Independent 10,333 by Tees

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Tees often shows up in my Monday blogging rota slot. I’m not complaining; he’s always good fun, and today’s puzzle is no exception.

A good mix of interestingly complicated constructions (of which my favourites were 11a and 14a), groan-inducing puns, and cleverly misleading surfaces. And there seems to be a rule now that every crossword must include at least one dig at the political establishment, hence the outrageous 5a. Thanks to Tees for all of this.

ACROSS
1 DUELLER One hopes to be satisfied with a second helping (7)
Cryptic definition: in the language of duelling, a “second” is an assistant to each of the two combatants, and “satisfaction” is presumably the successful outcome that the challenger hopes for.
5 JOHNSON Prime Minister‘s willy (7)
Double definition: the current UK PM, or willy = johnson = slang for penis.
9 OWING Outstanding victory defensive blunder secures (5)
OG (own goal = defensive blunder), containing (securing) WIN (victory).
Outstanding = owing = yet to be paid.
10 NEAR THING Knight, with obsession for Listener, in close shave (4,5)
N (knight in chess notation) + EAR THING (obsession as in “he has a thing about railways”, and ear = listener).
Close shave = near thing = narrow escape.
11 PROPRIETOR Landlord for publicity that is directed at resistance (10)
PRO (for) + PR (publicity) + IE (i.e. = that is) + TO (directed at) + R (scientific symbol for resistance). Straightforward construction but a lot of pieces to put together.
12 ASTI Like it to knock back? (4)
AS (like) + IT reversed (to knock back).
Clue-as-definition (&lit); Asti Spumante, the Italian sparkling wine.
14 OVERACHIEVE Old girls saving vital energy perform surprisingly well (11)
O (old) + VERA + EVE (two girls’ names), containing (saving) CHI (or qi; a vital force in traditional Chinese culture).
18 PUERTO RICAN Islander takes precaution moving across river (6,5)
Anagram (moving) of PRECAUTION, containing (across) R (river).
21 LARD Fat young man having right to tuck in (4)
LAD (young man) with R (right) tucked into it.
22 APOTHEOSIS Ideal example in a Post Office proposition about circular letter (10)
A P.O. (post office) + THESIS (proposition), containing (about) O (which is a circular-ish letter, depending on the font you print it in).
Apotheosis originally meant raising someone / something to the status of a god, but Chambers also defines it as “a perfect example of its type”.
25 ANY ROAD UP Highway under repair in US state nevertheless, in north? (3,4,2)
ROAD UP = highway under repair; so in New York State it would be A NY ROAD UP.
Any road up (or anyroad, anyroads up, etc) is a dialect expression for “anyway” = nevertheless; perhaps more likely to be heard in Northern England than elsewhere.
26 LOOSE Get a beating over nothing — not lashed (5)
LOSE (get beaten in a contest), containing O (zero = nothing).
Lashed in the sense of tied up, so not lashed = loose.
27 ENRAGES Causes to see red as green when changing (7)
Anagram (when changing) of AS GREEN.
See red = be angry; enrage = cause someone to be angry.
28 CURRENT Scoundrel approaching cleavage produces jet (7)
CUR (scoundrel) + RENT (split = cleavage).
I’m not sure about the definition; to me, a jet of water is in mid-air, whereas a current of water flows along a channel. But I can see the connection.
DOWN
1 DROOPS Track to north after day in Wilts (6)
SPOOR (animal track), reversed (to north = upwards in a down clue), after D (day).
Wilts (as a verb) = droops = sags. The surface is trying to mislead us with the abbreviation for the county of Wiltshire.
2 EDISON Reflective view supported by inventive personage (6)
SIDE (view, as in “taking sides”), reversed (reflective), + ON (supported by). This took me far longer than it should have, because “supported by” in down clues usually means that one element is above another, but I couldn’t see what should be below SIDE. Obvious when you see it.
Thomas Edison, who brought us the light bulb, the phonograph and many other useful things.
3 LAGER LOUTS Drunk hoolies go with last rule broken (5,5)
Anagram (broken) of GO + LAST RULE.
4 RINSE Hair treatment from barber in Seville (5)
Hidden answer in [barbe]R IN SE[ville]. Nothing to do with Figaro.
5 JOAN OF ARC Curvy French maid? (4,2,3)
Cryptic definition; the Maid of Orleans, but with a pun on arc = curve.
6 HATE Bowler, perhaps English, can’t stand (4)
HAT (bowler hat perhaps) + E (English). As usual, the punctuation (or at least the first comma) is there to mislead us.
Can’t stand = hate, as in “I can’t stand this awful weather”.
7 SPINSTER Society playwright clothes son for single woman (8)
S (abbreviation for Society) + PINTER (Harold Pinter, playwright), containing (clothing) S (son).
8 NEGLIGEE Excited seeing leg — not small — in flimsy robe (8)
Anagram (excited) of [s]EEING LEG, without the S (small).
13 CHANCELLOR Opportunity to turn up for finance minister (10)
CHANCE (opportunity) + ROLL (turn) reversed (up, in a down clue).
In full, Chancellor of the Exchequer = finance minister.
15 EURIPIDES Play-maker, current in Peru side, taken out (9)
Anagram (out) of PERU SIDE, containing I (scientific symbol for current).
Ancient Greek playwright.
16 SPILLAGE Man wise to accept medication for drinking problem (8)
SAGE (wise man) containing PILL (medication).
Humorous definition: “I don’t have a drinking problem, I never spill any of it”.
17 BETRAYER Shopper needs carrier to get booze outside (8)
TRAY (carrier) with BEER (booze) outside it.
Shopper = slang for informer = betrayer.
19 ASHORE A certain sound that’s out of the blue? (6)
Homophone (sound) of A SURE (a certain). As always, homophones depend on one’s accent, but this works for me.
Ashore = no longer at sea; the blue = the sea.
20 ASCENT Start on alpine trail for this? (6)
A (the start of Alpine) + SCENT (trail followed by a hound, or metaphorically by a detective).
Extended definition: following a trail (path) in the Alps usually involves some climbing (ascending).
23 TOPIC In leading clubs one creates talking point (5)
TOP (leading) + C (abbreviation for clubs), with I (Roman numeral for 1) in it. The word-order is a bit obscure, but it’s roughly “Into TOP + C, put I”.
24 PONG Smell from chamber pot no good (4)
PO (po = short for potty = chamber pot) + NG (no good).

