Independent 10,766 / Tees

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Tees has provide some intellectual gymnastics for us all this Thursday.

I found this to be at the difficult end of the Indy spectrum, and I solved only one clue (26) when I first read through the list. I needed to come back to the puzzle a couple of times before I actually got a proper handle on it. In the end, I needed to search Chambers to solve 18, which I didn’t really know. I also needed Google and Chambers to help me make sense of some of the other references, e.g. at 07/19, 12, 15/11D, 16, 17, 22, 25 …

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge and am annoyed that I was denied the satisfaction of having completed it by falling at the last hurdle at 18. My favourite clues today were 15/11D for sheer smoothness of surface; and 5, for the deceptive use of “sewer”.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 HEATHEN Let’s not have bird shivering – it’s uncivilised

HEAT HEN! (=let’s not have bird shivering)
     
09 MILKY WAY Brilliant band showing class in Sinatra number

ILK (=class, type) in MY WAY (=Sinatra number); our galaxy, the Milky Way, is composed of stars that form a band of light in the night sky when viewed from Earth, hence “brilliant band”
     
10 BERGMAN Mr Bean remade involves good film director

G (=good) in *(MR BEAN); “remade” is anagram indicator; the reference is to Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007)
     
11 LISTENER Antiseptics pioneer takes in northeast one hears

NE (=northeast) in LISTER (=antiseptics pioneer, i.e. Joseph Lister)
     
12 CANTHI Anglican thinker covering viewers’ angles

Hidden (“covering”) in “AngliCAN THInker”; the canthus the angle where the upper and lower eyelids meet, hence canthi are “viewers’ angles”
     
13 COOPERATES Barrel-marker had succeeded in works without confrontation

COOPER (=barrel-maker) + ATE (=had, consumed) + S (=succeeded)
     
15/11D DUN LAOGHAIRE Port stores uranium in ramshackle holding area

U (=uranium, i.e. chemical formula) in *(HOLDING AREA); “ramshackle” is anagram indicator; Dun Laoghaire is a suburban coastal town in the traditional county of Dublin in Ireland
     
16 SET THEORY Cantor was behind this fixed idea

SET (=fixed) + THEORY (=idea); German mathematician Georg Cantor (1845-1918) devised set theory
     
21 ODE Principles not constant in lyric poem

<c>ODE (=principles); “not constant (=c, in maths)” means letter “c” is dropped
     
22 AGGRESSIVE Gives gears thrashing – like some white van drivers?

*(GIVES GEARS); “thrashing” is anagram indicator; according to stereotype, a White Van Man (=WVM), typically an independent tradesperson, is often aggressive on the roads
     
24 NOESIS Mental activity is pre-empted by votes against

NOES (=votes against) + IS; noesis is the activity of the intellect
     
25 TITMOUSE Bird and horse knackered by rodent

TIT (=horse knackered) + MOUSE (=rodent)
     
27 PRAIRIE Couple crossing river that is in grassland

[R (=river) in PAIR (=couple)] + I.E. (=that is)
     
28 ON THE DOT Not awfully keen about news boss being sharp

*(NOT) + [ED. (=news boss, i.e. editor) in HOT (=keen, e.g. of taste)]; “awfully” is anagram indicator
     
29 SCREENS Shows rock debris navvies cleared out

SCREE (=rock debris) + N<avvie>S (“cleared out” means all but first and last letters are dropped)
     
Down    
     
02 EYE CANDY Beauty spot – at city limits?

EYE (=spot, view) + C AND Y (=city limits, i.e. letter “c” and letter “y”, i.e. first and last letters)
     
03 TIGHTENS Discussion of great intellectuals becomes more stringent

Homophone (“discussion”) of “titans (=great intellectuals)”; eye candy is a visually attractive person, hence “beauty”
     
04 ERADICATES Kills time: then prescribes first time must be forgotten

ERA (=time) + DIC<t>ATES (=prescribes; “first time (=T) must be forgotten means first letter “t” is dropped)
     
05 MIMI In Herculaneum I’m inside sewer, doomed

Hidden (“in”) in “HerculaneuM IM Inside”; the reference is to the doomed seamstress (“sewer”, i.e. one sewing) in Puccini’s La bohème”
     
