Tees has supplied this week’s mid-week puzzle.
I found this one to be towards the harder end of the Tees spectrum. Although I slotted quite a few solutions in fairly quickly, I had to work hard to complete the NE quadrant. I got there in the end, with all the clues being perfectly fair, although I didn’t really know this meaning of the entry at 7.
My favourite clues today with 2, 15, 17 and 24, all for smoothness of surface reading; and 9, for the misleading food items in the wordplay. 2 and 26 were both new words for me.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | ATTACK | Rants occasionally with policy to go for
<r>A<n>T<s> (“occasionally” means alternate letters only) + TACK (=policy, line) |
| 04 | TWITCHER | One not still // searching for hobby?
Double cryptic definition; a twitcher is a fidgeter AND a birdwatcher, a hobby being a small hawk |
| 10 | HAMMER OUT | Get to agree on London footballer dismissed
HAMMER (=London footballer, i.e. from West Ham FC) + OUT (=dismissed, e.g. in cricket) |
| 11 | MEDIA | Joker, scratching company name, who’ll deliver news
<co>MEDIA<n> (=joker); “scratching company (=CO) name (=N)” means letters “co” and “n” are dropped |
| 12 | ROT | Final part in lower back to deteriorate
<lowe>R (“final part in” means last letter only) + OT (TO; “back” indicates reversal) |
| 14 | BLOWER | Telephone’s heavy breather
To blow could mean to breathe heavily |
| 16 | ON A ROLL | Where Marge might go, having run of successes
Cryptically, “marge (=margarine)” might go on a (bread) roll! |
| 19 | THOREAU | Walden writer’s touching article that bores you
[RE- (=touching, regarding) + A (=article, in grammar)] in THOU (=you, archaic); Walden is an 1854 book by American transcendentalist writer Henry D. Thoreau (1817-62) |
| 20 | DREW IN | What has Andrews contracted?
“anDREWs” has the word “drew in” it! |
| 22 | DISHEVELLED | Tousled beauty had fun avoiding Romeo
DISH (=beauty, attractive person) + <r>EVELLED (=had fun; “avoiding Romeo (=R)” means letter “r” is dropped) |
| 25 | EGO | Self-importance central to Gregory
“Central to” means middle letters only of “grEGOry” are needed |
| 26 | OVOLO | Thumb through short tome with doubled ring binding
VOL (=tome is volume, which is abbreviated – “short” – to vol.) in O O (=doubled ring binding, i.e. inside 2 x O (=ring, pictorially); in architecture, an ovolo is a type of convex moulding, also called a thumb |
| 27 | Networking service popular with males
IN + STAG (=male (animal)) + RAM (=male (animal)) |
|
| 28 | SYMMETRY | Convoluted mystery involving maiden’s pleasing form
M (=maiden, in cricket) in *(MYSTERY); “convoluted” is anagram indicator |
| 29/13 | ANGELS ON HORSEBACK | This hors d’oeuvre gets the spirits up
ANGELS (=spirits) + ON HORSEBACK (=up); angels on horseback are oysters and bacon on toast |
| Down | ||
| 01 | ASHORE | Answer playwright in Speech on the Beach
A (=answer, as in Q&A) + homophone (“in speech”) of (George Bernard) Shaw (=playwright) |
| 02 | TOMATILLO | Mother with work that also bears fruit
[MA (=mother) + TILL (=work, i.e. the soil)] in TOO (=also); tomatillo is a sticky berry much used in Mexican cooking |
| 03 | CREDO | Cynical to start with concerning party dogma
C<yncial> (“to start with” means first letter only) + RE- (=concerning, regarding) + DO (=party, function) |
| 05 | WATERFORD GLASS | Star was right: Geldof put out sparkling Irish product
*(STAR WAS + R (=right) + GELDOF); “put out” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | TEMPERATE | Clement worried by tendency to blow top
TEMPER (=tendency to blow top, i.e. get angry) + ATE (=worried) |
| 07 | HYDRA | Persistent trouble, tough, all after first round
H-ARDY (=tough, resistant); “all after first round” means all but first letter, i.e. “ardy”, are reversed; a hydra is a manifold evil, hence “permanent trouble” |
