Some educational fare from Tees this week…
…a couple of pairs of linked clues and som(m)e thematic material – for which I can’t quite work out any particular date-related significance…so maybe they are just there on the whim of the setter?
So in amongst some generally Saturday Prize-standard ‘normal’ clues, we have 1A/8D (MASSACRE OF GLENCOE) and 14D/20D (THE MASTER OF STAIR) – references to the Massacre of Glencoe, which occurred in February 1692 and involved John Dalrymple, the said Master of Stair, and the murder of members of the MACDONALD clan due to their tardiness in declaring allegiance to WILLIAM (of Orange) and Mary (not present in the grid, as far as I can see):
I had to check on SAN LEANDRO as a Californian city, although it was gettable from the wordplay, and hadn’t heard of the Master of Stair, so again a bit of reference needed there. And the puzzle/theme as a whole is a RETROACT, in as much as it references past events. The SOMME gets a passing reference – but that battle was mainly in 1916, so again no date-significance there?
I’m not sure if Tees is of Scottish origin – the name implies a river in the North-East of England? – or has some particular connection to the events of 1692? The only possible NINA I could find was ‘I’m a Taf’ in the 10th row, but that wouldn’t explain any link to Scottish history?!
So, unless I am missing anything else of significance, I think I have it covered – an educational Saturday prize puzzle with a Scottish twist…with thanks to Tees for the challenge…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | MASSACRE OF | &8 Reimagined – once fog clears – same crime of 14/20 (8,2) | crime of 14/20 / anag (i.e. reimagined, of ONCE FOG CLEARED SAME |
|
| 7A | MAGE | Old man flees injured wizard (4) | wizard / (DA)MAGE(D) – injured, without DAD (old man, ‘fleeing’) |
|
| 9A | FARM | Old 7 down had this fine weapon (4) | Old 7D had this / F (fine) + ARM (weapon) |
|
| 10A | APPROACHED | Brave daughter giving sportsman hug made advances (10) | made advances / AP_ACHE (brave) + D (daughter) around (hugging) PRO (sportsman) |
|
| 11A | AMOEBA | Brainless life-form a second President recalled? (6) | Brainless life-form / A + MO (a moment, or second) + EBA (Abe – President Lincoln, recalled) |
|
| 12A | RETROACT | Upset Carter to reference past events (8) | reference past events / anag (i.e. upset) of CARTER TO |
|
| 13A | FACTOTUM | Flexible assistant’s uppermost part almost against belly (8) | Flexible assistant / FAC(E) (almost face, or uppermost part) + TO (against) + TUM (belly) |
|
| 15A | ALEC | Conservative on the beer – smart man? (4) | smart man? / ALE (beer) + C (Conservative) |
|
| 17A | TWEE | Overly sentimental sports supporter keeps wicket (4) | Overly sentimental / T_EE (sports supporter, e.g. of golf ball) around (keeping) W (wicket) |
|
| 19A | NEXT DOOR | One departs north exit closer in adjacent house (4,4) | in adjacent house / N (North) + EX(I)T (exit, with I – one – departing) + DOOR (‘closer’, something that closes) |
|
| 22A | ALHAMBRA | Palace where an innocent artist captures hearts (8) | Palace (in Spain) / A + L_AMB (innocent) + RA (Royal Academician, artist) around (capturing) H (hearts) |
|
| 23A | MEDUSA | Small Sea States for jellyfish (6) | jellyfish / MED (abbreviation, or ‘small’, for Mediterranean Sea) + USA (‘the States’) |
|
| 25A | DISTORTION | Sort idiot out with new twist on meaning? (10) | twist on meaning / anag (i.e. out) of SORT + IDIOT + N (new) |
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| 26A | VEAL | Some dive a little lower for food? (4) | (little) lower (calf) for food / hidden word (i.e some) in ‘diVE A Little’ |
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| 27A | AMIR | Song about masculine Arabic man? (4) | Arabic man / A_IR (song) around M (male, masculine) |
