Tees on good form as usual with a pleasing and tractable crossword.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
9 See two newspapers coming round for church feature
ORGAN LOFT
An insertion of LO! in ORGAN (for a newspaper generally) and FT (for a newspaper in particular). The insertion indicator is ‘coming round’.
10 Longer and shorter periods reversed in final letter
OMEGA
A reversal of AGE (a long period) and MO (a short period).
11 Excellent daughters returned to home land
INDIA
A charade of IN (‘home’) and AI plus D reversed.
12 Designer makes Catholic dose with ecstasy during play
ARCHITECT
An insertion of RC, HIT and E in ACT. The insertion indicator is ‘during’.
13 Artist seen in every echo? Listener’s smart!
EARACHE
An insertion of RA in EACH, followed by E for the phonetic alphabet ‘echo’. The insertion indicator is ‘seen in’. If what you listen with was smarting, you’d have EARACHE, innit?
14 Recline to consume honeyed drink and quencher
LIMEADE
An insertion of MEAD in LIE. The insertion indicator is ‘to consume’.
16 Fine beer to be sent round for beast
OKAPI
A charade of OK and IPA for India Pale Ale reversed.
19 Correlation shown where moon follows rodent
RATIO
A charade of RAT and IO for Jupiter’s moon.
20/18 It needs treatment, rough, for backing protocol row
SAUSAGE WAR
A very contemporary clue, and one that will disqualify the puzzle for reprinting in the i in four years’ time because everyone will have forgotten what it was all about. I’m not convinced it’s a very fair clue, because although I might have seen it briefly as a description in the national press, it’s hardly an established phrase. It’s to do with the fuss about importing meat products from Great Britain into Northern Ireland following Brexit, a consequence of the UK agreeing a binding legal agreement with the EU, proudly boasting there would never be a border in the Irish Sea, and then discovering there was one after all. The WAR bit comes from RAW reversed. The SAUSAGE bit is – I think – just a reference to the fact that sausages are a ‘treated’ meat product.
Edit: as Hovis kindly points out in the comments, SAUSAGE is a charade of SA for ‘sex appeal’ or ‘it’, and USAGE for ‘treatment’.
21 By it one develops feeling for character
BRAILLE
A cd.
23 Hearings in case due to be rescheduled
AUDIENCES
(IN CASE DUE)*
25 Money short, then endlessly given in tax
TITHE
A charade of TI[P] and THE[N]
26 Fish served with duck’s tongue
LINGO
Sounds unappetising. A charade of LING and O.
27 Oil producers lie and cut pay anyway
EUCALYPTI
(LIE CUT PAY)*
Down
1 Busy work mounting bugs famed oil worker
POLICE CONSTABLE
A charade of OP reversed (‘mounting’, since it’s a down clue), LICE and [John] CONSTABLE, noted for his oil paintings. ‘Busy’ is a Scouse slang word for a copper, usually heard in the plural as ‘the bizzies’. Allegedly coined because the police were too busy to deal with low-level crime, or were considered busybodies, interfering in folks’ affairs.
2 Aura surrounding old tribe in Moroccan location
AGADIR
An insertion of GAD in AIR. TheTribe of Gad is one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The insertion indicator is ‘surrounding’.
3 Lark circling sailor caught — a bleak prospect?
ANTARCTICA
An insertion of TAR and C in ANTIC, followed by A. The insertion indicator is ‘circling’.
4 Gypsy turning up with beer and spirits
MORALE
A charade of ROM reversed (‘turning up’, since it’s a down clue) and ALE.
5 Large adhesive label covers disciplinarian
STICKLER
An insertion of L in STICKER. The insertion indicator is ‘covers’.
6 Here camels roaming spit on one
GOBI
A charade of GOB and I and a cad.
7 Material about eastern Mediterranean region
RELEVANT
A charade of RE and LEVANT. The second particle is ultimately related to the modern French present participle levant, meaning ‘rising’, since the sun rises in the East.
8 Reproduction Stonehenge assembled in capital
PARTHENOGENESIS
Clever and deceptively simple clue. An insertion of (STONEHENGE)* in PARIS. PARTHENOGENESIS (from the Greek for ‘virgin’ and ‘creation’) is a form of asexual reproduction without fertilisation by sperm. Don’t try this at home.
