Much delay this morning I’m afraid. The crossword wouldn’t load because I apparently had too old a version of Java. So I updated that and the same thing happened. I spent ages trying to get it to load, but eventually gave up and went out to buy a paper.
Fortunately Tees was fairly accessible today — when I saw who it was I feared that the initial delay would combine with a difficult crossword to produce totally unacceptable lateness, but he was kind: several answers, like 1ac, 2dn and 22dn were almost instant write-ins. There was some delay but nothing that one could complain about. It was, as you would expect, a thoroughly good workout.
No doubt he has some sort of a Nina, but I was so relieved to finish and it’s so late now that I won’t try to find it. Will leave it to you.
Definitions in italics.
Across
1 Second summer extra-blue? (6)
SADDER
s adder — an adder is someone who adds up, so a summer
5,24 Government to fail – team out in reshuffle, one by no means partisan (8,5)
FLOATING VOTER
It’s easy enough to see that it’s an anagram of something, but what? This eluded me for a long time. It’s (government to fail – men)* — team = men
9 Mint coin (10)
PENNYROYAL
Pennyroyal is a type of mint, and both penny and royal are coins, so I can’t see why the clue doesn’t say ‘Mint coins’ — it’s OK I suppose because in one sense ‘coin’ is a plural, so coin = coins
10 Year at Slough is thing feared (4)
BOGY
bog y — bog = slough as in Slough of Despond
11 Disreputable knight‘s man on river … (8)
FALSTAFF
Fal staff — the river Fal in Cornwall, and staff = man as a verb
12 … right to have hard feelings about water pixie (6)
SPRITE
sp(r)ite — r = right rather than river, I think, so ‘water’ is presumably part of the definition — Chambers doesn’t mention a link to water, but I’m sure that it’s somewhere
13 Beastie in town? On the contrary (4)
ASTI
Hidden in BeASTIe — the contrary of ‘Beastie in town’ is ‘town in Beastie’, and Asti is a town in Italy
15 Way to swell the public purse? (4,4)
TOLL ROAD
CD
18 Ingredient in Chinese cases you busted open (3,5)
SOY SAUCE
(cases you)*
19,21 Pride Gerard restored against second German XI (4-6)
SELF-REGARD
s elf (Gerard)* — the German XI is not some obscure football team, but the German for 11, which is elf
21 See 19 across
REGARD
23 Everyone being rude but sailor making suggestion? (8)
ALLUSIVE
all (AB)usive — in this clue ‘but’ means ‘missing’ — from ‘being rude’
25 Store room in Escot House (4)
MINE
Hidden in rooM IN Escot — I’m always a bit uncomfortable with this terminology and feel the surface should say ‘houses’, but you can perfectly well argue that ‘house’ is correct since it follows three words — Escot House?? — never heard of it, but I can’t think of any well-known houses that begin with e so perhaps Tees was scraping the bottom of the barrel
26 Wobbling n-nude parts we cover and support (10)
UNDERPANTS
(n-nude parts)* — semi-&lit. since the definition could just be the last four words but is enhanced by the whole clue becoming involved
27 Males to bed ace Indy compiler – why no sex? (8)
HEADACHE
(A Dac) in he he — A = ace, the Indy compiler is Dac, and ‘I’ve got a headache’ is the archetypal excuse for no sex
28 Victor, old player from United, runs into friend (6)
MATURE
mat(u r)e —Victor Mature was an old player (= actor)
Down
24 See 5 across
VOTER
2 Region accommodates new stadium (5)
ARENA
are(n)a
3 Inset days arranged in lines (9)
DYNASTIES
(Inset days)*
4 Before being collared by extremist, look again at manifesto? (6)
REREAD
R(ere)ad — ere = before, the extremist is a rad[ical]
5 Crewman’s in, knowing about foot and sore heel, to react angrily (3,3,3,6)
FLY OFF THE HANDLE
fly of ft (heel)* round hand — fly = knowing, of = about, ft = foot, hand = crewman
6 Is wholly incongruous with wise or solemn manner (8)
OWLISHLY
(Is wholly)*
7 Route reportedly/ found by traveller down in London? (5)
TUBER
2 defs — route reportedly = “root”— and someone down in London (down because very low, i.e. underground) is someone who may travel on the Tube
8 Collapse under thing roaming in gloaming (9)
NIGHTFALL
(thing)* fall
14 20 job gives result (9)
SCORELINE
score line — score = 20 (the second time in this crossword that the number is what it is rather than a link to a clue), line = job
16 MI6, appreciated in Division, finds proof (9)
RESISTANT
re(SIS ta)nt — MI6 is the Secret Intelligence Service or SIS, ta = appreciated — something that’s rain-resistant is (fairly, at any rate) rain-proof
17 Pound caught with sister – that’s the gossip (8)
QUIDNUNC
quid nun c
20 Putting up painting on wall area causes commotion (6)
ALARUM
(mural)rev. a — what is put up is the ‘painting on wall’
22 Last word to daughter is correct (5)
AMEND
amen d
*anagram
I agree that Tees gave us an easy start in the NW, and it was probably one of his more accessible puzzles. I enjoyed it. I got FLOATING VOTER from the definition, although I really should have seen the wordplay for the anagram fodder. I was very slow to see ASTI and it was my LOI.
