Tees teases us today…..
…. but we’re afraid we didn’t really enjoy solving this puzzle – it didn’t raise any smiles and seemed to be a mixture of some very straightforward clues and a few obscure words. However, we learned some new words (11a, 22a) and Bert is now aware of a new meaning of a very familiar word (like it or not!) at 27a. The wordplay in 8d was certainly original.
While writing up the blog and looking back at the clues, perhaps we were are just having a bad day or perhaps we had higher expectations of a Saturday puzzle?
A homophone (reportedly) of CREWE MAN (fellow from Cheshire)
DEAD (gone to meet Maker) PAN (Greek God of the wild)
UP (leading) EG (for example) round or ‘capturing’ N (Knight – in chess)
CHA (tea) + MELON (fruit) round or ‘packing’ E (energy)
CAROL (song) L (line) in BARE (plain) – a new word for us
L (learner – pupil) in FAT (lard)
ASSESs (evaluate) without the last letter or ‘short’ BRIDGE (game) – a new phrase for us – apparently the fifth proposition in Euclid’s “Elements” of geometry – an impassable barrier to further progress for some
PLANT AGENT (put spy in place) round or ‘ensnaring’ E (English)
prOVEN (tested) without ‘pr’ (pair – couple)
MOURN (to hold wake) round or ‘clutching’ AV (Authorised Version – of the Bible) E’EN (even) – another new word for us – Irish for ‘my dear one’
An anagram of REDUCTION – anagrind is ‘surprisingly’
I’D (I had) + O (nothing) in or ‘filling’ IT
MITE (little child) round or ‘concealing’ ARM (weapon) – Bert had no idea that a MARMITE is a cooking pot with a lid – Joyce remembered it from signs in some French restaurants
EYE (watch) BALL (dance)
Double definition
Double definition – we had to check the first meaning – ‘exhale’ being more common
An anagram of ACT ANAGRAM – anagrind is ‘reform’
NO (number) ‘gathered’ round A (American) CH (church)
An anagram of YIELDS AND – anagrind is ‘strays’
ABE L(incoln) was president after James B(uchanan)
C (chapter) in PRELUDE (introduction)
oN wIN bET sEEN without or ‘ignoring’ first letters or ‘tips’ of each word
TERN (bird) in F (fine) RAISE (breed)
IS reversed or ‘rejected’ GNAT (midge) URE
OR (other ranks – soldiers) in an anagram of MISHAP – anagrind is ‘terrible’
MA (old woman) NEATER (smarter)
RE (about) TINA (girl)
A homophone or ‘we hear’ of IN STILL (not yet removed)
Hidden ‘inside’ ‘tO BE SEnsational’
I (one) BOG (marsh) all reversed or ‘to north’ (in a down clue)
Thanks for the blog, B and J. It’s not often I disagree with you two, if at all, but I really enjoyed this puzzle!
I had ticks for CHAMELEON, MAVOURNEEN [I’ve no idea how I know this but it’s a lovely word], IDIOT, MAGNA CARTA, NINETEEN, APHORISM and – top favourite – SIGNATURE [very clever].
BARCAROLLE may be a new word but I bet you know this piece of music [long introduction!]. And there’s a picture of a marmite on a jar of Marmite.
Many thanks to Tees.
I enjoyed this, apart from 22a which I thought was both obscure and with nigh impossible wordplay. Congrats to anyone who deciphered it without resorting to a word fit.
I knew “barcarole” but had to check it could be spelt with a double L.
Despite being a mathematician, I’d never heard of 14a. (Hope none of my ex colleagues reads this.)
Yes, 27a is a clue you’ll either love or hate. Regular Countdown viewers like myself will be well aware of the pot meaning since this is allowed but the spread, Marmite, is not.
Favourites include SIGNATURE & IDIOT. Thanks to Tees and Bertandjoyce.
I’m with Eileen on this one (but I’m sure no-one is surprised at that). It did help that I knew all the ‘unknowns’ including 14a
Thanks as always to Tees and B&J
I enjoyed it. I was able to work out Mavourneen without reference to a wordfit, but still don’t understand Retina – how is it ‘behind humour’? When I searched online to see if Asses Bridge was a thing (never heard of it), up first came Pons Asinorum, from which we get the term. Thanks Tees and B&J.
Tatrasman@4 – Aqueous humour is a transparent watery fluid similar to plasma, but containing low protein concentrations. It is secreted from the ciliary epithelium, a structure supporting the lens – in other words the retina is behind the humour.
Glad that other people disagreed with us.
Tatrasman@4 – in your eye there is a fluid called the aqueous humour behind which (at the back) is your retina
Sorry to join the B & J bashing, but I thought this was a fine crossword. Surprised to read that MAVOURNEEN was so little known. Loved SIGNATURE, CHAMELEON, BARCAROLLE, MARMITE (only very dimly remembered).
Thanks to Tees (nice to see him in tougher vein than is now usual with his Monday puzzles) and Bertandjoyce.
Well, we definitely sympathise with B&J because we had exactly the same set of new words/phrases, none of which were the kind you could guess after getting close with the wordplay. But for some reason retina was our loi. Thanks for the blog.
Cor I thought I was on for a right caning there. Thanks all for rescuing me from THEIR VICIOUS TALONS.
Not really.
Cheers Tees 🙂
We struggled with some of this but most of it went in fairly easily. Our last two in were RETINA and MAVOURNEEN. For the former we suddenly had a penny-drop moment, possibly prompted by the proximity of EYEBALL at 28ac; the Irish love we worked out from the wordplay and were pleasantly surprised to find in Chambers that the word existed.
Lots to like, including BARCAROLLE, CHAMELEON, PLANTAGENET and NINETEEN.
Thanks, Tees and B&J
When BARCAROLLE and EYEBALL fell in on the first pass, I thought we might have been looking at a Tom Waits theme. Alas,no, but still much fun to be had in an enjoyable puzzle. Like others on here, MAVOURNEEN was wholly new to me, as was EXPIRE in the sense of breathing out.
Really enjoyed the MARMITE clue; others won’t.
If you happen to have a jar of Marmite in your house, that’s a marmite in the drawing on the label.