Tees’s crosswords were once full of cultural references and one needed a rather good general knowledge to cope. But in this, everything was quite gentle and by my standards I raced through it. Until, that is, I reached my last clue, 28ac, which stretched me to the limit, and Wikipedia was needed.
‘Gentle’ is no criticism: an easyish crossword can still have elegance and wit, and this one passed both tests with flying colours.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
I don’t think Tees does Ninas. At any rate I haven’t really looked for one; something is probably staring us all in the face.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | STORM | Attack in which sergeant-major captures rocky hill (5) |
| S(tor)M | ||
| 4 | SHORT-WAVE | Such radio stations apparently incompatible with 11? (5-4) |
| A short wave is not a long goodbye, as indicated by 11ac | ||
| 9 | REDBREAST | Bird having resources — tail first — to break perch (9) |
| re(dbrea)st, and the dbrea is bread with its d moved to the front | ||
| 10 | IRONS | Jeremy the player for certain clubs (5) |
| 2 defs, one referring to Jeremy Irons the actor (player), the other to golf clubs | ||
| 11 | THE LONG GOODBYE | Ode by Gogol then adapted for book and film (3,4,7) |
| (Ode by Gogol then)* — the novel by Raymond Chandler that was made into a film, nothing so far as I know to do with Gogol | ||
| 14 | GOTH | Gloomy music fan acquired heroin (4) |
| got h | ||
| 15 | STRONGHOLD | Keep firm grasp in wrestling (10) |
| A firm grasp in wrestling is a strong hold, a keep (part of a castle) is a stronghold | ||
| 18 | MONTMARTRE | In Paris my new term involves painting here? (10) |
| mon, then *(term) around art — Montmartre is a place for artists, or at any rate was: when I was there in the 60s it was full of caricaturists and people like that fleecing the tourists and I got the impression that its properly artistic days were behind it (confirmed by Wikipedia: near the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the twentieth in the Belle Époque, many famous artists lived there); perhaps nowadays it has reverted, although not so far as I know | ||
| 19 | FUJI | Volcano initially falling under Jovian influence (4) |
| f{alling} u{nder} J{ovian i{nfluence} | ||
| 21 | PAPUA NEW GUINEA | Country dad eats acceptable fowl with mint (5,3,6) |
| Pap(U)a new guinea — new = mint, guinea (fowl) | ||
| 24 | RUPEE | Pity about Europe wasting its money, some in India (5) |
| ru({Euro}pe)e | ||
| 25 | KAMA SUTRA | Article on a smart UK foreign relations manual (4,5) |
| (a smart UK)* a | ||
| 27 | CHEATED ON | Deceived in trick getting furious inside (7,2) |
| c(heated)on | ||
| 28 | HYDRA | One renewed after cuts put an end to by Labour (5) |
| A CD, referring to the many-headed Hydra of Greek and Roman myth, which according to some versions of the story grew extra heads after a head was cut off; in Hercules’/Heracles’ labours, he enlisted his nephew Iolaus and they managed after much effort to slay the Hydra, so ‘by Labour’ in the clue is a reference possibly to the Labours of H, possibly to the fact that they had to labour hard to achieve the killing — not sure which but maybe both | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | STRATAGEMS | Precious stones beneath rock layers in plots (10) |
| strata gems — strata = rock layers, gems = precious stones | ||
| 2 | ODD | Strange characters picked up in Buckland Down (3) |
| Hidden reversed in BucklanD DOwn | ||
| 3 | MARROW | Substance found in mass on Dart (6) |
| m arrow — it seems a bit odd to define it as simply substance — almost anything concrete is a substance, but perhaps Tees is relying on the fact that the marrow is the most important part of something | ||
| 4 | SLAUGHTER | Massacre earl’s thug arranged (9) |
| (earl’s thug)* | ||
| 5 | OUTDO | Best garden party? (5) |
| a do outside — best as a verb | ||
| 6 | THIRD AGE | Dither insanely about a good period for retirement activity (5,3) |
| (Dither)* round (a g) | ||
| 7 | AGONY COLUMN | Problems aired here — such as pain associated with spine? (5,6) |
| If one has pain associated with the spine, the spinal column could be said to be agonising | ||
| 8 | ERSE | Language Beardsley uses occasionally (4) |
| {B}e{a}r{d}s{l}e{y} | ||
| 12 | EATING APPLE | Frantically get appeal in for first offence? (6,5) |
| *(get appeal in) — the first offence, in the Garden of Eden | ||
| 13 | ADDIS ABABA | Combine with two sailors in an investment producing capital (5,5) |
| add IS(AB AB)A | ||
| 16 | OARSWOMAN | Girl having paddle round saw manor demolished (9) |
| o (saw manor)* — she has a paddle in the sense that she holds a paddle or oar | ||
| 17 | IMPUDENT | Cheeky little devil — pupil chucking stone (8) |
| Imp {st}udent | ||
| 20 | PUTSCH | Places echo after shell goes off in coup (6) |
| puts {e}ch{o} | ||
| 22 | NUKED | Retreat to north to cover country devastatingly attacked (5) |
| (den)rev. round UK — den = retreat, noun | ||
| 23 | CROC | Swamp creature caught by enormous bird (4) |
| c roc — a crocodile is a creature of swamps | ||
| 26 | TOD | Potentially poisonous creature dispenses with a fox (3) |
| to{a}d — some toads are poisonous | ||
One of my quickest ever solves but enjoyable nevertheless. John -I think you mean 28ac.
A quick solve for me, too. I did like the clue for HYDRA and EATING APPLE was another favourite.
Thanks to Tees and John.
Another enjoyable crossword from Tees – my favourite was 28a
Thanks to him and John
I thought the link between 4A and 11A was inspired. Once again the SE corner held me up, never having heard ‘tod’ as ‘fox’, and mystified by 28A, though I see it now – very clever. Thanks Tees and John.
Thanks for the blog, John, and thanks to Tees for another enjoyable puzzle.
My favourites were those mentioned by Hovis and crypticsue, with the addition of IMPUDENT (for not being derived from IMP(r)UDENT, for once 😉 ).
Yes of course 28ac johnnybgoode@1, blog amended. I always dislike it when people say a number of a clue which could be either across or down, so one has to look to see which one is being referred to, so I always add ac or dn. On this occasion I didn’t exactly save anyone any trouble.
Positively romped through this one, enjoying it all the way. The 4a/11a link was very neat and 12d (among others) made me smile: such a good smooth surface. Thanks to Tees and John for a good start to the day.
very enjoyable… “tod” as fox new to me! “putsch” took too long to be enjoyable… and was incapable of parsing “nuked”..!
thanks John n Tees
Re IMPrUDENT, originally I had exactly that. I’d like to say I then changed it because I won’t stand for any old chestnuts or hattery, but unfortunately this was not the case.
Thanks all, thanks John: MARROW yes indeed, as in essence, pith, kernel &c.
Whizzed through this early this morning. Not often one sees TOD as a reference to fox so I took great delight in that one. It’s one of those obscure words that I’ve known for years but don’t often get to reference it! Other favourites were STRATAGEMS and ERSE.
Thanks John and Tees.