Entertaining and deceptive stuff from Tees.
I found this harder to solve than I should have. Tees’s clues are often so deceptively simple that you overlook the correct parsing. 20D and 28A were good examples of this. There appears to be a nina around the edge of the grid, but I have no idea what it’s referring to. An internet search brought back nothing, so it may be a personal reference – perhaps names of some departed pets.
| Across | ||
| 2 | RUM | Greek character returning to river shows spirit (3) |
| Mu< after r(iver) | ||
| 6 | CRAKE | Rail runs through Dundee perhaps (5) |
| R(uns) in cake, as in Dundee Cake. Rail is used in the avian sense. | ||
| 7 | ACETATE | Recording star brought to gallery (7) |
| Ace + Tate | ||
| 9 | ANTE | Bet linesman misses header (4) |
| I think this is [D]ante, Dante being a poet=linesman | ||
| 10 | EVENT | Syndicate’s backer opening case (5) |
| [Syndicat]e (back letter of syndicate) + vent(=opening) | ||
| 11 | DEED | More than pleased to see brilliance missed in performance (4) |
| De[light]ed | ||
| 12 | GEYSER | Fellow reportedly needs water heater (6) |
| Hom of geezer. Geyser can be used as a slang term for a boiler, so the clue isn’t referring to naturally-occurring hot water spouts, which wouldn’t really work here since they don’t heat the water themselves. | ||
| 14 | SCENARIO | Heartlessly carries on wrecking sequence of events (8) |
| (Car[r]ies on)* | ||
| 16 | ODIN | Party back at home for supreme creator (4) |
| Do< + in – supreme creator in Norse mythology | ||
| 17 | EXALT | Westbound chopper’s given lieutenant lift (5) |
| Axe< + lt (abbrev for lieutenant) | ||
| 19 | TOAD | Loathsome type from Fox covering area (4) |
| Tod around a(rea) | ||
| 21 | TAILGATE | Drive too close, creating flap (8) |
| DD, ref to the original meaning, a flap at the back of a lorry or van used for loading and unloading. | ||
| 24 | NORMAL | Roman legions, initially battered, showing standard (6) |
| (Roman l[egions])* | ||
| 25 | IBIS | Wader again seen on island (4) |
| Ib (short for ibidem) on Is(land) | ||
| 26 | AHEAD | Further on each joined (5) |
| A head with the two words joined together | ||
| 28 | LINE | Track delivery given in singles bar? (4) |
| DD – as in “chat-up line”, I suppose. | ||
| 29 | EVENING | Very unreliable engine outside in dusk (7) |
| (V(ery) + engine)* | ||
| 30 | ABOUT | On U-boat that’s destroyed (5) |
| (U-boat)* | ||
| 31 | OFF | Switch position round with two females (3) |
| O + f(emale) twice | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | GALE | Good beer needed for powerful air force (4) |
| G(ood) + ale | ||
| 2 | REHEARSE | Train seat he occupies someone vacated (8) |
| Rear (as in posterior) around he + s[omeon]e | ||
| 3 | MADE | Discussed servant girl whose prosperity is certain? (4) |
| Hom of maid – def is a reference to a “made man” | ||
| 4 | PESTLE | Nuisance left with quarter pounder (6) |
| Pest + l(eft) + E(ast)(=quarter) | ||
| 5 | YARDMASTER | Maybe top London cop trains boss stateside (10) |
| DD (ref to Scotland Yard) | ||
| 6 | CONTEND | Claim to know nurse (7) |
| Con(=know) + tend | ||
| 8 | ELEMI | Sweetheart in wood, one obtaining fragrant resin (5) |
| [sw]e[et] (heart of sweet) in elm + I | ||
| 13 | SUNGLASSES | Shades of ancient Chinese princesses? (10) |
| Sung lasses, a sort of whimsical ref to women born into the Sung dynasty | ||
| 14 | SHADE | Apparition in relative darkness (5) |
| DD | ||
| 15 | ODD | Strange characters picked up in Buckland Down (3) |
| Hidden, rev in bucklanD DOwn | ||
| 16 | OUT | Other Ulyssean traits initially seen in Bloom (3) |
| Initial letters of “Other Ulyssean traits”. Bloom for out seems a little bit of a stretch, although it’s needed to keep the Joycean theme going. | ||
| 18 | TONE DEAF | Confusing note with others? (4-4) |
| Appears to be an &lit with note=tone* but I’m not sure where exactly the deaf comes from. | ||
| 20 | AGAINST | Hostile moreover with praiseworthy individual (7) |
| Again + St | ||
| 22 | AMBLE | Better to avoid extremes — take gentle stroll (5) |
| [G]amble[r] | ||
| 23 | ARABIC | Middle Eastern watering hole held by spies in revolution (6) |
| (Bar in cia)< | ||
| 27 | ERGO | Experience one French duke avoided for this reason (4) |
| [Und]ergo (minus un + d(uke)) | ||
| 28 | LAOS | African city centre vanishing in eastern state (4) |
| La[g]os | ||
*anagram
Thanks Tees and NealH
I’m all in favour of recycling, but 18D is a virtually verbatim repeat of a clue in Tees Friday’s FT Neo. The D E A F are simply OTHER (note)S.
