Tees is occupying this week’s Wednesday slot. I think that I am more used to encountering his work on other days of the week.
I found this towards the easy end of the Indy spectrum in terms of difficulty, yet still good fun to solve. Nevertheless, Tees has had the last laugh on me, as I simply can’t parse 10 – who is the Scottish poet here? I look forward to being enlightened. Thank you – blog now amended!
I also have to profess ignorance of the burial site at 11/22 – there is nothing like crosswords for exposing gaps in one’s general knowledge!
My favourite clues today were 3, for its overall surface and whimsical definition part; and the cryptic definition at 7, where the penny didn’t drop for a long time regarding “stunning”.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | SACKBUT | Dismiss objection showing old-fashioned brass
SACK (=dismiss, from work) + BUT (=objection); a sackbut is an early form of trombone |
| 05 | GERMANE | Appropriate key found by composer
GERMAN (=composer, i.e. Sir Edward German (1862-1936) + E (=key, in music) |
| 09 | RIOJA | Song about swallowing orange juice and wine
OJ (=orange juice, in US English) in RIA (AIR=song; “about” indicates reversal) |
| 10 | RABBINATE | Scottish poet keeping books outside a religious office
[A in NT (=books, i.e. New Testament)] in RABBIE (=Scottish poet, i.e. Robert Burns) |
| 11/22 | WEST KENNET LONG BARROW | Newsletter bang on: work not being steady creates grave situation
*(NEWSLETTER BANG ON WORK); “not being steady” is anagram indicator; West Kennet Long Barrow is an ancient burial chamber in Wiltshire, part of the Avebury World Heritage Site |
| 12 | ITCH | Desire revealed in chit-chat
Hidden (“revealed”) in “chIT–CHat” |
| 14 | ANGLICANISM | Inca maligns corrupt religion
*(INCA MALIGNS); “corrupt” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | PREMIERSHIP | Set of clubs in Johnson’s office
The “set of clubs” refers to the football clubs in the English Premiership, not golf clubs! |
| 21 | ARGO | Carbon-free load in mythical ship
<c>ARGO (=load); “carbon (=C) –free” means letter “c” is dropped |
| 25 | LATE LATIN | Doubly dead language?
Cryptic definition: Latin is already a dead language; describing it as “late (=dead, departed)” makes it sound doubly so! |
| 26 | SONAR | Rocket incorporating new submarine detection system
N (=new) in SOAR (=rocket, shoot up) |
| 27 | DANSEUR | Desperate character sure to look silly as ballet performer
DAN (=desperate character, i.e. Desperate Dan in comics) + *(SURE); “to look silly” is anagram indicator |
| 28 | AVARICE | Woman given food shows greed
AVA (=woman, i.e. a female forename) + RICE (=food) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | SHREWD | Clever Kate Minola departs
SHREW (=Kate Minola, in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew) + D (=departs, on e.g. train timetable) |
| 02 | CHOOSE | Select church welcomes Soho drunk
*(SOHO) in CE (=church, i.e. Church of England); “drunk” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | BLACK MAGIC | Need publication to probe writer’s bad spelling?
[LACK (=want, shortage) + MAG (=publication, i.e. magazine)] in BIC (=writer, i.e. writing implement); cryptically, black magic could be described as “bad spelling”, i.e. casting bad spells on people |
| 04 | TURIN | Persecuted boffin abandons grand Italian location
TURIN<g> (=persecuted boffin, i.e. mathematician Alan Turing); “abandons grand (=G)” means letter “g” is dropped |
| 05 | GIBBERISH | Husband, father, born great, overthrown; no sense in this
H (=husband) + SIRE (=father) + B (=born) + BIG (=great); “overthrown” indicates (here) vertical reversal |
| 06 | RAIL | Bird having rook trouble
R (=rook, in chess) + AIL (=trouble) |
| 07 | ABATTOIR | Might Hereford be within this stunning location?