John, as far as the Java issue is concerned, the problem is that the new version of Java doesn’t trust the Indy from a security perspective. To get round it click on the “start” icon in the bottom left of your screen, select “All Programs”, then “Java”, then “Configure Java” which loads the Java Control Panel, click on the Security tab, and change the setting from High (minimum recommended) to Medium.
First many thanks to John for a helpful blog, and, for a man in MY condition, many thanks to Andy B. I’ve been having real probs with Java for ages, and today I uninstalled, reinstalled, and changed the security as he suggests. Bingo! Thanks, guy.
Very clear clues today, and accessible as John says, I could dig whether I’d got things right from the wordplay in each case! That in itself is refreshing, but commiserations – or maybe not? – to Dac, whom Tees chucks into bed with a couple of males. That, with the undies, my fave two.
Re 25a – Escot House is well-known in this part of East Devon but unfortunately for me such local knowledge was of no benefit in helping to solve the clue. I was stuck for some time on 16d as I couldn’t see how RESISTANT fitted any of the possible definitions. In these circumstances I often find that it is only when I actually write in what I feel can only be the right answer that the penny drops. So it was in this case.
QUIDNUNC was knew to me and was my LOI.
Thanks Tees and John
I enjoyed this puzzle from Tees, as I invariably do. He strikes me as a thoughtful setter, sprinkling the grid with some easyish clues to give you a start with the harder ones. No special favourites today; it was all enjoyable.
The boy done good. Let’s just hope his team doesn’t do good against my team in the Saturday lunchtime kickoff.
Thanks to John for blogging and to Andy B for the techie advice (I too have struggled in the past with this problem).
Thanks to John, who gets the parsings right as usual in a great blog, and to all commenters. I hope Dac doesn’t mind me taking such liberties, but in Crossworld I suppose just about anything is possible.
As to S/ UNDER/ LAND, who knows: at least our manager hasn’t buggered off with Mr Corbett, or Cortese or whatever his name is, so there will be some semblance of a management team in place to support any heroics on the pitch. Nathelees, it is usually a slog for anyone who has to play yon ultra-physical Black Cats.
Many thanks again to all, and to celebrate further our various undergarments, allow me to leave you with this splendid clue penned, I think, by the ridiculously talented Roger Phillips:
Wobbly content of bulging loincloth (5)
Haha, that’s nice (and it didn’t take me lung-ither). But I loved your underpants as well!
I must say I didn’t find it that accessible. Even after loads of electronic searching, there were still half a dozen clues I couldn’t get.
Just think how awful it was in Victorian times.
(Had there been crosswords then, I mean.)
Can anyone assist with:
What is the function of the word “manifesto” in 4D?
Understand the meaning of “proof” in “rainproof”, but what has rain got to do with it, or “rent”, in 16D?
A rent is a rip, a division. I think John just gives rain as an example to illustrate resistant=proof.
I can’t help with manifesto.
re #9, if you look again at a manifesto, I guess you would REREAD it.
Well, quite.
To put gwep out of his/her/it’s misery, it’s just a fanciful definition prompted by the wordplay: I could have used some boring synonym I suppose, but with the RAD doing a bit of collaring, it seemed a shame not to be more progressive.
Late to the party, as ever. Thanks Tees for a good workout.
Thanks to John also. I liked the UNDERPANTS; I suppose ‘pander nuts’ was too obvious? 😉
Not to me unfortunately! You’d better have that one for your, um, database as we professionals call it.
Rather belatedly many thanks Andy B @1. No problems now. I assume that for one’s own peace of mind it is necessary to put it back to the recommended minimum level as soon as it’s loaded.