Independent 10,149 / Tees

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Tees has provided the Wednesday puzzle this week.

I have to say that I was quite relieved to tackle a more straightforward puzzle this morning, having torn my hair out over the Easter weekend with various toughies. Tees has thus restored my faith in my basic solving abilities!

I made fairly rapid progress through this one, although I almost came unstuck with the incorrect SPARKS at 28 – thankfully, I realised my error in time. My favourite clues today were 1, 21 and 29, all for surface reading; and 22, for originality. I only vaguely knew the actress at 10, but the fact that there was an anagram of the solution here helped me to come up with a plausible spelling of her name.

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

Across    
     
01 DERANGED Called into action and driven bonkers

RANG (=called, phoned) in DEED (=action)
     
06 BEGGAR Solicitor wants something to eat in pub

EGG (=something to eat) in BAR (=pub)
     
09 GARB Film star almost in dress

GARB<o> (=actress, i.e. Greta Garbo); “almost” means last letter is dropped
     
10 LOTTE LENYA Austrian actress on telly ate nuts

*(ON TELLY ATE); “nuts (=crazy” is anagram indicator; the reference is to Austrian-born American singer and actress Lotte Lenya (1898-1981)
     
11 MORTAL Human taking time in practical lesson

T (=time) in MORAL (=practical lesson, as in The moral of the story is …)
     
12 DAD’S ARMY Lawyer and police officer host TV show

DA (=lawyer, i.e. District Attorney) + DS (=police officer, i.e. Detective Sergeant) + ARMY (=host, i.e. large number); the reference is to the BBC sitcom Dad’s Army (1968-77) about  the British Home Guard in WWII
     
13 ARMAGEDDON Member, old fellow, in catastrophic conflict

ARM (=member, limb) + AGED (=old) + DON (=fellow, at university)
     
16 IDLE Hero can be heard in lounge

Homophone (“can be heard”) of “idol (=hero)”
     
17 ROAM Old sheep outside for wander

O (=old) in RAM (=sheep)
     
19 RED HERRING Embarrassed, being wrong about hard or false clue?

H (=hard, as in HB) in [RED (=embarrassed) + ERRING (=making a mistake)]
     
22 TERMINUS American expression for bus station?

(a) TERM IN (the) US (=American expression)
     
24 ENIGMA Riddle, good, featured in fantastical anime

G (=good) in *(ANIME); “fantastical” is anagram indicator
     
26 BLITHERING Foolish and thoughtlessly indifferent group

BLITHE (=thoughtlessly indifferent) + RING (=group, as in e.g. vice ring)
     
27 BENT Any number in punt that’s leaning

N (=number, in maths) in BET (=punt)
     
28 SPARES Mad breakers at last providing engine parts

SPARE (=mad, irate) + <breaker>S (“at last” means last letter only)
     
29 SADDENED Maze of dead ends, but got one down?

*(DEAD ENDS); “maze of” is anagram indicator
     
Down    
     
02 ENAMOUR Locks up quartet missing feminine charm

ENAM (MANE=locks, i.e. of hair; “up” indicates vertical reversal) + <f>OUR (=quartet; “missing feminine (=F)” means letter “f” is dropped)
     
03 AMBIT Confines or rather restricts maiden

M (=maiden, on cricket scorecard) in A BIT (=rather, quite); the definitions “confines”, limits, is to be read as a noun here
     
04 GALILEE Sea storm engulfing French island

ILE (=French island, i.e. the French word for island) in GALE (=storm)
     
05 DATED Old-fashioned theologian inwardly worried

ATE (=worried) in DD (=theologian, i.e. Doctor of Divinity)
     
06 BLEND IN 50 in mountain commotion seem anonymous?

L (=50, in Roman numerals) in [BEN (=mountain, especially in Scotland) + DIN (=commotion)]
     
07 GRENADIER Soldier reading agitatedly about uprising

*(READING) + ER (RE=about, concerning; “uprising” indicates vertical reversal)
     
08 ABYSMAL Really bad element in baby’s malady

Hidden in (“element”) in “bABY’S MALady“
     
14 ALMA MATER Two scholars placed in reform school

MA MA (=two scholars, i.e. 2 x Master of Arts) in ALTER (=reform)
     
15 DUD Some French duke is failure

DU (some French, i.e. a French word for some) + D (=duke)
     
18 OVERLAP Coincide to an extent having finished circuit

OVER (=finished) + LAP (=circuit, of track)
     
19 RANGERS Winter ultimately provokes blues on the Clyde

<winte>R (“ultimately” means last letter only) + ANGERS (=provokes); the reference is to the Glasgow (“on the Clyde”) football team Rangers and their traditional blue shirts
     
20 EMERGED Joined forces after enemy initially came into view

E<nemy> (“initially” means first letter only) + MERGED (=joined forces)
     
21 NOMINEE Candidate turning on explosive energy

NO (ON; “turning” indicates reversal) + MINE (=explosive, e.g. landmine) + E (=energy)
     
23 SWISS European succeeded three times around London area

W1 (=London area, i.e. postcode) in S S S (=succeeded three times, i.e. 3 x s=succeeded)
     
25 IMBUE Inspire where the writer’s Conservative, not Liberal

I’M (=the writer’s, i.e. of this crossword) + B<l>UE (=Conservative; “not Liberal (=L)” means letter “l” is dropped)
     

 

7 comments on “Independent 10,149 / Tees”

  1. Nice, straightforward and entertaining – although I’ll bet there’ll be more than just the two of us in the ‘almost put SPARKS’ club today

    Thanks to Tees for the crossword and RR for the blog

  3. Very entertaining solve; luckily I knew LOTTE LENYA from the lyrics of Mack the Knife.

    I ticked ARMAGEDDON, TERMINUS, BLITHERING, ENAMOUR, AMBIT, ALMA MATER and NOMINEE – it must have been good!

    Thanks Tees and RR.

  4. As crypticsue said, nice, straightforward and entertaining – although some clues took a bit of unravelling.  We did wonder, after getting 9ac and 10ac if there was going to be a theme, in clues and answers, of performers.  SPARES was our LOI; we were certain it wasn’t ‘sparks’ and were on the point of reaching for the thesaurus for a synonym of ‘mad’ when it suddenly clicked.  No real CoD but we liked DAD’S ARMY, TERMINUS and ALMA MATER.

    Thanks, Tees and RatkojaRiku

  5. Without a crosser (which fortunately I had), the answer to 16 across could equally have been IDOL.  I think that such dilemmas should be avoided by setters.  (PS: Lotte Lenya once played a Bond villain with lethal heels.)

  6. Pride cometh before a fall. I was very pleased that I was getting through this so quickly and blithely (not blethely) bunged in ‘blethering’ from the def. for 26a, being too convinced I was right to bother looking at the wordplay. Lesson learned – well probably not.

    I liked the same clues as others and also thought of ‘Mack The Knife’ for LOTTE LENYA (and old Lucy Brown).

    DAD’S ARMY, well-remembered from my youth, was my pick. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favour and have a look at the YouTube clip from the ‘Cardinal Puff Puff’ episode.

    Thanks to Tees and RR

  7. Nearly fifty years I’ve known the Lotte Lenya recording of Weill’s Die Dreigroschenoper and I never realised she was Austrian.  Because of the Weill connection, I’d always thought she was German.  (I’ve also seen her in the 1931 film version.)  She doesn’t get mentioned in the lyrics of the version of Mack the Knife I know best.

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