The Independent have given us a TEES puzzle to solve today.
There is a theme around Richard lll King of England whose remains were found underneath a Leicester car park almost 10 years ago, on 25th Aug 2012. He was killed at the Battle of Bosworth on 22nd Aug 1485.
RID (free) around or ‘drinking’ CHAR (tea) + an anagram (‘travelling’) of THITHER + D (duke)
lIMPET (naval mine) missing L (large) + US (American)
D (daughter) AVID (insatiable) – DAVID, the classic sculpture by Michelangelo
AU (gold) SOLE (fish) ‘coming into’ MUM (silent)
An anagram (‘rough’) of P (first letter or ‘opener’ in practice) RATHER TOO. As it was a Tees puzzle, we expected at least one unusual word which we would have to check. This was it.
OUT (public) OF COURSE (certainly)
PLANT (spy) AGENT (another spy) round or ‘protecting’ E (English)
Double definition
ST (way as in street) ONE MAN (single chap) around our ‘keeping’ SO
An anagram (‘riotous’) of EPIC RE-RUN
Hidden in (‘from’) cleanER AT Office
END (consequence) around G (good) AGE (time)
P (quiet – at low volume) in DIS (underworld) LAY (ballad)
RED (scarlet – sounds like Scarlett) sHOT (killed with revolver) without the first letter or ‘lead’
maCAVITY (the Mystery Cat in the poem written by T S Eliot) without ‘ma’ (old woman)
AN DSO (Distinguished Service Order – ‘award’) FORTH (Scottish River)
D (first letter or ‘initiation’ in diabolism) EMIT (issue)
IE (that is) N (new) with FOR PUB (boozer) inside and reversed or ‘turning’
PRO (professional – ‘specialist’) W (western)
SOME (impressive as in ‘that was some event’) R (river) with SET (lay as in ‘lay the table’) at the end or ‘to the south’ as it is in a down clue. Street is a town in Somerset.
BLESS (praise) surrounding a reversal or ‘recall’ of MOTTO (maxim)
TIGHT (near – miserly) NED (Scottish hooligan) around or ‘importing’ E (MDMA)
APP (program) LIE (to convey false impression) about EP (extended play – ‘recording’)
A reversal (‘served up’) of GRUB (food) SPA (resort) H (hotel)
AIL (trouble) after or ‘dogging’ ASS (American word for behind)
An anagram (‘deformed’) of ON ENTRY AS hE without the ‘h’ (horse) round or ‘without’ H (horse). Thanks to lady gewgaw @3 for pointing out the errors in our original parsing
A reversal (‘all around’) of D (died) NEON (gas)
KIN (blood) G (gallons)
Loved this. Had to check a few things: didn’t know ‘demit’ or ‘orthoptera’; didn’t know the actor Antony Sher; and had to also check ‘out of course’ (rare according to Chambers). Some really nice constructions. I thought the ‘Cluedo’ clue for 1d was brilliant; the use of ‘chipper’ in 22a was very nice; and the construction for ‘ibuprofen was clever.
Splendid achievement by Tees to fit in his theme and 20/12 is a truly superb clue with its double reference to both the famous speech and the powerful impact made by ANTONY SHER in the way he chose to present Richard. I was fortunate enough to see that famous performance at Stratford – one of those truly defining moments – and the book Sher wrote about the experience is a superb read.
For some reason, the LAST PLANTAGENET rings a bell (!) – I trust this will be to their liking. Other clues that appealed to me were the cheeky DAVID, the lovely misdirection in ORTHOPTERA (though, on this occasion, I suspected that ‘cricket class’ from very early on!), the nice definition in STONEMASON, the very neat construction of RED HOT, maCAVITY because it’s always lovely to be reminded of that super Eliot piece and SOMERSET for the misleading ‘Street location’. But SHER is COTD by a country mile.
Interesting to note the coincidental appearance of one less-than-obvious solution in both G&I today.