Cryptic definition: the “Hereford” referred to are cattle, while the “stunning” refers to stunning animals before slaughter |
| 08 | EYE RHYME | Poetic device exemplified in Keats and Yeats?
As the words “Keats” and “Yeats” look the same but are pronounced differently, they are an example of the device known as “eye rhyme” |
| 13 | CASPIAN SEA | Water recycled as in space area
*(AS IN SPACE + A<rea>); “recycled” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | GARROTTER | Corruption in order is killer
ROT (=corruption, as in to stop the rot) in GARTER (=order, i.e. Order of the Garter) |
| 16 | APPALLED | Dismayed as coffin mocked outside
PALL (=coffin, as in pall-bearer) in APED (=mocked) |
| 17 | HEIGHTEN | Build up layer inserting cube
EIGHT (=cube, i.e. 2 x 2 x 2) in HEN (“layer”, i.e. of eggs) |
| 19 | BRUNEI | Be one about to lead nation
RUN (=lead, head up) in [BE + I (=one)] |
| 20 | SWERVE | Move to avoid wife during ball at court
W (=wife) in SERVE (=ball at court, e.g. in tennis) |
| 23 | GENOA | City in siege no Acre
Hidden (“in”) in “sieGE NO Acre” |
| 24 | FLEE | Armada has no time to escape
FLEE<t> (=armada); “has no time (=T)” means letter “t” is dropped |
10 is RABBIE (Burns) keeping NT around A.
I parsed 10 in the same way as Ian
11/22 is worth a visit if they be ever let us out again
Thanks to Tees for the entertainment and RR for the blog
Tees on Sunday and now on Wednesday; a couple of weeks ago it was Saturday and Monday – is this a new pattern of two appearances close together? Not that we object, a Tees puzzle is welcome any time.
A pleasant enough solve as we sat out in the sunshine, although we thought some clues/answers had rather sombre overtones – ABATTOIR and GARROTTER in the answers, plus ‘grave situation’, ‘doubly dead’ and ‘coffin’ in the clues.
Difficult to nominate a favourite but we liked GIBBERISH and FLEE among others.
Thanks, Tees and RatkojaRiku
Many thanks for the blog, RR.
I had the same problem with 10ac as you.
All clear now but I was too much focused on BB for ‘books’ and the A going in later.
Yes, Tees is as prolific as Phi nowadays, at least one puzzle a week.
In my opinion, he has become less fiendish – but he’s good.
So, thanks to him for another accessible crossword in which perhaps 3d (BLACK MAGIC) was my favourite (oh, and 18ac too).
I found this quite tough, until I got LONG BARROW from the crossers, then used Google to get WEST KENNET, which I’d never heard of. Didn’t know the composer, or who Kate Minola was (only 8 days since Hamilton used Kate in a clue for SHREWD, and I’d already forgotten). No problem with RABBIE.
I nearly gave up Indy cryptics after yesterday’s nonsense about chili peppers (ludicrously difficult before the variant spelling in the core clue) but thank you complier and blogger for restoring my faith. Where I had knowledge gaps today, they were worth filling.
Small point for sport purists re 18ac – there is an English Premier League, a Scottish Premiership in football, also a rugby union premiership – great clue, incidentally
Many thanks to Ian SW3 and crypticsue for explaining the wordplay at 10 – I couldn’t get past Robert Burns and BB for books
Perhaps a little more to 25A, Late (as opposed to Early) Latin is used to describe Latin between about 200 and 600 AD.
Enjoyable puzzle, pleased to nut out the long anagram, favourites that one, RABBINATE and BLACK MAGIC.
Thanks to Tees and RatkojaRiku.
Cheers for comments and blogness.
Am I less of a fiend? I am actually trying to be a bit more accessible, but it can be easier to write harder! There is deffo a knack to writing less taxing puzzles, and I hope I’m getting better at it, because, as with pop music vs Zappa, more people can dig it.
I reserve the right to be, occasionally, a right bar steward.
Stay well all. Here’s to the vaccine trials.