Tees has provided our mid-week cruciverbal entertainment this week.
I found this one quite challenging from the point of view of vocabulary, with the entries at 1A, 1D, 4 and 15 all being new to me. That said, I was able to work them all out from the wordplay and check them in Chambers afterwards. I am relatively happy with my parsing overall this time.
My favourite clues today are 6, for surface; 13, for making me laugh out loud; and 23, for originality.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | FECUNDATE | Having good times round City, planned meeting to impregnate
[EC (City of London) in FUN (=good times)] + DATE (=planned meeting) |
| 06 | STAB | Go mad in retirement
BATS (=mad, crazy); “in retirement” indicates reversal; to have a “go” at something is to have a “stab” at it |
| 10 | REALM | Silver coin and money supply in kingdom
REAL (=silver coin) + M (=money) |
| 11 | EPICENTRE | Focal point in long poem with short introduction
EPIC (=long poem) + ENTRE<e> (=introduction; “short” means last letter is dropped) |
| 12 | EPITHET | Mining Derbyshire pit he thought to provide descriptive phrase
Hidden (“mining”, i.e. digging out of) in “derbyshirE PIT HE Thought” |
| 13 | RIOT ACT | Brazilian diplomacy to be applied where there’s trouble?
Cryptically, “Rio tact” could be described as Brazilian diplomacy |
| 14 | OTTOMAN EMPIRE | Impotent Rome a dilapidated superpower now gone
*(IMPOTENT ROME A); “dilapidated” is anagram indicator |
| 17 | BANK STATEMENT | Display of balance – something pronounced on slope?
BANK (=slop, hillside) + STATEMENT (=something pronounced, uttered) |
| 21 | PLACATE | Helping around inside brings calm
CA (=around, i.e. circa) in PLATE (=helping, portion) |
| 22 | COLOSSI | Charlie lives alone in retreat for notables
C (=Charlie, in radio telecommunications) + OLOSSI (IS=lives + SOLO (=alone); “in retreat” indicates reversal); a colossus is a person or organisation of gigantic power and influence, hence “notables” |
| 24 | NEURALGIA | Arbitrary rule again becomes real pain
*(RULE AGAIN); “arbitrary” is anagram indicator |
| 25 | NAIVE | Innocent one in place for congregation
I (=one) in NAVE (=place for congregation, i.e. part of church) |
| 26 | TIER | Maybe moor by river bank
TIE (=maybe moor, as verb) + R (=river) |
| 27 | TOP SECRET | Doctor to respect line on MI6 file?
*(TO RESPECT); “doctor” is anagram indicator; TOP SECRET could well be written across the top of many an MI6 file, hence “line on” |
| Down | ||
| 01 | FURBELOW | Trimming hair down there?
FUR (=hair) + BELOW (=down there); a furbelow is a pleated border of a skirt, a trimming |
| 02 | COATI | Animal, leopard perhaps, consuming duck on island
[O (=duck, i.e. zero score in cricket) in CAT (=leopard perhaps)] + I (=island) |
| 03 | NYMPHOMANIACAL | Holy man in a camp moves about having many relationships
*(HOLY MAN IN A CAMP); “moves” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | AVESTAN | This spake Zarathustra in article about goddess
VESTA (=goddess of the hearth and home) in AN (=article, in grammar); Avestan is the language of Zoroastrian scripture, hence spoken by the prophet Zarathustra |
| 05 | EPIGRAM | Saw stuff taken to European gourmand
E (=European) + PIG (=gourmand, glutton) + RAM (=stuff, force into); an epigram is a pointed or sarcastic saying, hence “epigram” |
| 07 | TETE-A-TETE | Nice heads hosting adult conversation?
A (=adult) in TETE TETE (=Nice heads, i.e. 2 x the French word for head) |
| 08 | BREATH | Suspicion bug’s first about at hospital
B<ug> (“first” means first letter only) + RE (=about, regarding) + AT + H (=hospital) |
| 09 | PEROXIDE BLONDE | Vamp explored in bed without love: she not really being fair?
