Independent 11,434/Tees

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I have not seen Tees in my regular Monday Indy blogging spot for a while. This one has the usual wide range of subject matter to puzzle and entertain.

Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

Across

8 River runs round place men scout
EXPLORER
An insertion of PL and OR for Other Ranks in EXE and R. The insertion indicator is ’round’.

9 Stupid wife seen in white cotton endlessly
DIMWIT
An insertion of W in DIMIT[Y]. The insertion indicator is ‘seen in’. DIMWIT is a noun, and most speakers would use ‘stupid’ as an adjective; but my Chambers gives the latter as a noun too, so all is well.

10 First shows from Busted going awry
DEBUTS
(BUSTED)* Busted are an English pop-punk band from Southend-on-Sea, your honour.

11 Joke about new light in criminal haunt
GANGLAND
An insertion of N in GAG, followed by LAND. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.

12 Metal having variable edge — not hard
ZINC
A charade of Z for the mathematical ‘variable’ and INC[H].

13 Red Queen’s drink
BLOODY MARY
A charade of BLOODY and MARY. Some folk think that the cocktail got its name from Mary Tudor, whose epithet this was, among the Protestants of England at the time, at least.

15 British in competition providing support
BRACING
A charade of B and RACING.

16 Learner breaks cover to give spectacular performance
BLINDER
An insertion of L in BINDER. The insertion indicator is ‘breaks’.

19 Dandies supplied with Douro wine — deadly pursuit for some
BLOOD SPORT
A charade of BLOODS and PORT.

21 Inspired Darwish pens literary collection
EDDA
Hidden in InspirED DArwish. The EDDA is a collection of old Norse poems.

22/3 Deathly reminder left with estate in Usk somehow peeved surgeon
SKULL AND CROSSBONES
An insertion of L and LAND in (USK)* and CROSS BONES. The insertion indicator is ‘in’; the anagrind is ‘somehow’.

24 Explosive in a car plant
ARNICA
(IN A CAR)*

25 Look good next to Pierce
GLANCE
A charade of G and LANCE.

26 Flair shown in sitar playing attempt
ARTISTRY
A charade of (SITAR)* and TRY.

Down

1 Face right, removing top outside Brazilian city
EXTERIOR
An insertion of RIO in [D] EXTER. The insertion indicator is ‘outside’. DEXTER is a heraldic term for ‘right [hand side]’; its counterpart is SINISTER. Which is why left-handed people feel like an oppressed minority: while we right-handers are dextrous, you are sinister. Get over yourselves.

2 Tribe keeping noisy bats — 500 needed in fantastic place
CLOUD CUCKOO LAND
An insertion of LOUD and CUCKOO in CLAN, followed by D for the Roman numeral for ‘500’. The insertion indicator is ‘keeping’.

4 Fiery monster devouring old horse soldier
DRAGOON
An insertion of O in DRAGON. The insertion indicator is ‘devouring’.

5 Wystan Hugh leaves uniform in Yemeni city
ADEN
The personage in question is Wystan Hugh AUDEN, known universally as WH Auden. So it’s A[U]DEN.

6 Saint Mark fully took offence at lawman’s intolerance
SMALL-MINDEDNESS
A long charade: of S, M for the old currency ‘Mark’, ALL, MINDED and NESS. The final particle is referring to Eliot NESS, the US Prohibition agent known for his attempts to bring down Al Capone. You go some places in a Tees puzzle, don’t you?

7 Italian man grins strangely — oxygen restricted
SIGNOR
An insertion of O in (GRINS)* The insertion indicator is ‘restricted’ and the anagrind is ‘strangely’.

14 Poet embracing one Latvian amateur
DILETTANTE
An insertion of I LETT in DANTE. The insertion indicator is ’embracing’.

17 Complain after object placed with duck — plum stone?
ENDOCARP
A charade of END, O and CARP. Some botany thrown in for good measure.  The question mark is there because it’s a definition by example.

18 Frosty relations? Liberal enters dispute about fishing limits
COLD WAR
An insertion of L in COD WAR. The insertion indicator is ‘enters’. The Cod War was a long-running dispute from the 1950s to the 1970s between Britain and Iceland over fishing rights.

20 Similar to Spenser, Kelly moving around island
LIKELY
An insertion of I in (KELLY)* The insertion indicator is ‘around’ and the anagrind is ‘moving’. Edmund Spenser (1553-1599), of Faerie Queene fame, wrote in deliberately archaic language to relate his work with medieval literature and, particularly, Chaucer’s works. So for Spenser, LIKELY would not have had its modern meaning of ‘probable’, but of ‘similar’.

23 Top copy with illiterate signature?
APEX
A charade of APE and X, the mark made in times gone by by folk who needed to sign things but weren’t able to write.

Many thanks to Tees for the start to the Indy week.

20 comments on “Independent 11,434/Tees”

  2. Beaten by a couple of these at the end. Nho ENDOCARP or DIMIT(y) and – mya bad – did not spot ‘Explosive’ as an anagrind in ARNICA which vaguely rings a bell but which I certainly didn’t think of. And LIKELY is the first time I have encountered a Spenserian indicator so I had no idea what was going on! Oh, and Eliot NESS is also a nho so went in as a bung n shrug.

