Tees is a top setter, but you wouldn’t set your calendar by him. He’s not knocked Phi off his Friday perch yet, but I think we’ve seen him every other weekday in the Indy, and in the IoS, of course. This start-the-week offering contained a wide variety of subject matter, which is one of the reasons I always enjoy his puzzles.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Seabirds or seabird coming west
AUKS
Happy Mondays: a bird as the first across answer. A write-in for your blogger, but perhaps needing the crossers if birds aren’t of interest, since neither avian is one you’ll see in your garden. Auks are actually a group of birds, which include the guillemot and the razorbill, but the obligatory Pierre bird link shows you a member of the group that carries its name – the Little Auk. Like others in the group, it’s essentially pelagic and better at swimming and diving than flying. How little is little? About the size of a starling. And I should probably tell you that it’s another seabird, SKUA, reversed (‘coming west’).
3 Eastern film director walked around to guillotine
DECAPITATE
A reversal (‘around’) of E, TATI and PACED. The ‘director’ is Jacques TATI, of Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday fame.
10 Given up working in smithy
FORGONE
An insertion of ON for ‘working’ in FORGE.
11 Figure provided in month before November
OCTAGON
A charade of OCT, AGO and N for the phonetic alphabet ‘November’.
12 Cover verse in song for two
DUVET
An insertion of V in DUET.
13 Body going round worried student pair entering place
SATELLITE
An insertion of ATE and LL for two ‘students’ in SITE.
14 Retribution from Gene after bashing in lead at church
VENGEANCE
An insertion of (GENE)* in VAN followed by CE. VAN for ‘lead’ is not much used these days (except in crossies) but is still seen in VANGUARD.
16 Limitlessly rich ore that filled ancient vessels
ICHOR
[R]ICH OR[E]. ICHOR, in Greek mythology, is the fluid that flowed in the veins of the gods, so the ‘vessels’ are blood vessels.
18 Old character is prickly sort
THORN
A dd. The first is the old letter, written as þ, which is still used in the modern Icelandic alphabet but has transmuted to the digraph th in modern English. It’s also (longish story) why you see bollocks like Ye Olde Sweete Shoppe on signs.
19 One has aspirations before the contract bid
PRETENDER
A charade of PRE and TENDER. The sense of the word is probably most often heard in the description of Bonnie Prince Charlie as the ‘Young Pretender’.
21 Outstanding concert in Argentina’s centre
PROMINENT
A charade of PROM, IN and ENT for the middle letters of ‘Argentina’.
22 Bird embracing hawk-headed god’s attribute
TRAIT
I got briefly excited about a second OPBL, but no. An insertion of the god RA in TIT.
24 God wants Noah initially into his Ark at sea
KRISHNA
An insertion of N for the first letter of ‘Noah’ in (HIS ARK)* gives you the Hindu deity.
25 Stops home being covered in sticky stuff
REINS IN
An insertion of IN for ‘home’ in RESIN.
26 Teacher in rush changed tune?
REMASTERED
An insertion of MASTER in REED. The definition is slightly whimsical, since it’s really the arrangement and production that’s altered, rather than the tune, when a track is REMASTERED.
27 Victorious time without end in sacred text
VEDA
VE DA[Y]
Down
1 Statement FIFA put out: US lawyer against it
AFFIDAVIT
A multi-part charade: of (FIFA)*, DA for District Attorney or ‘US lawyer’, V for versus or ‘against’ and IT.
2 Revolutionary drink sweetheart uncovered
KIROV
A charade of KIR and [L]OV[E] gives you Sergei KIROV, the Russian Bolshevik revolutionary.
4 Poet remains active when book released
EMERSON
EM[B]ERS plus ON, referencing Ralph Waldo EMERSON, the American poet and essayist.
5 Preacher throws stone into a bar
APOSTLE
An insertion of ST in A POLE.
