A Tees puzzle today so there are likely to be some historical and / or classical allusions.
It didn’t take long to find the first historical reference at 1 across. BRIAN BORU was a name I knew, but I can’t remember where I first came across him. Most likely it was in some folk music of Ireland.
With a grid like today’s I’m always on the lookout for a phrase or names in the unchecked letters of the top and bottom rows, but there is nothing there today.
Maimonides, mentioned in the clue at 16 across, is a historical character that I haven’t met before, but the crossing letters pointed clearly to him being a RABBI.
I liked the links between TRUSS and FROST at 11 and 14 across, but the names may be less well known to our overseas solvers.
I debated entering TURNED ON or TURNED IN at 5 down. I have gone for TURNED ON but I could well be wrong.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 9 |
Very naughty boy born our bastard High King (5,4) BRIAN BORU (BRIAN BORU [941-1014] was one of the High Kings of Ireland) BRIAN (reference the title character of the Monty Python film The Life of BRIAN where BRIAN‘s mother said ‘he is not The Messiah, he is a very naughty boy’) + B (born) + an anagram of (bastard) OUR BRIAN B ORU* |
| 10 |
Schweinehund one good to be released as stray? (2-3) PI-DOG (in Asia, an ownerless or half-wild dog) PIG (Schweine is the German for pig) + DOG (Hund is the German for dog), put together we get PIGDOG excluding (to be released) one of the Gs (good) We need to exclude the first G PI–DOG |
| 11 |
Tory woman in support for corporation? (5) TRUSS (reference Liz TRUSS [born 1975], Foreign Secretary in the current Conservative government; Tory woman) TRUSS (surgical appliance for retaining a reduced hernia; support for corporation, as a hernia usually occurs in the stomach or abdomen) double definition TRUSS |
| 12 |
Mother outside hotel beginning to enter drunk state (9) MINNESOTA (one of the 50 States of the United States of America) MA (mother) containing (outside) (INN [hotel] + E [first letter of {beginning to} ENTER] + SOT [a drunk]) M (INN E SOT) A |
| 13 |
Old poetry university dons do to death (7) OVERUSE (do something too much such that it loses its effect; do to death) O (old) + (U [university] contained in [dons] VERSE [poetry]) O VER (U) SE |
| 14 |
Non-oven-ready option: create vacancy for 11? (7) DEFROST (thaw out to make suitable for cooking) DE-FROST (I think this is a reference to Lord FROST who used to be Britain’s Brexit negotiator and Minister for Europe before he resigned in disagreement with the policies of his own government. I think Liz TRUSS [entry at 11 across] then took on Lord FROST‘s responsibilities. By resigning, FROST therefore created a vacancy for TRUSS) DEFROST |
|
16 |
Maimonides for one having no time to talk (5) RABBI (Maimonides [1138 – 1204] was medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher and RABBI who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars) RABBIT (talk a lot) excluding (having no) T (time) RABBI |
| 18 |
Wrong end of torpedo going off (3) SIN (a moral offence or wrong) SINK (torpedo) excluding (going off) the final letter (end of) K SIN |
| 19 |
Tasty plant in porridge, we hear (5) THYME (plant used in cooking; tasty plant) THYME (sounds like [we hear] TIME [a period in prison]) PORRIDGE is a slang term meaning to spend time in prison) THYME |
| 21 |
Soldier likely to drop — almost dead — reveals pattern PARAGON (model of excellence; pattern) PARA (a member of the PARAchute Regiment is likely to drop from a plane) + GONE (dead) excluding the final letter (almost) E PARA GON |
| 22 |
Trickery from the French in great deal (7) SLEIGHT (trickery) LE (one of the French forms of ‘the’) contained in (in) SIGHT (a great deal) S (LE) IGHT |
| 24 |
Find outskirts of Langley weird (9) UNEARTHLY (weird) UNEARTH (bring to light; find) + LY (first and last letters of [outskirts of] LANGLEY) UNEARTH LY |