15 Tees upset about hypocrisy concerning trade
MERCANTILE
A charade of ME and CANT inserted into RILE. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
17 Notice six-footer eating cake that’s rich
ABUNDANT
An insertion of BUN in AD ANT. The insertion indicator is ‘eating’.
18 Deeply impressed after heartless 18 Across, but miserable
WRETCHED
A charade of W[A]R and ETCHED.
21 Split in religious group that goes both ways?
BISECT
A BI SECT might indeed swing both ways sexually.
22 Reprieves ram trapped among the French
LET-UPS
An insertion of TUP in LES. The insertion indicator is ‘trapped among’.
24 Poet’s black book one that’s devious keeps
EBON
An insertion of B in (ONE)* The insertion indicator is ‘keeps’ and the anagrind is ‘that’s devious’. An alternative to EBONY, which my Collins marks as rare, poetic. Which is what the Teeser said.
Many thanks to him for the Sunday morning entertainment.
SAUSAGE is SA (It) + USAGE (treatment).
Didn’t know what “sausage war” referred to, so thanks for the info. This was my loi. For once, my lack of geographical knowledge actually helped. I know very few capitals and Paris was the first I thought of in 8d, then PARTHENOGENESIS leaped out at me – very lucky really. Met the term ORGAN LOFT in a previous cryptic and am now quite used to busy meaning a policeman (or woman, presumably). GAD in 2d was new to me. Needless to say, I had to check AGADIR & LEVANT were places. I have heard of GOBI & INDIA though 🙂
Good spot on sausage war Hovis, I was struggling with that!
Thanks Tees and Pierre.
Cheers Pierre
n.b. the ‘money’ @ 25 is TIN, and the def simply ‘tax’.
T
I so nearly got PARTHENOGENESIS: I vaguely recalled the word ‘parthenogenic’ and, stupidly, didn’t manage to get from there to the solution!
I don’t know how many others Googled SAUSAGE WAR but, for those who didn’t, here is another entirely different historical incident, just for the fun of it:
The Battle of Varolampi Pond also known as the ‘Sausage War’ occurred during the Winter War of 1939 and was a precursor to the Battle of Tolvajärvi.
On the night of the 10 December, the 718th Rifle Regiment of the Soviet army swung around the Finnish rear of the Tolvajärvi front and attacked the lightly defended Finnish supply and artillery troops at Varolampi Pond situated along the Korpiselkä-Tolvajärvi road.
The surprise attack saw initial success by the Soviet troops in advancing through the Finnish supply lines but failed to continue the assault towards Tolvajärvi village and the Finnish main-lines. The Soviet soldiers were exhausted and hungry after 5 days of forced marching and stopped to eat the sausage soup that the retreating Finns had left behind in their field kitchens.
This gave enough time for Major Pajari, who happened to be along the Koriselkä road at the time, to muster enough soldiers from the 16th Infantry Regiment along with dispersed field cooks and medics to launch a counter-attack.
Fighting lasted well into the night and involved close quarters combat and one of the only cases of bayonet fighting during the Winter War. By dawn of the 11 December, the counter-attack succeeded in driving back the Soviet force and inflicted heavy casualties with over 100 dead Soviet troops left on the field according to Finnish estimates along with 20 dead on the Finnish side.
Thanks Tees and Pierre
“Pleasing and tractable” though I didn’t know EBON or GAD either and guessed my last in SAUSAGE WAR, missing the ‘It needs treatment’ wordplay, but thinking the def might be something to do with the EU (as in the “Euro Sausage” in “Yes, Minister”). Thanks to PostMark @5 for the extra info about what was obviously more than just a ‘protocol row’.
Good to see our old friend the OKAPI again. Favourite was the excellent PARTHENOGENESIS.
Thanks to Tees and Pierre
This was great fun with SAUSAGE WAR raising the biggest smile and PARTHENOGENESIS my favourite.
Not sure why “daughters” is plural in 11a.
Many thanks to Tees and to Pierre.
It didn’t have to be, did it! But rest assured, it CAN be, according to The Times style sheet. The Daily Telegraph style sheet says singular only for son S and daughter D. The Indy allows for a much wider range of SLIs (single-letter indicators :)) as far as I know.
