Simon Thelonious Schaffner Weissmann, born August 16th at 11:43 PM, weighing 6 pounds 11 ounces, and measuring 19 1/4 inches.
By all accounts this puzzle took me longer than Simon’s birth, all thanks to my putting LOUNGE instead of LONGUE.
Across
| 1 | [In] refitted house, angelic piece of furniture (6,6) |
| CHAISE LONGUE – anagrammed (“refitted”) HOUSE ANGELIC (“house angelic”) | |
| 8 | [Does] he [take] a couple of books in religious class? (5) |
| RABBI – A (“a”) + B B (“couple of books”) inside (“in”) R.I. (“religious class”) | |
| 9 | Insect repelled girl, one feels (7) |
| ANTENNA – ANT (“insect”) + reversed (“repelled”) ANNE (“girl”) | |
| 10 | Sailor [is in] mountain lake briefly (3) |
| TAR – TARN (“mountain lake”) without the last letter (“briefly”) | |
| 11 | Story about baron meeting king [for] tricky task (4,5) |
| TALL ORDER – TALE (“story”) around (“about”) LORD (“baron”) + (“meeting”) R (“king”, as in Rex) | |
| 13 | Child I locked in shed (5) |
|
BAIRN – I (“I”) inside (“locked in”) BARN (“shed”) Aw. I believe this is a Scottish word. |
|
| 14 | Interior of Roman villa that goes under the hammer (5) |
| ANVIL – letters inside (“interior of”) ROMAN VILLA | |
| 16 | Offer I had received [to be] head of the board (9) |
| PRESIDENT – PRESENT (“offer”), I’D (“I had”) inside (“received”) | |
| 17 | Mistake to give away pounds [for] small drink (3) |
| SIP – SLIP (“mistake”) without (“to give away”) L (“pounds”) | |
| 19 | Rescue first piece of valuable silver put into auction (7) |
| SALVAGE – first letter of (“first piece of”) VALUABLE (“valuable”) + AG (“silver”, on the periodic table”) inside (“put into”) SALE (“auction”) | |
| 21 | Estuary commonly brown (5) |
|
UMBER – HUMBER (“estuary”) without H (“commonly”, like Eliza Doolittle, say) This was the first British body of water I didn’t know… |
|
| 22 | In two places? Sporadically (4,3,5) |
| HERE AND THERE – double definition |
Down
| 1 | Round area lug a measure of gold (5) |
|
CARAT – around (“round”) A (“area”), CART (“lug”) Good wordplay, rivalling a 15×15. |
|
| 2 | Purple [and] gold mountain in east (9) |
| AUBERGINE – AU (“gold”) + BERG (“mountain”) + IN (“in”) + E (“east”) | |
| 3 | Reproduction of “Magpie sitting” [is] exact copy (8,5) |
| SPITTING IMAGE – anagram of (“reproduction of”) MAGPIE SITTING (“magpie sitting”) | |
| 4 | Tending to reproduce a libel (6) |
|
LIABLE – anagram (“reproduce”) A LIBEL (“a libel”) Boo for using the same anagram indicator in two successive clues! |
|
| 5 | Heritage organisation [that has] everyone’s confidence? (8,5) |
| NATIONAL TRUST – double definition; the latter, tounge-in-cheek… er, TONGUE-in-cheek | |
| 6 | While speaking, bring in vase (3) |
| URN – homophone of (“while speaking”) EARN (“bring in”) | |
| 7 | Hardy: the word one associates with this / tree (6) |
|
LAUREL – double definition, the first referring to the 20th century comedic duo, Laurel and Hardy. “As Chairman of the Welcoming Committee, it is my privilege to extend a laurel and hearty handshake to our new…” —Blazing Saddles |
|
| 12 | Girl horrid about brother? Possible to be separated (9) |
| DIVISIBLE – DI (“girl”) + VILE (“horrid”) around (“about”) SIB (“brother?”, for instance) | |
| 13 | Sort of surgery / not found in town centre? (6) |
|
BYPASS – double definition; the second referring to a road that avoids a well-travelled area, for instance a town center |
|
| 15 | Separate name [for] river (6) |
|
SEVERN – SEVER (“separate”) + N (“name”) …and this was the second. |
|
| 18 | Bag perfect to hold shilling (5) |
| PURSE – PURE (“perfect”) around (“to hold”) S (“shilling”) | |
| 20 | Relax [and] tell a story (3) |
| LIE – double definition; the first not precisely substitutable but probably getting at ‘lie down’. |
I never did go back to TALL ORDER and finish parsing it; I saw TALE and the enumeration and biffed. BYPASS was my LOI, as I couldn’t think of any types of surgery that would fit. Note the ? (as Jeremy does, tacitly) in 12d; ‘brother’ to clue SIB is an example of definition by example (DBE), widely seen as a no-no unless modified by a “for instance” or a ? 5:20.
Tonight’s puzzle was quite clever, and uses a few tricks our newer solvers might not have seen. As an experienced solver, I automatically treat SEVER-N and PRES(ID)ENT as chestnuts, and think of Laurel when I see Hardy. I was rather slow getting started, however, and took a while to proofread, so my time was 9:12.
Edited at 2018-08-22 07:25 am (UTC)
There are two senses of the word being clues, so I’d call that a double definition. I’ve always taken cryptic definition to mean one definition given with misleading words, like ‘film aired in Technicolour?’ which sounds like it’s about movies but is a cryptic definition of BUBBLE.
The other comment suffered from an autocorrect. I meant to say “there are two senses of the word being CLUED”, namely, the surgery and the road. To my understanding that’s a double definition, not a cryptic definition. As I see it, a cryptic definition is a single definition given in misleading words.
It didn’t seem strange to me, the idea of clueing a word with a description and a question mark, sort of a definition by example. I felt I’d seen it before, but you’d know better than me.
But isn’t ‘bypass road’ a thing? So ‘bypass’ can be an adjective as well, which would solve the problem.
In any case, to my tastes the clue clearly has the form of a double definition, not a cryptic definition for the reasons I gave above.
Edited at 2018-08-22 07:56 am (UTC)
Anyway, corrected and completed in 22 minutes with a final check on SIP (not Sup or Sop etc). Good puzzle . David
PS congratulations to our blogger on his new arrival and coping with Umber.
Congratulations to all for Simon.
As far as the crossword goes, nothing really to add, except that for me it was a rare sub-Verlaine time – 4.10 – which i’ll take any day of the week.
When will you be starting him on the QC? 🙂
Congrats Jeremy and family on the new arrival!
Great puzzle, really enjoyed it. Thanks Teazel. Under 2 Kevins today so I have treated myself to a celebratory second espresso. LOI and COD was AUBERGINE, really had to work at that one.
Templar
Edited at 2018-08-22 03:54 pm (UTC)
Brian
Edited at 2018-08-22 07:31 pm (UTC)
No doubt this will set the pedants off as to where words such as “laser” or “scuba” fit in.
Completed in 9.59 with LOI 17a.
Congratulations to Jeremy and thanks for doing the blog despite having far more important things on your mind.
On more minor matters, finished in (for me) some comfort — spouse has always wanted a CHAISE LONGUE on which to recline, so that was a flying start. And a daughter lives near ‘Ull, so UMBER went in quickly too.