6 Bright bunch working for TV hearing news as it breaks
INTELLIGENTSIA
A homophone of IN TELLY (‘working for TV’), GEN and (AS IT)* The homophone indicator is ‘hearing’ and the anagrind is ‘breaks’.
7 Dolorous one in Scots area — he had to go under
ANGUISHED
An insertion of I in ANGUS followed by HE’D. ‘To go under’ works because it’s a down clue. ANGUS is an area of Scotland just north of the Firth of Tay, which keeps itself to itself most of the time.
8 Man from drive-in restaurant turned up
ERNIE
Hidden reversed in drivE IN REstaurant.
9 Celestial phenomenon stars follow and not sailors
NORTHERN LIGHTS
It took me the longest time to see this, but in the end it turns out to be a charade: NOR for ‘and not’, THE RN for ‘sailors’ and LIGHTS for ‘stars’.
15 Go on, smile — that’s rude new word
NEOLOGISM
(GO ON SMILE)* with ‘that’s rude’ as the anagrind. You need to equate ‘rude’ to ‘rough’ to make the anagrind work, I think.
17 Hope land has game girl raised in America
RURITANIA
A charade of RU, RITA, IN reversed and A.
19 Rapper revised English in draft
PREPARE
A charade of (RAPPER)* and E.
20 Muse quiet in tree swaying at country club?
EUTERPE
Well, there are 27 countries left in the ‘club’ that is the EU these days, so it’s that followed by P for the musically ‘quiet’ in (TREE)* The muse that always comes a distant second to ERATO in crosswords (mainly because there’s naff all else that fits E?A?O).
21 Metal rod for hand-to-hand combat?
POKER
A dd cum cd.
23 Passage your compiler will read aloud
AISLE
A homophone (‘read aloud’) of I’LL, with the I being the self-referential setter or compiler of today’s puzzle. The ‘passage’ in the church that the bride doesn’t walk down (or up) when she gets married. That’s the nave.
Many thanks to Tees for this morning’s cryptic.
Pierre – with regard to EUTERPE, I just did a few Google searches of Fifteensquared+the names of the Muses and all have appeared as solutions across Guardian, Indy and Everyman with the exception of poor old Polyhymnia who only gets mentioned in comments/blogs as the one who never gets clued. I’ve done a fairly brief search away from Fifteensquared and not encountered a cryptically clued Polyhymnia anywhere else.
Quite a test from Tees this morning and I was defeated by the interlinking AISLE and VEDA which is frustrating as neither are obscure. VEDA just wouldn’t come to mind without checking reference sources and I certainly wasn’t on the wordplay wavelength for that one. No complaints though. And I got it into my head that 23d had to contain a T or two (your compiler = T’s) and was thrown when it didn’t. Doh! I had a couple of solutions where I needed our blogger’s help for parsing (DECAPITATE and VENGEANCE – didn’t spot TATI – even though he’s a favourite of mine – or VAN. Double doh!!)
Ticks for NORTHERN LIGHTS, ANGUISHED, INTELLIGENTSIA, PROMINENT and PRETENDER with COTD for POKER and its lovely second definition (I suspect it may not be the first time some have seen it but I don’t recall it and enjoyed the misdirection). I wasn’t particularly taken with AGO for before (presumably) in OCTAGON and I might have struggled with RURITANIA had a Guardian setter not defined it identically earlier this month!
Thanks Tees and Pierre
Another enjoyable Tees puzzle.
I don’t think 1a was just a write-in for bird lovers, it is quite an old friend of the long-time cryptic crossword solver. My particular favourite was 21d
Thanks to Tees and Pierre
As crypticsue says, another enjoyable Tees puzzle.
I particularly enjoyed working out AFIDAVIT, INTELLIGENTSIA, ANGUISHED (my husband came from Angus), and NORTHERN LIGHTS. I also like FORGONE, ICHOR KRISHNA and POKER. As Pierre says, an interesting range of subject matter, as always.