06 SKATER Curry was one using fish and rice for starter

SKATE (=fish) + R<ice> (“for starter” means first letter only); the reference is to British figure skater John Curry (1949-94)
     
07/19 GWYNETH PALTROW Fragrance candle supplier upset wag worth plenty

*(WAG WORTH PLENTY); “upset” is anagram indicator; US actress Gwyneth Paltrow (1972-) has her own range of provocatively named scented candles
     
08 CYPRESS Sort of gas enshrouding Belgian battlefield tree

YPRES (=Belgian battlefield) in CS (=sort of gas, used in riot control)
     
14 EGOCENTRIC Self-interested Pickles accepting money after game?

[GO (=game) + CENT (=money)] in ERIC (=Pickles, i.e. former Conservative MP and minister)
     
17 YOSEMITE Balboa’s greeting to Abraham in Californian park?

YO (=Balboa’s greeting, from the Rocky films) + SEMITE (=Abraham, in the OT)
     
18 MERIDIAN Peak in clear – one near borders

[RID (=clear, deliver of) + I (=one)] in MEAN (=near, stingy); meridian is the culmination or highest point, as of success, splendour, power, hence “peak”
     
20 AGITATE It takes a crowd gathered outside to cause trouble

IT in [A + GATE (=crowd, at football match)]
     
23 EXOCET Where driver starts, about to steer over missile

COX (=steer, e.g. a canoe) in TEE (=where driver starts, in golf); “over” indicates vertical reversal; Exocet anti-ship missiles saw their first wartime launch during the Falklands War
     
26 SCOT Northerner will need second home in country

S (=second) + COT (=home in country, cottage)
     
     

 

25 comments on “Independent 10,766 / Tees”

  1. Glad to know it wasn’t just me finding this one difficult! Main problems were caused by my lack of knowledge. Never heard of Cantor or set theory; nor of horse knackered=tit; nor meridian=peak. I could go on but that’s enough of parading my ignorance. Enjoyed the heated hen, the milky way and the excellent anagram for Gwyneth Poltroon, as we call her in this house. Thanks to Tees and especially to RatkojaRiku – I needed that blog today!

  2. DNF for me as I couldn’t see MERIDIAN at all, despite consulting a wordlist. Several new things learned including CANTHI, NOESIS and TIT (= horse knackered). An enjoyable challenge, so thanks Tees and RatkojaRiku.

  3. I don’t think I’ve known Tees or any other of the lovely Mr Bringloe’s aliases to produce a crossword as difficult as this one. It had all of my three goes and I still was left without Gwyneth Paltrow (which probably isn’t a bad thing 😉 ). I always pride myself on knowing ‘stuff’ which comes in very useful for crossword solving, but this one certainly gave me some new ‘stuff’ to store away for future use

    Many thanks to Tees and especially to RR

  4. I agree with CS wholeheartedly. More difficult than his Toughies to date.
    I was also defeated by the consciously uncoupled one and by meridian but to my shame also 1a.

  5. Well, once again I’ll say, ‘What crypticsue said’.

    Like Tatrasman, I didn’t manage to find MERIDIAN – hopeless, since all the crossers were vowels.

    I did like COOPERATES and enjoyed working out DUN LAOGHAIRE – I’ve actually been there.

    Thanks to Tees and to RR (well done!).

  6. There was a bit of everything in this puzzle. Some great clues, some very tough indeed, some enjoyable, some impenetrable, but overall I found it too much of a slog so that my feeling was one of relief rather than enjoyment when I finally finished it.

    Thanks anyway to Tees and to RR.

  7. Blimey that was tough! I’m not going to blame the setter but I didn’t manage to click today so it was rather a slog. Like gsolphotog, Gwyneth Paltrow beat me – I thought I was looking for a flavour of scented oils like Ylang Ylang or Patchouli. So I was never going to think about GWY as part of the answer! And I can’t spell DUN LAOGHAIRE even when it’s in front of me (I’ve just copied and pasted from Eileen’s post to make sure I get it right!). And, finally, HEAT HEN??? Add to those the ones I couldn’t parse and I earn no Brownie points today.

    Of those I both solved and parsed, MILKY WAY, BERGMAN, COOPERATES and SKATER were favourites. (And, yes, I did actually manage to s&p more than just those four!) Did anyone else attempt to start 17d with Hola for Balboa’s Hello?

