Yesss … after a frustratingly long absence, a chance to indulge myself (I think setters and scheduling editors have been doing it on purpose, frankly.)
Oh, and as well as the two birds, the puzzle wasn’t half bad either. Some great surfaces, as always with Tees; and with a grid that bellowed ‘Nina!’ it didn’t take much working out that something was going on around the perimeter. There are four, six-letter, mutual anagrams: CATERS, CRATES, TRACES and REACTS. The setter could also have availed of CARETS, CARTES, CASTER and RECAST, but chose not to. Why, and why the four anagrams? I don’t know, and am too made up with a double bird link to care.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
2 Worried — loathe having to leave hospital (3)
ATE
[H]ATE
6 Note black Republican brought to First Lady (5)
BREVE
A charade of B, R and EVE for Adam’s mate.
7 Resolute Armada man taking ships (7)
ADAMANT
Hidden in ArmADA MAN Taking.
9 Storm god not lacking in heart (4)
RANT
A charade of the Egyptian god RA and N[O]T.
10 Love place to sunbathe avoiding cold spells (5)
OBEAH
Time to enjoy learning a new word, for me at least. A charade of O and BEA[C]H
Collins: obi, or obeah a kind of witchcraft originating in Africa and practised by some West Indians
11 Music scene wants backer in the circle (4)
DISC
DISC[O]
12 Re-do it, emended for this boss? (6)
EDITOR
(RE DO IT)*
14 Fearsome shot with bowler receiving credit? (8)
SCREAMER
Bringing together cricket and the beautiful game. An insertion of CR in SEAMER, which is a type of bowler in the former.
16 Woodcutter advertising verbally (4)
ADZE
A homophone of ADS. A bit clunky, perhaps, that ‘advertising’ and ADS are so close.
17 Saw an early machine-gun (5)
MAXIM
A dd and more dictionary trawling, this time just to check.
Collins: Maxim gun an obsolete water-cooled machine gun having a single barrel
19 Evaluation for Shell (4)
TEST
Another dd and another dip into the dictionary.
Collins: test² the hard or tough outer covering of certain invertebrates and tunicates. It’s ultimately derived from the Latin testa, shell. As indeed (I discovered this morning) is the first meaning, which I found interesting and surprising.
21 Purchase intact or otherwise (8)
TRACTION
(INTACT OR)*
24 Run joint and cause resentment (6)
RANKLE
A charade of R and ANKLE
25 Person‘s body sent back shortly (4)
SELF
A reversal of FLES[H]
26 Gather fuel — litres taken within (5)
PLEAT
An insertion of L in PEAT.
28 Northern banker in St Helens occasionally (4)
TEES
I’m sure Tees has used this before. The odd letters of sThElEnS.
29 Online movement generates strong feeling (7)
EMOTION
A charade: whimsically, ‘online movement’ could be E-MOTION.
30 Somewhat wet old film shown outside (5)
MOIST
An insertion of O in MIST.
31 Excellent service (3)
ACE
Another dd.
Down
1 Church officer, maybe Manx speaker (4)
CELT
A charade of CE and LT for lieutenant or ‘officer’. Manx is a Celtic language; in the latest census 1,823 people claimed to speak it, and it is taught in schools on the Isle of Man.
2 Answer with blood, written up, and sign letter (8)
AEROGRAM
A charade of A, GORE reversed (‘up’ since it’s a down clue) and RAM for the zodiac ‘sign’ of Aries.
3 Rest in peace as expired (4)
EASE
Hidden in peacE AS Expired.
4 Bacon slice monarch spots first (6)
RASHER
A charade of RASH and ER for Brenda.
5 Bird with nests in stylish home (4,6)
SAND MARTIN
Finally. You need to insert AND for ‘with’ in SMART for ‘stylish’ and add IN for ‘home’ to get the summer visitor to these shores. Their nesting spot of choice is on sandy, dry banks, which can be quite stylish, as the obligatory Pierre bird link shows.
6 Bewhiskered and brave little 12 (7)
BEARDED
I want this to be a charade of BEAR for ‘brave’ in its verbal sense, and ED, but I don’t then see where the first D comes from. Anyone?
8 Trying experience in revolutionary state (5)
TASTE
(STATE)*
13 Condition of companion following ducks into river (6,4)
TRENCH FOOT
An insertion of CH for ‘companion’ [of honour], F for ‘following’ and OO for two ‘ducks’ in the River TRENT, with an extended definition, if you want to see one.
14 Dismiss boy speaking German (5)
SAXON
A homophone of SACK SON.
15 Speed reduced in desert (3)
RAT
RAT[E]
16 Fine to abandon truth in law passed (3)
ACT
[F]ACT
18 Setter’s engaged in Mass — a liturgy at sea (8)
MARITIME
The setter isn’t in fact engaged in Mass, he is engaged in inviting you to insert I’M in M, A and RITE.
20 Conspicuous way to protect a right (7)
SALIENT
An insertion of A LIEN in ST.
22 Flyer delivered by estate supervisor (5)
REEVE
Just like buses … you wait ages for one, and then two come at once. A dd. The avian variety, shown in the obligatory Pierre bird link, is a female, because a REEVE is the female of the RUFF. The species is mainly migratory and is commonest in lowland areas of Eastern England. It’s in decline. The RUFF is so-called because of the male’s elaborate plumage; why the female (whose plumage is rather dull) is called a REEVE is uncertain, but the etymology is not related to the ‘supervisor’ definition, which comes from Old English.
23 Maybe demonic look causes damage (6)
IMPAIR
A whimsical charade of IMP and AIR.
27 Regularly seen Neptunian feature that spews lava (4)
ETNA
The odd letters of nEpTuNiAn.
28 Hard one to stop 28 across producing puzzle? (4)
THIS
If you read 28ac as two letters, or Ts, and insert H and I, you’ll get the solution, which is what you’ve finished solving and I’ve just finished blogging.
Many thanks to Ts for the start to the Indy week.
6d – to beard can mean defy, stand up to. I vaguely knew it, also Obi, but not the spelling Tees used here. Nice Monday fare, but my Nina blindness held up long enough for it not to help. Nice birds as well so thanks S&B.
Cause damage shurely.
Oh OK then
Really enjoyable crossword. Made very easy, yes, by the perimetrical device which was spottable early on in the solving process, but a satisfying solve nonetheless. Thanks, Tees.
Good way to start the week. I didn’t find this easy, with a few unparsed at the end and OBEAH as a new word.
Thank goodness for the Nina which helped me with quite a few when I was getting stuck. Doesn’t sound v. exciting, but the humble THIS was my favourite.
Thanks to Tees and Pierre.
The nina was a help this time. It led to me getting RANT, CELT & DISC all of which I was struggling with. Like Paul@1, I vaguely knew OBI but not the spelling here.
Just yesterday, I was doing a crossword from a book of Daily Mail cryptics (given to me as a present) with the clue “Carpentry tool’s possibly classified, say (4)”, which I think works a little better.
Thanks to Tees and Pierre.
The nina helped us in exactly the same way as for Hovis@6. We did know OBEAH having encountered that spelling long ago, and we parsed BEARDED as Paul A@1 did. TEST in that meaning was new to us but we realised it must be related to testudo.
We didn’t start this till this evening and interrupted our solve to watch the Monkman & Seagull programme on BBC2 – and there was a reference in it to machine gun inventor Hiram Maxim so 17ac was a bit of a write-in for us.
A bit trickier than we thought at first, but very enjoyable. Thanks, Tees and Pierre.