Solving time: 28 mins

A jolly little puzzle from Tees with lots of contemporary references. I suppose I still think in old-fashioned crosswordese, but the Indy has certainly brought puzzles into the 21st Century and must be commended for it. Bit of an odd solve in that I amnaged to complete virtually all the right side of the grid before any clues on the left. Struggled for a while with 1 down till the penny finally dropped.

All in all, good fun.

Pedantic note: Chambers gives the phrase at 13 as hyphenated (4-6) rather than (10), but as I hadn’t heard of the phrase before, it wouldn’t have made a difference to me. Nice anagram though,

A nice way to start the day with the Wheatybangs. Thanks Tees.

ACROSS (*) = Anagram (CD) = Cryptic def (R) = Reversal

1 See 18

5 TUTORED T + U + TOREAD - A In educational grading, A is a top mark.

9 RIGMAROLE M in RIGA + ROLE Riga is capital of Latvia.

10 AWFUL (L)AWFUL

11 SAYERS SAYS around E.R. Dorothy L Sayers and ER, US TV Show equivalent to our Casualty.

12 DEATH RAY A DRY HEAT* Nice surface reading.

14 MILITIA MAN IT + 1AM in MILAN IT = Italian, 1 am = “some time after

midnight” (Clever!).

16 ENID Hidden answer “Geraint’s girl” refers to Tennyson’s Idylls of the King.

18/1 STAR CHAMBER STARCH + AMBER The Star Chamber was originally a mediaeval nobles’ court, but now it can refer to an executive Cabinet Committee of the Government such as COBRA, which deals with matters in secret.

19 ADAM AND EVE Double definition Be careful when you Google “Plant Adam and Eve”!!. It’s a variety of orchid, which came as a surprise to me, though I did resist the temptation to visit Google’s first suggestion!

22 TEMPORAL MP inside AT ROLE* Although I worked the answer out, I couldn’t see the explanation, thinking it was “one sitting in” (TEMP) but the rest of the clue didn’t work. All is clear now.

23 MOSCOW M + OS + COW         OS from clothing sizes relates to large (Outsize).  Collins gives COW as a difficult woman. Not sure the PC brigade wil approve of this clue, but the surface is rather amusing to old fogies like me.

26 ROUTE (TRUE + O)* Nice clue with good surface reading!

27 THREE-FOUR (cd) I learned from Strictly Come Dancing that waltzes are danced in three-four time.

28 ENDGAME Double def More good surface.

29 ARTISTS STRAITS* Have seen and used this device a couple of times before. Not entirely convinced the definition works for a plural. Wouldn’t it refer to a single answer, rather than a plural?

DOWN

1 CHRISOM CHRIS(TEND)OM Not a word I’d heard of. I’d recently set CHRISM as an answer in a quiz (Quick plug for my Quiz Setting Service, feel free to contact me!) A Chrisom is a white religious robe.

2 ANGRY GR inside ANY    This clue may come in handy later.

3 BLAIRITE LAIR inside BITE Bambi was one of the nicknames given to Tony Blair, formerly PM of this
Parish.

4 RIOT RIO + T Relates to Rio Ferdinand, one of my least favourite footballers, plays for Manchester United, prone to forgetting drug tests and going shopping instead.

5 THE RED ARMY H.E. inside MARTYRED* Nice surface reading.

6 TOASTY O inside TASTY Hadn’t seen “toastie” spelt with a “y” ending before as a noun, but it’s listed in Chambers.

7 See 24

8 DELAYED LAY inside DEED

13 CARDCASTLE CAT’S CRADLE* Nice anagram. Chambers gives this as hyphenated.

15 LEAF MOULD U + OLD FLAME* This perhaps strays a bit towards the dreaded Indirect Anagram, as it asks for “something meaning classy” which is U [as in U and Non-U]. Some may dislike it, but I think it’s OK.

17 INSOLENT IN + SOLENT The Solent is a stretch of water just outside Southampton.

18 SET FREE SET - FREE Set = Box as in TV sets, which are nicknamed “(Goggle)Boxes”.

20 EDWARDS (W + DREADS)* Made me laugh. The definition refers to former World Champion triple jumper Jonathan Edwards, noted for his religious beliefs and indeed in his early days refused to compete on a Sunday. Now to be found wandering round the BBC schedules on a Sunday hosting religious shows.

21 BODEGA AGED OB (R) OB is an abbreviation for an Old Boy, or almunus of a school.

24/7 CROSS  REFERENCE   (CD) “See 2″ is actually the Clue in this instance, as it refers to Angry! Very clever.

25 PROA PRO + A A proa is a Malay rowing boat.

Thanks again to Tees for an entertaining and clever puzzle.

I found this much tougher than usual from Quixote. Solving time, 43 mins.

* = anagram < = reversed

ACROSS

1 ME A LIE Very inventive.

5 CRACK UP Double definition

9 STEW A very well-disguised hidden - TaSTE Was

10 ESPIONAGE (Page one is)*

11 CAPE FINISTERRE (I can prefer site)* Though the anagram stood out, did not get this till I’d all the crossing letters. It’s the westernmost part of Spain, apparently.

14 EVA BR AUN(t) (Brave)* Companion of Adolf Hitler.

15 TEA S E S First letters. Clever clue

17 STAR CH (Companion of Honour)

19 YES AND NO A clever, amusing, double definition.

21 ANTIPERSPIRANT (Spare part in tin)*

22 CON (S TRUC) T (curt s)< s = skirt initially

25 VEIL “Vale”

26 TIPP (L) ED

27 H (A R) OLD 1066 and all that.

DOWN

2 EXTRA VAG(r)ANT

3 LOW GEAR Another excellent clue.

5 C APRI(l)

6 ADOPTEE Was held up here by first writing in ‘adopted’ but the clue very clearly points to a noun. An only barely cryptic definition, but the wording suggested it might be a normal definition/wordplay clue.