    Those aside, an enjoyable romp through a wide range of subjects as Pierre notes. Favourites included EXPLORER, BRACING, BLOOD SPORT, ARTISTRY, DRAGOON and COLD WAR. Not necessary for the solve but nice to learn about Mahmoud Darwish and it makes the surface of EDDA that much better in hindsight.

    Thanks Tees and Pierre

  3. I thought your explanation for 20d was the most likely. I couldn’t pick up any examples online to confirm it. Turns out it was. I solved the eastern hemisphere at a good clip but the other took longer. Liked the reference to dexter in 1d and appreciated your comments around it. COLD WAR was loi when it was suddenly very obvious. Favourite is SKULL AND CROSSBONES because it was fun to solve when I had some crossers and the penny dropped. Thanks Pierre and Tees.

  4. Sofamore@3
    What does LIKELY mean in this poem (I am not sure. Want to know.)?

    “For love is a celestial harmony
    Of likely hearts compos’d of stars’ concent,
    Which join together in sweet sympathy,
    To work each other’s joy and true content,
    Which they have harbour’d since their first descent
    Out of their heavenly bowers, where they did see
    And know each other here belov’d to be.”
    ? Edmund Spenser

  5. Yes, KVa @4, that’s perfect. The meaning is similar, the same, not probably. Spenser’s An Hymn In Honour Of Beauty.

  7. Wiktionary quotes those lines (with Spenser’s original spellings, and without an apostrophe)
    ‘7 (obsolete) Similar; like; alike.
    1596, Edmund Spenser, An Hymne in Honour of Beautie “For love is a celestiall harmonie Of likely harts composed of starres concent”‘
    Is Pierce another poet in 25a?

  8. Like Pierre, I really enjoy the variety and breadth of Tees’ clues.

    I had ticks for EXPLORER (I enjoyed the construction and surface), DEBUTS (enjoyed your comment, Pierre), EXTERIOR, SMALLMINDEDNESS (I remember Eliot Ness from the TV programme ‘The Untouchables’ in the early 60s), ENDOCARP (one of my favourite duck recipes includes plums) …

    … and LIKELY, for the Spenserian indicator, which PostMark may, in fact, have encountered before and forgotten but I remembered, because it was in a Guardian Boatman puzzle that I blogged about three years ago: ‘Spenser’s miscalled on return of serve (7)’.
    https://www.fifteensquared.net/2020/07/18/guardian-saturday-puzzle-28183-boatman/

    Many thanks to Tees for an interesting and entertaining puzzle and to Pierre for a blog to match.

  9. Puzzled by concent in both versions – thought it might be a typo for consent or concert – but it’s:
    ‘Noun – concent (countable and uncountable, plural concents) – (archaic, music) harmony’
    Maybe “Saint Mark” in 6d a reference to Keats?

  10. I had no chance whatever of knowing or guessing the references to Elliot Ness and Spenser, and couldn’t be bothered to research them as the answers were obvious and the puzzle much enjoyed, so no matter. Thanks Tees and Pierre.

  12. I really enjoyed teasing this out, just about my sweet spot for difficulty though I did resort to one or two bung ins.
    In a fine selection my favourite was COLD WAR.
    Many thanks to Tees and Pierre.

  13. Thanks, Tees and Pierre.

    Like Eileen, I share our blogger’s view that this was an enjoyable puzzle with a good variety of clues, and plenty of wit. Indications of Spenserisms are something I associate more with Azed than daily cryptics, but I do remember the Boatman one Eileen mentions. I appreciate Tees’ attention to such details and indeed the general precision and neatness of his clueing, which makes them enjoyable to solve, never frustrating.

  15. Thanks both. Similar issues (in parsing only) to those mentioned by PostMark@2 and would add in EDDA which I checked online and didn’t initially get a particularly encouraging response. The peeved surgeon in SKULL AND CROSSBONES worked well for me. The Spenser reference seems very niche, but can probably be justified as it makes an otherwise straightforward anagram more puzzling – until I spotted the spelling, I was more thinking Frank Spencer, which probably betrays my intellectual level

  16. Thanks Tees, it’s always a joy to solve your crosswords. I did fail with BLINDER so I didn’t have a “spectacular performance” but I liked clues such as EXPLORER, GLANCE, SMALL-MINDEDNESS, DILETTANTE, and APEX. I was pleased to learn a new word — ENDOCARP — which became evident through the wordplay. There were bits and pieces I couldn’t parse e.g. Spenser, dimity, and Wystan Hugh so thanks Pierre for explaining.

  17. Eileen @8: I don’t recall that puzzle. I note that a Mark (which was my pseudonym back then) did comment about Spencer Gore, the original Wimbledon winner, but I don’t believe that was me. There were more than one Mark around on occasion which did lead to confusion; part of the reason for the name change.

  18. Sorry PostMark @17 – I had it in my head that that was about the time (during lockdown?) that you joined 15². I didn’t trawl through all the (76) comments this morning to see if you’d commented. 😉

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