O (=love, i.e. zero score in tennis) in *(EXPLORED IN BED); “vamp” is anagram indicator; a peroxide blonde’s hair is not really “fair” hair! |
| 15 | TABLATURE | Guide to fingertips a brutal criminal in note
*(A BRUTAL) in TE (=note, in music); “criminal” is anagram indicator; tablature is an old form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches |
| 16 | STRIDENT | Second ballistic missile thundering
S (=second) + TRIDENT (=ballistic missile, fired from a submarine) |
| 18 | SLEIGHT | Ecstasy smuggled in small deception
E (=Ecstasy, i.e. drug) in SLIGHT (=small) |
| 19 | ARC LAMP | Gunners returned to fix light
AR (RA=gunners, i.e. Royal Artillery; “returned” indicates reversal) + CLAMP (=fix) |
| 20 | SPINET | Old player’s son very good at cricket practice
S (=son) + PI (=very good, pious) + NET (=cricket practice); a spinet is an old musical instrument, hence “old player” |
| 23 | SKIER | Sporty sort to deprive captain of tuppence
SKI<pp>ER (=captain); “to deprive … of tuppence” means letters “pp”, i.e. 2 x p=penny, are dropped |
Well, we have “Brazilian” in 13a and then we have 1d. Coincidence? More than likely.
I had the same unknowns as you RR and also managed to guess them all and check in Chambers.
Another fun crossword from Tees – I did know all the ‘unknowns’ apart from 1a which, apart from it being borrowed from The Book of Obscure Words for Crossword Setters, was very fairly clued.
As I said to Mr CS when I parsed 1d, Mr B is a very naughty setter – Mr CS did laugh when I explained the parsing
Thanks to Tees and RR
1D was clued very similarly by Rosa Klebb in the FT in September 2018:
Ruffle hair down there
I needed a word list for a couple to complete, but was able to parse them all with no trouble. Simon S @ 3: As I understand it, a Brazilian results in no 1D – so I’m told! Many thanks Tees and RatkojaRiku.
All done and dusted with no real problems; we decided that 1ac was related to ‘fecund’ so could only be FECUNDATE which we confirmed in Chambers. AVESTAN was our LOI; it took us a while to think of the goddess and then the answer was obvious. Favourites were EPICENTRE and TABLATURE.
Thanks, Tees and RatkojaRiku
I was going to moan about EPICENTRE (so persistently misused, especially of late, to mean “focus” that no doubt some consider the meaning to have changed), but on reflection, I suppose the point on the earth’s surface “above the focus” (of an earthquake, for example) could be said to be “focal” — i.e., relating to the focus.
Now, I must make the penultimate concerted effort to get out more. Thanks, Mati8lda and RR.
And here’s me thinking I was the only person in England to possess a copy of The Book of Obscure Words for Crossword Setters.
You kind of run out of things to say about Tees’ puzzles. They’re always sound as a pound, enjoyable and a bit stretching. I would posit that with FECUNDATE, NYMPHOMANIACAL, PEROXIDE BLONDE mixing with trimming hair ‘down there’, there is an overtly sexual theme, but eye of the beholder and all that, mebbes.
TABLATURE is not just ‘old’ notation: it’s a guide to modern guitarists’ fingertips too, and especially useful for those that don’t read music.
Ian, you seem to have strayed into the wrong place with your thanks to the setter. It’s Wednesday and you live north of the river, btw.
Oops — my eyes must be dotted. Sorry if I’ve crossed Tees!
More of a challenge today. FURBELOW, AVESTAN, TABLATURE & SPINET all new to me, only the last got through wordplay. Slim majority of full parsings managed.
Can some kind soul put me out my misery and explain the connection between SAW and EPIGRAM please? I got it through wordplay but don’t understand the definition.
Thanks Tees & RatkojaRiku
El_Gwero, this use of “saw” is very common in cryptics so is well worth remembering. I believe you said you now have the Chambers app, so if you look under the third meaning for “saw” you will see “saying” in the sense of an epigram for example.
Thanks Hovis, I just didn’t scroll down that far, I thought the definitions ended with the compound forms.