Tees on a Monday for the third time in a row. Enjoyable as always, and mostly straightforward, though a few references may be unfamiliar to non-Brits.
Tees always provides some amusing surfaces; 12/11 sounds like a familiar media opportunity, and I laughed at 19a, 24a and 22d. My favourite clues today were 3d (which despite the surface is a rather good anagram), 20d (ditto), and 18d (the obligatory groan-worthy pun). Thanks Tees for the entertainment.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the solution; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | OLD BAILEY | Getting on with photographer the famous court (3,6) |
| OLD (euphemistically “getting on”) + BAILEY (the photographer David Bailey). Common name for the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, named after the historic London street where it stands. At first I wondered about the grammar of the surface, but I think it’s casual usage for “the photographer whom famous people court”, with court = seek the attention of. |
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| 10 | See 28 | |
| 11 | See 12 | |
| 12/11 | SALISBURY PLAIN | PM once seen at basic military training ground (9,5) |
| SALISBURY (Lord Salisbury, former British PM in the late 19th century; “once” in the sense of “a long time ago”, but in fact he was PM for three separate terms) + PLAIN (basic = unadorned). A plateau in Southern England, much of which is used for military training; also the site of Stonehenge and other historic structures. |
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| 13 | INDICES | Catalogues game that stops sin developing (7) |
| DICE (a game), inserted into (stopping) an anagram (developing) of SIN. Plural of “index” (catalogue); “indexes” is perhaps the more common plural for this meaning, though I remember “indices” from maths lessons. |
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| 14 | DESPAIR | Lose hope as pride shattered (7) |
| Anagram (shattered) of AS PRIDE. | ||
| 16 | ENTER | Key often used to get in (5) |
| Double definition: the first is the Enter key on a computer keyboard (or Return, from its origins on mechanical typewriters). | ||
| 18 | BUS | Black American providing transport (3) |
| B (black, for example in as in HB pencil = hard black) + US (American). | ||
| 19 | YIELD | Give up being ridiculously idle after years (5) |
| Anagram (ridiculously) of IDLE, after Y (years). | ||
| 21 | AWKWARD | Difficult militarist abandoning first room in hospital (7) |
| [h]AWK (militarist: a leader who tends to favour confrontation rather than conciliation), abandoning its first letter, then WARD (room in hospital). | ||
| 22 | MAHATMA | Great soul in Derby perhaps absorbed by mother (7) |
| HAT (perhaps a Derby = US name for a bowler hat), absorbed by MAMA (mother). Sanskrit title meaning “great soul”, notably applied to Gandhi. |
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| 24 | SHORTENED | Contracted tenor found sloshed in outhouse (9) |
| Anagram (sloshed = drunk) of TENOR, inserted into (found . . . in) SHED (outhouse). | ||
| 26 | See 17 Down | |
| 27 | NEEDS | Can’t do without Geordie news bosses? (5) |
| NE (Geordie = from Tyneside in NE England) + EDS (short for editors = news bosses). Needs as a verb (third person singular) = can’t do without. |
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| 28/10 | GRAVEYARD SHIFT | Unsocial work period solemn detectives change (9,5) |
| GRAVE (solemn) + YARD (short for Scotland Yard = Metropolitan Police detectives, from the location of their headquarters) + SHIFT (change). Slang for a working period overnight, or at a time when few people are around. |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MORPHINE | Change popular recreational drug for opiate (8) |
| MORPH (to change) + IN (popular) + E (short for Ecstasy = recreational drug). Opium-based pain medication. |
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| 2 | EDWARD | King Lear? (6) |
| Double definition: one of several English / British kings in the last 12 centuries, or the poet Edward Lear. Tees has helpfully provided a question mark because neither of these is a one-to-one definition; there are other Kings and other Lears (in particular the Shakespearean character suggested by the surface), and indeed other Edwards. | ||
