Independent 10,616 by Tees

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When I knew whose crossword I was going to be blogging the preamble was forming in my mind: as Tees has become more frequent he has become easier; very good, but quite gentle. But this time he has gone back to his old ways (or perhaps I’m just getting feeble-minded), with widespread general knowledge needed, artists, Shakespeare, American poets … Not that that is a problem, and 7dn is worth the price of admission on its own.

Definitions in maroon (hope this is OK: let me know if it isn’t), underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.

No Nina that I can see. I quickly had LBW at the top left and thought, ah, not football for once, but that didn’t last long.

ACROSS
9 ERADICATE Destroy monarch with a heartless order (9)
ER a dic{t}ate — dictate/order verbs, not some sort of anglicisation of diktat
10 TROLL Fish cake on tray for starter (5)
t{ray} roll — to troll is to fish
11 HORSESHOE MAGNET This for the luck of the draw? (9,6)
A CD, relying on the fact that a magnet has an attraction to metal and draws it
12 RAW DEAL Law read that changes unfair treatment (3,4)
(Law read)*
13 ORLANDO Men procure nothing for Rosalind’s lover (7)
OR land 0 — from As You Like it, where Rosalind’s lover was Orlando
15 PANEL People who judge severely criticise Spanish article (5)
pan el
16 PAY Old man given year to settle up (3)
Pa y
17 NASTY Stay drunk with knight becoming aggressive (5)
N (stay)* — the knight in chess notation is N, to distinguish it from the king
18 LOUVRES Shutters for museums? (7)
2 defs — apart from the obvious Louvre there is one in Abu Dhabi, amongst other places no doubt, so that’s enough for them to be Louvres
19 DE FACTO Given meal in turn — bill to follow actually (2,5)
(fed)rev. ac to — I’m a bit unsure here, because ‘to’ follows, rather than just follow, so is it a charade and the definition is somehow ‘follow actually’?
21 SANDWICH ISLANDS Clans hid as winds swirled in Hawaii once (8,7)
(Clans hid as winds)* — this was Captain Cook’s name for the group of islands
23 DISCO Dance record slows in middle (5)
disc {sl}o{ws}
24 RESPONSES Theatre individuals twice interrupted by singular replies (9)
re(s)p on(s)es
DOWN
1 LECHER One taking lascivious look round church? (6)
Some sort of an &lit., I think a semi-&lit., because although the definition is the whole thing the wordplay is only in the last three words: le(ch)er
2 BARROW-IN-FURNESS Northern town where Carter wearing pelt and cape? (6-2-7)
barrow in fur ness — barrow = carter, in = wearing. fur = pelt, ness = cape — actually I don’t see why barrow = carter: Collins only gives well-known people like Jimmy Carter and doesn’t seem to accept that a carter is someone who drives a cart, as Chambers does, but in neither is there an equivalence of the cart and the person driving it, so ?? (But I got this straight away from the 6-2-7)
3 WINE CELLAR Graves found below the ground here? (4,6)
Another CD relying on the reader not pronouncing Graves in the way one pronounces the wine of that name
4 WARHOL Artist in break from action? (6)
A war holiday might be called a war hol — ref Andy Warhol
5 HEGEMONY Maybe attention seeker grabs thing valued — active control (8)
he(gem on)y — hey is the attention seeker, gem is the thing valued, on is active
6 STOA Starts to stroll through once awesome colonnade (4)
s{troll} t{hrough} o{nce} a{wesome}
7 MORNING SICKNESS Possible outcome of congress in Minsk? (7,8)
Very nice &lit.: the wordplay wasn’t obvious but it’s simply *(congress in Minsk) — because Russian roulette also fits (7.8) that was my first thought, which is obviously wrong because Minsk isn’t in Russia and anyway it doesn’t make sense — the checkers soon put me off that idea
8 GLUTTONY Greed shown where corporation man banks pounds (8)
g(L)ut Tony
14 LONGFELLOW He wrote line about good companion (10)
l on g fellow — Longfellow
15 PALISADE Fence one with blue and white exterior (8)
pal(1 sad)e
16 POSTCARD One bearing message whose view is one-sided? (8)
A third CD where the point is that a postcard is typically a view, which is on only one side of the card
19 DRIEST Stride being broken is most ironic (6)
(Stride)*
20 OBSESS Oscar and Elizabeth taking in small hound (6)
O B(s)ess — I’m a bit unsure how ‘hound’ = ‘obsess’; OK they have overlapping senses but don’t seem to mean the same thing
22 WOOD Seek hand of daughter in club (4)
woo d — woo = seek hand of (the marriage aspect is I think the main sense of the word, and the idea of wooing as in ‘Boris wooed the electorate by …’ is a figurative thing, derived from that) rather than ‘hand of’ being an unusual way of extracting the first letter; and anyway that would leave woo = seek, which is thin — the club is a golf club (metals nowadays are still called woods by almost everyone)

