Tees teases us today
We struggled a bit with some of the clues today, but found one or two to be write-ins – something we don’t expect from Tees.
Indy puzzles on Tuesdays are usually themed, but we can’t see anything going on today. Perhaps we’re missing something?
CARD (comedian) round or ‘swallowing’ PET (favourite) E (drug)
LA (‘the’ in French) RIPS (rents) all reversed or ‘in recession’
BLOTto (drunk – ‘Brahms’ being Cockney rhyming slang – ‘Brahms and Liszt’ – pissed) without or ‘not having’ ‘to’
PRESENCE (aura) round C (Conservative) I (one)
An anagram (‘corrected’) of EVIL in S (small) R (rook – in chess) – the ‘famous horse’ being that of the Lone Ranger
An anagram (‘in distress’) of WATERSIdE with the ‘d’ (daughter) omitted or ‘leaving’
hINT (suggestion) with the ‘h’ (husband) omitted or ‘ignored’ RUDE (discourteous)
SNORE (a ‘sound’ made when ‘asleep’) round or ’embracing’ K (Kelvin) + L (left)
An anagram (‘retrained’) of pOLICEMAN without the ‘p’ (soft)
A homophone (‘mentioned’) of IN TURN (one after another)
An anagram (‘unfortunately’) of TOILETS round or ‘blocked by’ PIG (animal)
SHOp (store) without the ‘p’ (penny) round or ‘touring’ O (old)
BASS (fish) + last letters or ‘tails’ of horsE meaT
END (fragment) round ROLLEr (bird) without the last letter or ‘tail’ – we’d never come across this bird before, but there it is in Chambers!
G (key – in music) in CALLS IN (visits)
SAT (on chairs) round P (piano)
An anagram (‘reinterpreted’) of PROUST
A (American) DR (doctor) + LANE (course) reversed or ‘read up’ (in a down clue)
C (first letter or ‘top’ of Carson) SECTION (department)
LIVERy (uniform) without the last letter or ‘not entirely’ + a homophone (‘sounded’) of WORST (most unsatisfactory)
SAUCiER (more cheeky) without or ‘ousting’ the ‘i’ (first person)
An anagram (‘treated’) of VISITOR round or ‘stuffed with’ LOG (type of Christmas cake)
D (last letter of crowd) JIB (sail) OUT (from shore) I (island)
An anagram (‘alien’) of NEAR THEM
HEAT (warm) HEN (‘feathery layer’ – a hen has feathers and lays eggs)
PRO (behind, as in ‘in favour of’) reversed or ‘upwardly mobile’ + HAN (Chinese people) – we’re not convinced that orphans are ‘lonely types’
IN (popular) + ER (monarch – the Queen) in or ‘stopping’ ST (street) – we had to check the definition and found that an ‘insert’ can be a loose sheet in a newspaper or periodical containing advertising material
SOLId (secure) without the last letter or ‘not completely’ – ‘soli’ being the plural of ‘solo’
In printing terminology, an orphan is a line of type that has gone onto the next page when, with a bit of judicious page sizing, could have remained with the rest of the paragraph on the previous page. So they are lonely as they are separated from the rest. When you learn to type, you are told to avoid ‘widows and orphans’
I’d agree with B&J that some of the clues are trickier than others, but the usual entertaining crossword from Tees. I couldn’t find a theme either, although I do note that six of the letters on the bottom row spell TINTIN
Thanks to Tees for the crossword and B&J for the blog
Yes, the I of SOLI to make TINTIN does look rather sore-thumbish – especially as SOLD, SOLE or SOLO would have filled the gap more conventionally…
Failed to get ENROLLED & SOLI and used an aid to get DJIBOUTI so a not-very-good mark for me. 8a & 9a made me think of ‘inspiral carpets’ but I doubt that is theme related (can’t remember any of their songs). I’d forgotten about ‘widows and orphans’ so thanks for the reminder crypticsue.
Thanks crypticsue- that make sense now.
This was good fun on the whole although I struggled with my last two in in the SE corner: due to the very obscure ROLLER bird and having forgotten the rare (but correct) pluralisation of SOLO.
