As always, a carefully constructed and entertaining puzzle from Tees.
A few UK references that might have held up overseas solvers, and a sprinkling of French knowledge required; but other than that, my only other observation is that it’s a pangram.
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 One retrieving game: a new Man City player
GUNDOGAN
A charade of GUNDOG, A and N gives you Ílkay Gündogan, the German-born Manchester City captain. Far too much footy in the Indy. I’ve been mithering about it for ages. Come on you In-ger-land.
5 Little woman with bottle full of spirit?
JOVIAL
A charade of JO and VIAL. Jo was one of the protagonists in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
9 Demand made in divorce court case?
EXACTION
Whimsically, a divorce court case might be considered an EX ACTION. Or soon to be EX, anyway.
10 Stimulate understanding for an audience
INCITE
A homophone (‘for an audience’) of INSIGHT.
12 Last pope and his troubled role in the Church
APOSTLESHIP
(LAST POPE HIS)* with ‘troubled’ as the anagrind.
15 Ace team needs order in principle
AXIOM
A charade of A, XI for ‘team’ and OM for Order of Merit.
17 Pop star one entering auditorium successfully
HALLIWELL
An insertion of I and HALL and WELL. The insertion indicator is ‘entering’. Geri HALLIWELL is better known as Ginger Spice.
18 Jet stream in northern location
BLACKBURN
A charade of BLACK and BURN.
19 Far side of the lake is spooky
EERIE
A charade of E for the final letter (‘far side’) of ‘the’ and ERIE.
20 School crooner bored by the French director
SCHLESINGER
An insertion of LE for one of the words in French for ‘the’ in SCH and SINGER. The insertion indicator is ‘bored by’.
24 More work‘s work one placed in out-tray occasionally
UTOPIA
An insertion of OP and I in UTA for the even letters of oUtTrAy. Thomas More wrote Utopia.
25 One Tibetan animal in rite cooked as food
TERIYAKI
An insertion of I YAK in (RITE)* The anagrind is ‘cooked’ and the insertion indicator is ‘in’. I would say TERIYAKI is more a cooking technique, or perhaps a sauce, than a ‘food’.
26 Score from left in play when ball’s thrown out?
TWENTY
Tees is asking you to remove the O (‘a ball’) from TOY and insert WENT into that. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
27 Voracious French FA in time exploit backing
ESURIENT
An insertion of RIEN in T and USE reversed. The reversal indicator is ‘backing’; the insertion indicator is ‘in’. RIEN means ‘nothing’ in French, so cryptically French F**k All.
Down
1 Star from Greece with character there above dress circle
GRETA GARBO
A charade of GR, ETA for the Greek letter, GARB and O.
2 American with Pole in for training beat Italian
NEAPOLITAN
(A POLE IN)* and TAN. The anagrind is ‘for training’.
3 Maybe G8 leaders to end talks after month
OCTET
A charade of OCT and ET for the initial letters of ‘end’ and ‘talks’.
4 Answer for alien’s reserved but planned in advance
AFORETHOUGHT
A charade of A, FOR and THOUGH inserted into ET. The insertion indicator is ‘reserved’.
6 1-0 up: hard supporter’s throttled Reds fan?
OENOPHILE
A reversal of ONE O and H inserted into PILE. The reversal indicator is ‘up’ and the insertion indicator is ‘throttled’.
7 Bird single for second time
IBIS
A charade of I and BIS and the opportunity for the obligatory Pierre bird link. So many to choose from, but this one is the crested ibis, with its striking red head. Its Linnaean name, Nipponia nippon, will give you a hint that it’s also called the Japanese crested ibis.
8 Seconds in plenty with beef put in place
LIEU
A charade of the second letters of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth words of the clue. A French word, most commonly heard in the expression in lieu of, or a lieu day, and pronounced like the lavatory.
11 Heard Pilsner interfered with randy men
PHILANDERERS
(HEARD PILSNER)* with ‘interfered with’ as the anagrind.
13 Decline note taken round Russian city once denied power
RETROGRADE
An insertion of [P]ETROGRAD in RE for the second note of the tonic sol-fa. The insertion indicator is ‘taken round’.
14 Maths expert‘s lager tab is recalculated
ALGEBRAIST
(LAGER TAB IS)* with ‘is recalculated’ as the anagrind.
16 Rough and ready fashion garment
MAKESHIFT
A charade of MAKE and SHIFT.
21 Here in Paris monarch is more aloof
ICIER
Plenty of French words getting an outing ce matin. A charade of ICI for the French word for ‘here’ and ER for her late Maj.
22 Still avoiding eastern desert
QUIT
QUI[E]T
23 Area of filled pizza having no calories
ZONE
[CAL]ZONE
Many thanks to Tees for this Sunday’s puzzle.
Morning Pierre, you were up early.
Re TERIYAKI Collins has the adjective for the cooking style, and the noun for the dish so named.
Enjoyed the gun dog. He could be going walkies if they don’t beat Spain today.
I spotted the pangram towards the end and it helped in getting QUIT which was last but one. GK failed me with GUNDOGAN – I even clocked the possibility of the first 6 letters but tried no further as I couldn’t conceive of such a word! JOVIAL, APOSTLESHIP, BLACKBURN, ESURIENT (thank you Monty Python), OCTET, OENOPHILE, ALGEBRAIST and PHILANDERS were favourites today. Some tough words in there and I didn’t parse either NEAPOLITAN or the BIS element of IBIS which is a trick I’ve missed before!
Thanks Tees and Pierre
Or even (sweet) Fanny Adams at 27A! ALGEBRAIST at 14D is a clumsy word, likely to be pronounced Algie Braste – one would have thought ‘algebrist’ would do but not in any dictionary I have. I failed in the SW corner due to running out of time, otherwise very nice, so thanks Tees and Pierre.
The usual fine crossword from Tees. The only thing I didn’t know was the footballer
Thanks very much to Tees and Pierre
I don’t know why I found this so hard. I wrongly assumed that Tees wouldn’t use Man City player as a definition but I think the clue is worthy of the slight obscurity.
As a lifelong City fan GUNDOGAN has to be my favourite although like Petert I was surprised a player was used as a definition rather than part of the wordplay. Thought GRETA GARBOT was particularly clever too.
Can’t claim an unaided finish (far from it) but did enjoy the tussle.
Thanks Tees and Pierre.
Never heard of GUNDOGAN but it was easily got from wordplay once we had a few crossers. We needed a wordfinder for OENOPHILE (failed to see reds = wines, although we don’t usually miss that trick). There were several answers we couldn’t parse, includong ZONE (which did at least complete the pangram for us). We liked UTOPIA and RETROGRADE.
Thanks to Tees for the challenge and to Pierre for the blog and bird link.
Thanks Tees, I always enjoy your crosswords especially when I’m able to figure out clues like GUNDOGAN and HALLIWELL despite being unfamiliar with those aspects of Brit life. Spotting the pangram in progress allowed me to solve JOVIAL since I was missing the J and the V. My favourite clues included SCHLESINGER, the elegant QUIT, and PHILANDERERS because I was initially misled by “heard” which had me certain that a homophone was in the works. I could not parse the convoluted ESURIENT or the clever LIEU so thanks Pierre for the blog.
Hello Pierre et al, many thanks for comments and blog.
Cheers
Ts
A day late to this but am chuffed to bits with an unaided finish albeit with 3 not properly parsed. Last in was LIEU & it took an age for the penny to drop. Top notch crossword – loved GUNDOGAN & SCHLESINGER but my runaway favourite was OENOPHILE.
Thanks both.