    Thanks Tees and RR

  8. Having read the blog and comments I’m now feeling quite happy I managed as much of this unaided as I did! As for the other clues, at least I’ve learned some new words / meanings!

  9. That was a lot of hard work. No noesis here! Also didn’t know tit, gate, mean=near. Had to cheat on heathen, LOI.

    Nevertheless a challenging and interesting puzzle!

    Thanks to Tees and RR!

  10. I’m glad you all thought it was hard. Normally I manage a little over half, today about half. Pretty much gave up once I got the crossers for Gwyneth, even knowing it was the anagram no real word could fit those spaces. One day I’ll get one finished. Thanks for all the explantions.

  11. Glad to come here and find that everyone else thought this was tough.

    We really liked MILKY WAY and TIGHTENS, but there were lots of “learnings” to take from the puzzle, such as MIMI, NOESIS, CANTHI, and the relevant meanings of TIT and MERIDIAN, and we needed a wordsearch to find HEATHEN (not helped much by the crossing letters).

    Thanks to Tees for the workout and to RR for the necessary explanations

  12. Falkirkdouglas @10 – I have to admit that, when we had 5 of the 6 crossers, I did actually Google Twengty Harplow, in the hope that they might be candle manufacturers ….

  13. Needed recourse to reference books for half a dozen in this one. Miss Paltrow came to me in a moment of inspiration based on the anagram fodder but I subsequently learned more about at least one of her fragrances than I actually wanted to know!
    MERIDIAN was the last to fall and DUN LAUGHAIRE was my favourite.

    Thanks to Tees for the challenge and to RR who probably needed to lie down after completing the review!

  14. We needed a wordfinder for MERIDIAN and even then couldn’t parse it, but we managed to struggle through the rest. 7/19 was interesting: we didn’t know of Ms Paltrow’s candlemaking so the definition didn’t mean anything to us but we thought the answer must be an anagram of ‘wag worth plenty’ but couldn’t fit it to the crossing letters we had so we decided it couldn’t be an anagram and were about to resort to a wordfinder (which probably wouldn’t have helped) when just looking at the crossing letters triggered some recollection of the name and we realised it was an anagram after all and the anagram probably a secondary indication too.
    We didn’t know about Cantor but we got SET THEORY from crossing letters and wordplay.
    Plenty to like, though, including MILKY WAY and DUN LAOGHAIRE.
    Thanks, Tees and RatkojaRiku.

  18. Didn’t finish this one, lacking GWYNETH PALTROW (stared at the fodder for a while but then gave up) and MERIDIAN (I’d never thought of this as a peak, but I suppose it is). First half OK, second half very hard IMHO.

  20. In Tees’ defence, I didn’t find this excessively difficult. Sure, it was harder than the general run of his puzzles, but that’s no bad thing.

    I probably enjoyed it more than I do most of his puzzles because of that extra layer of trickiness.

  21. A late contribution. Pretty well what everyone else has said. I managed to get MERIDIAN and GWYNETH PALTROW, but dipped out on the ‘Port’ which I’d never heard of and tried to fit in as a partial anagram.

    A real challenge – the hardest Tees I can remember doing, but an enjoyable battle nonetheless.

    Thanks to him and RR

  22. Recently I learned that Tees is Neo from the FT, a setter I enjoy, so I thought I’d give his Indy alter-ego a shot. I found this a much harder crossword than the typical Neo but I figured out enough of it to be satisfying. MILKY WAY, LISTENER, EYE CANDY, and YOSEMITE were favourites. Thanks to both.

  23. No need for the “whoops”, Tees @19, the occasional extra challenge is part of what makes the crossword satisfying!

  24. Aw ta David! And Simon!

    CANTHI, DUN LAOGHAIRE and NOESIS probably didn’t help, although I’m surprised that Gwyn and the candle thing isn’t more commonly known around these parts. As it were. But nonetheless, along with commentators I think this one has turned out to be a bit of a stinker. Reassuring in a way, I suppose!

  25. Came late to this one. Needed working at but as is usual with Tees once solved you knew you were there. Laughed out loud at 17D. Enjoyed it all.
    Thanks to S and B

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