| 08 | ROADKILL | In dark, wounded badly, duck remains flattened
O (=duck, i.e. zero score in cricket) in [*(DARK) + ILL (=badly)]; “wounded” is anagram indicator; the “remains” of the definition is a noun meaning “what is left of” |
| 09 | MOTHER SUPERIOR | First among sisters in fuss over brill served without port
MOTHER (=fuss over, be protective towards) + [RIO (=port, in Brazil) in SUPER (=brill, i.e. brilliant)] |
| 15 | WOEBEGONE | Blue net for example one used to catch nothing
O (=nothing, pictorially) in [WEB (=net) + E.G. (=for example) + ONE] |
| 17 | OLIVE TREE | Rig to relieve oil supplier
*(TO RELIEVE); “(to) rig”, i.e. to manipulate, is anagram indicator |
| 18 | STUDIOUS | Boss promises to reimburse academic
STUD (=boss, e.g. on shield) + IOUs (=promises to reimburse) |
| 21 | COSMOS | All there is inside Morocco’s mosques
Hidden (“inside”) in “morocCO’S MOSques” |
| 23 | STORM | Rage seen in street or motorway
ST (=street) + OR + M (=motorway) |
| 24 | DRAIN | Last of liquid – tip it down sink
<liqui>D (“last of” means last letter only) + RAIN (=tip it down) |
Another enjoyable crossword from Tees – 7d caused me problems as I hadn’t heard of this meaning
Thanks to Tees and RR
Definitely harder than usual, I was left with the NE fairly empty right up to the end, once twitcher fell it all came together though I filled in from crossers and a likely def and parsed afterwards for several.
I also (not being a footie fan) wasted time looking for a footballer with surname like or sounding like haveit.
Thanks Tees and RR
Nicely done, as always, with some particular standouts: ROADKILL for the definition, TWITCHER for the misleading hobby, and ON A ROLL for the smile (anyone else waste time wondering about the Simpsons? About which I know nothing!)
I still can’t quite my head around DREW IN tbh.
Thanks Tees and RR
Some tasty new words and phrases (for me anyway) to digest: ovolo (my spellchecker didn’t know that one), tomatillo and angels on horseback. Didn’t understand 7D at all so thanks for the explanation, and of course Tees for a challenging puzzle.
Challenging trying to work everything out. In the end I didn’t really understand HYDRA and had forgotten the architectural sense of ‘Thumb’ and OVOLO. I was also held up by 29/13 as I’d only ever heard of ‘devils on horseback’. Looking it up later, it appears there are cherubs on horseback too.
I’ll go for ON A ROLL as my pick (like PM @3, my first thought was “The Simpsons”), closely followed by WOEBEGONE.
Thanks to Tees and RR
Tricky – didn’t get Hydra or Ovolo. Could someone help me to understand the definition in 10a? I can’t make HAMMER OUT synonymous with GET TO AGREE ON. you hammer out an agreement, sure, but I can’t think of a sentence in which you can substitute one for the other.
Thanks to Tees and RR.
Thanks Rat & all.
Well, if you ‘hammer (it) out’ you ‘get to agree on (it)’: that’s my excuse.
Cheers
Tees
OVOLO defeated me and I had to do a word search. I was not familiar with that meaning of thumb.
TOMATILLO I remembered from an earlier occurrence and searching I see it was another Tees puzzle, 10201 in June 2019. Also, roundabout then, it turned up in Lynne Murphy’s Separated by a Common Language blog.
We too thought it was towards the harder end of the Tees spectrum, but we got it all in the end. We had to wait to get a crossing letter before we decided if it the equestrians in 29/13 were Angels or Devils, and got THOREAU from crossing letters as we’d vaguely heard of Walden but didn’t know exactly what it implied. And we had to go to Collins to check the thumb meaning of OVOLO – Chambers only describes it as the moulding.
Plenty to like, though. Thanks, Tees and RatkojaRiku.