I don’t seem to have solved/blogged a Tees Saturday Indy since Xmas Eve 2016, so nice to lock horns again!
(Mainly because I only solve every 30th Indy on my 5-weekly Saturday blogging cycle…I am a ‘prize-tart’, so I didn’t do the weekday ones, and stopped doing the Saturdays regularly once they removed the prize element…)
No obvious theme or Nina, but an eclectic mix of references and interesting clues, including two nicely symmetric (10,5)s. 3D/10A caused a chuckle once the penny dropped that the ‘Congress’ and ‘majority’ weren’t political references! Almost Cyclopsean there…
Along the way, the ‘past expert’ for HISTORIAN at 9A and the ignorant composer (BLISS) at 11A deserved nods of appreciation, as did the image of Tees running away from a bad-tempered elk at 16D MO(R)OSE! 26A is geographically inaccurate, but a diverting surface read…
My LOI was DID TIME – I had all the crossers, but had to make the mental leap to what the ‘joint’ probably was.
Equal favourites were probably CONSENTING ADULT and IMMODEST.
NB. I timed myself in ‘blinkers on/Times championship’ mode and clocked in at just over 19 minutes, with an asterisk to check on the Darwin reference at 22D. Luckily I was familiar with the Hindu UPANISHADs and Mr Mussorgsky’s first name!
Thanks to Tees, and hopefully all is clear below…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 9A | HISTORIAN | Hard one to crack so ran it past expert (9) | past expert / H (hard) + I (one) + STORIAN (anag, i.e. to crack, of SO RAN IT) |
|
| 10A | ADULT | See 3 Down (9) | see 3D / see 3D |
|
| 11A | BLISS | Composer showing ignorance? (5) | composer (Arthur Bliss) / Ignorance is…BLISS! |
|
| 12A | UPANISHAD | Universal god is deceived in sacred book (9) | sacred (Hindu) book / U (universal) + PAN (Greek god) + IS + HAD (deceived) |
|
| 13A | BEGONIA | Plant a big one criminally (7) | plant / anag, i.e. criminally, of A BIG ONE |
|
| 14A | EPIGRAM | Clever remark very good spread round about (7) | clever remark / E_GRAM (marge, or spread, turned round) around (about) PI (pious, sanctimonious) |
|
| 17A | ALIBI | Excuse excellent that secures freedom (5) | excuse / A_I (A1, excellent!) around (securing) LIB (liberation, freedom) |
|
| 19A | BOA | Stole pig with rook making escape (3) | stole (woman’s garment) / BOA( |
|
| 20A | CONDO | Tory Party provides apartment across the pond (5) | apartment, across the pond / CON (Conservative, Tory) + DO (party) |
|
| 21A | DAMAGED | Wizard stops old man being harmed (7) | harmed / DA_D (old man, father) around (stopped by) MAGE (wizard) |
|
| 22A | DID TIME | Was the joint tenant? (3,4) | CD? / ‘the joint’ is US slang for prison, so if you were a ‘tenant’ in the joint then you DID TIME |
|
| 24A | BEDFELLOW | Colleague in Germany happened to have short skirts (9) | colleague / BE_FELL (happened) + OW( |
|
| 26A | NEPAL | Mountainous region in northeast China (5) | mountainous region / NE (North East) + PAL (friend, mate – Cockney rhyming slang, China plate = mate) |
|
| 28A | MUSIC | See 15 Down (5) | see 15D / see 15D |
|
| 29A | OPERATION | Page in Old English helping process (9) | process / O_E (Old English) around P (page), plus RATION (helping) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | CHUB | Hour to feed young bear fish (4) | fish / C_UB (young bear) around (fed by) H (hour) |
|
| 2D | ASKING | When in Golf covering kilometres is demanding (6) | demanding / AS (when) + IN + G (golf, phonetic alphabet), around (covering) K (kilometres) |
|
| 3D | CONSENTING | & 10 Yes-man in the majority in Congress? (10,5) | CD? / a man over the age of consent (in the majority) saying ‘Yes’ to participate in (sexual) congress, would be a CONSENTING ADULT! |
|
| 4D | VICUNA | Copper in vain tortured South American native (6) | South American native (wild animal, related to llamas) / VI_NA (anag, i.e. tortured, of VAIN) around CU (Cu, copper) |
|
| 5D | IN CAMERA | Kooky American avoiding press and public (2,6) | avoiding press and public (legal) / anag, i.e. kooky, of AMERICAN |
|
| 6D | BALI | British boxer comes to an island (4) | island / B (British) + ALI (Muhammad Ali, boxer) |
|
| 7D | LUTHERAN | Say Bach’s instrument managed to capture hearts (8) | say (Johann Sebastian) Bach (a prominent Lutheran) / LUT_E (instrument) + RAN (managed), around (capturing) H (hearts) |
|
| 8D | STUD | Breeding centre built at last in French south (4) | breeding centre / S_UD (French for South) around T (last letter of builT) |
|
| 13D | BEARD | Resolutely oppose woman with gay man (5) | double defn. / to BEARD can be to resolutely oppose; and a BEARD can be a female companion creating an impression of heterosexuality for a gay man |
|
| 15D | INCIDENTAL | & 28 Scene and dubious claim about us – it creates mood (10,5) | it creates mood / INCIDENT (scene) + AL M_IC (anag, i.e. dubious, of CLAIM) around US |
|
| 16D | MOOSE | Runs from bad-tempered elk (5) | elk / MO( |
|
| 18D | IMMODEST | Say Mussorgsky introducing himself is shameless (8) | shameless / If Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky introduced himself, he might say ‘I’M MODEST’! |
|
| 19D | BAD BLOOD | Evil family shows animosity (3,5) | animosity / BAD (evil) + BLOOD (family) |
|
| 22D | DOWNED | Where Darwin lived and died, being drunk (6) | drunk / DOWNE (London Borough of Bromley village where Darwin lived) + D (died) |
|
| 23D | IMPAIR | Compiler’s two ducks causing damage (6) | damage / IM (I’m, the composer is…) + PAIR (in cricket, a duck – out for no runs – in both innings of a match is called a PAIR) |
|
| 24D | BUMP | Impact one expects to have? (4) | impact/double defn.? / a BUMP can be an impact; and someone expecting (a baby) will have some form of BUMP! |
|
| 25D | ETCH | Get less following cut (4) | cut / ( |
|
| 27D | LONE | Solo from girl on euphonium (4) | solo / hidden word in, i.e. from, ‘girL ON Euphonium’ |
|
Thanks for the blog Mc_rapper67 and a really fun crossword, Tees.