| 26 |
Spotted scavenger bringing money into hot area (5) HYENA (carrion feeding carnivore. There is a species known as the spotted HYENA. Spotted scavenger) (H [hot] + A [area]) containing (bringing … into) YEN ([Japanese] money) H (YEN) A |
| 27 |
Limerick perhaps shortened to make an impression (5) COUNT (make an impression) COUNTY (Limerick is an Irish county) excluding the final letter (shortened) Y COUNT |
| 28 |
Getting fine: villain at last going straight? (9) NARROWING (getting fine [becoming narrower]) N (final letter of [at last] VILLAIN) + ARROWING (going straight) N ARROWING |
| Down | |
| 1 |
A club to set up church teaching? Proper shambles (8) ABATTOIR (slaughterhouse; SHAMBLES can also be defined as fleshmarkets or slaughterhouses) A + BAT (club) + TO + RI (Religious Instruction; church teaching) reversed (set up; down entry) A BAT TO IR< |
| 2 |
Tees had turned old instrument tone down (6) DILUTE (make less strong; tone down) I’D (I had; Tees [setter] had) reversed (turned) + LUTE (old stringed instrument) DI< LUTE |
| 3 |
Modest disrobing? (10) UNASSUMING (modest) UNASSUMING (probably a cryptic definition of taking off one’s clothes. ASSUME can be defined as ‘take on’, but do we assume our clothes?) UNASSUMING |
| 4 |
Red route south from Leeds seen in advance (6) COMMIE (communist; red) MI (the M1 motorway runs south from Leeds to London) contained in (seen in) COME (advance [towards]) COM (MI) E |
| 5 |
Got going? By implication no! (6,2) TURNED ON (switched on a machine on; got a machine going) TURNED ON (probably a reference to sexual attraction where one will not want to leave having been TURNED ON by another) TURNED ON I suppose the entry could be TURNED IN (retired to bed, so would not be leaving or going) but I think the entry is TURNED ON |
| 6 |
Son breaks mirror in domed recess (4) APSE (semicircular [domed] or polygonal recess,) S (son) contained in (in) APE (mimic; mirror) AP (S) E |
| 7 |
Philosophy old yogi developed around energy (8) IDEOLOGY (philosophy) Anagram of (developed) OLD YOGI containing (around) E (energy) ID (E) OLOGY* |
| 8 |
Shocked at gash that looks nasty (6) AGHAST (shocked) Anagram of (that looks nasty) AT GASH AGHAST* |
| 15 |
Huge great king around house being old man? (10) FATHERHOOD (being a dad [old man]) FAT (huge [great]) + (HEROD [example of a {great} king] containing [around] HO [house]) I am not sure whether the word ‘great’ is relevant to FAT or HEROD or both in the wordplay. FAT HER (HO) OD |
| 17 |
Hunks crossing ring road to get port or claret (8) BORDEAUX (a port city in France or a type of claret wine) BEAUX (sexually attractive men; hunks) containing (crossing) (O [ring shaped character] + RD [road]) B (O RD) EAUX |
| 18 |
Ignore symptom Spooner reports in good weather (8) SUNSHINE (good weather) Reverend Spooner might pronounce SUNSHINE as SHUN (ignore) SIGN (symptom) SUNSHINE |
| 20 |
Separate book top class won’t need (8) ESTRANGE (cut off or remove; separate) (BEST [top] + RANGE [class]) excluding (won’t need) B (book) EST RANGE |
| 21 |
Quiet snow leopard to attack as cats do (6) POUNCE (when cats attack they POUNCE) P (piano; quiet) + OUNCE (the snow leopard) P OUNCE |
| 22 |
Crime writer speaks about leading lady (6) SAYERS (reference Dorothy L SAYERS [1893 – 1957], English crime writer) SAYS (speaks) containing (about) ER (Elizabeth Regina; Queen; leading lady) SAY (ER) S |
| 23 |
Green part in smoke that rolls over tongue (6) GAELIC (language; tongue) (LEA [meadow; green] contained in [in] CIG [CIGarette; smoke]) all reversed (that rolls over) (G (AEL) IC)< |
| 25 |
Corrupt English teaching system (4) ROTE (mechanical memory, repetition or performance without regard to the meaning; teach system) ROT (corrupt) + E (English) ROT E |
I reckon 5d is just a play on “no” being turned on, on<.