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| 28A | SAN LEANDRO | Sick room, fit medic and oxygen in Californian city (3,7) | Californian city / SAN (sanatorium, sick room) + LEAN (fit, lithe) + DR (doctor, medic) + O (oxygen) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | ANAEMIA | I want to rise in sober society – vigour lacks in it (7) | vigour lacks in it / A_A (Alcoholicas Anonymous, sober society) around NAEMI (I MEAN, I want to, rising) |
|
| 3D | SOMME | Few protecting millions in war zone (5) | war zone / SOM_E (few) around (protecting) M (millions) |
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| 4D | CHAPATTI | Man, classically elegant, refuses cold food (8) | food / CHAP (man) + ATTI(C) (classically elegant, without C – cold) |
|
| 5D | EXPERIMENTATION | ETA presses ten Fairy Fellows into explosive testing (15) | testing / EXPERIMENTA = E_TA around (pressing) X (ten) + PERI (fairy) + MEN (fellows), plus TION (anag, i.e. explosive, of INTO) |
|
| 6D | FROSTY | US poet over years lacking enthusiasm (6) | lacking enthusiasm / FROST (Robert, US Poet) + Y (years) |
|
| 7D | MACDONALD | Rainwear put on shivery lad clan caught in 1/8 (9) | clan caught in 1/8 / MAC (rainwear) + DON (put on) + ALD (anag, i.e. shivery, of LAD) |
|
| 8D | GLENCOE | See 1 (7) | See 1 / | |
| 14D | THE MASTER | & 20 John Dalrymple: flight controller? (3,6) | John Dalrymple / The ‘Master of Stair’ might be controller of a flight (of stairs) |
|
| 20D | OF STAIR | See 14 (2,5) | See 14 / | |
| 16D | EXAMINEE | One tested bomb aboard chopper going north and east (8) | one tested / EXA (axe, chopper, going up, north) + E (East), all around MINE (bomb) |
|
| 18D | WILLIAM | King shows purpose early in the morning (7) | King / WILL (purpose, intent) + IAM (1 AM, early in the morning!) |
|
| 21D | ABORTS | Stops before finishing topside of beef in spoilt roast (6) | stops before finishing / A_ORTS (anag, i.e. spoilt, of ROAST) around B (top letter, topside, of Beef) |
|
| 24D | DEVON | See nothing in small room in Tavistock Place? (5) | Tavistock Place? (place where Tavistock is located) / DE_N (small room), around V (vide, Latin, ‘see!’) + O (nothing, zero) |
|
I did think San Leandro was a bit obscure – I’d considered it based on the word play, but rejected it at first due to the lack of even the faintest flicker of recognition. Similarly The Master of Stair, but that’s more understandable given that it’s a part of the theme.
I was confused by 13A, having had FACTO(R) + TUM – I couldn’t work out where the ‘uppermost’ came in. I’m not sure that FAC(E) is entirely convincing either, but it certainly makes more sense of the clue as a whole.
I held myself up unnecessarily for a while, having confidently entered FAWN at 17A based on the wordplay without really paying attention to the definition. This led to a lot of head-scratching, trying to work out who the obscure king was going to be.
That all makes me sound rather negative about the puzzle, but I wasn’t at all. And I did particularly enjoy the clue for 26A, VEAL – presumably the full definition, overlapping with the word play, being ‘little lower for food’.
Thanks, OPatrick – good point on the definition of 26A – have updated…
some lovely clues, beautifully written and all very fair although I wouldn’t have had a prayer without internet access.
I remember the days when I could do an hour on the stairmaster.
Thanks to Tees&mc_r
Enjoyed this a lot but failed on the unfamiliar SAN LEANDRO – a lot of obscure general knowledge required to parse everything so must have been a tricky blog.
Thanks to Tees and mc_rapper
Poor old San Leandro. That’s why I didn’t do an anagram of it actually, such as
New Orleans and Californian location
which I assume would have made things harder madam.
Thanks all for dropping by, glad you enjoyed it, and thanks to MC for a super blog.
Cheers
Tees.