Independent 7,158/Nestor
Posted by Ali on September 24th, 2009
A nice, tough puzzle from Nestor with some lovely clues. I have to admit I struggled with the NW and SW corners though and there are a few I don’t understand even after resorting to help!
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 | FOCUSSED – FO[-e],CUSSED | |
| 9 | APACHE – APACE straddling H | |
| 10 | SCHEME – Hidden in ubermenSCH EMErges | |
| 11 | SPECIMEN – MICE rev. in S,PEN | |
| 12 | INNER SPACE – (PRE[-g]NANCIES)* | |
| 14 | ALSO – Not sure how this one works – “Are people in capital playing strings and other things too?” | |
| 15 | CATE BLANCHETT – CA[-r]TE BLANCHE + T[-ex]T – Fantastic clue | |
| 18 | BRAN – BRAN being letters common to BRAIN (mental strength) and BRAWN (physical strength) | |
| 20 | ELEVEN PLUS – ELEVEN (prime) + PLUS (advantage) | |
| 22 | DATABASE – A and B (both sides of single) + AS in DATE | |
| 24 | CLOTHE – LOTH in C (of)E | |
| 25 | HETERO – HERETO with T and R swapping | |
| 26 | TAKE THAT – THAT (which) after TAKE (individual perspective) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | VOLCANIC – GIRL rev. in THA[-t] rev. | |
| 2 | EUGENE – [-r]ENEGUE rev.- A Very difficult clue, which requires you to have a knowledge of the Pink Floyd song and not to be fooled by the capital W on Welsh. Or, if you’re like me, requires you to cheat and press the ‘Reveal’ button! | |
| 3 | OSTENSIBLE – T (rabbit’s foot) in O SENSIBLE | |
| 4 | GAZE – “Gays” | |
| 5 | SALIVATE – (I’VE A LAST)* | |
| 6 | CHEERS – CHE[-at]ERS | |
| 8 | DISPARAGEMENT – I SPAR A GEM in DENT | |
| 13 | ECCLES CAKE – CC in (LAKE EEC’S)* | |
| 16 | TINTAGEL – LEG AT NIT rev. | |
| 17 | TOUCH PAD – UCH + P in TOAD (as in ‘of Toad Hall’, I think!) | |
| 19 | REAPER – RE-APER | |
| 21 | PRONTO – RON in PRO | |
| 23 | AGOG – Cheated with this one too and not sure how it works: “Curious earlier acceleration in fall?” | |
September 24th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Think 23D is AGO (earlier) + G (unit of gravitational pull). Not sure about 14A though…
September 24th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I think 14ac is A + L(ondon) S((ymphony O(rchestra) – ‘people in capital playing strings and other things’.
Nick
September 24th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Another wonderful puzzle from Nestor, who seems always to find new ways to approach things. And all rigorously and precisely clued.
I got EUGENE from the wordplay without understanding exactly what it referred to so thanks for explaining that.
September 24th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Nick
Think you are probably right for 14ac, where does the “A” come from though?
Cheers
Craig
September 24th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Craig, a is abbrev for ‘are’ (metric measure), I think.
September 26th, 2009 at 12:46 am
1dn. volcanic
This is just a reversed hidden word.