A nicely judged and tractable cryptic from Jeemz to start the week for Independent puzzlers.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
1 Joint head of primate protection
MITRE
A dd cum cd. The second, whimsical definition refers to the headwear of a bishop, or ‘primate’.
4 Unduly analyse wasted kilos
OVERTHINK
A charade of OVERTHIN and K.
9 Extremely sadistic parrot set upon blameless victim
SCAPEGOAT
A charade of SC for the outside letters of ‘sadistic’, APE and GO AT.
10 Maybe a sleeper that’s put in bed?
PLANT
A dd. The first definition refers to the ‘spy’ meanings of ‘sleeper’ and PLANT. Great surface and clever clue.
11 One tells story going round admitted by King and Queen
RELATER
An insertion of TALE reversed in R for Rex or ‘King’ and ER or Elizabeth Regina for ‘Queen’. The insertion indicator is ‘admitted by’.
12 Draws on subterfuges introduced by so-called spymaster
EMPLOYS
A charade of EM and PLOYS. The first element is a sound alike (‘so-called’) for M, the ‘spymaster’ in the Bond novels.
13 Cross this to be in touch with compiler credited here
BYLINE
Another dd. In the beautiful game, if the ball crosses the byline – the boundary line between the corner flags and the goalposts – it’s ‘in touch’.
15 Shocking reports about wearing hippy footwear
SCANDALS
An insertion of C for circa or ‘about’ in SANDALS. The insertion indicator is ‘wearing’.
18 Tricky question – a student initially omitted balanced formula
EQUATION
(QUE[S]TION A)* with ‘tricky’ as the anagrind.
20 Report raised by daughter at opening of enquiry
UPDATE
A charade of UP, D, AT and E for the initial letter of ‘enquiry’.
23 Free Republican First Lady imprisoned by old Judge? The opposite!
RELIEVE
An insertion of the biblical ELI in R and EVE, the biblical ‘First Lady’. The insertion indicator is ‘imprisoned by’ and ‘the opposite’ gives you the way round to make the insertion.
24 Account for cleric having former partner for tea
EXPLAIN
Jeemz is inviting you to replace the CHA in CHAPLAIN with EX.
26 Talk big as vessels succeeded moving towards the front
BOAST
We need to move the S for ‘succeeded’ in BOATS one place towards the front.
27 It’s almost unbreakable spirit?
HARD STUFF
Whimsically, HARD STUFF would be difficult to break. So a dd cum cd.
28 Half dead age-old chicken unresponsive
DEAF-EARED
A charade of DE[AD] and AFEARED. The usage for ‘chicken’ or frightened is archaic, suggested by ‘age-old’.
Be not afeared; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
[Caliban, in Act III, Scene II of Shakespeare’s The Tempest]
29 Gather claim’s coming to court at last
PLEAT
A charade of PLEA and T for the final letter of ‘court’.
Down
1 Cheerless cheapskate at liberty
MISERABLE
A charade of MISER and ABLE. ‘You’re at liberty to leave.’
2 Look of contrary primeval warthog
TRAWL
Hidden reversed in primevaL WARThog.
3 Liverpool district school hosting minister from the south
EVERTON
An insertion of REV reversed in ETON. The insertion indicator is ‘hosting’.
4 Aromas coming from barbecue perhaps up where we live
ODOURS
A charade of DO reversed and OURS. The final element is fine: ‘Come to ours for tea tomorrow.’ The first I’m less keen on if it’s what I think it is. DO for ‘cook’ is well-established in crossword land: ‘I’m going to do/cook chicken for tea tomorrow.’ But DO for ‘barbecue’? Mebbes a step too far. Or me not understanding what is occurring here.
5 Firmly establish arch Conservative there with new name individually assigned
ENTRENCH
An insertion of two Ns, for ‘new’ and ‘name’ separately inserted into (THERE C)* The anagrind is ‘arch’ and the insertion indicator is ‘individually assigned’.
6 Best returned shot has this?
TOPSPIN
A charade of TOPS and NIP reversed with an extended definition.
7 Directly confronts one who shops a girlfriend
INAMORATA
A charade of IN A MO, RAT and A. ‘I’ll be there directly/in a mo[ment].’
8 Raptors, eagles principally, getting stuck into young animals
KITES
An insertion of E for the initial letter of ‘eagles’ in KITS, which could be the young of a beaver, ferret, fox, mink, rabbit, raccoon, skunk, squirrel or wolverine. The insertion indicator is ‘getting stuck into’ and the Obligatory Pierre Bird Link shows you a yellow-billed kite, whose range is mainly in Southern Africa. Little factoid for word lovers: ‘kite’ is derived from Old English cȳta, onomatopoeic from the call notes of the buzzard. There are no cognates in any of the other Germanic languages, suggesting this nomenclature is entirely English.