7 KEA Hidden

8 P (RE T) ENSION

12 RESIDENTIAL (aliens tried)*

13 PERSIAN CAT (Ascertain p)* p = origin of pussy

16 DES PATCH

18 CAPITAL Double defintion

20 A R-RIVER A river flows.

22 ROUND Double definition

24 NIP pin<

This is my maiden post and I will adopt the conventional symbols

* = anagram
“” = homophone
cd = cryptic definition
dd = double definition
ha = hidden answer
rha = reversed hidden answer

On the whole, quite an entertaining puzzle
Across
9 EVAPORATE cd
10 IMAGO Insertion of MAG (magazine) in IO (I circle)
11 SET FREE Insertion of R (end of septembeR) in set fee (usual payment)
12 TAMBOUR (* to rumba)  is a kind of drum. I like the use of dancing as anagram indicator and beat with this as definition, making the whole clue read so smoothly
13 YEN ha
14 TCHAIKOVSKY cd and music lovers will recognise the Queen of Spades as one of Tchaikovsky’s works
17 CURIO Charade of CU (copper) + insertion of I in RO (Romania)
18 TIP dd
19 ARCED (*cedar)
21 LOOSE CHANGE Insertion of HANG (drape) in (*see cool)
23 OVA Eggs are mostly oval in shape
25 FIFTIES dd
27 MACBETH Charade of MAC (Macintosh, raincoat) BETH (Elizabeth)
28 EVENS One in two chances is evens like head or tail on the flip of a coin.
29 OCEANAUTS cd main is a favourite word used by compilers for the deep blue sea

Down
1 FEISTY (*F is yet)
2 FASTENER Insertion of NE (North-East of England, also clued by Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where I went to university in the early seventies) in FASTER (more quickly)
3 FOUR-STROKE cd
4 FACE (* cafe)
5 FELT-TIP PEN A punny clue! To upset is to tip (over); so feeling tippen is appearing upset
6 FILM rha Kes is a British film from 1969 by director Ken Loach and producer Tony Garnett. The film is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave written by Barry Hines in 1968.
7 FAMOUS ha
8 FOUR-EYED Charade of F (fine) OUR EYE (vision) D (daughter)
15 HIT THE SPOT dd
16 OPALESCENT Insertion of ALE (alcoholic drink) in (*ten cops)
17 COLD FEET Another punny clue which I quite like. This reminded me of a car review I read many years ago when the maker lowered the ventilating air-vents, directing the cold blasts from the upper part of the driver to his lower part. The critic’s classic verdict  “… hot head and cold feet”
20 CLOSE OUT (*too clues)
22 OFFSET Charade of OFF (not on) SET (form)
24 AGHAST Charade of A (adult) + insertion of HAS in GT (gran turismo, a motor car designed for touring in luxury and at high speed)
26 INST (*isnt)
27 MEET dd

I found this puzzle rather difficult even after catching on to the theme, climate change. I got 18A wrong and did not find the solution to 17D. A few clues that struck me as both challenging and clever are 13A, 18A, 20A-4D and 27A.

Across
1. BALL GOWN - BALL (round object) + G (string) + OWN (have)
5. SCREAM - S (second) + CREAM (top)
10. ROGUE - [pro]ROGUE (stop session)
11. RIVER BANK - RIVER (flower) + BANK (Oberon’s wild thyme etc)
12. ATTENTION - double definition
13. OUTDO - double/cryptic definition
14. DUGONG - DU (from the French) + GONG (medal)
15. ENFORCE - hidden word
18. ROBESON - “ROBE’s ON” (ceremonially clad). I first thought this was ORBISON — see comments below.
20, 4. GLOBAL WARMING - LOB (throw) in GAL (girl) + WAR (fights) + MING (China)
22. SPRIG - S (S-) + PRIG (self righteous person)
24. WILLPOWER - P (prince) in WILLOW (tree) + ER (queen)
25. HINDSIGHT - anagram of THINGS HID
26. IDRIS - D[olgellau] in IRIS (rainbow). The full name of the mountain is, I believe, Cadair Idris.
27. THEIST - T (time) + HEIST (crime)
28. PARTISAN - P (quiet) + ARTISAN (worker)

Down
1. BARMAN - ARM (weapon) in BAR (prohibition)
2. LIGHT BULB - LIGHT (not serious) + BLUB (cry) backwards (up)
3. GREENHOUSE GASES - E + anagram of ENOUGH in GREASES (lubricants)
6. CARBON FOOTPRINT - NF (National Front) + O[rganisation] in CAR BOOT (sale) + PRINT (publish)
7. EXACT - double definition
8. MAKEOVER - double definition
9. AVENUE - A (a) + VENUE (place to meet)
16. ROADWORKS - A (adult) in ROD (corporal punishment) + WORKS (is successful)
17. BRASS HAT - BRASS (money) + HAT (cover)
19. NEW AGE - SEWAGE (refuse) with S changed to N (change poles)
20. GALATEA - GALA (celebratory) + TEA (meal). In Greek mythology, Galatea was a sculpture created by Pygmalion and brought to life by Aphrodite.
21. PRISON - IS (is) in PRON[e] (lying down deprived of energy)
23. RANGE - double definition

NEW AGE TRAVELLER required some wiki-trawling — other than that, I find this puzzle to be a reasonable thing to do while listening to a talk about bid optimizations in internet advertising (which I understood even less). Quite a few cryptic definitions — is Gordius competing with Rufus?

Across

Down