So it’s Wire and myself to get the Indy week rolling, well that was fun.
OK as is customary it was very very tricky in places for me. I notice there’s a bit of a mini theme of factional disputes – Cream Teas – Brexit, there may be others I’ve not thought of. Not much else no nina I can see nor a pangram just a quite challenging crossword.
Nice start and an all in one or &lit as we knew it back in the day. (Dra)B (regin)E & D(octo)R & EST(ablished)
SO (really) and I in VET – check
IMPORT & UNE, it’s of no import to me
Bridging between mechaniC HAS Manufatured
U(niversity) removed from D(u)RESS
INN – tavern & O – zero & VAT & an exposed (t)OR(y)
This could be A DAM SALE
RAN inside CIA
A SCAR is a cliff & the covers of C(ompil)E
M(ass) inside CREATE – design & A(rea)
The middle – essential bit removed, expired from UN(c)LE & ASHES – remains
2 x R(ook) around ARE from the clue itself
F(ellow) & OGRE with the middle letters reorganised
FAIR – just & D(aughter) removed from IN(d)IAN
SEPT(ember) & unbandaged (m)UM(s)
Hidden reversed – rotated -in eacH SILO BAsically
A Venetian blind fitter could be a BLIND MAN & the S & BUFF for fit
Top of T(ree) inserted in PAIRED* off. Diptera are flies basically
Ah the old joke – what’s a Grecian Urn? A few euros now
Coo now this is tricky, well to me anyway. a RIB could be a relic of an old saint say inside THULE, Thule was to ancient Greeks etc the far north lands. But you all knew that didn’t you?
Rick STEIN is a well known fish chef to UK viewers & possessive S
VICE – depravity & all reversed [AS – while REV(erand)]
LAST for continue inside feeding EIN – German “A”
[ARMENIAN CHART]* inaccurately. Well abyss is where abysmal comes from after all
RAMEN – noodles inside wild CATS*
Cor Wire is trying to stir up more factions here too. Where to put the customs barriers between the UK and the EU in the Irish Sea or mainland Ireland is causing quite a problem at present
(tibi)A & (los)T & LARGE – strapping, very big
Alternate letters of ThEy’Re & MINI – very small
Ooh I’m not getting involved in this one – cream or jam first in cream teas – a storm in a tea cup as it were between Devon and Cornwall
You have O for egg being sat on in a down clue by a short RHIN(e)
Don’t do the Indy, but after your blog for Everyman yesterday just wanted to say thanks for darkening the green. Much easier to read!
Glad to hear it Crispy.
Lovely stuff from Wire. Managed to almost complete. Although I knew THULE, I didn’t know THURIBLE and failed to get it without a word fit. Had to guess STEIN as I didn’t know the chef. JUSTINIAN was another unknown but very easy to get. Great start to the week.
Whilst solving this, noting ‘The Jam’ as a group, I couldn’t help thinking about ‘Cream’ also being a group and there was also ‘Bread’ and ‘Marmalade’ and then I started to feel really hungry.
Thanks, Wire and flashling!
Great puzzle. The blog is quite nicely done. Those tongue-in-cheek observations add a special flavour to the blog.
BED REST, ADAMS ALE, FORGE and THURIBLE are my picks.
Not an easy start to the week. Despite vaguely remembering THULE, I couldn’t work out that THURIBLE thingy, though I see that we have had it somewhere before. Took almost as long on 1d, as I’d forgotten the ‘fit’ sense of BUFF. DURESS for ‘Imprisonment’ was also new.
I liked BED REST, even if it has fallen out of favour as a ‘Drab regime’ these days.
Thanks to Wire and flashling
I did like the French badger.I liked just about all of them. Monday needs a bit of spice
And I hope Wire and Flashing will be releasing an album soon.
On an Indie label of course
An enjoyable challenge which didn’t take us too long. We knew about Thule, but we needed Google to remind us of a few chefs. ADAM’S ALE, THURIBLE, ELASTIN and TERMINI were our favourites.
Thanks, Wire and Flashling.
Thanks both. Solved THURIBLE only following some wild letter guessing – BLINDMANS BUFF was much more my level, owing solely to the old joke about the blind man from the village calling while the lady of the house is taking a bath
Lovely stuff. Thanks to Wire for the entertainment, flashling for the blog and Hovis @4 and copmus @7 for making me laugh.
Thanks to all who have posted and to flashling for the entertaining blog (a double act? Maybe copmus@7 has hit on something there).
TFO@9 : that is exactly what I had in mind when writing the clue, although my version at school started with ‘Two nuns are in the bath and the doorbell goes … ‘. When I started telling this one to Mrs Wire just now she interjected with ‘Where’s the soap … ‘, which of course is a different joke.
Adams ale was new to us and was loi. Thurible luckily guessable from the rest of the clue.