14 Judges bull an alpha after grooming in capital
LJUBLJANA
(J J BULL AN A)* with ‘after grooming’ as the anagrind.
16 Witnessing motor racing finally left thinking it’s ok
SEEING FIT
A charade of SEEING, FI and T for the last letter of ‘left’.
17 Organised congress in Yorkshire capturing Angela’s heart
TOGETHER
This was the other clue that tickled me this morning. An insertion of GE for the middle letters (‘heart’) of AnGEla in T’OTHER. ‘Congress’ implying sexual relations is referred to in the phrase ‘a bit of the other’. Use the Yorkshire version and the insertion indicator of ‘capturing’ and you’ve got your answer. ‘She’s very organised/together these days.’
19 A bit of decent rest leaders support
TRESTLE
Hidden in decenT REST LEaders.
21 Sanctimonious youth besetting opponents speaks out
PIPES UP
A charade of PI and ES for the bridge ‘opponents’ inserted into PUP. The insertion indicator is ‘besetting’.
22 Smirked suggestively before getting taken outside
LEERED
An insertion of ERE for ‘before’ in LED for ‘taken’. The insertion indicator is ‘getting … outside’.
We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart
[Hamlet, to Horatio in Act I, Scene II]
23 Frenzied bee engaged in attack …
RABID
An insertion of B in RAID. The insertion indicator is ‘engaged in’.
25 … as you’re on the phone finding shade
AZURE
A soundalike clue (‘on the phone’) for AS YOU’RE. I might have been pronouncing this word wrong all my life: most of the authorities I checked do give this as a close soundalike. Heigh ho.
Many thanks to Jeemz for this today’s puzzle.
I think ‘a barbecue’ as ‘a do’ (so nouns) is fine. Didn’t know first meaning of BYLINE.
A pangram.
Yes, byline as a soccer term was a newie (as a rugby fullback I kicked the ball into touch from within the 25, but the line it crossed was just the boundary). Nice puzzle, thanks Jeemz (is that James said fraffly posh 🙂 ?) and Pierre.
A splendid start to the week. Most of this pangram went in smoothly but a few of the parsings took a bit of teasing out.
A personal bugbear (one of many!), I don’t like the use of words to describe letters e.g. BEE in 23d, but they appear in dictionaries so I suppose they are fair game for setters.
EXPLAIN was my favourite of many ticked clues.
Many thanks to Jeemz and PIerre.
Another very accomplished offering from Jeemz which I enjoyed a lot. A wide variety of devices on display here with imaginative wordplay throughout.
Like our esteemed blogger I’ve obviously been pronouncing 25d incorrectly, thankfully it’s not a word I often use!
In a strong field top three for me, MITRE, EXPLAIN AND TOPSPIN.
Thanks Jeemz and Pierre
I also parsed “Barbecue/ Do” as a gathering / party.
I know do = cook is quite popular amongst setters but I am pretty sure it’s not the case here.
Perhaps Jeemz will confirm.
Nice puzzle, thanks all.
I don’t want to turn a very minor quiblet into a prolonged discussion, but if a friend says to me ‘We’re having a bit of a do for Kathryn’s birthday next month’, then I wouldn’t immediately be expecting burgers, sausages and skewers alfresco.
Thanks everyone for your comments, very much appreciated, and to Pierre for the very polished review.
For DO I did have in mind a sort of party – hence “perhaps” in the clue.
For RD @ #3 I had originally clued 23d as buzz of bee but finally considered a homophone indicator was unnecessary padding for the reason you pointed out. So decision taken to omit it!
For grant @#2 not being fraffly posh I just used the initial of some of those I hold dear!
Thanks both. Some pleasantly original thinking has gone into this, though on occasions it denied me a complete parsing, examples being TOGETHER which would have taken too much free-thinking, and ENTRENCH which for a short answer had more instructions than most flat-pack furniture.
No problem with ‘do’ here, seems fine to me
Well done Jeemz, some great clues, very entertaining
Cheers for the challenge
Thank you to Pierre for the explanation of the soccer sense of BYLINE. I was a little mystified by that.
No issues for me with DO = party = “barbecue perhaps.” Every party I’ve thrown so far this decade has been a barbecue.
[Of course, the actual cooking that happens at a barbecue is usually grilling, not barbecuing. Fun tidbit: the word comes to us from Spanish barbacoa, and they in turn got it from Taino, where it referred to the roasting frame used to cook the food, not either the food itself or the cooking process. In Mexican cuisine, barbacoa is a specific dish, slow-roasted beef, which is delicious on a taco. But I digress.]