Independent 7178 (Sat 17 October) – Nestor
Posted by petebiddlecombe on October 24th, 2009
By the time you read this I’ll be on holiday, so I won’t be able to respond to any questions myself. I finished this in 8:36 so found it fairly easy for a Saturday prize puzzle, but there’s lots of entertainment, and a weekend theme, with the overnight bag, dirty weekend and Sunday best. Knowing that Nestor very often has a puzzle somewhere in the Times championships, I was solving as fast as I could as an early bit of practice for next year, so wrote in seven answers without full wordplay understanding – 1, 9, 10, 22, 24, 2, 7.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | OVERNIGHT BAG – G = “guest primarily” in (have to bring)*, with loaded=drunk as the anagram indicator – an all-in-one, though with the aid of “primarily”, which can get a bit sore-thumb for all-in-ones. |
| 9 | A(C)1,DRAIN |
| 10 | WAS A BI = “had versatile [sexual] tastes” – a clue with a bit of spice, wasabi beng the hot green paste made from mountain hollyhocks (though I tend to think of it as green horseradish) and used in Japanese cuisine. |
| 11 | S.C.(RYE)R. – fairly easy, possibly because “divining” isn’t very deceptive – but it is accurate, and concen for accuracy should probably come first |
| 12 | MAR GRAVE = “do some damage in cemetery” – beginners note that several German nobles end in “grave” – this is probably the most common one |
| 13 | W(AGEE)ARNER – I probably remembered agee = “off the straight” = crooked from barred-grid puzzles |
| 16 | PO = rev. of “op”,S=small,H=hospital |
| 17 | AC(M)E = top |
| 18 | SUNDAY BEST – N in (busy dates)* |
| 20 | BLEACHER = “possible peroxide user” – hidden word |
| 22 | ABSEIL = rev. of ¾ of “lies back” |
| 24 | ROLL UP = rev. of PULL, O(a)R |
| 25 | EPISODIC = (is copied)*, with “broadcast”=scatter as the anagram indicator |
| 26 | DIRTY WEEKEND – CD playing on another meaning of “bath”. |
| Down | |
| 2 | VICE=failing,CHANCE=opportunity,LLOR = “roll up” = 24 |
| 3 | REDDY – first letters – I’m guessing that singer Helen Reddy was in a group called Delta Dawn – this is beyond my pop knowledge. Nearly rght – Delta Dawn was a song. |
| 4 | INAR REARS – “wordplay in the answer” for “rani” in the clue |
| 5 | HANGMAN – cryptic def |
| 6 | BOWER – 2 defs |
| 7 | GA(STROP=wobbly=fit of temper,U=posh)B |
| 8 | ABOVE SUSPICION = (obvious in space)* |
| 14 | EYEBALLED from “(p)iebald” – quite novel this, combining sounds-like and subtraction. But perfectly logical. |
| 15 | RE,AG(A,NIT)E – unusual but constructable word for a Reagan supporter |
| 19 | N,URSERY = Surrey* |
| 21 | H(alfwa)Y,PER=through |
| 23 | SHOO,K |
October 25th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
thankyou for this. i finished the crossword (and very pleased to do so as i find nestor hard)without really understanding the wordplay for a lot of the clues. 14 dn eyeballed was my last, a satisfying clue, and dirty weekend funny if not difficult
i still don’t understand 4dn:where does rears come from?
October 25th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Clue was “What happens to make rani late with payments?” I think what it’s saying with the definition being “late with payments” is RANI REARS ie ‘rani’ goes upwards ie IN ARREARS.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Could anyone give me the clues for 25A and 26A? I seem to have omitted them from my print-out version. Just the clues, not the solutions.
Thank you
October 26th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
trialnerror
“Short break not spent in Bath?”
the “not” is in italics
October 27th, 2009 at 4:51 am
Thanks pennes…which one is that? 25A or 26A? Er…sorry to be a pain but any chance of both clues (cringe cringe humble tug of forlock)clearly marked?
October 28th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
TRIALNERROR:
25A is “Broadcast is copied in several parts (8)”.
26A is “Short break not spent in Bath? (5,7)”.
pennes/nmsindy: Not quite. It’s that reading the answer as wordplay, ie “INAR rears” (INAR goes up), the result would be RANI.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:15 am
Thanks Nestor. For some unfathomable reason your response only showed on the blog today.
By the way, is it intentional that your handle is an anagram of Stoner?