Tees can do erudite. The boy can also do silly. Sometimes he can do both in the same puzzle.
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 Dine before travel showing moral conscience
SUPEREGO
A charade of SUP, ERE and GO. Together with the ego and the id, one of the three parts of the mind in Freudian psychoanalytic theory.
5 Secure bananas in boat
OBTAIN
(IN BOAT)* with ‘bananas’ as the anagrind.
9 American taken by fresh flower’s opening
APERTURE
A charade of A, PERT and URE for the Yorkshire river or ‘flower’.
10 Bar occupied by old William Archer
BOWMAN
An insertion of O and WM for ‘William’ in BAN. Could have been an allusion to someone sitting in The Bull, but sadly there isn’t a William Archer in Ambridge.
12 Stop after advance by titled lady — there you are
LO AND BEHOLD
A charade of LOAN, DBE for Dame Commander of the British Empire and HOLD.
15 Faithful in Belgian city
LIEGE
A dd. The first refers to the feudal system in mediaeval times; the second, written with an accent as LIÈGE, is the city also known as Luik.
17 American monk with a halo that’s slipped
OKLAHOMA
(MONK A HALO)*
18 Involving muck but little brass?
DIRT CHEAP
A cd.
19 Romeo appears in silly sketch
DRAFT
An insertion of R for the phonetic alphabet ‘Romeo’ in DAFT.
20 Precious stone is left by English in Erin
EMERALD ISLE
A charade of EMERALD, IS, L and E.
24 Jumbo pilot radio operator turned away
MAHOUT
A charade of HAM reversed and OUT. The reversal indicator is ‘turned’. A MAHOUT is an elephant rider, keeper or trainer, hence ‘jumbo pilot’.
25 Game in which Cucurella’s header has Gunners in hell?
CHARADES
A charade (sic) of C for the initial letter of ‘Cucurella’ and RA for ‘gunners’ in HADES. I should explain for those who are not followers of the beautiful game that the ‘Gunners’ are Arsenal and Cucurella, rather randomly, is a player for Brighton and Hove Albion. There must be no players for Southampton whose surname starts with C.
26 Choice for each in U-boat?
SUPERB
An insertion of PER in SUB. ‘These superb/choice strawberries are £3.85 for each/per kilogram.’
27 Spoilt little brat put on display
IMPAIRED
A charade of IMP and AIRED.
Down
1 Go with line in clues for Baywatch Boys?
STABLE LADS
A charade of STAB and L inserted into LEADS. ‘Baywatch Boys’ might have suggested the six-packed hulks who patrolled the sun-kissed beaches of Los Angeles while trying not to trip over the cleavages of their female colleagues, but in fact it’s a nod to those who might be watching over bay horses in rain-soaked Newmarket.
2 Frenchman hosts meeting in home from home
PIED-À-TERRE
A name check at last after all these years of faithfully blogging Tees’s puzzles. An insertion of DATE in PIERRE.
3 Reckoned explicit kiss should be removed
RATED
[X-]RATED
4 Duck fine among endangered bats in paradise
GARDEN OF EDEN
An insertion of O for ‘duck’ and F in (ENDANGERED)* The insertion indicator is ‘among’ and the anagrind is ‘bats’.
6 Keeping quiet, initiated in slaughter
BLOODSHED
An insertion of SH in BLOODED. The insertion indicator is ‘keeping’.
7 High point getting married in a church
ACME
An insertion of M in A CE.
8 Nothing from Bride of Christ in discussion
NONE
A homophone of NUN. Please can we not have a long and ultimately fruitless argument about whether these two words are homophones? In crosswordland, if they are homophones for some speakers, then we can move on. They are not, as it goes, for me; but imagine Her Maj saying ‘None of my children is a nun’ and you’re home and dry. As for the ‘Bride of Christ’, then according to the Catholic Church, that’s what nuns can be; and according to Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago they don’t even have to be virgins any more. O Tempora! O Mores!
11 Gay character bringing parrot seed to China?
POLLY PEACHUM
Donnez-moi un break. Even with all the crossers I’m never getting this (except the POLLY bit, maybe). A charade of that, PEA and CHUM gives you the ‘character’ from The Threepenny Opera, as well as the ballad opera Polly. Polly is neither lesbian nor particularly happy. The text to the ballad opera was written by John Gay.
