A great puzzle! Not hard by Io’s standards, but that certainly doesn’t make a puzzle easy… Thank you Io.
There are various references to tea and tea making in here, but I don’t know if they count as a theme.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | AUTOGRAPHED | Gave hunter a X? (11) |
| cryptic definition? Is there more to this than I can see? | ||
| 7 | TEA | Char kept earning packets (3) |
| found inside (packeted by) kepT EArning | ||
| 9 | GREEN WOODPECKER | Forest spirit resident in tree? (5,10) |
| GREENWOOD (forest) then PECKER (spirit, to keep your pecker up) | ||
| 10 | TIKKA | Aunt in Barcelona’s imported two kilos of spiced curry (5) |
| TIA (aunt, in Spanish or Catalan) contains (imported) K K (kilo, twice) | ||
| 11 | ESPERANTO | Outside gym, “Arse!” – not bad language (9) |
| PE (gym) inside (outside…is…) anagram (bad) of ARSE NOT | ||
| 12 | RESURRECTION PIE | Enlivened dish performing intercourse along pier after cycling (12,3) |
| anagram (performing) of INTERCOURSE inside (along, along the way, during) anagram (after cycling) of PIER – cycling could also mean letters rotated, take your pick. The pie is made from leftovers, given a second life. | ||
| 15 | A CHILD OF OUR TIME | Discovering Bach, I’ll perform 4/4 oratorio (1,5,2,3,4) |
| BACH ILL missing the outer letters (dis-covered) then DO (perform) and FOUR TIME 4/4 – oratorio by Michael Tippet | ||
| 16 | SALT MARSH | Key warmonger invades quiet area with sea inlet? (4,5) |
| ALT (key, on your computer) MARS (warmonger) all inside (invades) SH (quiet) | ||
| 19 | QUOIT | One ring left enclosing another (5) |
| QUIT (left) contains O (another ring) | ||
| 20 | REMAINS TO BE SEEN | Perhaps the slogan of the Glass Urn Co will be known eventually? (7,2,2,4) |
| definition and cryptic definition | ||
| 22 | POT | Pool table pocket (3) |
| I think this is either a double or triple definition, I’m not sure – a shared pool of money, a condensed statement or summary, a pocket on a pool table | ||
| 23 | THE HEAT IS ON | In high-pressure situation, comic actor’s performing with canned laughter (3,4,2,2) |
| TATI’S ON (comic actor Jaques Tati is performing) contains (cans) HE HE (laughter) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ANG | Report unopened, given name of director (3) |
| bANG (report, unopened) – the first name (given name) of Taiwanese film director Ang Lee | ||
| 2 | THE SKY’S THE LIMIT | Theme skittishly put together, free of restrictions (3,4,3,5) |
| anagram (put together) of THEME SKITTISHLY | ||
| 3 | GUN BARREL | “I’ll take a shot, straight” – sozzled regular, clutching note (3,6) |
| anagram (sozzled) of REGULAR contains (clutching) NB (note) | ||
| 4 | ABOVE ZERO | Thawing freezer without first of fingerstalls on cuts from the beginning (5,4) |
| freEZER missing (without) Fingerstalls (first letter) RE (about) inside (cuts) AB OVO (from the beginning) | ||
| 5 | HAD UP | Broke out of Reading? Called to account (3,2) |
| HArD UP (broke) mising (out of) R (reading, as in the three Rs) | ||
| 6 | DREAR | Gloomy GP needs attention (5) |
| DR (doctor, GP perhaps) and EAR (attention) | ||
| 7 | TAKE NO PRISONERS | Be ruthless in response to turning nasty with ark (4,2,9) |
| anagram (turning nasty) of IN RESPONSE TO with ARK | ||
| 8 | AIR MOVEMENT | Moira’s strangely heated when he leaves a draught? (3,8) |
| anagram (strangely) of MOIRA then VEheMENT (heated) missing (when…leaves) HE | ||
| 10 | THROAT-STRAP | Top Hat star Ginger’s last seen dancing for Nag’s Head band (6-5) |
| anagram (seen dancing) of TOP HAT STR and gingeR (last letter of) – a band that is part of a horse’s (nag’s) head wear | ||
| 13 | TOOTHSOME | Outrageously hot, so parts I think tasty (9) |
| anagram (outrageously) of HOT SO inside (parts) TO ME (I think) | ||
