Independent 7,230/Nimrod
Posted by Ali on December 17th, 2009
Apologies for the brevity/lateness here. Work Xmas party last night, so I solved this one with a belting hangover on the bus 2 hours late for work and am still playing catch-up.
Good stuff from Nimrod, I do like his style. Not sure of the relevance of the matching SEPARATEs in the outer columns – or if there’s anything else going on – but spotting the pattern midway through helped quite a lot with finishing this one off. Unsure on a few though, so a few pointers will be appreciated.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SUBSIST – NOt sure on this. Think it’s SUBS (reserves) + IST, but not sure on the IST part | |
| 5 | TIMBERS – IT rev. + BE in MRS | |
| 10 | EARL – [-n]EARL[-y] | |
| 11 | NO NONSENSE – Think this is NO-NO + NSENSE (repeated points) | |
| 12 | PITS – Double def. | |
| 13 | AGOG – Think this is AGoG[-o] | |
| 14 | USE UP – Hidden in hilarioUS EUPhemisms | |
| 16 | AMOEBAE – MOE (from The Simpsons) in ABE + A | |
| 17 | EPHEDRA – HE’D in (RAPE)* | |
| 18 | REVISIT – REV + IS IT | |
| 20 | TREKKER – ThReE + KK + RE: rev. | |
| 23 | ARETE – Hidden in bARE TEeth | |
| 24 | HA-HA – HA (hectare) x 2 | |
| 23 | OKRA – OK (approve) + RA (artillery) | |
| 25 | TRANSFEREE – (SNEER AFTER)* | |
| 27 | ABET – ABE + ciTy | |
| 28 | EMPEROR – REP in ROME rev. | |
| 29 | RIPOSTE – OST in RIPE | |
| Down | ||
| 2 | URANIUM – RANI + U in [-s] | |
| 3 | SALES RESISTANCE – (ISN’T AS CARELESS)* +E | |
| 4 | SANTA MARIA – Think this is TAM in (ASIAN + R)* | |
| 6 | INNS – NN (news) in IS | |
| 7 | BEEFSTEAK TOMATO – (OK TO BET MEAT SAFE)* | |
| 8 | RESCUER – RES. + CUER | |
| 9 | IN BOX – I + N.B + OX | |
| 15 | SPERMACETI – PER MACE in IT’S rev. | |
| 19 | EARDRUM – A in (MURDER)* | |
| 21 | EARNEST – E + ARNE + ST. | |
| 22 | PAIRS – 1 in PARS | |
| 26 | AFRO – (FOR A)* | |
December 17th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Two SEPARATES and two TOGETHERS.
December 17th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Thanks Ali,
There are also two “togethers” towards the middle.
1ac. Is it that “all others” (not reserves) are in the first (IST) team?
11ac. NSE + another NSE.
4d. Tamar (river) in ASIAN*
December 17th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Sorry nms,
Busy typing…
December 17th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
The two central down slots with their -X-X- patterns made me suspect there was more than the two SEPARATE columns and, in particular, Nimrod’s unusual choice of a plural for the -A-R- slot, so I suspect INBOX PAIRS was an attempt to say there were two pairs to look out for.
An enjoyable outing from Nimrod, difficult at times but the easy 15-letter jobbies helped a lot.
December 17th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Blimey, there was a lot going on here. I struggled with the last half dozen clues. The IST of SUBSIST, though, must be 1st – i.e. in advance of all others.
I like ‘High Barnet for a change’ – must mean the drinks are on me soon as a Barnetian.
December 17th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Much too tough for me today, even without a hangover, but glad others enjoyed it.