Independent 8951 / Tees

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A slightly quirky puzzle from Tees today, but we shouldn’t really be surprised by that.

 

 

 

Once the long answer had been solved, the remainder of the grid fell quite easily.  It took me a while to get the long answer though.

Inevitable a theme puzzle resorts to one or two obscure words to fill the spaces created by the theme words.  In this case SPIKENARD [7 across] was a bit obscure [to me anyway] as were SELFDOM [22 down], DURAMEN [8 down] and DISTAL although most were easily gettable from the wordplay.

DWEEB is a word I have come across a number of times.  I seem to have affinity for interests associated with geeks, nerds and dweebs.

Is it a coincidence that NAPOLEONIC [15 down] made an appearance at the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo?

I thought this was a good Tuesday challenge, but there did seem to be a lot of ‘container and contents’ clues.

 

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

7

 

Before a doctor returns put alcohol in new ointment (9)

 

SPIKE (put alcohol in) + N (new) + A + (DR [doctor] reversed [returns])

SPIKE N A RD<

SPIKENARD (aromatic oil or balsam yielded by an Indian valerianaceous herb; ointment)

 

9

 

F1 champ has girls round (5)

 

ANNES (girls named ANNE) reversed (round)

SENNA<

SENNA (reference Ayrton SENNA [1960 – 1994], three times  Formula 1 World Champion, killed in an accident while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix)

 

11

 

Spirit in thrall one Lear’s incensed about (5)

 

Anagram of (incensed) LEAR containing (about) I (one)

AR (I) EL*

ARIEL (a spirit in thrall to Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest)

 

12

 

Lawyer right to succeed Scotsman’s scientific advocate (9)

 

DA (District Attorney; lawyer) + R (right) + WIN (succeed) + IAN (Scottish Christian name)

 

DARWINIAN (an advocate of the theory of origin of the species as propounded by Charles DARWIN)

 

13

 

Cricketer‘s name put in record by member (4,3)

 

(N [name] contained in [put in] LOG [record]) + LEG (limb; member)

LO (N) G LEG

LONG LEG (fielding position in cricket)

 

16

 

Nerd causes small amount of noise outside (5)

 

DB (decibel; a measure used to express a level of sound; amount of noise) containing (outside) WEE (small)

D (WEE) B

DWEEB (fool, nerd)

 

18

 

Brown finished report (3)

 

DUN (sounds like [report] DONE [finished])

 

DUN (greyish-brown colour)

 

19

 

Page covering mathematical sequence (5)

 

P (page) + ROOF (covering)

 

PROOF (mathematical sequence that establishes the truth of a hypothesis)

 

21

 

Audrey Hepburn finally prepared?  On the contrary (7)

 

Anagram of (prepared) AUDREY and N (last letter of [finally] HEPBURN)

UNREADY*

UNREADY (not prepared; i.e.contrary to the proposition in the clue)

 

22

 

Fairy hiding first love in depraved city shows character (7)

 

ELF (fairy) replacing (hiding) the first occurrence of (first) O (zero; love score in tennis) in SODOM (a place of utter depravity)

S ELF DOM

SELFDOM (selfhood [existence as a person; personal identity; character])

 

24

 

Obsessive bachelor dons fur in potentially tied dwelling (5,4)

 

(ANAL [obsessive] + B [bachelor]) contained in [dons] COAT (fur is an example of a COAT)

C (ANAL B) OAT

CANAL BOAT (a dwelling that may be moored [tied up])

 

26

 

Bird from river and lake (5)

 

OUSE (reference River OUSE in Yorkshire [also one in Sussex]) + L (lake)

OUSE L

OUSEL (species of bird)

 

27

 

Ascetic’s last to leave for industrial centre (5)

 

ESSENE (one of a small religious fraternity among the ancient Jews leading retired ascetic lives) excluding (to leave) the final letter (last) E

 

ESSEN (a city in the Ruhr, an industrial centre in  Germany)

 

28

 

Traditional music an answer after conflict in Crimea (9)

 

Anagram of (conflict) IN CRIMEA + A (answer)

AMERICAN* A

AMERICANA (things characteristic of America, esp old books, paintings, furniture, music etc)

 
Down
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Animal sickened given beating (8)

 

ASS (example of an animal) + AILED (sickened)

 

ASSAILED (given beating)

 

2

 

Tees is trapped by Welsh girl and primate (6)

 

I’M (I [Tees; crossword setter] AM) contained in (is trapped by) SIAN (Welsh girl’s name)

S (I’M) IAN

SIMIAN (ape; primate)

 

3 / 14 / 21 down

 

So there’s 12 19 of 20 25 between your 22D and the 2s? (4,3,2,1,7,5)

 

The clue reads in full as: So there’s DARWINIAN PROOF of FAMILIAL LINK between your SETTER and the SIMIANs as expressed in the phrase WELL I’LL BE A MONKEY’S UNCLE

 

WELL I’LL BE A MONKEY’S UNCLE (expression of surprise, amazement or disbelief; in this case expressing disbelief that there is proof of such a link)  

 

4

 

Instrument puts stateside force on northbound journey (6)

 

LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department; American [stateside] force) + (GO [journey] reversed [northbound; down clue])

LAPD OG<

LAPDOG (a devoted, docile dependent person; an instrument of the focus of devotion)

 

5

 

Castiglione in town?  On the contrary (4)

 

ASTI (hidden word in [in] CASTIGLIONE)

 

ASTI (town in Italy)

 

6

 

Lunatic another to box current champion booed?

