Tees provides some indoor entertainment on a cold winter morning.
I liked the long anagrams at 1a and 28a, the misdirection of 27a, and the very neat 16a with its easy-to-miss definition – but there are plenty of other good clues I could mention. We’re beginning to see 13/19 cropping up in crosswords more often now, though I suspect he’s more of a challenge for setters than his immediate predecessors. Thanks Tees for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GENERAL ELECTION |
Poll tree — e.g. in fall — once fine leaves spoiled (7,8)
|
| Anagram (spoiled) of TREE EG IN [f]ALL ONCE, after the F (fine) has left. | ||
| 9 | ERRATUM |
Slip where shopper gets in oriental drink? (7)
|
| RAT (shopper = one who “shops” = informs on someone) in E (East = oriental) + RUM (drink). | ||
| 10 | GREMLIN |
Greek with Welshman reportedly mischievous sort (7)
|
| GR (abbreviation for Greek) + homophone (reportedly) of EMLYN (a Welsh man’s name).
An imagined mischievous creature that sabotages military aircraft and other machinery. |
||
| 11 | THIRST AFTER |
Have strong desire for this around river: start on Thames later? (6,5)
|
| THIS around R (abbreviation for river), then starting letter of T[hames] + AFTER (later). | ||
| 12 | ONE |
An individual regularly taking MDMA (3)
|
| ON (regularly taking a drug, as in “I’m on painkillers”) + E (short name for the drug ecstasy or MDMA). | ||
| 13/19 | RISHI SUNAK |
Latest leader‘s greeting displaced Russian king accepts (5,5)
|
| Anagram (displaced) of RUSSIAN + K (king), containing (accepting) HI (a casual greeting). | ||
| 15 | TURRET GUN |
Weapon‘s grand one on tower (6,3)
|
| G (grand = slang for £1000 or $1000) + ‘UN (dialect variant of “one”), added to TURRET (tower).
A variation on the revolver, with the bullets arranged in a horizontal circle. |
||
| 18 | CASSANDRA |
Charlie, idiot and artist: one anticipates disaster (9)
|
| C (Charlie in the radio alphabet) + ASS (idiot) + AND + RA (Royal Academician = artist).
In Greek mythology, the prophetess Cassandra was cursed by Apollo so that she would always make accurate predictions (usually, but not always, foretelling disaster) but nobody would believe her. |
||
| 19 |
See 13
|
|
| 21 | DOT |
Small amount shortened performance returned (3)
|
| TO-D[o] (performance = a fuss, or something unnecessarily complicated), without the last letter (shortened), reversed (returned).
As in “a dot of paint” = a very small amount. |
||
| 23 | ORIGINAL SIN |
Evil tendency in Models 1 (close to Holborn) (8,3)
|
| ORIGINALS (models = things that are copied or imitated) + I (one in Roman numerals) + last letter (close) of [holbor]N. | ||
| 26 | NITRATE |
Dope and speed in compound (7)
|
| NIT (dope = slang for someone stupid) + RATE (speed).
This one reminds me of a very old joke about “copper nitrate” meaning overtime pay for policemen. Sorry. |
||
| 27 | TEA ROOM |
Fly circles Mike in cafe (3,4)
|
| TEAR (as a verb = fly = move fast) + OO (two circles) + M (Mike in the radio alphabet). Nice misdirection of “circles” not being an insertion indicator. | ||
| 28 | ANIMATED CARTOON |
A romantic end to a smashing film? (8,7)
|
| Anagram (smashing = breaking up) of A ROMANTIC END TO A. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GREATER |
King George: gourmand perhaps having increased size? (7)
|
| GR (George Rex = King George) + EATER (gourmand perhaps). | ||
| 2 | NARCISSUS |
Self-absorbed youth who finally made a bloomer? (9)
|
| Cryptic definition. More Greek mythology: Narcissus was a young man obsessed with his own beauty, who spent his life gazing at his reflection in a pool until he wasted away, and the narcissus flower (bloomer) sprang up where he died. | ||
| 3 | RATES |
Romeo worried: shilling needed for local taxes (5)
|
| R (Romeo in the radio alphabet) + ATE (worried, as a verb) + S (abbreviation for shilling). | ||
| 4 | LAMBASTED |
Severely reprimanded innocent when seen with old rocker (9)
|
| LAMB (an innocent) + AS (when) + TED (short for Teddy Boy = mid 20th century rock-and-roll fan = old rocker). | ||
| 5 | LIGHT |
Line taken by leaderless crew shows brilliance (5)
|
| L (abbreviation for line) + [e]IGHT (a rowing crew) without the leading letter. | ||
| 6 | CHEERLESS |
Bleak where hail diminished? (9)
|
| CHEER (hail, as a verb = shout appreciation) + LESS (diminished). | ||
| 7 | IGLOO |
Digs in snow and ice? (5)
|
| Cryptic definition: digs = accommodation, in this case a home built of snow and ice. | ||
| 8 | NANKEEN |
Get cloth from granny — and quick! (7)
|
| NAN (granny) + KEEN (quick = enthusiastic).