Pretty sure that’s right Hovis – I was going to say the same thing.
Hovis @1
Flashling @ 2
Thanks – your suggestions make complete sense. it’s often the obvious that I miss when blogging
A bizarre but enjoyable mix of clues today, which is pretty much the norm for this setter.
I needed to look up BRIAN BORU and PI-DOG which were both new to me, and although SINKING is a likely effect of TORPEDOING, I don’t think they are synonymous.
COMMIE was my favourite.
Thanks to Tees for the fun and to Duncan for the review.
A typical Tees puzzle with lots to enjoy – I did know the ‘unknowns’ which probably helped
THanks to him and Duncan
I had no idea with 11a and 14a. Held me up somewhat. Not complaining – them’s the breaks. I searched a surname for Python’s Brian and got Cohen (haha). Two too many letters. I liked the parse for the shortened limerick although I entered ‘court’ at first. Favourite was the spoonerism. It was an easy one to pick up this time. Thanks for the blog and the tease.
I really struggled to get going with this and was prepared to admit defeat. But then a few downs dropped in fairly easily and I was able to build up from there. The link between 11A and 14A completely eluded me. Thanks Tees and Duncan.
Perhaps wide-ranging rather than ‘bizarre’ for me? And not a hair out of place, as usual.
I had the TURNED ON definition as in machinery, for example, and the NO as ‘ON having been turned’. I assume the great king refers to Herod, so the ‘huge’ must be for FAT, as Herod is Herod the Great in some histories.
Further to yesterday’s Qaos conversation, I see here an acceptable use of ‘dead’ for me today.
Yes the FROST/TRUSS connection (and PI-DOG too) was too obscure for me but otherwise enjoyable. Great surface for OVERUSE and UNASSUMING raised a smile. Thanks Tees and duncanshiell for the comprehensive blog.
Managed to solve this, though with TRUSS and DEFROST going in from the defs alone with no idea who the names were referring to. I did remember BRIAN BORU and PI-DOG from a long time ago in previous crosswords.
At the end, just managed to avoid entering “in” until I saw what was happening for TURNED ON. Favourite was ABATTOIR for ‘shambles’.
Thanks to Tees and Duncan
Thanks both. In hindsight an enjoyable struggle, though I was looking well beaten for quite a while. Only uncertainty is around the purpose of ‘part’ in 23
I’ve never enjoyed Monty Python but fortunately the name of the High King did ring a vague bell.
Tops for me were SLEIGHT & SAYERS.
Thanks to Tees and to Duncan for the review – like you, I dithered over the second word in 5d but didn’t see the sexual reference so opted for ‘IN’.
I liked the 14a idea of de-FROST-ing, related as it is here to the ‘oven-ready’ Brexit Johnson is forever blathering on about. I don’t imagine the Tories are receiving much in the way of donations from Tees mind you, as TRUSS also gets the treatment, via comparison, at 11a. Today of course the spotlight is on the poor Tory attitude towards refugees in general, and Ukrainian ones in particular. Proper shambles, as the puzzle has it.
Good stuff, thanks both.
In pedant mode (a) ‘schweinehund’ isn’t a word in German, and (b) ‘Schweine’ means ‘pigs’, so the result of the clue would be ‘pisdog’ [insert break wherever you’d like].
One of those days where I quickly got about half done and then hit a brick wall, an no matter how I tried, I couldn’t get any further.
Except that schweinehund is a word (a masculine noun) in German, meaning, loosely, bastard, and more strictly, the working dog of a swineherd, and not ‘pigs dog’ (you didn’t actually mean ‘pis-dog’ did you).
The second e tends to get dropped (as it were) when we see it in English film scripts or books, and the misspelling for us has stuck. And in any case, and of course, I was being facetious as to the usage, as we Englanders all think it really does mean pig-dog, don’t we.
Sorry about all this, but Saints lost tonight. Nice blog Duncs, and thanks all.
Thanks Tees. Got to this late and failed with BRIAN BORU and TRUSS, both beyond my orbit. Still had some fun with COMMIE, RABBI, and HYENA topping my list. Thanks Duncan for explaining it all.