I particularly enjoyed this offering from Tees. But then I would, wouldn’t I?
I have a namecheck in 3dn, a reference to a French author who I’m moderately familiar with in 22ac, and a reference to the beautiful game and the recent successes of the women’s national team to boot. Oh, and a cricket-themed clue in 6dn. What’s not to like?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
9 Vicar mistakenly engaging female spy creates din
CHARIVARI
An insertion of HARI in (VICAR)* The insertion indicator is ‘engaging’ and the anagrind is ‘mistakenly’. The female spy is Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, better known as Mata Hari, and our US contributors might know the word better as SHIVAREE.
10 Where gladiators fought a long time back
ARENA
A reversal of AN ERA, and a cad.
11 Beginner in Trabant on notice to put foot down?
TREAD
A charade of T, RE and AD.
12 Writer one Romeo to pursue love in Slough
ISHERWOOD
A charade of I and R WOO inserted into SHED. The insertion indicator is ‘in’. Christopher ISHERWOOD (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986).
13 Great sliced sandwiches at Henley shindig?
REGATTA
An insertion of AT in (GREAT)* The insertion indicator is ‘sandwiches’ and the anagrind is ‘sliced’.
16 Keen listener gathering tips on grapevine
EAGER
An insertion of GE for the outside letters of ‘grapevine’ in EAR. The insertion indicator is ‘gathering’.
18 These characters in Všehrdy are very peculiar
ODD
Všehrdy is a village in the Czech Republic with only 200 inhabitants but a very useful combination of letters: VšEhRdY.
19 Boozing facility extremely grandiose — in Bibby Stockholm?
BARGE
A charade of BAR and GE for the outside letters of ‘grandiose’. For overseas solvers, the Bibby Stockholm is a pre-fabricated barge which is currently accommodating refugees seeking asylum in the UK.
21 England footballer from United in bliss having released book
LIONESS
An insertion of ONE in [B]LISS. The English Women’s football team is named the LIONESSES, following the men’s team nomenclature as LIONS. Three Lions on my Shirt … and all that. They were runners-up in the recent World Cup and are managed by 4/14.
22 21A’s content with company — French dramatist
IONESCO
A charade of [L]IONES[S] and CO. Only a setter with broad interests like the current one could link women’s football and a French author whose works covered surrealism and absurdism (two subjects which are dear to Tees’ heart, come to think of it).
24 Evil creature walkin’ painfully without energy
HOBGOBLIN
An insertion of GO in HOBBLIN’. The insertion indicator is ‘without’.
26 Polynesian descendant, international, to wander around
MAORI
A reversal of I ROAM.
27 Sailor in bunk to sleep as birds do
ROOST
An insertion of OS for Ordinary Seaman in ROT. The insertion indicator is ‘in’. ‘That last Tees’ puzzle was complete bunk/rot.’
28 Fight’s ending on a train, crook shooting American!
TARANTINO
A charade of T for the last letter of ‘fight’ and (ON A TRAIN)* with ‘crook’ as the anagrind. Quentin TARANTINO shot lots of films, of course.
Down
1 Sons put to bed, idle: how one might get off?
SCOT-FREE
A charade of S, COT and FREE.
2 Ordered goods, worthless sort
BAD EGG
A charade of BADE and GG for two lots of ‘good’.
3 See Frenchman’s housing — secondary dwelling?
PIED-À-TERRE
An insertion of DATE in PIERRE, and a namecheck for which I thank the setter. The insertion indicator is ‘housing’. Might have seen this before, but I’ll still take it.
4/14 Anagram is in: we jumbled up the England coach!
SARINA WIEGMAN
(ANAGRAM IS IN WE)* with ‘jumbled up’ as the anagrind. The Dutchwoman is currently manager of the England women’s footie team and has won many plaudits for her management style and tactical nous. And all delivered in a language which is not her mother tongue.
5 No big spender — drunk with an old penny?
TIGHTWAD
A charade of TIGHT, W, A and D for denarius, the penny in the pre-decimal system that was superseded in February 1971.
6 Successive ducks power on breeze
PAIR
A charade of P and AIR. In cricket, if you are out for a duck (in other words, don’t trouble the scorers) twice in a four-innings match, then you are said to have bagged a PAIR.
7 Luther say putting key, for Tees, in Rolls-Royce?
REFORMER
An insertion of E for the musical key and FOR ME in RR. The insertion indicator is ‘putting … in’.
8 Hideaway under river in London borough
CAMDEN
A charade of CAM and DEN.
15 City boys infiltrating corrupt Met? See needle here
EMBANKMENT
An insertion of BANK MEN in (MET)* The insertion indicator is ‘infiltrating’ and the anagrind is ‘corrupt’. The reference is to Cleopatra’s Needle, which is situated on the Embankment in London.