13 Graduates down in foreign capital upset official
AMBASSADOR
This is BAS and SAD inserted into ROMA reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the reversal indicator is ‘upset’.
14 Chilled cakes, no topping, and roly-poly pudding?
UNSTRESSED
A charade of [B]UNS and DESSERT reversed. The reversal indicator is ‘roly-poly’.
16 Funds erstwhile auditor needed for hearing
EXCHEQUER
A charade of EX and a homophone of CHECKER.
21 Spider-Man’s skin layer
DERMA
Hidden in SpiDER MAn. I would always write DERMIS as a singular, but dictionaries give DERMA as an alternative, so fair play. You have to read the first part of the clue as ‘Spider-Man has’.
22 Bookmaker heading out from Greek island
AMOS
[S]AMOS, with the ‘book’ being of the Old Testament variety.
23 Wife with finger on pulse becomes party disciplinarian
WHIP
A charade of W and HIP.
Many thanks to Tees for this Sunday’s puzzle.
Pierre, on 11D you are getting your operas in a twist. POLLY PEACHUM was originally a character in The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay (1728). She was revived as a character in The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) by Bertold Brecht (1928), adapted from Gay’s original with music by Kurt Weill.
Couldn’t 13 down also be embassador.
Quirky but fun. PIED-A-TERRE was my favourite.
Many thanks to Tees and to Pierre.
Whatever the boy does, he does do it well. My favourite was 1d
Thanks to Tees and Pierre
Thanks Tees and Pierre. Good stuff. Inventive and witty. I know POLLY PEACHUM via Brecht rather than Gay but I loved that clue. Also very much enjoyed ‘Jumbo pilot’ though ‘Baywatch Boys’ stumped me.
Incidentally, Brighton played Arsenal yesterday and Cucurella had a good shot saved, but it ended a 0-0 draw – shame, that was so very nearly a brilliantly topical clue.
@widdersbel I think Polly Peachum got sold to a German team thats why he wasnt on either bench yesterday.
STABLE LADS good
Saints look like candidates for the drop this season having once again flogged any player that was any good last season. Except JWP. So far. There are other tom (CRS) teams however, so fingers crossed.
There was collusion with the ed on that clue, as we thought that Spurs were playing Gooners, so it was changed accordingly. Anyway Arsenal are crap.
Thanks Pierre. If I’d known it would be you blogging …
Tees @9 – I did wonder if you’d been checking the fixture list. I have no idea how far in advance you know your publication date but it seemed unlikely to be pure coincidence. Great work.
Well widders it was Mike Ed behind that. I don’t know when he’s going to publish me until I get the corrections back, and it was at that point he suggested tying in with the fixtures.
Thanks Tees for your well-reasoned assessment of The Gunners
I did need to research the opera character but everything else slotted in quite nicely. Biggest ticks here went to STABLE LADS & PIED-A-TERRE.
Thanks to Tees and thank goodness I didn’t need to know anything about football! Thanks also to Pierre who got a name check if not an opportunity for a bird link.
Lots of good ‘uns, but I’m afraid no hope with POLLY PEACHUM. The ‘Baywatch Boys?’ was a beauty. Ah, The Hoff – he was apparently very big in Austria (and maybe still is for all I know).
Thanks to Pierre and Tees
That’d be the ‘crap’ Arsenal that scored three goals in the first half hour against Spurs last weekend, I imagine.
I struggled with this for quite a while, and in the end had to look up POLLY PEACHUM, never having heard of her.
Thought stable lads and mahout were excellent and both raised a laugh.
Thanks Tees et merci Pierre.
Ahh those footballing rivalries. That ole homo sapiens clannishness par excellence.
We only genuinely hate Pompey. And their mama.
An excellent puzzle with lots to enjoy. PIED A TERRE, STABLE LADS & MAHOUT were my top 3. Heaven only knows where I dragged PEACHUM from – certainly not from the wordplay & didn’t even know she was a character in the opera but recalled a Mick Easterby trained sprinter of that name.
Thanks Tees & Pierre for an entertaining review