 

16 comments on “Independent 10,616 by Tees”

  1. Just finished a superb FT puzzle and now this. Great day for crosswords so far.

    Recently, I said I don’t usually like CDs but two great ones here, 11a & 3d. Didn’t care so much for 16d though.

    What a fantastic clue for 7d!

    For 19a, I had “bill to” both going with “follow”, so “they follow” works. In 2d, I took “Carter” to be something that carts/carries.

    Thanks to Tees and John.

  2. I’m not sure as Tees has become more frequent that he’s become gentler, but the enjoyment factor is there every time.  I agree that 7d is wonderful but there are a number of other clues that were nearly as brilliant

    Thanks to Tees and John

  5. Tees delivered as usual! … altho I had nearly pencilled in Newton le Willows for 2d until i realsied that the clue would have had to be “Northern town where gravity takes the French trees”… checkers put me rght.. adding thanks for 7d together with many others… however not quite sure how OR =MEN in 13ac? Other Ranks??  sure someone can oblige…

    thanks Tees n John

  6. undrell moore @5  OR stands for Other Ranks (of soldiers) also known as ‘men’  It has been in more crosswords than I’ve had hot dinners so definitely one to remember for your future solving

  7. Tees can sometimes best me when he requires the solver to actually know a few things.  Not today though.  I feared for a while that Rosalind’s lover might stand me up, but wordplay is my friend.

    HORSESHOE MAGNET made me laugh, and everybody’s clue of the day is indeed very nice.

    Hovis nearly always takes the words right out of my mouth, and mostly does so again today @1, but I really liked the POSTCARD too.

    Thanks to Tees for another corker and to John for great bloggage.

  8. I became stuck a few times trying to solve this. I took a while to get the very good HORSESHOE MAGNET and the even better “semi-hidden” anagram at 7d was almost my last in, just before HEGEMONY. Not an easy solve, but one I liked a lot.

    Tees at his best. Thanks to him and to John.

  9. This was a lovely crossword and I really enjoyed the Cryptic Definitions. I got a good start and it was gettable even if I didn’t know the reference for ORLANDO (it sounded suitably Shakespearean) and if I’d forgotten seeing STOA in past solves, and LONGFELLOW eluded me until I had all the checked letters. I enjoyed DISCO, LOUVRES and MORNING SICKNESS greatly. WARHOL tricked me into looking for a hidden Royal Academician at first, but the penny dropped eventually thanks to checked letters. And I was also pleasantly misled by Graves in the WINE CELLAR and enjoyed that penny-drop too.

  12. Most kind all. I confess to (a) plural usage in AC+TO, and to (b) something that carts is a carter. I was being somewhat recklessly adventurous, like some of those Guardian compilers can be. Thanks to John for his usual ace blog too.

  13. Like John, I struggled to equate obsess with hound, but suppose one can be hounded just as much as obsessed by an idea.  I too noticed LBW at top left, then two more well-known sets of initials: WHS = WH Smith, and MG, the historic car (Morris Garages). But that was the end of it.  Never mind, an excellent puzzle so Thanks Tees and John.

  14. Very late today so probably missed my chance to let Tees know how much I enjoyed this, despite the very minor quibbles noted.  And, yes, MORNING SICKNESS is a gem to savour.

    I also enjoyed POSTCARD, SANDWICH ISLANDS (almost as good an anagram as 7dn), PALISADE, the beautiful WINCE CELLAR and LONGFELLOW (wouldn’t it have been wonderful if he, rather than Priestly, had written Good Companions?).  I didn’t help myself on a couple of occasions: like undrell moore @5: i thought Northern town? 6-2-7?  Newton-le-Willows, obviously.  Bung in and parse later.   I also produced antsy instead of NASTY – which seemed a reasonable solution – but also direst instead of DRIEST which i couldn’t justify.

    Thanks Tees and John for the helpful blog

  15. Enjoyed all of this bar HEGEMONY which I found a clunky clue to an obscure (for me) word.

    Not helped by thinking it must start Me! Me! for attention seeker mind.

    Thanks to S&B

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