16 works if you see the definition as ‘in bloom’, ie the flowers are in bloom / out.
Simon has already said most of what I was going to say. Couldn’t remember where I saw the 18d clue recently, so thanks Simon for that. A coincidence I would guess.
I parsed IBIS as I for island on BIS for again. I eventually decided 28a was LINE for the same reason as you give Neal but thought this was an awful clue. Generally thought this was a good crossword with a smattering of challenging clues.
Thanks to Tees and NealH.
NealH has removed my objection to the GEYSER. I also had the same experience of finding that the clues looked much easier in the rear-view mirror. Smoothness of clueing will do that.
My favourite moment was the point when I spotted G RUM _ _ across the top and guessed at the rest. The PESTLE then went straight in. Brilliant clue – and seeing the very word I’d have used to describe myself today there at the top of the crossword removed the said grump for many seconds.
Was TONE DEAF to the wordplay in 18d, which I enjoyed even as a cryptic definition. So that would surely have (post-enlightenment) been my pick of the day today. But as mentioned, for me it’s the quarter pounder. A clue good enough to eat.
Thanks Tees and NealH,
1a of Surrey
I read 18d as NOTE* + D E A F (musical notes) – still not a particularly great clue though, as it’s a rather vague indication for one of the many possible combinations of “notes”
Fairly gentle for Tees, we thought, not that we didn’t have some headscratching moments. We spotted the nina though not sure what it signifies; we could make something up about an animal encountered more often in crosswordland, maybe, than in the real world: “Grumpy scoffs at agouti being a doddle!” Er … maybe not.
We thought that 28ac could be a sort of triple definition: ‘track’ and ‘bar’ could both be LINE but ‘delivered in singles’ took a bit of not very convincing explanation, so we guess the chat-up line is likely to be the correct parsing.
We liked the PESTLE clue, too. Incidentally, does anyone know where one might get a repalcement pestle for a pestle and mortar set? Our marble one rolled off the worktop and broke on the tiled floor.
Back on topic. Thanks, Tees and NealH
Oops, I see Simon S gave the same explanation at #1.
Spotted that there was a Nina, and although I haven’t a clue what it’s about it did help with a few clues. Dead pet rabbits, yes.
I couldn’t see 28ac and guessed LANE but couldn’t parse it.
GEYSER isn’t given as slang in Chambers. In fact, I remember it being a common term for a domestic hot water heater when I was growing up.
I spotted there might be a Nina early, but then forgot about it. I would have got 5dn earlier if I’d remembered.
I cannot see any mention of it in the above comments but, is everybody happy with acetate = recording? Apart from that, a quick and enjoyable solve. Following Kitty’s delightful culinary accolade, I found 6 across the tastiest morsel. Thanks all !
@gsolphotog @9
“… is everybody happy with acetate = recording?”
I wondered about that too but found that under ‘acetate’ Collins has “a sound recording disc composed of an acetate lacquer coating on an aluminium or plastic base: used for demonstration or other short-term purposes” and the ODE gives “a sample version of a recording disc cut by a stylus rather than formed by a stamper, and coated with cellulose acetate”.
Thanks Gaufrid. I looked at my online Chambers only. As I said above, apart from that minor quibble, I enjoyed it.
I was familiar with acetate meaning a recording and am surprised to find it’s not in Chambers.
Grumpy doddle scoffs agouti
Splendid puzzle with an entertaining use of the perimeter. I’m not sure I’ve seen a Nina using words in clued lights plus additions in unches before.
Nice touches elsewhere too. TONE DEAF is &lit, which Tees clearly likes otherwise he wouldn’t have put it in the FT as well 😀
aitch @ 13
Agouti scoffs grumpy. Doddle! Shurely…
14 down is also a repeat, verbatim, of tees’s 16 down in independent, 9884.
Remembered SHADE recently, but did not recall it as Tees, so don’t care. Did spot the Nina, if that is what is is – does it qualify if the component words are random and unrelated? – until relatively late. Overall an enjoyable puzzle.
A minor blog point that I have made before, 29A is not an anagram of v + engine, it’s v in an anagram of engine.
29A is certainly I + BIS.
Thanks to Tess and NealH.