A fine puzzle from Tees and what I would describe as a typical Monday Indy offering – not overly taxing for a reasonably experienced solver.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Added into pop, wine drink recalled mild seasoning
PAPRIKA
An insertion of KIR reversed in PAPA. KIR is a mixture of white wine and cassis; PAPRIKA is generally made from peppers that are on the milder side. The insertion indicator is ‘added into’.
5 Posh private among soldiers — a considerable number!
UMPTEEN
A charade of U and PTE inserted into MEN. The insertion indicator is ‘among’
9 Solo cracking — Coltrane’s coda unrestrained
LOOSE
A charade of (SOLO)* and E for the final letter (‘coda’) of ‘Coltrane’. The surface reference is to John Coltrane, the American jazz saxophonist and composer.
10 Driving hazard traps learner in two tricky situations
BLIND SPOT
An insertion of L in BIND and SPOT, two words for a ‘tricky situation’. The insertion indicator is ‘traps’.
11 On appeal, this may need saying again and again!
REPETITION
A charade of RE and PETITION.
12 Just one dropped round in Algarve location
FARO
A charade of FA[I]R and O.
14 Speak without script in English, needing variable increase in speed?
EXTEMPORISE
A charade of E, X for the mathematical ‘variable’, TEMPO and RISE.
18 A quiet man in tree has time to celebrate
BASTILLE DAY
An insertion of A STILL ED in BAY. The insertion indicator is ‘in’. Celebrations in France, at any rate.
21 Without employment, indulged regularly
IDLE
The odd letters of InDuLgEd.
22 How peat-cutters might be overwhelmed?
BOGGED DOWN
A cd cum dd.
25 Northerner, large bounder tucking into cooked rice
ICELANDER
An insertion of ELAND, the antelope, in (RICE)* The insertion indicator is ‘tucking into’ and the anagrind is ‘cooked’.
26 Woman not completely common
NORMA
NORMA[L]
27 More unpleasant wine consumed by emperor endlessly
NASTIER
An insertion of ASTI in NER[O]. The insertion indicator is ‘consumed by’.
28 Direction needed to hold ceremony all together
EN MASSE
An insertion of MASS in ENE for East North East or ‘direction’. The insertion indicator is ‘to hold’.
Down
1 Not worth having drink that goes up with tax
PALTRY
A reversal of LAP followed by TRY.
2 Supply lines effective in expedition
PROMPT
A dd.
3 One is about following eye movements at the last gasp
IN EXTREMIS
An insertion of NEXT and REM for Rapid Eye Movements in I and SI reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
4 Superior muscle turned to flab at the end
ABBOT
A charade of AB and TO B reversed.
5 Wearing special clothes designed at Corpus Christi?
UNIFORMED
Corpus Christi is a Cambridge College (there might be one in the other place as well – the body of Christ can be endlessly shared). So something designed there might be UNI FORMED.
6 Fills out parking notices
PADS
A charade of P and ADS.
7 City welcomes MP Tam, possibly one speaking forcefully
EMPHATIC
An insertion of MP, HAT and I in EC. The insertion indicator is ‘welcomes’. EC is ‘city’ because of the postcode of the City of London; ‘Tam, possibly’ gives you HAT, as in tam o’shanter; and those of us who immediately thought of Tam Dalyell, MP, needn’t have bothered.
8 Gas inert — no good for explosion
NITROGEN
(INERT NO G)*
13 Mo‘s meaning — at first — men doubly misinterpreted
MOLYBDENUM
A charade of M for the initial letter of ‘meaning’ and (MEN DOUBLY)* Element number 42 in the periodic table.
15 Difficult task from High Command?
TALL ORDER
A charade of TALL and ORDER.
16 Old black cat protecting four in forgotten state
OBLIVION
A charade of O, B and an insertion of IV for the Roman numeral ‘four’ in LION. The insertion indicator is ‘protecting’.
17 Additional material transforms liturgical books
PSALTERS
A charade of PS and ALTERS.
19 Socialist craftsman dancing
MORRIS
A dd. The reference is to William MORRIS, the socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement.
20 Cool husband on beer to have inspirational experience?
INHALE
A charade of IN, H and ALE.
23 Dynamic people needing energy to move shrub
GORSE
Tees is inviting you to move the E in GOERS to the end.
24 Channel Island one discarding king’s dress
SARI
SAR[K]I
Many thanks to Tees for the start-the-week Indy puzzle.
Got there in the end but struggled with the NW quadrant. Pierre, why have you written ‘SI reversed’ in 3d. Surely it is just ‘IS’ as in the clue.
Thanks, Tees and Pierre!
Liked PAPRIKA, BLIND SPOT. EN MASSE and IN EXTREMIS.
NITROGEN
There seems to be an extended definition.