17 Bible: is it unputdownable?
GOOD BOOK
A dd.
18 Single’s to be jittery about having dated
OBSOLETE
An insertion of SOLE in (TO BE)* The insertion indicator is ‘about’ and the anagrind is ‘jittery’.
20 One volume that’s sent up double-cross for Smiley?
EMOTICON
A reversal of I TOME followed by CON. The surface is referring to George Smiley, the spy creation of John le Carré.
21 Get traditional learning about a hotel in Asian city
LAHORE
An insertion of A and H for the phonetic alphabet ‘hotel’ in LORE. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
22 Slight annoyance shown about Gwen’s first number
IGNORE
An insertion of G and NO in IRE. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
23 Showing little interest, firm must accept contract’s termination
STOLID
An insertion of T in SOLID. The insertion indicator is ‘must accept’.
25 Bavarian prince managed out from Otranto?
OTTO
OT[RAN]TO Prince Otto was born on 27 April 1848, if you must know.
Many thanks to Tees for this Sunday’s puzzle.
Thanks Pierre and Tees.
Quite good.
Couldn’t parse EMBANKMENT and ISHERWOOD.
Likes
CHARIVARI
TARANTINO
SCOT FREE
REFORMER
LAHORE
I admit that I had to google the name of the Lionesses’ manager. Not a name I’m likely to remember for very long. On entering it, I noticed the letters of ‘manager’ are all there which seems appropriate. Despite the number of times it has cropped up, I struggle to remember CHARIVARI but the cryptic wording was enough to bring it back to mind.
BARGE – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/29/vanessa-redgrave-gifts-4000-to-bibby-stockholm-legal-fight-asylum-seekers
‘The Bibby Stockholm has been empty since 11 August when asylum seekers, who had been onboard for just four days, were evacuated after the discovery of deadly legionella bacteria.’
Hovis@2 – I entered MANAGER at 14a until EMBANKMENT proved me wrong.
CHARIVARI – derived from the Ancient Greek for “head” and “heavy”.
Lovely stuff, especially the ‘shooting American ‘
Many thanks to Tees and Pierre
Super puzzle. I do like the way Tees always covers a broad range of cultural references. Agree the link between LIONESS and IONESCO is very clever. Thanks, Tees and Pierre.
I, too, liked the connection between football and absurd drama. A great puzzle all round. Thanks both.
A fine puzzle, although I’d have thought Tees might have used the fact that SARINA WIEGMAN is an anagram of I WIN AS MANAGER.
Thanks Tees and Pierre
The clue for 11 bears a more than passing resemblance to the one clueing the same solution at 28A in Friday’s FT Neo. T/N must be in favour of recycling!
Re 7, I’ll use that one next time. I’m addicted to anagrams that have ‘anagram’ as part of the fodder, y’see. Also, in an otherwise superb blog, 11A is T/ RE/ AD, not T/ READ. Thanks Pierre — I did think of you when doing that one — and to all commenters.
Re 8, oh sh*t!
Very enjoyable indeed with too many top clues to list but I’ll mention EMBANKMENT for the pdm re the needle, GOOD BOOK and TARANTINO.
Many thanks Tees and Pierre
What crypticsue and Widdersbel said
and I’ll add a couple or so additional favourites: 9ac CHARIVARI, 13ac REGATTA, 15dn EMBANKMENT and 20dn EMOTICON – all wonderfully evocative surfaces.
Many thanks to Tees and to Pierre – right up your street, indeed (shame about the missing bird, if you don’t count the ducks).
Thanks Tees, good stuff as expected. I liked CHARIVARI (Tees is great at cluing unusual words in a way where average solvers have a shot at success), REGATTA, HOBGOBLIN, the crossword staple TARANTINO, and REFORMER. I did look up SARINA WIEGMAN to confirm my guess as such knowledge lies beyond my orbit. Thanks Pierre for the blog as I had bits and pieces I couldn’t parse.
Lovely Tees puzzle for a Sunday. Especially liked BAD EGG, PIED-A-TERRE & the footie ones. Thanks Tees and Pierre.
Thanks both. A little fatigued today which I blame for struggling more than perhaps I should, eventually rescuing SARINA WIEGMAN from a brain file labelled ‘don’t bother’ – incidentally the ‘I win as manager’ anagram was used by Methuselah just under a year ago
Good job I didn’t then. Swan in a mirage is next.
We tto had to google to get 4/14. Otherwise all straightforward and enjoyable. Thanks, Tees and Pierre.
‘too’ not ‘tto’