Tees has set this week’s Wednesday challenge.
I found this puzzle to be an entertaining solve that was easy-to-medium in terms of difficulty – perfect for a busy mid-week day!
My favourites today were 1A and 10, both for smoothness of surface; and 12/05, for its topicality. Incidentally, I was surprised to discover that 23 could be spelt in this way, having spent all my life believing that TENDONITIS was the only accepted spelling. We live and learn ….
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | DISCUSS | Martians at last on flying saucer – that’s deliberate
DISCUS (=“flying saucer”, in athletics) + <martian>S (“at last” means last letter only); deliberate, as a verb, is to discuss, debate |
| 08 | BLOODSTAIN | Evidence no longer in circulation wasted on tabloids
*(ON TABLOIDS); “wasted”, i.e. drunk is anagram indicator; the “circulation” of the definition refers to blood circulation |
| 09 | GOWN | Good to have ceremonial robe
G (=good) + OWN (=to have, possess) |
| 10 | SMUT | Blue material turning stomachs
TUMS (=stomachs); “turning” indicates reversal |
| 11 | THREATENED | Under attack, extremely tough Red Guards scoffed
T<oug>H (“extremely” means first and last letters only) + [EATEN (=scoffed) in RED] |
| 12/05 | BACTRIAN CAMEL | Beast involved in Bataclan crime
*(BATACLAN CRIME); “involved in” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | THIRST | Desire shown where t-shirt ripped
*(T-SHIRT); “where … ripped” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | BAD EGG | Evil urge for a rotter
BAD (=evil) + EGG (=urge, encourage) |
| 17 | PALL MALL | Tree totally covers entrance to London thoroughfare
L<ondon> (“entrance to” means first letter only) in [PALM (=tree) + ALL (=totally)] |
| 19 | BLACK MARIA | Refuse to handle medium number in police vehicle
BLACK (=refuse to handle, boycott) + M (=medium, i.e. size) + ARIA (=number, song) |
| 21 | HAUL | Heroin, gold and pounds in takings from robbery
H (=heroin, in slang) + AU (=gold, i.e. chemical formula) + L (=pounds, as in LSD) |
| 22 | ORCA | Whale with teeth decapitated Spanish poet
<l>ORCA (=Spanish poet, i.e. Federico García Lorca); “decapitated” means first letter is dropped; an orca is a killer whale |
| 23 | TENDINITIS | Trendy one in dentist treated for inflammation
[IN (=trendy, fashionable) + I (=one)] in *(DENTIST); “treated” is anagram indicator |
| 24 | NOTCH | Nick back on time brought to church
NO (ON; “back” indicates reversal) + T (=time) + CH (=church) |
| 25 | RHENISH | Wine presented by female is in right hand
[HEN (=female) + IS] in RH (=right hand); Rhenish is a Rhine wine, especially hock |
| Down | ||
| 01 | DILEMMA | Catch-22 upset cover girl
DIL (LID=cover; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) + EMMA (=girl, i.e. girl’s name) |
| 02 | SHOAT | Try to catch a little pig
A in SHOT (=try, attempt, go); a shoat is a young pig, especially one that has just been weaned |
| 03 | UPSETTING | Excited to be designing puzzles? It’s traumatic
UP (=excited, agitated) + SETTING (=designing puzzles) |
| 04 | SPARRING PARTNER | Thrifty spouse acquiring collar finally for boxer
<colla>R (“finally” means last letter only) in [SPARING (=thrifty, economical) + PARTNER (=spouse)] |
| 05 | CONGA | Dance music on game shows
Hidden (“shows”) in “musiC ON GAme” |
| 06 | MAGNESIUM | Chaste girl, one protected by mother, supplies element
[AGNES (=chaste girl, i.e. St Agnes, the patron saint of girls and chastity) + I (=one)] in MUM (=mother) |
| 07 | LAWLESS | Rebellious as well, ordered south
*(AS WELL) + S (=south); “ordered” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | TRENCHANT | Keen soldier in WW1 battlefield?
Cryptically, a TRENCH ANT could be a “soldier in WW1 battlefield” |
| 14 | TALKATIVE | Gabby – endlessly demanding girl about five
TAL<l> (=demanding, as in tall order; “endlessly” means last letter is dropped) + [IV (=five, in Roman numerals) in KATE (=girl, i.e. girl’s name)] |
| 16 | AILERON | Banking controller one suffering at work?
AILER (=one suffering) + ON (=at work); cryptically, an aileron could be a “banking controller” in that it regulates the tilting of a plane in turning |
| 18 | LOUTISH | Soul hit remade is vulgar
*(SOUL HIT); “remade” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | MATCH | Compare lighter alternative
A match is an alternative to a lighter for a smoker |
| 21 | HAITI | Some island seized by Henry I?
AIT (=(small) island) in [H (=Henry) + I] |
Enjoyable with some difficult words to me like Shoat and Tendinitis. Saw a small theme in a few across clues with Camel, Pall Mall and perhaps Smut. As a non smoker I might have missed some more.
An enjoyable crossword with some splendid surface readings. I too had to check the spelling of 23a
Thanks to Tees and RR
Sound and fun stuff as always from Tees – a perfect weekday puzzle.
I must admit I didn’t really clock the I in TENDINITIS, since I already had the crosser from TALKATIVE. Odd spelling, isn’t it? I’ll bear it in mind next time I tear my Achilles Tendin (which, given my sedentary lifestyle these days, won’t be any time soon).
Like our blogger, I liked the misdirection in 1ac. Thanks to him too.
Having entered Gown at 9A nearly everything else flowed smoothly from that, but I then hit a wall in the NW corner and only finished with help from a word list for Shoat, which is new to me. 23A had to be Tendinitist (which I knew, having suffered from it recently) but the first word that occurred was Tonsilitis, which would fit but made no sense. Thanks Tees and RatkojaRiku.
Not sure the question mark at the end justifies the surface for 21d where “island” seems to be the definition and the AIT bit – or is there some bit of history I know nothing about?
Wrynose @1 If you were smoker then you could use the MATCH to light-up.
H(AIT)+I is (an attempted) &lit.
Haiti is part but not all of Hispaniola (hence ‘some island’) that was grabbed by Henri Christophe, a.k.a. Henry the First, King of Haiti, in 1811-ish. So, AIT for island in HI. For &lit purposes, the question is whether or not the ‘some’ (needed to distinguish HAITI from its neighbour) is regarded, strictly, as extraneous to the cryptic reading.
Tees @7. Thanks for the history lesson. Wondered if it might be something like that and now I know, at least until I forget.
Me too …
Enjoyable with a LOI of ‘it has to be even though I don’t know the word’ at 2. 12 was a case of fitting remaining letters to make a possible word but not a fan of the construction at 10 which is ambiguous without crossers. A nice puzzle with plenty of solvable clues that still led me to hunt down the unknown references / solution words at 2, 6, 21d, 25…
Small error in the blog for 14. It’s V in KATIE, not IV in KATE.
Fav UPSETTING.
DNF for me on shoat. Ah well. Cheers for the puzzle, Tees, and blog RatkojaRiku.
Very enjoyable apart from 10 which, as is often the case, allowed either SMUT or TUMS to be the answer.
Particular liked 8 across where the definition made me smile.
Thanks to S&B
We found this fairly straightforward, the only trouble being in the NW corner where for a while we failed to think flying saucer = discus and to recognise 8ac as an anagram. Then all we needed was a wordfinder for SHOAT and kicked ourselves because we knew the word but only in the alternative ‘shote’ spelling. But we did know TENDINITIS.
Thanks, Tees and RatkojaRiku.