An enjoyable crossword from Wiglaf: nothing very controversial so far as I can see, and it was neither too easy nor impossibly difficult. Some good clues.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
Nothing to report on the Nina front so far as I can see (well there wouldn’t have been, would there, with me blogging — see NeilW@1), which often isn’t far enough.
| Across | ||
| 1 | LET THERE BE LIGHT | A line from Genesis number about Tesla, the revolutionary behind electrical inductance (3,5,2,5) |
| L e(T the rebel)ight — L is the Lambert, the unit of electrical inductance — T is the abbreviation for Tesla, the derived SI unit of magnetic flux density (hope I’m right on these) — Genesis the book of the Bible rather than the pop group | ||
| 9 | CHESSMAN | Nazi member imprisoned, presumably in castle? (8) |
| c(Hess M)an — ie in the can or in prison — anyone who plays chess to any level knows that it’s a rook, not a castle, but I’ve just about given up the fight on this: setters continue to get it wrong, but perhaps it isn’t wrong anyway since the dictionaries give it | ||
| 10 | COCOON | Learn about my case (6) |
| co(coo)n — coo! = my! | ||
| 11 | CARPET | Tear a strip off queen, say, for adopting RP English (6) |
| ca(RP E)t | ||
| 12 | ALBANIAN | Outlaw arrested by two men from European country (8) |
| Al (ban) Ian | ||
| 13 | STETSONS | Don’t change this disciple’s headgear (8) |
| stet [the editor’s sign] son [disciple] | ||
| 15 | LAUNCH | McLuhan failing to start damaged motorboat (6) |
| ({M}cLuhan)* | ||
| 17 | IN A RUT | Bored during a time of sexual activity (2,1,3) |
| in [during] a rut | ||
| 19 | BROADWAY | Approach woman in van in NYC street (8) |
| way [approach] with broad [woman] in the van, ie at the front | ||
| 21 | ABETTORS | Partners in crime about to get laid, reaching rocky heights (8) |
| a bet tors | ||
| 23 | SMUTTY | Dirty little Mary lying around in dirty place (6) |
| (tum)rev. in sty — the little Mary is a euphemism for the stomach — this thread gives some information | ||
| 24 | CUCKOO | Coot-like bird (6) |
| 2 defs, with coot used in the sense of a foolish person | ||
| 25 | CRAWLERS | Illegible writer cycling among Sunday drivers? (8) |
| scrawler cycled, ie with its last letter moved to the front — I’m not sure why Sunday drivers crawl: is it because they are occasional and therefore inexperienced drivers, or because there is so much traffic on a Sunday (at times, anyway)? | ||
| 26 | BE ON THE SAFE SIDE | Astonished with last of the beef being off? Take no chances (2,2,3,4,4) |
| (Astonished {th}e beef)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | ENHEARTEN | Cheer new judge for charging delinquent teen (9) |
| (n hear) in *(teen) — charge as in ‘charge your glasses’ | ||
| 3 | TOSSPOT | Drunken sot with pint, so drunk (7) |
| *(sot pt so) — drunk a noun | ||
| 4 | EMMET | This writer mounted and satisfied social worker in the West Country (5) |
| (me)rev. met — I don’t really get the definition: an emmet is dialect for an ant, but also Cornish dialect for a tourist; perhaps Wiglaf is hedging his bets | ||
| 5 | ENNEADS | Delivered some plugs in sets of nine (7) |
| “any ads” | ||
| 6 | EN CABALLO | Riding in French taxi, a lamb lies overlooked initially (2,7) |
| en [in in French] cab a l{amb} l{ies} o{verlooked} | ||
| 7 | INCONNU | Outsider at Connecticut University (7) |
| in [at, no doubt in some sense although I can’t really think how, otherwise there wouldn’t be two words] Conn U | ||
| 8 | HOO-HA | Back-to-back houses with little area causes a fuss (3-2) |
| ho. (ho.)rev. a | ||
| 14 | OSTROGOTH | Old German in short pants, touring African country in retirement (9) |
| (short)* round (Togo)rev. | ||
| 16 | CHARTERED | Some accountants are public school educated, missing house (9) |
| Charter{house} ed. | ||
| 18 | RETAKEN | Got back to see film about headless monster? Just the opposite (7) |
| ET in {k}raken — the opposite of {k}raken in ET | ||
| 19 | BISECTS | Religious faction splits again – splits in two (7) |
| bi(sect)s — bis = again | ||
| 20 | DOUGLAS | Boy almost ready to meet girl? Almost (7) |
| doug{h} [ready; one of the 1001 words for money] las{s} | ||
| 22 | BRUCE | Stand-up in Brown University caught with drug (5) |
| br. U c E — does this refer to Lenny Bruce or to Bruce Bruce (of whom I’d never heard)? | ||
| 23 | STAFF | Teachers using cane? (5) |
| 2 defs | ||
*anagram
Thanks, John. I’m no expert but there seems to be a Genesis theme running through the clues and solutions – they were educated at Charterhouse – quite a few are found in the lyrics of one of the songs on the album The Lamb Lies down on Broadway, BROADWAY Melody: Lenny BRUCE; Marshall McLuhan. Other tracks on the album are entitled CUCKOO COCOON; CARPET CRAWLERS; Back in N.Y.C.
Nice puzzle. Hadnt heard of Bruce Bruce but Lennie. yes. Quick google seemed to provide both
Wasnt used to BR=brown or CONN being Connecticut but it was in the good old days
I had no idea about ‘little Mary’ for ‘stomach’ – thanks for the link to the Miss Marple excerpt – and I ended up mis-spelling ENNEADS. Otherwise not too obscure, but not easy either and I didn’t spot the Genesis theme.
I liked 7d, which I thought must have something to do with Yale, and RETAKEN, funnily enough the second John Wyndham baddie to appear in crossword-land in two days, both made slightly less scary by the removal of one letter.
Thanks to Wiglaf and John
Really struggled with this. When 1a dawned on me (pun intended) I started to make progress in the top half. Took awhile to parse 1a since I was convinced that “number” = “ether” which, around T(esla), gave the ETTHER bit. Didn’t know EN CABALLO or INCONNU but guessed them both and checked in Chambers.
Thought BRUCE defined by “Stand-up” was a bit unfair and don’t know enough about Genesis to spot this Tuesday’s theme. Didn’t know little Mary for stomach so bunged in SMUTTY and came here for the explanation. Wasn’t keen on “using” as a link word in 23d.
Thanks to Wiglaf and John.
Finished without problems, although a few answers were unparsed. Before crossing letters suggested the correct answer we thought the use of ‘number’ in 1ac was referring to a particular number by the said band – of which we know nothing but the name so obviously we failed to spot the theme. But we did know about ‘little Mary’. And as for ‘castle’ as a chess piece, yes it should be called a rook, but otoh the move involving rook and king crossing over is known as castling.
Thanks, Wiglaf and John.