemical symbol for ‘iron’ and LO[O]NY.
12 Bill with copper and grass pointing finger
ACCUSING
A charade of AC for account or ‘bill’, CU for ‘copper’ and SING for ‘grass’.
13 One spell for rookie in duty roster
TYRO
Hidden in duTY ROster, but I’m not entirely certain how ‘one spell for’ is telling us that.
14 Bizarre boor’s left behind an attractive person
OUTLANDISH
Tees is inviting you to take LOUT for ‘boor’, put the L to the end, then add AN and DISH.
16 Comparatively small MP perhaps needs minder
BABYSITTER
A charade of BABY and SITTER.
19 Hounds assembly that was correct
MEET
A dd. MEET is an archaic word for ‘correct’ or ‘right’; hence ‘that was’.
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
(Luke 15:32 in the King James Version, from the parable of the Prodigal Son.)
21 Coal processed outside top university in Mexican city
ACAPULCO
An insertion of CAP and U in (COAL)*
23 Indy and ES to merge? That’s animating American!
DISNEY
(INDY ES)* The surface makes more sense if you know that the Independent and the Evening Standard (ES) are now part of the same stable of newspapers.
24 So many women in exquisite clothes
NINE
Hidden in womeN IN Exquisite. The hidden indicator is ‘clothes’.
25 Old man has severe fatigue so fit to lie back
METHUSELAH
A charade of ME for myalgic encephalomyelitis, THUS for ‘so’ and HALE for ‘fit’ reversed. ME is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome.
26 Badly want guard patrols very involved
KNEE-DEEP
An insertion of NEED in KEEP.
27 Set rocky disc on first audio device
STEREO
A charade of (SET)*, RE for ‘on’ and O for ‘disc’. The surface tells you which way round to arrange the elements.
Down
2 Shots for effect one girl receives bring respite at last
IMAGERY
A charade of I and GE for the last letters of ‘bring’ and ‘respite’ in MARY.
3 Lore shows goodness — Christian studies lacking energy
MYTHOLOGY
A charade of MY! for ‘goodness!’ and TH[E]OLOGY. THEOLOGY is the study of all religious beliefs, not just Christianity.
4 Like some buns quietly excluded from fast
SEEDY
Well, some buns are indeed SEEDY, so it’s S[P]EEDY.
5 It helps tramp to settle down
BALLAST
My LOI, because it’s cleverly misleading. It’s a cd, referring to a ‘tramp’ as a ‘tramp steamer’ or boat, which might require BALLAST to weigh it down.
6 Place to relax in annexe one enters daily
WING CHAIR
A charade of WING and I inserted into CHAR.
7 Charges excessive amount?
LOADS
A dd.
8 Offers from pressman banking twenty shillings
EXTENDS
This is an insertion of X TEN in ED followed by S for ‘shillings’, as in LSD. X TEN is a stretch for ‘twenty’ (which is two tens), I think. Or am I missing something?
14 Standard e-mail from Dicky
ORIFLAMME
(EMAIL FROM)* gives you the flag or ‘standard’.
15 Syrian female taking a view
DAMASCENE
A charade of DAM, A and SCENE. DAMASCUS is an ancient city, founded in the third millennium BC, and is in present-day Syria.
17 This bridge needs care shown with maximum speed lowered
AUCTION
Referring to AUCTION BRIDGE, the card game. Tees is asking you to take CAUTION for ‘care’ and – since it’s a down clue – lower the letter C, which is the symbol for the speed of light. According to the laws of physics as we now understand them, nothing can go faster than C. Hence ‘maximum speed’.
18 Exploding stew pot creates dance
TWO-STEP
(STEW POT)*
20 Promote team though one short at breaks
ELEVATE
An insertion (‘breaks’) of AT in ELEVE[N].
22 Annoy class in gym the day before
PEEVE
A charade of PE for ‘gym class’ and EVE.
23 Detective Sergeant stores booze in barrels
DRUMS
An insertion of RUM in DS.
Many thanks to Tees for this morning’s Indy. The triple pangram? The (minimalist) blog by my colleague flashling is here if you’re interested. I can’t access the original puzzle, but perhaps you can.
I liked the wording for 13a, referring to the two spellings of TYRO/TIRO. Didn’t know AUCTION, as opposed to contract, bridge. Also didn’t know ORIFLAMME or WING CHAIR. Not sure what ‘needs’ is doing in 16a, unless it is referring to minding a baby’s needs, hence ‘needs minder’. Not mad keen on the ‘left behind’ in 14a, but got there in the end. Liked 8d when the penny (or 100 pennies) dropped. METHUSELAH was another favourite.
Whoops! I should have said 240 pennies. How decimal of me.
Ah, thanks, Hovis. Now I see the ‘one spell for’ bit of 13ac.
I always enjoy Tees’ puzzles; they’re especially welcome on Mondays.
I only saw the Nina on completion, so it didn’t help with NINE, the cunningly irritating little embedded torment which was my last one in.
I think they only shot the bin stealers if they were paddling westwards over Spree in them
I was getting bored with this until I saw the nina.
Thanks Tees and Pierre
8D is X (Latin 10) + TEN, and as you say, 2×10 = TWENTY
D’oh. Thank you, Simon.
A fun little puzzle, most suitable for a Monday.
I really wanted the near-anagram of MOVEMENT in row 15 to be part of the Nina somehow, but it’s pure wishful thinking.
A bit tricky but we got there in the end. Spotted the nina while we were struggling with the NE corner so that and a thesaurus helped us with BEWILDER which then gave us BALLAST and LOADS, our last ones in. Needed the blog to parse METHUSELAH and Hovis’s comment for the ‘spell’ bit of TYRO.
Favourites today were EXTENDS for the need to lift and separate ‘twenty shillings’, and AUCTION for both the surface and the use of ‘c’. Honourable mention, too, for FELONY.
Thanks, Tees and Pierre
Perfectly weighted for a Monday, but some clever and witty stuff to keep me on my toes. The short clues were fiendish with NINE principal among them, and BALLAST I think is a very good CD.
Thanks Tees and Pierre.
I think I rather like 8 down. There’s a lot of inventive stuff going on here, and X plus TEN = 20 is in a way hard to argue against.
My CoD is NINE — super-neat hidden.
Usual fun stuff from Tees today. Many thanks to setter and blogger.
More of a challenge here than in the Guardian, annoyingly neat clues, and a cracking hidden at 24.
And incredibly similar one in The Times today: Book advises the right clothes (6). Tees moonlighting?
Thanks Tees and Pierre.
I didn’t have time to do this today, but if I had I suspect I would say that this was an enjoyable puzzle which I found harder than many here seem to have. I think I’d have needed an anagram de-scrambler for ORIFLAMME and may also have been puzzled by the first bit of TYRO’s clue, forgetting the alternative spelling. I bet I’d have been sunk by BALLAST — and quite possibly other stuff too. On the other hand, NINE might have gone in early.
Oh, and I’d definitely have missed the nina.
I like BEWILDER, NINE and EXTENDS, and find the surface of BABYSITTER depressingly topical.
Thanks to Tees the tease and to Pierre the explainer.