 

8 comments on “Independent 10,333 by Tees”

  1. I agree this is an interesting mix. I liked the construction of PROPRIETOR, OVERACHIEVE and APOTHEOSIS and smiled at ANY ROAD UP. As for jet=current, I just thought of ‘jet stream’, but I suppose it is a bit loose. Good fun. Thanks Tees and Quirister.

  3. Thank you to Tees for a lovely Monday morning treat of a crossword – my particularly favourites (out of quite a list) were 25a and 5d

    Thanks also to Quirister

  4. Ditto to all the above.  I’m a bit fuzzy about ‘&lits’ so was unsure about Asti but bunged it in anyway. I too smiled at Any Road Up, we should use it more in the south! Thanks Tees and Quirister.

  5. Yes, another lovely puzzle from one of the best in the business.

    I hesitated at 1ac (my last one in) – couldn’t be anything else.
    Cryptic definitions are not my forte, even though 5dn’s JOAN OF ARC was actually my first entry.
    I did enter ANY ROAD UP at 25ac and I did see NY but there it stopped.
    So, many thanks for explaining, Quirister (and, of course, for the rest of your blog).

    5ac outrageous? Tees could have made it a lot worse.
    This is a late-in-the-evening comment but this morning the first thing I thought of, was:
    Prime Minister’s a prick (7) …..
    Oh oh.
    Many thanks (once more) to Quirister and our Drummer Boy.

  7. Sil @5: The clue for 5ac in the newspaper I get in New Delhi (which publishes the crossword by arrangement with the Independent) read Prime Minister’s a tool (7)

  8. There were one or two minor changes agreed prior to publication that don’t seem to have made it into the version republished here. The ‘tool’ addition, with its additional sense of ‘pawn’ was one of them.

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