Yellow-cream cotton fabric, originally from Nanking (now known as Nanjing) in China. |
||
| 14 | INAMORATA |
Sailor, from Muscat perhaps, upset advanced lover (9)
|
| TAR (sailor) + OMANI (perhaps from the port of Muscat in Oman), all reversed (upset = upwards in a down clue), then A (advanced, as in A-level exams). | ||
| 16 | REALISTIC |
Article is worked on (9)
|
| Anagram (worked) of ARTICLE IS.
As in “I don’t think that’s on” = I don’t think it’s realistic / practicable. |
||
| 17 | GENUS HOMO |
Some, not quite enough, prepared for modern man (5,4)
|
| Anagram (prepared) of SOM[e] (not quite = all but the last letter) + ENOUGH. | ||
| 18 | CADENZA |
Noted passage roughly skirting port close to Suez (7)
|
| CA (abbreviation for Latin circa = around = roughly), containing (skirting) ADEN (a port) + closing letter of [sue]Z.
Cadenza = a passage of music that allows a soloist to show off briefly. Sometimes “noted” in the sense of written down in the sheet music, sometimes improvised. |
||
| 20 | KINSMAN |
Butler to Charles no good as blood relative (7)
|
| KIN[g]‘S MAN (butler or manservant to King Charles), without the G (good). | ||
| 22 | TUTSI |
Rwandan expresses disapproval over India (5)
|
| TUTS (makes a “tut-tut” sound expressing disapproval) before (over, in a down clue) I (abbreviation for India).
A person from one of the main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi. |
||
| 24 | IRENE |
Anger shown by Geordie woman? (5)
|
| IRE (anger) + NE (north-eastern, which in England may include Geordie = slang for someone or something from Tyneside).
A woman’s name. |
||
| 25 | ADAIR |
Red fire extinguisher! (5)
|
| Cryptic definition, though perhaps more a matter of general knowledge. If you’re familiar with the US firefighter Red Adair, the answer is fairly obvious; if not, you’d be unlikely to guess it. |
It was a very warm summer morning here in North Queensland.
There was a joke once about Red Adair after he had extinguished a stonking blaze/
Some Irish chap offers him a drink in the pub afterwards and asks “did you ever get to xxxx Ginger Rogers”
A bit of a saunter but no less enjoyable for that. I didn’t realise Red Adair had died, though if still alive he would have been 118 so no surprise. Thanks Tees and Quirister.
Lovely stuff. Lots to choose from, but I’ll side with the Quirister for the longs, I reckon.
And see what you did there copmus 🙂 Think I might have heard that one before…
Models1 is in Holborn (Macklin Street). Did they sign you up, Tees?
Hadn’t heard of a TURRET GUN previously so that was a case of working it out from the wordplay and checking with Mr G.
Top three for me were CASSANDRA, LAMBASTED & ADAIR.
Thanks to Tees and to Quirister for the review.
TURRET GUN was my last in & the only real hold up in a gentle but thoroughly entertaining puzzle. Not sure RISHI SUNAK will appreciate being so close to a GENERAL ELECTION. I’ll go along with Jane’s picks @4
Thanks to T&Q
The long anagrams were a bit off-putting so I needed a while to get started. Then things went steadily but I entered “tutti”, not TUTSI, for 22d so close but no cigar.
I’m very impressed with our blogger’s detailed knowledge of Greek mythology. I wish I could say I’ll remember about CASSANDRA and NARCISSUS but that probably won’t happen! I remember ‘Red’ ADAIR from when he came down here to put out a fire on an off-shore oil rig in the late 60’s.
Thanks to Tees and our classicist blogger
Another fun crossword from Tees
Many thanks to him and Quirister
I’d say the GE and Sunak were not entirely coincidental inclusions here.
As Sue says, a fun puzzle, fastidious clues as ever.
Very nicely constructed. A slight brain fade on Rwandan ethnic groups had me entering Hutsi for a moment. I was another for whom the long anagrams took a while to fall into place.
Thanks both. For I think the third consecutive day, an enjoyable solve with barely a quibble, though I’ll tentatively suggest as a Mancunian that NW would neither work for my fellow citizens any more than it would for our respected friends from Merseyside, so the ‘Geordie’ element of IRENE might stir a similar thought from those outside of Newcastle
Thanks Tees for an excellent crossword with my ticks going to ERRATUM (knowing that shopper = rat is proof that I’m learning the “English” language), TEA ROOM (nice surface), ANIMATED CARTOON (great anagram), INAMORATA, REALISTIC, and GENUS HOMO. Overall I’ve enjoyed this week’s crosswords with Filbert, Basilisk in the FT, and Tees being my top 3 thusfar. Thanks Quirister for the blog and filling in my parsing gaps in 13/19 and 23.
Many thanks all, esp Q for a great blog.
Cheers Tees.
Very enjoyable indeed, if not overly difficult with some cracking clues that had me smiling throughout the solve.
Ticks all over the shop(per) including ERRATUM, TURRET GUN, TEA ROOM, IGLOO and perhaps my favourite REALISTIC.
Many thanks indeed T&Q.
Thanks Quirister and Tees.
Nice one.
Good to see the Brits moving on with Charles and Sunak.
ADAIR and GENUS HOMO (LOI) are favs.