Independent 10,568 by Tees

by

Tees is very much a regular in The Indy nowadays but usually appears on a Monday, so this is a rare meeting. And an enjoyable one.

Definitions in fuchsia, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.

There is probably a perfectly simple theme, but I can’t see anything.

ACROSS
1 ACCEDE Article initially consistent with grant to take office (6)
a c{onsistent} cede
4 MESSUAGE Official information about posh dwelling-house (8)
mess(U)age — a messuage is, well, a dwelling-house. Something I didn’t know.
10 PURITANIC Carthaginian holds educated woman to be strait-laced (9)
Pu(Rita)nic — ref the film Educating Rita
11 ID EST That is the thing about some in France (2,3)
i(des)t
12 COL Officer shortly making pass (3)
2 defs
13 REGRETTABLE Sad as the Spanish repeatedly beat Germany back (11)
(el batter Ger.)rev. — ‘repeatedly’ goes with ‘beat’ not with ‘the Spanish’
14 IMPALA Almost spear adult beast (6)
impal{e} A
16 IMAGINE See one enigma resolved (7)
(1 enigma)*
19 ELYSIUM See problem having one brought into heaven (7)
Ely s(1)um — Ely is the see
20 SPLASH Place in window for trumpet (6)
s(pl)ash — trumpet as in ‘trumpet it about’
22 DESSERT WINE Aftershock — in a word — seen in Madeira? (7,4)
afters hock rather than after shock, afters = dessert, hock = wine, Madeira as in ‘Have some Madeira m’dear’ — not cake or a Portuguese place
25 EEL Slippery character getting into free love (3)
Hidden in frEE Love
26 TILDE Duke in hat sees señorita’s wiggle (5)
til(d)e — that little squiggle above the n
27 CHARACTER Privilege to receive current letter (9)
char(AC)ter — Alternating Current
28 HONESTLY Straight home in divine surroundings (8)
ho(nest)ly — straight as in ‘tell me honestly/straight’
29 WELDED We would accept old age having stuck together (6)
w(eld)e’d — eld is an archaic word for old age
DOWN
1 ASPECT Look — a ghost about to disappear! (6)
a spect{re} — look a noun as in ‘a fashionable look’
2 COR BLIMEY Gracious king breaks bread with Brit abroad (3,6)
co(R)b limey
3 DETER Morse writer denied vote is put off (5)
De(x)ter — Colin Dexter wrote the Inspector Morse novels
5 ECCLESIASTICAL Town converted Asiatic left for the church (14)
Eccles *(Asiatic) L
6 SAINT PAUL American location turns up in atlas (5,4)
*(up in atlas) — Saint Paul, Minnesota
7 ACERB Serve Republican British bitter (5)
ace R B — ace as in tennis
8 ESTEEMED Tees out on eastern sea shown respect (8)
(Tees)* E Med
9 ANAGRAMMATICAL Stories well expressed with changing characters (14)
ana grammatical
15 ALIVENESS Vitality in a vessel at sea (9)
(in a vessel)*
17 INSPECTED Scrutinised bug placed by news boss receiving pressure (9)
ins(P)ect ed.
18 REDDITCH Blood-stained axe found in Midlands settlement (8)
red ditch — red = blood-stained, ditch = axe, and it’s not really an archaeological settlement as suggested by the surface, just a settlement in the sense of a place where people settle
21 FLORID Extravagant American leaving Sunshine State (6)
Florid{A}
23 SOLON Cheerio having to lose good old statesman (5)
so lon{g} — Solon was an Athenian statesman
24 EVADE Energy shown by man climbing to escape (5)
(E Dave)rev. — or perhaps (Dave)rev. E

 

13 comments on “Independent 10,568 by Tees”

  1. 22 interesting as a really fine dessert wine like a Sauternes will be overpowered by a dessert such as Mississippi Mud cake but could be OK with a Madeira. Nice to see Redditch. St Paul easier to spell than its twin. Just wrote SOLON and MESSUAGE from the clues without checking

    Only niggle is ACE should be described as great serve or something.

    I liked the senorita’s wiggle

    Good puzzle, Thanks Tees and John

  2. Another enjoyable crossword, thank you Tees.   I smiled at the senorita’s wiggle and I thought 9d was very good

    Thanks also to John for the blog

  3. Another thumbs up for the señorita’s wiggle. Couldn’t get my brain in gear for this and abandoned it with several unsolved. Never heard of MESSUAGE and guessed SOLON. Should have got ECCLESIASTICAL but didn’t. Thanks Tees and John.

  5. Failed in SW corner as ran out of time.  I realised 22A had to be something wine but have always thought of Madeira as fortified rather than dessert wine. Enjoyed the rest of it, especially the senorita’s wiggle!  Thanks Tees and John.

  6. I’ll be the sixth person to say that I liked the señorita’s wiggle, then.  As well as the rest of the puzzle.

    Thanks to John and Tees.

  7. We found this to be of medium difficulty and failed to parse some answers got from definition and crossing letters.  And we weren’t too happy with ALIVENESS – granted it’s a valid word but it just seems awkward, as if the setter had painted himself into a corner and that was the only word to fit the crossing letters (actually one of only two suggested by Chambers Word Wizard).

    But the rest was fine.  We liked REGRETTABLE, IMAGINE and, of course, the señorita’s wiggle!

    Thanks, Tees and John.

  8. Generally I look forward to and enjoy Tees puzzles. Not so much this one.
    Messuage was very obscure to me and I don’t see why message is actually “official information”
    As various other commenters said, Tilde was a highlight and Afters Hock (which sadly I failed to see) was very clever indeed.
    Regrettably I thought regrettable was unfair but lots of others were enjoyable.
    Thanks all

  12. It’s in the dictionaries (Collins and as -ana in Chambers).  Think of words like Victoriana, which give rise to it.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.