| 3 | MAGNA CARTA | Poor anagram at start to clue historic document (5,5) |
| Anagram (poor) of ANAGRAM AT with the starting letter of C[lue]. 13th century agreement between King John of England and his barons, asserting the rights of individuals and limiting the absolute power of the monarch. |
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| 4 | CLOSES | Settles where Conservative is defeated (6) |
| C (short for Conservative) + LOSES (is defeated). Settles = closes (a deal, or a dispute). |
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| 5 | CYCLADES | Among travels notice region centred on Delos (8) |
| AD (advertisement = notice) inserted into (among) CYCLES (travels by bicycle). Group of Greek islands with Delos in the centre. |
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| 6 | ISIS | Double firsts not quite achieved in academic stream? (4) |
| First = 1S[t]; not quite = last letter removed, and with the letter I representing the number 1. Then double (repeat) it. Alternative name for the River Thames, which flows through the academic city of Oxford. The “double first” in the surface refers to achieving a first class (the highest grade) in two separate parts of a university degree. |
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| 7 | SIMULATE | Pretend to encourage having wasted time (8) |
| S[t]IMULATE (to encourage), with the T (time) dropped (wasted). | ||
| 8 | STAYER | Street philosopher one unlikely to give up (6) |
| ST (short for street) + AYER (the philosopher A J Ayer). Stayer = one who “stays the course” = continues to the end. |
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| 15 | SEYCHELLES | For example bombs audible in island group (10) |
| Homophone (audible) of SAY + SHELLS (for example + bombs). | ||
| 17/26 | TAKE ONE’S LEAVE | Depart after first attempt at filming the French in bar (4,4,5) |
| TAKE ONE (first attempt at filming), then LE (“the” in French) in SAVE (bar = except). | ||
| 18 | BADINAGE | Drollery good during early years, but … (8) |
| Something that’s good during early years may become BAD IN AGE. Badinage = drollery = humorous chatter. |
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| 20 | DEAD ENDS | Awful deeds and situations offering no way out (4,4) |
| Anagram (awful) of DEEDS AND. | ||
| 21 | ABSENT | Seaman teasing nets out (6) |
| AB (short for able seaman) + anagram (teasing = unravelling) of NETS. | ||
| 22 | MADCAP | Eccentric adult duck occasionally interrupting plan (6) |
| A (adult) + alternate letters (occasionally) of D[u]C[k], inserted into (interrupting) MAP (plan). | ||
| 23 | TEA BAG | Leaves collected here for potting (3,3) |
| Cryptic definition – though some would argue that to make tea properly in a pot (not just in a mug), you should use loose leaf tea rather than tea bags. | ||
| 25 | TASK | Starter for ten — question for Labour (4) |
| T (starting letter of Ten) + ASK (question, as a verb). Task = labour = work. The surface refers to the TV quiz University Challenge, where a “starter for ten” is a question for which the correct answer gets ten points and the opportunity to answer further questions. |
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I do enjoy starting the week with Tees and this one was excellent with some splendid surface readings – I particularly liked 24a which made me laugh too
Thanks to Tees and Quirister
Most enjoyable. I liked – and laughed at – just the same things as Quirister and crypticsue and so I’ve nothing to add, except thanks to Tees and Quirister.
Yes, very enjoyable. We thought 12/11 at first might be a heath somewhere, but crossing letters soon put us right, and we had to check which island group Delos is in. But no real problems although we thought 2dn was a bit of a chestnut, Favourite was TAKE ONE’S LEAVE – which is what we’ll do now, with thanks to Tees and Quirister.
Allan @3: yes, 2d did seem familiar, but I still like it.
That slipped down nicely. The only one I couldn’t see, but should have done, was Badinage. Thanks Tees and Quirister.
All in today, with only MADCAP parsing missed, in a record time for me too. Extremely satisfying – I was clearly in the right matrix (or matrices) today. If only it would happen more often. All the extra detail in the blog was most appreciated Quirister, and thanks to Tees.