A good challenge from Tees today, although there were one or two clues that we struggled with and some new words to check out.
We had come across the Gods in 10ac before (but only in crossword land) so that one went in fairly easily.
We’re obviously not ‘London’ enough to recognise the abbreviated rhyming slang in 22ac, but that was no hindrance to solving the clue.
Two letter words like the ‘soul’ in 25ac must be very useful to setters, so we’re really surprised we can’t recall having come across this one before.
Given that Joyce is a keen gardener, it was perhaps also surprising that we hadn’t come across 18d before, but the answer was very clear from the wordplay.
| Across | ||
| 1 | See 17 | |
| 9 | Throne to supply Debrett’s ultimate in succession (2,3,4) | |
| ON THE TROT | An anagram of THRONE TO (anagrind is ‘supply’) with T (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of ‘Debrett’) inside | |
| 10 | Gods above initially get up towards West (5) | |
| AESIR | A (first letter or ‘initial’ of ‘above’) + RISE (get up) reversed or ‘towards West’ in an across clue | |
| 11 | Leader to advise duke about campaign medal (5) | |
| AWARD | A (first letter or ‘leader’ of ‘advise’) D (duke) around WAR (campaign) | |
| 12 | Dotty admits her work critical of industrial society (4,5) | |
| HARD TIMES | An anagram of ADMITS HER – anagrind is ‘dotty’ | |
| 13 | Lively function packed – one left out (8) | |
| EVENTFUL | EVENT (function) FUL |
|
| 14 | Edward going round pub that’s preserved (6) | |
| TINNED | TED (Edward) round INN (pub) | |
| 17/1 | Poet’s battle with religious cell heartens dear French actor (6,14) | |
| ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER | ARNOLD’S (poet’s) + WAR (battle) ZEN (religious) EGG (cell) in or ‘heartening’ CHER (‘dear’ in French) | |
| 19 | Vessel brings William III to prison (8) | |
| BILLYCAN | BILLY (William III) CAN (prison) | |
| 22 | Nothing stops Le Pen, the devious dog! (9) | |
| TELEPHONE | O (nothing) in or ‘stopping’ an anagram of LE PEN THE – anagrind is ‘devious’. We’ve always thought that the Cockney rhyming slang for telephone was ‘dog and bone’ – not just ‘dog’, but we’re probably just too provincial | |
| 24 | Opponents at table take action to get result (5) | |
| ENSUE | E N (East and North – opponents at a Bridge table) SUE (take action) | |
| 25 | Strange soul rhythm (5) | |
| RUMBA | RUM (strange) BA (soul) – a new one for us! | |
| 26 | Compilers close to traditional rule are fully advised (4,5) | |
| WELL AWARE | WE (compilers) L (last letter or ‘close’ to ‘traditional’) LAW (rule) ARE | |
| 27 | Business meeting might disintegrate rapidly (5,9) | |
| POWER BREAKFAST | POWER (might) BREAK (disintegrate) FAST (rapidly) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Physical attack after toerags rigged accumulator (7,7) | |
| STORAGE BATTERY | BATTERY (physical attack) after an anagram of TOERAGS – anagrind is ‘rigged’ | |
| 2 | Fast-selling item? Fish eating up to ton? (3,4) | |
| HOT CAKE | HAKE (fish) round or ‘eating’ TO reversed or ‘up’ C (one hundred –ton) | |
| 3 | Lad at once shot based on casual accounts (9) | |
| ANECDOTAL | An anagram of LAD AT ONCE – anagrind is ‘shot’ | |
| 4 | Oh, it’s time to attack (4,4) | |
| ZERO HOUR | ZERO (O) HOUR (h) | |
| 5 | Kind character (6) | |
| NATURE | Double definition | |
| 6 | Good and extravagant speech in general (5) | |
| GRANT | G (good) RANT (extravagant speech) – a reference to the American General Grant | |
| 7 | Monster beheaded chap in Kodak family (7) | |
| EASTMAN | ||
| 8 | Drunken client pestered one coming into office (9-5) | |
| PRESIDENT-ELECT | An anagram of CLIENT PESTERED – anagrind is ‘drunken’ | |
| 15 | Hostile graduate in stream creates 17 1’s catchphrase (3,2,4) | |
| I’LL BE BACK | ILL (hostile) + BA (graduate) in BECK (stream) | |
| 16 | One defamed in fib about most admired girl (8) | |
| LIBELLEE | LIE (fib) around BELLE (most admired girl) | |
| 18 | Flower job mule necessarily gives up (7) | |
| NELUMBO | Hidden (‘given up’) and reversed (‘up’) in jOB MULE Necessarily – another new one for us | |
| 20 | Starch idiot put into sparkling wine (7) | |
| CASSAVA | ASS (idiot) ‘put into’ CAVA (sparkling wine) | |
| 21 | Snare firm with error initially made in books (6) | |
| COBWEB | CO (company – firm) + W E (first or initial letters of ‘with error’) in B B (books) | |
| 23 | Fitness expert demands silence (5) | |
| PEACE | Someone who is an ACE at PE would be a ‘fitness expert’ | |
I enjoyed this immensely, especially after having been comprehensively beaten by Boatman’s unique style over in the G. Really good wordplay as always from Tees and all fair and gettable.
In my many years of working in London trading rooms (as an alien Yorkshireman) which featured plenty of both traditional and creative/nouveau CRS, only the first component (not the rhyme) is used, eg “Can’t you see I’m on the dog?” “I’m skint, can you lend me an Ayrton?” etc.
Thanks to Tees, B&J
I liked “dog” too.rather fine puzzle really. Thanks Tees and BJ
Cracking stuff from Tees. Very well pitched for a Thursday. Some tough words and clues, but all fair. I loved POWER BREAKFAST.
Thanks to S & B/J
I was left with a few at the end that I couldn’t see, and didn’t help myself by being unable to get the actor till late on (there are a lot of actors …)
But as always with Tees, fairly clued and some interesting new words.
I worked for Eastman Kodak for a good while, so that was my first one in. The Linda McCartney story has been an urban myth for many a year. As you say, plus ça change …
Thanks all three.
The first time ‘Schwarzenegger’ has been clued in a cryptic, let alone with his first name too? Superb.
Really odd starting this. Had a few minutes before going out and for what seemed like ten minutes I couldn’t get a single clue. Then something clicked and in the next five minutes I got the top half done. Getting 1d quickly helped. Took a bit longer to finish when I got back.
18dn I sort of guessed the answer but couldn’t be bothered to look it up and didn’t enter it till I got most of the crossing letters. Didn’t know the -ba part in 25ac, either.
Lovely stuff from Tees. In contrast to Dormouse, I found it very easy to get into and then gradually slowed as the setter turned the screws. Lots of nice stuff here with my faves being 12a and 22a both of which raised a smile with great surfaces. Thanks to Tees for the puzzle and to RR for the blog.
I also do the i crossword. Today’s is a Crosophile re-run from November 2012. One of the clues is “Accumulator anecdote about silver and a better with flutter”. Answer: STORAGE BATTERY. What are the chances …?
Geebs@8: And BATTERY also turned up in yesterday’s Guardian crossword. It’s obviously a signal of some sorts.