CARPETED was my favourite – superb definition.
Thanks to Tees and B&J.
I just twigged the theme. A French detective series called SPIRAL which I thoroughly enjoyed. The main characters in it were: LAURE, GILOU, ROBAN and TINTIN.
Yes well it is a Tuesday isn’t it. That day between Monday and Wednesday.
Tx BJ et al.
Thanks Rabbit Dave for spotting the theme – a series that we enjoyed watching. That explains the entry SOLI at 24d.
Missed the theme (well done, Rabbit Dave @7), but very much enjoyed this one, with DJIBOUTI and SOLI appearing for the first time I can remember (which probably means they were in a puzzle last week) and a few good medical / anatomical terms as well.
Never heard of ROLLER birds, but happy to have now made their acquaintance – lovely coloured plumage in the pics I looked at.
Thanks to Tees and B&J
PROUST and BRAHMS a bit chestnutty but I liked BASSET
Ta all.
I always forget to look for a theme on a Tuesday, but wouldn’t have known this one anyway. Well spotted RD@7, another entry to it may that Laure was played by Caroline PROUST of 3 down fame (thanks wiki).
Thanks Tees and B&J
Went all round the houses with comedians who wore wigs before the penny dropped over 8a and didn’t know the French detective series but at least I did know the ROLLER!
Podium places went to INTERN, C-SECTION & SAUCER.
Thanks to Tees for the fun and to B&J for the review.
I meant to ask, in regards to 2d, does “on chairs” equate to “sitting” rather than “sat”?
I’d say both apply Hovis, if you’re on a chair you’re sitting, but it’s equally valid to say you are sat on a chair.
Wordplodder@10 DJIBOUTI was indeed included in last Monday’s Quiptic, when someone remarked that it was a difficult word to clue. Hovis@14 I think sat is a more Northern usage. I tried hard to make ENGRAVED work for ENROLLED with a tailless raven, but a superfluous g.
The reason I asked is that some people (e.g. Ann Robinson on Countdown and me) were taught that “are sat” is wrong and “are sitting” is correct. Perhaps it is a regional thing or perhaps usage has changed (I still wince every time Rachel Riley say things like “times it by 2” rather than “multiply it by 2).
A bit of a struggle in places and the NW corner held out longest – we thought for ages that the definition in 1dn was ‘visits’ and for some reason didn’t see ‘Brahms’ on its own as short for ‘Brahms and Liszt’. As for the theme we were totally ignorant of it – but we began to wonder if there was a theme of chemical elements – a lot (but not all) of the across answers begin with two-letter chemical symbols: Ca in 8, Si in 12, As in 14 and so on – now there’s an idea!
Plenty to like, including SPIRAL, EPIGLOTTIS and EARTHMEN.
Thanks, Tees and B&J.
Thanks both. I am in agreement with Hovis@17 in the sat/sitting debate, and my persuasion would be to apply the same rule to a word with one extra letter being slang for excrement – it sounds even more incorrect in the shorter form (though I do accept no one never speaks proper no more)
You are right apart from my potential excuse that there’s a bit of a debate as to whether having ‘sat’ mean ‘seated’ is sanctioned through usage. And there really is a debate about this, as lots of people (the ones that never speak proper but get by somehow) like to say ‘we were sat at the table’.
A waiter can indeed sit you somewhere of course, and then you’re sat in a grammatically correct way, but ‘put on (specific) chairs’. At this point I usually open a nice grenache and watch Netflix.
At least no-one moaned about the theme, even after it was noticed 🙂
Thanks Tees and B&J. I found this much friendlier than todays’s Imogen and with many more smiles along the way too (‘rugged’, ‘feathery layer’, and some lovely surfaces, eg 3d, 25a).
Ann Robinson isn’t the first person I would turn to for definitive grammar advice.
Thanks Tees, that was worthwhile even though I failed at several. CARPETED, SNORKEL, INTERN, EPIGLOTTIS (great surface), BASSET, SAUCER, and HEATHEN — all were entertaining. Thanks B&J for the blog.