I also liked I’m Modest and Consenting Adult, and Vicuna also appealed as I was in Machu Pichu two years ago today, seeing the two more famous camelids of South America.
In Camera was also quite pleasing, as was Nepal. I was pretty sure it was a misleading surface rather than &lit, but had to check.
Really nice way to start the weekend.
A great fun crossword indeed – I particularly liked the ignorant composer and the expectant impact
Thanks very much to Tees and Mc_rapper67
Thanks mc_rapper67 , for the blog – I agree with all your commendations, with the addition of crypticsue’s, plus the small but perfectly formed BOA.
I also liked the way EPIGRAM was clued, with no mention of the usual two animals.
Many thanks to Tees – it really was fun.
Generally fun and fair. Thanks to the blogger for solving my problems: I was fooled by knowing Down House but not that it was in Downe with an e! Second meaning of beard new to me – what an innocent I must be. Couldn’t generate Upanishad or Lutheran without help.
Enjoyable, with some which were not too difficult, but others needed more than a bit of working out. Thanks for the parsing of BEARD – I knew the first, but not the second, sense, which I see is in the dictionaries.
I think IMMODEST was my first in – seeing ‘Mussorgsky’ in a crossword is a real giveaway. I was pleased to be able to remember UPANISHAD from a previous appearance. Favourites were the ‘past expert’ for HISTORIAN and ‘ignorance’ is BLISS.
Thanks to Tees and mc_rapper67.
Hello. Thanks to you all and to mc.
Further to the analysis of cricketing (in any two-inning match) ducks, a pair is so called as when written down (00) they look like a pair of spectacles.
When you are out first ball, you get yourself a golden duck. When you repeat the process in the second innings, you have yourself a pair, but not just any old pair, oh no: for this is the magical or in reality ignominious king pair! Also, you can actually be out without facing a ball, i.e. by being run out as the non-striker, and this is a diamond duck (the same term is sometimes used, as an alternative to either platinum or royal, depending on where you are in the country, to describe a duck on the first ball of a team’s innings). Is it then a double diamond where this is repeated? No-one ever really wanted one of those where I used to drink back in the day. At least not as far as I can recall.
Thanks for all the feedback/comments – much appreciated!
Ericw at #4 – yes, I got in a bit of a muddle with DOWN/DOWNE – forgot to mention it in the blog, or the fact that the surface read is a bit slanderous against Mr Darwin, suggesting he liked a tipple – the survival of the tipsiest…
Tees at #6 – I’ve learnt something new there – thanks…I haven’t played in too many two-innings matches, but I’ve had my share of golden ducks! Can you explain the Duckworth-Lewis method next please?!
WordPlodder at #5 (and Ericw) – I knew the second meaning of beard, but not the first!
mc_rapper67 @ 7
I’m not sure that *anyone* can explain the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Simon S at #8 – it is a ‘world-beating’ algorithm, much more widely trusted than the Cummings-Johnson method of calculating exam results (;+>)
The crossing 22s got me. I had to look up where Darwin died to get 22dn and I couldn’t for the life of me see why 22ac was DID TIME. I was looking for a drug reference.
But 3/10 made me laugh.
An enjoyable solve with just the right amount of headscratching and one or two write-ins. We did struggle a bit in the SW corner where BEDFELLOW and ETCH were our last ones in – they couldn’t be anything else but we couldn’t see how to parse them. We knew of Darwin’s house but wondered where the E came from in 22dn till we checked the entry in the English Heritage handbook.
Favourites, though, were HISTORIAN, VICUÑA and LUTHERAN.
But speaking from Pedant’s Corner, although commonly taken as such, ALIBI does not mean ‘excuse’ – it’s the defence of being elsewhere (e.g. at the time a crime was committed).
Thanks, Tees and mc_rapper67
I don’t think the wordplay in 24 works.
No problem with BEFELL & OW(N), but to me ‘Germany happened’ suggests that the D occurs first and ‘In Germany’ suggests that at least two letters are needed for an inclusion, which is in any event not what the solution requires.
Simon @12. I don’t think the “in” from “in Germany” is representing any inclusion but is a valid link word – Definition in wordplay. The inclusion is given via “skirts” representing “surrounding”. So BEFELL + OW(n) skirts D.