Independent on Sunday 1,791 by Tees

by

Sunday sees Tees strutting his stuff

Bit tricky in places with wordplay that isn’t trivial at all. Thanks Tees, I’ll be away when this is published so might not be around for corrections.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
9 PHNOM PENH
Boozer with French name, writer hot in Asian city (5,4)
PH – Public House, boozer & NOM – French for name & PEN – writer & H(ot)
10 MIVVI
Fruity ice lolly from MI5 and 6? (5)
I’d not heard of or remember them. M & I & V=5 & VI=6
11 CAPRI
Month cut short on cold island (5)
C(old) & most of APRI(L)
12 BARN DANCE
Prohibit canned nuts in country event (4,5)
BAR – prohibit & CANNED* nuts
13 MARLOWE
Kit the writer placed far down, loading horse (7)
LOW – down in MARE – horse
14 CARCASS
Body in vehicle about to join ship (7)
CAR – vehicle & C(irc)A – about & SS – ship
16 NOOSE
Trap quickly springs back — end of mouse (5)
SOON – reversed & (mous)E
18 LET
Obstruction encountered in Little Thurrock (3)
Hidden in littLE Thurrock
19 DRIFT
Democrat at fault reveals tendency (5)
D(emocrate) & RIFT fault
21 VISITOR
Sex position ordinary with Romeo’s guest (7)
VI – six – sex in Latin (a personal bugbear is Latin in crosswords) & SIT & O(rdinary) & R(omeo)
22 DRESDEN
Prepare without finishing and study in China (7)
Not the city but the china. Most of DRES(s) – prepare & DEN – study
24/28 YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS
Hands-free connection with this number? (3,2,4,2,7)
Def cum cryptic def with BANANAS coming in HANDS
26 RURAL
King meets important Russian banker in country (5)
R- rex, king & URAL Russian river or “banker” in crosswordese
27 GREEN
Place for putting vegetable — Chartreuse? (5)
Triple def
28
See 24
DOWN
1 SPACEMAN
Astronaut best among stars when rotated (8)
CAP – to best in NAMES – stars – all reversed
2 SNIPER
One shooting bird on river (6)
Where’s Pierre with his link? SNIPE – a bird & R(iver)
3 OMNIPOTENT
Almighty muddle in poem not finally relevant (10)
Muddled [IN POEM NOT]* & end of (relevan)T
4 PEBBLE
One seen on beach, footballer carrying two books (6)
2x B(ook) in PELE- a famous footballer M’lud
5 SHORT CUT
Quick way round two problems with electricity (5,3)
Double def, short and cut are both problems
6 AMID
Surrounded by morning papers (4)
AM – morning & ID – papers
7 SVENGALI
Old Bob manipulated leaving sinister controller (8)
S(hilling) – “Old Bob” & a manipulated LEAVING*
8 BICEPS
Contractor told to purchase mushrooms (6)
Muscles are contactors so it sounds like BUY & CEPS – type of mushroom
15 RED HERRING
Scarlet woman’s cabal causing diversion (3,7)
RED & HER & RING – cabal
17 OBSESSED
Infatuated old queen entertaining second journalist (8)
O(ld) & S(econd) in BESS – old queen & ED – journalist
18 LORRAINE
Whence one cross, in traditional tales, drops from sky (8)
RAIN inside LORE – tales
20 TUNELESS
Unlucky for being abandoned? That’s harsh! (8)
FOR removed from (for)TUNELESS
21 VOYAGE
Entering Shetland bay German alas makes return journey (6)
G(erman) & AY – alas reversed inside VOE – an inlet in Shetland. We all knew that didn’t we??
22 DWEEBS
Detective Sergeant arresting little British idiots (6)
WEE – little & B(ritish) all in D.S.
23 DARING
Audacious favourite losing heart (6)
Middle missing from DAR(L)ING
25 ETNA
Sicilian eminence wants petunia in prime locations (4)
Ahh prime numbers again. 2nd 3rd, 5th and 7th letters of pETuNiA

16 comments on “Independent on Sunday 1,791 by Tees”

  1. All typos are deliberate honest, I’m on my phone so can’t correct and in a field with very little signal. Anyway over to you to correct it all.

  2. 8d BICEPS – Nice to see a Latin singular used correctly – unlike here at 6a.
    You could still get MIVVIs 20 years ago – I don’t know about now.
    Thanks T&F

  5. Good to be reminded of 24/28A, a little ditty that I used to sing to myself yonks ago.
    Likewise Mivvi, my dear old Mum’s favourite ice cream, so thanks Tees and Flashling.

  7. Lovely crossword which I found friendlier on the RH.side. long time since I had a 10a but I’d really like one now

    Many thanks to Tees and Flashling

  8. With some of the unusual solutions – PHNOM PENH, SVENGALI and MIVVI in particular – I wondered if there was a theme to force them upon the setter but I can spot nothing. BARN DANCE, NOOSE, VISITOR, YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS, SPACEMAN, SNIPER, PEBBLE, RED HERRING and VOYAGE were my favourites. Sullum VOE is the location of one of the UK’s major oil terminals so the Shetland word was not unknown to me. My only raised eyebrow in an otherwise excellent puzzle is GREEN for vegetable: I once tried to clue that and was knocked back on the basis that one only encounters vegetables as GREENS in the plural which Chambers confirms. Irritating and maybe illogical but there it is.

    Thanks Tees and flashling

  10. Thanks both. A number of points of learning here, which I know I should always welcome e.g. LORRAINE cross, chartreuse as a colour rather than a drink, and almost all so well clued to take me to the right answer despite my ignorance. Exclude VOYAGE from that whereby I neither knew the Shetland bay, not that ‘ay’ means ‘alas’. YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS appears to lack a clear direction to the ‘yes’ element, but I guess if you don’t know the song, you’re not quickly getting to the solution anyway; at least a recent trip to Costa Rica equipped me with knowledge of the ‘hands’ piece.

  11. Enjoyable crossword today, lots of favourites: mivvi (it’s hot and muggy here today) so would be lovely. Thanks to Tees and Flashling,

  12. Thanks Tees. I thought this was on the gentle side for a Tees crossword but just as clever as his more challenging stuff. I had many favourites including BARN DANCE, NOOSE (great surface), DRIFT, RURAL, SNIPER, BICEPS, RED HERRING, and DARING. I missed the NHO MIVVI and I learned that ‘Old Bob’ = S. Thanks flashling for the blog.

  13. Not sure why everyone’s thanking Tees. The preamble makes it clear that he’s Tess on Sundays and we should all respect that.

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