Always a smile on my face when I get a Monday Tees to blog. He knows stuff, and he knows his stuff, which always makes for an entertaining puzzle with a wide range of references.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 One destroying vegetation in tree
LOCUST
A dd, because (TILT alert) Robinia pseudoacacia is a North American leguminous tree.
4 Provincial Pope on vehicle turned back
SUBURBAN
A charade of BUS reversed (‘turned back’) and URBAN, one of several Popes. The most (in)famous would be Urban II, who in November 1095 rallied Christians to wage war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land. Deus volt! And welcome to the Crusades.
10 One in doze succeeded first as team leader
SKIPPER
A charade of S and KIPPER. A word we have nicked from Middle Dutch. It is etymologically related to SHIP. Modern Dutch still has schip (but not the hard -k sound).
11 Alight: demand to get off
INEXACT
A charade of IN and EXACT. ‘He exacted payment’ and ‘the fire is in’ are two phrases that will explain the synonyms.
12 Have say in vote against payment
CONTRIBUTE
A charade of CON and TRIBUTE.
13 Statesman in walled enclosure
EDEN
Hidden in wallED ENclosure. Anthony Eden, British PM from 1955-1957.
15 Not changing habits for example
UNIFORM
A dd.
17 Discover a foreign planet?
UNEARTH
A charade of UN for one of the French (‘foreign’) words for ‘a’ and EARTH.
19 Not like novel writer
TOLKIEN
Tees is always careful with his surfaces, and this is a great one. (NOT LIKE)* with ‘novel’ as the anagrind.
21 Channel in Spooner’s broad river
TIDEWAY
A Spoonerism of WIDE TAY.
23 Centre reportedly does attract one
HART
A homophone (‘reportedly’) of HEART. In the rutting season particularly, harts try to attract does, and vice-versa.
24 19th Century stuff in article by two men
VICTORIANA
A charade of two men’s names, VICTOR and IAN, and the article, A.
27 Chief accountant comes to island
MAJORCA
A charade of MAJOR and CA for Chartered Accountant.
28 Defeat heavily in counter-revolution?
TROUNCE
(COUNTER)* with ‘revolution’ as the anagrind. Nounal anagrinds. The world will stop spinning soon.
29 Think there’s place available in crew say
RUMINATE
If there were a spare place in a rowing crew, there might be ROOM IN EIGHT.
30 Standing figure brought to America
STATUS
A charade of STAT[ISTIC] and US.
Down
1 Fail to reckon with clue – not so devious!
LOSE COUNT
(CLUE NOT SO)* with ‘devious’ as the anagrind.
2 One found in song and another one in wine
CHIANTI
An insertion of I in CHANT, followed by another I.
3 Like Concorde thus carrying posh sort
SUPERSONIC
An insertion of U and PERSON in SIC, the Latin word for ‘thus’. Not familiar with U and NON-U for ‘posh’ and ‘not posh’? Comes up often. Blame Nancy Mitford.
5 One has confidence in this investment
UNIT TRUST
A charade of UNIT for ‘one’ and TRUST for ‘confidence’.
6 Some ambitious editor exploited
USED
Hidden in ambitioUS EDitor.
7 One involved in main takeover bid?
BOARDER
A cd. A pirate who sailed the main would be a BOARDER if he tried to take over a rival ship.
8 It’s unacceptable whichever way you look at it
NOT ON
It’s ‘whichever way you look at it’ because NOT ON is a palindrome.
9 Grumpy type Republican bundled into taxi
CRAB
An insertion of R in CAB. Grumpy, moi?
14 Greenhorn‘s offer to dance
TENDERFOOT
A charade of TENDER and FOOT as a verb.
16 Beggar claiming to be incorrigible?
MENDICANT
I loved this. The question mark indicates the clue’s whimsical nature: if someone who was incorrigible was asked to mend their ways, they might reply: MEND? I CAN’T!
18 Blows for farm workers
HAYMAKERS
A dd. The first definition probably derives from the action of swinging a scythe.
20 Praise sports hall on radio, and book
LORD JIM
A homophone (‘on radio’) of LAUD GYM gives you the book by Joseph Conrad.
22 Now that could be display stand!
WHATNOT
(NOW THAT)*
23 Big hit from Ruth perhaps as poet
HOMER
A dd, referring to the American version of rounders, and one of its greatest proponents, Babe Ruth, who if he’d smacked it out of the park, might have scored a HOME R[UN].
25 System for better transport
TOTE
A dd. The first definition is from the gambling world.
26 Flyer no man in Navy
WREN
Tees has saved the best till last. You’d have to be a woman in the Navy to be a WREN, wouldn’t you? More importantly, it gives me the chance for the obligatory Pierre bird link. Britain’s commonest bird, but not its smallest (that’s the goldcrest). Often called Jenny Wren, seemingly just because of our enthusiasm for anthropomorphising bird names: the jackdaw was originally just a daw; the magpie was just a pie (and still is in French – la pie). Jenny Wren is still just a nickname, though.
.JPG.aspx?width=762){kind=link}
Many thanks to Tees as always for the Monday entertainment. The boy done good. Unlike his footie team at the minute.
Enjoyed this. Fairly simple for a Tees but a few tricky ones thrown in. Didn’t know the betting sense of tote.
INEXACT was tough and was my LOI. My favourite was RUMINATE with MENDICANT a close second.
The anagram at 19a was neat. I once dreamt I wrote a best selling fantasy novel but it turns out I was just Tolkien in my sleep 🙂 I know that’s an old joke.
Thanks to Tees and to Pierre for his humorous blog.
Thanks to Pierre and Tees
INEXACT was also my LOI. I had not come across “in” for “alight” before but Collins confirms your parsing giving “do you keep the fire in all night” as an example. I think “exact” is a little loose for “demand” though, as “exact” has the added sense of not just demanding, but also receiving, payment.
A bit of a challenge from Tees today, but nothing that couldn’t be solved without help (apart from confirming a couple of guesses in Chambers). We too liked RUMINATE and MENDICANT, as well as BOARDERS.
We got 23dn fairly easily as the apperance of ‘Ruth’ in a cryptic always alerts us to baseball as well as the biblical lass (and without the capital letter it’s also a noun meaning ‘pity’).
Thanks, Tees and Pierre.
PS: Be careful, Hovis, too much Tolkein can be Hobbit-forming! 🙂
Nice puzzle with some lovely clues. My Nan always used to ‘keep the stove in’ over night, so no probs there for me.
Of ‘wren’ &c I think the robin is the only bird called solely by its nickname; it was formerly the ‘redbreast’, named, it seems, before there was an English word for ‘orange’. Thank you Radio 4, And thanks to Tees & Pierre for an entertaining & informative hour.
Well done for finishing Hovis. You may not be Tolkien but you re obviously a KingSolver 🙂
I DNF as I failed on inexact (still cannot equate in to alight.
I could see the answer at 7 down would be something to do with he sea but Boarder eluded me and I still think it’s bit weak.
23a was my favourite
Thanks Tees and Pierre
Alas Pierre, you are quite right about that!