Touch of class from Tees albeit not overly taxing. Big ticks for EMPHATIC, OBLIVION and EXTEMPORISE. Liked the DD for PROMPT as well. Great start to the week. Thanks Pierre and Tees.
Very enjoyable start to the week, full of clever and amusing wordplay with only the NW proving a little tricky.
I particularly enjoyed BLIND SPOT, the image contoured up by the restful man in BASTILLE DAY, IN EXTREMIS, and the amusing TALL ORDER but top spot goes to NITROGEN, which could be interpreted as an &lit.
Many thanks to Tees and Pierre.
Agree with Hovis on I(NEXT+REM)IS
LOOSE – the “cracking” also suggests the other Coltrane – Robbie(1950-2022) in Cracker.
Some cunning tricks in here – a couple of which certainly led me up the garden path. Yes, Dalyell, and I also did not spot MO as the chemical symbol. PROMPT is very clever. I raised an eyebrow at the direct equation of Corpus Christi with UNI though. It is one college in a University. ‘College formed’ – absolutely – but, as it is, it sits slightly uncomfortably. Everything else, as good as always. I’d agree with Stephen L on the &littish nature of NITROGEN.
Thanks Tees and Pierre
For NITROGEN – I thought to myself it would be an &lit if the gas were inert. Shame it’s not, thinking of nitrates and ammonia. But
‘About 2/3 of commercially produced elemental nitrogen is used as an inert (oxygen-free) gas for commercial uses such as food packaging, and much of the rest is used as liquid nitrogen in cryogenic applications’.
It keeps our food from going off and prevents deluded billionaires’ corpses from rotting, as they wait to be cured of whatever they died of.
Great puzzle, thanks, Tees, right in the Goldilocks zone for me – not too taxing but enough of a challenge to be interesting. Love the “large bounder” and the neat misdirection of “MP Tam”. And thanks for the blog, Pierre.
FrankieG@7
I think some bloggers would call ‘this’ an ‘extended definition’ (That’s what I meant @2).
Easy Monday Tees? It is quite, actually!
Thanks to Pierre. Agree with Hovis and Frankie on NEXT REM inside I and IS. I think Corpus Christi is a college in both the super-elite universities, which for me, in addition to the qm, helps justify the use of UNI.
A highly enjoyable puzzle from Tees, as usual.
I actually have fourteen ticks (and there could have been more) and so I certainly won’t list them. I’ll pick out 1ac PAPRIKA and 18ac BASTILLE DAY for happy memories of several times celebrating my birthday in France with a KIR (royale – champagne rather than white wine, although I like that, too) along with the fireworks.
I also really liked 14ac EXTEMPORISE, 27ac NASTIER, 7dn EMPHATIC – I was another beguiled by Tam Dalyell, as intended,17dn PSALTERS and 19dn MORRIS for the picture it conjured up.
Many thanks to Tees for a lot of fun and Pierre for a great blog.
Another highly enjoyable Tees crossword, perfect for a Monday
I was pleased that I knew what MO represented – spelling it was another matter!
Thanks to Tees and Pierre
Looks like I’m n=1 here in finding this one pretty hard. Plenty of answers only half-parsed, or in the case of UNIFORMED, unparsed and I needed a couple of bites at the cherry to eventually fill the grid correctly, with PROMPT holding out longest.
The chemical symbol def ‘Mo’ for MOLYBDENUM was my favourite, along with PAPRIKA, like Eileen for the KIR Royale reminder.
Thanks to Tees and Pierre
Thanks both. For me, the right level of challenge in that I learned a few things here for the parsings, and was only partially defeated by MOLYBDENUM (I reversed the B and L}- fair to say an unnatural looking word if not previously encountered, and I have some doubt as to whether I’ll recall it in the future
Great puzzle. My level exactly.
Enjoyed NITROGEN and MOLYBDENUM
Thanks both
The GOERS in GORSE reminded me of “Candid Photography” aka “Nudge Nudge” from Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kwh3R0YjuQ
And Eric IDLE is at 21a.
TALL ORDER is my favourite.
Thanks T&P
Thanks all, and esp Pierre for the blog.
Cheers
Tees
I’m extremely annoyed with myself. I just couldn’t parse ICELANDER. Solved easily enough from def and crossers of course.
All I could see was L ANDE IN *RICE. So wondered how on earth ANDE was a bounder. DOH I do feel rather daft now.
Thanks Tees and Pierre.
Blah @20: I gnu you were a solver with parsing problems! 😀
Thanks Tees for my favourite crossword of the day. I failed with GORSE and only guessed at MORRIS but I eventually solved this with the perfect amount of struggle. My top choices were BLIND SPOT, FARO, EXTEMPORISE, BASTILLE DAY, PROMPT, NITROGEN, and OBLIVION. Thanks Pierre for the blog.