 

Anagram of (lunatic) ANOTHER containing (to box) I (symbol for electronic current)

ANT (I) HERO*

ANTIHERO (a principal character (in a novel, play, etc who lacks noble qualities and whose experiences are without tragic dignity; someone who may get booed)

 

8

 

Wood in middle and university stuff in study (7)

 

(U [university] + RAM [stuff]) contained in (in) DEN (study)

D (U RAM) EN

DURAMEN (hard inner wood of a tree; wood in middle)

 

10

 

Note in Times for Catholic saint (5)

 

N (note) contained in (in) AGES (times)

AG (N) ES

AGNES (Saint AGNES of Rome [c291 – c304] a Roman Catholic saint)

 

15

 

Police anon cracked one code (10)

 

Anagram of (cracked) POLICE ANON

NAPOLEONIC*

NAPOLEONIC (reference NAPOLEONIC code, the French civil code which is one example of a civil code)

 

17

 

Topless lady hosts at home in strange atmosphere (8)

 

(PEERESS (lady) excluding the first letter (topless) P) containing (hosts) IN (at home)

EER (IN) ESS

EERINESS (strange atmosphere)

 

18

 

Time to visit new area in racy destination (7)

 

DAY (period of time) + TO + N (new) + A (area)  I think visit is just a link word.

 

DAYTONA (home of the DAYTONA 500 stock car race; racy destination)

 

20

 

Son’s holding mother up to show such concern? (8)

 

FILIAL (relating to a son [or daughter]; son’s) containing (holding) (MA [mother] reversed [up; down clue])

F (AM)< ILIAL

FAMILIAL (characteristic of a family; appropriate form of concern between mother and son)

 
22

 

 Pioneer abandons large dog (6)

 

 SETTLER (pioneer) excluding (abandons) L (large)

 

 SETTER (breed of dog)

 

23

 

Stone set in ring farthest from centre (6)

 

ST (stone) contained in (set in) DIAL (use a telephone; ring)

DI (ST) AL

DISTAL (farthest from the centre)

 

25

 

Some part of mail attachment (4)

 

LINK (a piece of chain mail)

 

LINK (something that connects; attachment)  double definition

 

13 comments on “Independent 8951 / Tees”

  1. Has the download method changed? Crossword Solver refused to download this today. I haven’t tried for a while.

  3. Hi muffin
    Duncan has already posted what I was going to say so I will just add that your two comments that didn’t display were intercepted by Akismet, the spam filter (don’t ask me why, I just don’t know!).

  4. Thanks DuncanShiell – that works. Thanks also to Gaufrid – I also failed to post on the Feedback thread. Perhaps it didn’t like I?D?P?N?E?T.

  5. Thanks, Duncan. I generally enjoy Tees’ puzzles, but this one wasn’t top of my list. Not a bad crossword, and as always with this setter, carefully constructed. But just a bit convoluted and the unusual words you mention made it a bit of a chore to finish.

    The long clue is actually DARWINIAN PROOF of FAMILIAL LINK between your SETTER and the SIMIANs, so Tees is being self-deprecatory, I think. Although that gorilla did play the drums in that TV advert; perhaps that was Tees in costume. Thanks to him for the puzzle.

  7. I enjoyed it – thanks Tees and DuncanShiell (especially for showing me how to access it).

    I thought LINK was lovely. I had to cheat a bit on LAPDOG, by experimenting with words that fitted until checking showed me the answer.

  8. I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, particularly the clues for the long answer and LAPDOG. Although some of the answers aren’t exactly everyday words I think they are fairly clued. One of them, DURAMEN, was my LOI after SPIKENARD.

  9. Some tough clues here, had a struggle with some of the unusual words. Enjoyed the (very) long clue.

    Query with clue to 7A – I’ve always thought spiking a drink meant slipping something into an alcoholic drink (where the alcohol will mask the intruder) rather than putting alcohol into a (presumably) non-alcoholic drink.

    28A I parsed as AN + A after (CRIMEA)*. Can’t be (IN CRIMEA)* as there are two “i”s.

    Thanks to Tees and duncanshiell.

  11. Thanks tees and Duncan, quite a relief after being donked earlier, getting 2d almost immediately gave 3 etc without pausing.

  12. Hello folks

    Thanks to the mighty Dunks for his usual ace blog, and to all commenters. There were a couple of wacky words in there I suppose, especially DURAMEN and possibly SPIKENARD, but getting all that other stuff in sometimes means you kinda hafta go a bit loony. I would defend SELFDOM and DISTAL, I think, as being not quite as far out there.

    Re potential self-deprecation, I suppose the thought is that given the close relationship between all primates on this planet, or what’s left of it, I may as well (or may indeed, after some very drunken nights over the years) be a monkey’s uncle. Sorry if that offends any Creationists amongst us.

    Re constructions, I kind of tot up clue elements as well as the entire clues to get a picture of how many of which clue-types and bits I’m pushing onto people. So for example whilst 11A is a container it’s also an anagram, and it gets two separate marks on my list. On that basis today’s Teeser has 11 container/ contents clues, 10 charades, 5 anagrams, 4 reversals, 3 subtraction/ replacements, and one each of hiddens, homophones and double-defs. I reckon that’s a reasonable spread, if you don’t mind me saying.

    Many thanks all,
    Tees

  13. Tough. Rather with K’s D: a bit of a chore, what with its unusual words. I never did get 4dn, being unaware of the LAPD and not really seeing how any reasonable person can call a lapdog an instrument. Didn’t like the DBE in 24ac: a fur is not necessarily a coat and a coat is not necessarily a fur. And I couldn’t see why Napoleonic was ‘one code’, rather than just ‘code’. But otherwise good and perhaps I’m just tired.

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