| 14 | ON REQUEST | When one asks repeatedly about search (2,7) |
| ON RE (about, repeatedly) then QUEST (search) | ||
| 17 | MOIST | Wet weather affecting visibility? Nothing may be seen through it (5) |
| MIST (weather affecting visibility) contains (…may be seen through it) O (nothing) | ||
| 18 | ROSIE | Supper of cider/tea, with/ without Lee? (5) |
| if you have tea you have ROSIE with LEE (Rosie Lee, rhyming slang), but if you have Cider with Rosie (book) then you have ROSIE without LEE, but since Cider with Rosie is by Laurie Lee you are having Cider with Rosie with LEE after all. Confused? You will be! | ||
| 21 | NAN | A serving of brawn and bread (3) |
| found inside (a serving of ) brawN ANd | ||
Seems ages since the last IO so a welcome return. I found this very tricky but got there in the end. My particular favourites were 20a and 18d
Thanks to IO and PeeDee
Delightful.
Agreed, wonderful puzzle, thanks IO. I couldn’t get 18, though.
Thanks PD for untangling ROSIE… I realized it had to be tea (rosie lee) related but couldn’t decode all the cider stuff. But gosh there were a LOT of very long anagrams. not my cup of tea (though REMAINS was very amusing). as it were.
Too hard for me. Retired injured on 85%
Would have helped if I could have got 1a.
Thanks PeeDee and IO.
Fabulous puzzle, managed to complete it with aids, but guessed ROSIE with no idea of what it all means.
Rhyming slang clues throw me off as I don’t know them, but as you explain this is at another level. Thanks. And for parsing ABOVE ZERO.
Who’d have thought PIER INTERCOURSE would lead to RESURRECTION PIE!
Bar 10d which I wrote TARTAN STRIP, got the rest correct.Very pleased with myself as Enigmatist is my bete noire.
Thanks to PeeDee and Io
1a X? needs to be read as a DBE – “signature”
15a Not keen on “discovering” being used effectively as “discover”, or “discovered”, which in themselves are already a cryptic stretch for “uncover”.
16a def is “area with sea inlet”
20a ? is because something which “remains to be seen” may never be known
22a Triple def – pot/table – food
8d I’m not sure “Moira is strangely” quite works
18d Supper of cider with Lee/ tea without Lee
Excellent crossword
Dansar sorry, what does X? needs to be read as a DBE – “signature” mean, please.
Alanswale, that is.
Alan @ 9 & !0
Sorry, I was using crossword shorthand. DBE stands for “definition by example”
When an element in a clue is an example of what is entered as an answer, then the convention is that this should be identified by a “maybe”, a “perhaps” or more commonly by a “?”
My assertion is that “X?” is to be read as “signature”, i.e “X” is a (rudimentary) example of such.
Dansar. Thanks, have never come across DBE in this sense before despite many years crosswording! Familiar with the X autograph from much delving in old records. Read somewhere that in the few surviving records relating to Shakespeare’s father he signed X, leaving the possibility that the bard was raised in a non-literate family although it is known that use of X wasn’t necessarily a sign of illiteracy.
Thanks Io and PeeDee
It was a time-poor week (finalising the next work contract) for a puzzle by this setter to come along. Found it to be much harder than the last couple that had appeared and could only fill the grid with a lot of electronic help, including word-finders for 3 or 4 that I only use as a last resort. Even so, needed help here to unravel the wordplay of 5a, 23a, 4d and 5d.
Noticed the use of a lot of idioms in the answers / word play, some language knowledge (Latin / Spanish) and knowledge of the arts (15a, 23a, 1d and 18d).
Loved the misdirection with THROAT STRAP and the cryptic ‘slogan of the Glass Urn Co’ when the penny finally dropped with it.