Parthenogenesis was outstanding. Not having registered the Irish Sea one, I did search for ‘sausage wars’ and found the the 1939 one mentioned by PostMark. I’m one of those who, whatever the style sheets may say, is unhappy for D/S to represent plural sons/daughters, which would be SS or DD. I was going to let it pass but for the comment from Tees. That apart, I much enjoyed this puzzle so many thanks Tees and Pierre.
In an aside, as one who prefers to search online using Bing, it’s slightly annoying that most people say ‘google it’ rather than ‘bing it’. Other search engines are available. Fairer, imho, would be ‘e-search’. Just saying!
Tatrasman @9. It’s a bit like “Hoover” being used instead of vacuum cleaner. We are stuck with it now.
Thanks Pierre for showing the def in 1d a new one on me. But i suppose FILTH would give the game away(not to mention spoil the surface)
@Postmark-I googled pretty much the same thing and was reminded of “sausage squad at the blue end” and other Pythonesque banter
Enjoyable puzzle Tees
I found this pleasantly hard. Thanks Tees, Pierre.
The clue for PARTHENOGENESIS, while excellent, is becoming something of a chestnut. I have solved it in the FT, Independent and Times in the last few years
#9 tatrasman: perhaps the editor of The Daily Telegraph puzzles shares your viewpoint then.
I was under the impression, or delusion, that this has something to do with abbreviations used in Debrett’s Peerage, or in works pertaining to genealogy, and that either form (singular or plural) can give D. As for sons leading to SS or daughters to DD, I’d not seen it until today when I looked up an old Times clue for DRESS SENSE (in which ‘sons’ meant SSS), and I hope never to see it again. However, e.g. ‘two sons’ would presumably lead to SS via either style sheet mentioned.
The old tribe and the poet’s black were new to me and my top three were bunched together – BRAILLE, TITHE & LINGO.
Thanks to Tees and to Pierre for the review.
My first ever unaided Indy solve so pretty chuffed. SAUSAGE WAR was my last in too & can’t say I parsed it fully as Hovis did so thanks for that. Thought it a super puzzle. Pleased as punch to have twigged PARTHENOGENESIS so that’ll be my pick but plenty of other excellent ones – WRETCHED, BRAILLE & POLICE CONSTABLE all stood out for me though with the latter I’d always assumed (wrongly) it was spelt bizzie in the singular.
Thanks to both Tees & Pierre.
Thanks to Tees for another enjoyable crossword – 20/18 was one of my favourites but I also marked 1d and 3d as others worthy of a mention
Thanks also to Pierre
That’s interesting, Huntsman. I’ve never bothered checking in my Chambers but now that I have it has “busy” as slang for a detective and “bizzy” as slang for a policeman. The plot thickens. I think we may need a busy to sort that out.
Entertaining crossword with precise cluing, as expected.
Nice spot for the Stonehenge anagram. For d = daughters, this is in the ODE: 1.(in genealogies) daughter: Henry m. Georgina 1957, 1s 2d I must confess I was looking for dd or ds, though. Also in the ODE is busy = PO or PC, so all is well on Teesside.
Thanks Tees and Pierre.
Thanks Robi. One day, I should invest in an ODE or, at least, check it online. It does seem to have quite a few definitions not in Chambers or Collins.
Very enjoyable, but I came to a screeching halt with 20/18A and 18D unsolved. Then I saw 18D and thought no, it can’t be “sausage war”. But it did sound very British (and it parsed) so I bunged it in. It hasn’t been in the news here in Boston MA. Really liked 1D but we had “busy” in that sense very recently, making it a lot easier than it would otherwise have been.
Incidentally, the “sausage war” reminded me of a joke in “Yes Minister”, in which the EU bureaucracy had designated the British sausage an “emulsified high-fat offal tube”.
Hovis; I’ve got an electronic version of the ODE, but it’s also in the free Lexico (Oxford) version as: (in genealogies) daughter.
‘Henry m. Georgina 1957, 1s 2d’
It’s not the first time that Tees uses D for ‘daughters’ (plural), and I accept it.
That said, the ODE dictionary entry you mention, Robi, is a bit confusing, isn’t it?
Their definition is ‘daughter’ (singular) but in the example they give (2d) it is ‘plural’.