i Cryptic Crossword 636 Tees

February 22, 2013

A  few good clues from Tees but more duff ones. I don’t mind the odd duff clue in an easy crossword, but they’re annoying when one’s spent time on a hard one.

Original blog here. More answers and gripes below. One might also add that in 23a, ‘Beautiful daughter’ is a nonsensical definition for Ariadne. She wasn’t particularly noted for beauty, and while she was certainly someone’s daughter, so are most women.

On the upside, ‘Made price changes to capitalise on current opportunities (5,4)’ is a neat clue at 16d, and 18/10, while I’m still not a fan of long anagrams, introduces an unusual idea in using a number which must be read as both anagram fodder (in the wordplay) and a clue reference (in the definition).

Across

11. ENTICER: {IN CRETE}
13. BEVERAGE: B + EVER + AGE
20. CASH CARD: mediocre e.d., based on a pun on ‘necessary’

Down

3. ARTICLE: {RECITAL}
6. DRESS UP: d.d.
7. NEIGH: “nay”
8. SIDELINE: SIDE + LINE
9. STAGGER: Edit: G in STAGERS (thanks LP, below). I withdraw my previous accusations of unsoundness against this clue!
14. ANCIENTS: A + N + C(l)IENTS. The use of ‘money’ to clue L (libra, £) is simply rubbish. L does not stand for ‘money’, and if we’re going to allow indirect indications like this, ‘money’ could be practically any letter, the world having far more currencies than the alphabet has letters.

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8 Responses to “i Cryptic Crossword 636 Tees”

  1. jonofwales said
    February 22, 2013 at 12:58 pm

    Similarly dissatisfied, perhaps because I had to rush this as well. You seem to be missing a header for the blog?

    • Writinghawk said
      February 22, 2013 at 4:13 pm

      Oops, so I was. Now installed.

      Tees wrote my favourite clue of recent months (‘Ace dropping in perhaps for time at weekend (8)’) and is capable of much better than this. One shouldn’t be too harsh though, remembering that it’s from 2008 and perhaps he’s improved since then. The Ariadne thing is particularly annoying; one feels that if in an otherwise identical story she’d been a man, she wouldn’t have been clued as ‘handsome son’ but as ‘noble rescuer’ or ‘I supplied clue’ or whatever.

  2. Terino said
    February 22, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    Diary of a nobody (28 ac) was by Grossmith not Grossman

  3. LP said
    February 22, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    9d: I figured it was G in STAGERS (= “persons of experience”)

  4. LP said
    February 22, 2013 at 10:44 pm

    And personally, I am not a fan of (to me, obscure) proper nouns of persons appearing as they always need referencing!

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