Like PostMark @1, I entered RURITANIA pretty quickly, remembering the Vlad (he’s Tyrus in the Indy, PM) clue but it wasn’t identical: I remember initially going for RITA as the girl but it was TANIA. (‘Hope country girl’s a sport – endless tease earlier’)
Many thanks to Tees and to Pierre, who must have thought it was his birthday when he saw 1ac – thanks for the lovely picture.
very pleasant to wake up to a Tees offering… trying to squeeze HORUS into an attribute didn’t speed things up … 2dn n 7dn were my faves…
thanks Tees n Pierre
undrell @4 – me too re HORUS.
I meant AFFIDAVIT @3, of course.
1a did seem familiar. Turns out Tees himself used almost the same clue (but for the opposite answer) last October.
Thanks to Pierre and Tees
Nice Tees this morning. Not too taxing although like Undrell @4 and Eileen@5 I was determined to fit Horus in. Silly me.
Good start to the solving week. Yes, we’d had it before but I still liked the ‘Hope land’ for RURITANIA as well as ‘The body going round’ for SATELLITE.
PostMark @1, I’m sure I’ve seen “Polyhymnia” in a cryptic at least once before, perhaps in “The Times”. One of the posters to the blog discussion mentioned a sketch done by Beryl Reid in glorious B&W. You’ve probably seen it, but if not, here’s the link: .
Thanks to Tees and Pierre – nice to see one of your avian friends as well
Grr! I knew I’d be too thick to be able to work out how to use the new “link” button. If you click on the “Thanks to Tees and Pierre …” line, it will take you to the YouTube link.
Sorry about that, Chief.
Wordplodder @9 : thank you so much. I’ve never seen that before and it’s superb. And nice to compare it with the Two R’s crossword sketch (and also the Two R’s encyclopaedia salesman with which it has an underlying principle in common). I don’t think my search could be classed as exhaustive but it got to the point where I had lost patience! I suspect the challenge in clueing Polyhymnia would be to get away from using hymn/song which, given she was the Muse of hymns and the like, would be a bit to close for home. If anyone was to have incorporated her, I guess the Times – as the clip implies – would be the obvious culprit!
Wordplodder Thank you What a brilliant sketch
WordPlodder – many thanks indeed. I’d never seen this one, but I remember Beryl Reid very well. (I give a link to the Two Ronnies sketch at every opportunity.)
Wordplodder ditto. Great stuff.
I was a bit of a headless chicken when it came to DECAPITATE. AFFIDAVIT was my favourite.
Had to dip in and out of this throughout the day so never quite settled in to it, but very enjoyable.
Like you Pierre, I say remastering is cleaning and restoring a tune, rather than changing it, but I enjoyed rush/reed, so all was forgiven.
VEDA and AFFIDAVIT got smiles here, as did the Beryl Reid sketch; bravo.
Am I a bad person for not getting Emerson at all (though I have heard of him) and on reading the answer, first thought of Lake & Palmer?!
Many thanks Tees and Pierre.
Very late to this today, but had to say I loved the cluing of Northern Lights
We weren’t too happy with OCTAGON; ‘ago’ is a bit of a stretch for ‘before’ but if one accepts it, ‘provided’ is just unnecessary padding in the clue. As it is the clue suggests we are looking for something meaning ‘provided’ to go between ‘oct’ and ‘n’ – although we suppose it could be there simply as a deliberate misdirection.
Apart from that gripe, and agreeing about REMASTERING, an enjoyable solve, as one expects from this setter.
Thanks, Tees and Pierre.
Link phrase = ‘provided in’. Re ‘before’, Collins thinks it’s a synonym: if you don’t like it, write to them!
And does remastering *not* change a tune (sonically)? If not, bands are wasting rather a lot of money!
Yes, very enjoyable. Funny how one can make fast progress, grind to a halt, and then suddenly break free, as I did before finishing the NE corner of this one.