Thanks Tees and B&J
Nice. Per postmark, TLP will be thrilled I’m sure.
Just looking through the entries and a light came on, so I looked up David Somerset. At some point or other he seems to have claimed to be a descendant in the Plantagenet line. No coincidence to find him here, I feel sure.
Stand-out clue SHER also works with a slightly different parsing with the H contained, but I don’t think it’s as good as B&J’s.
I think you must be right, LGG, as there’s only one E in the solution, and the definition should really start with the ‘he’. So it will be H inside ONENTRYAS*.
20/12 ANTONY SHER – lady gewgaw is correct – well spotted Ui Imair. Joyce takes full responsibility for the error but Bert takes responsibility for not spotting it when checking the blog!
A splendid themed crossword indeed – thanks to Tees and B&Jj
Really enjoyed the theme which prompted me to re-acquaint myself with the extraordinary story of the discovery of RICHARD THE THIRD’s remains and the work done to prove his identity. Too far-fetched to be made up.
A few difficult ones, especially in the NE corner. The ‘Street location’ for SOMERSET was very cunning; the home of the desert boot – ? still.
Thanks to Tees and B&J
Thanks both. Much to admire including RED HOT and STREET for reasons already aired here, though ANTHONY SHER was not quite famous enough to have entered or stayed in my little brainbox, which did not prevent an unaided solve, and does not detract from the cleverness of the clue
An interesting puzzle, with a theme that is potentially not a complete coincidence?
I am acquainted to an extent with the history of R3, and so was enthralled by the ANTONY SHER clue (thank you Ui Imair for the note). I saw his amazing performance at the Barbican, if I remember rightly, which was an absolute tour de force. A much-missed talent.
Many thanks compiler and B&J.
Arfnoon all. Thx BnJ for a great blog, and to all commenters.
LGG & UI contrived to find the right parsing of the actor, whom I also managed to catch in that amazing role. Jooly Soopah it was. LGG also mentions David Somerset, and he was indeed a deliberate inclusion, for – as she hints – he has indeed claimed Plantagenet lineage, which if right would make him the last Plantagenet, and not RIII. Which brings me to …
TLP! I hope you don’t mind. I think it was Phi I read talking about ‘how to get the grid started’ a while ago, and it can sometimes really help to pick up on something, perhaps in plain sight, and develop it when the ‘blank sheet’, or ’empty CC grid’ looms. So I went with your interesting pseudonym for this one.
Well, we got the theme before we’d even written anything in! On a quick scan through the clues the surface of 20/12 and the enumeration of 1/7 just gave it away and from that we worked back to 21 18 24.
A lovely puzzle, though, and a delight to solve; we liked the Cluedo and Cats allusions in 1dn and 2dn.
A minor quibble about 11ac, though – ORTHOPTERA are/is an order within the class insecta (and like PostMark we guessed ‘cricket’ didn’t refer to the game)..
Thanks, Tees and B&J
Another one here who saw Sher as Richard III at Stratford. Saw him in many other things over the years, too.
Would I have got BOTTOMLESS without the spoiler on the Guardian blog? I’ll never know. Is this puzzle proof that you can, in fact, polish a Richard the Third?
allan c @ 11 Wiki told me, as I was putting this one together, that ‘Orthoptera … is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets’ so I went with that. Checking now, Collins tells me that they are in the ‘orthopterous family Gryllidae’. Does that get me off the hook?
Not that cricket puns ever mean anything to anyone. I actually won a glass clock in a cluing competition years ago for Insect game with long hops. There you go.
Tees @14: surely that’s just not …
Thanks Tees, that was great. While not familiar with ANTONY SHER I did see a performance of RICHARD THE THIRD with Stacey Keach that lodged in my brain for decades. Lots of remarkable clues — MAUSOLEUM, PLANTAGENET, STONEMASON, IBUPROFEN, HAPSBURG, and ASSAIL among my top choices. I got misled by 11a because I was sure it was about cricket, a game not part of my GK. Thanks B & J for the blog.