Solving time 25:25
A while after his Countdown puzzle, Nimrod gives us another TV puzzle. 9D’s catchphrase, “I don’t believe it” appears in the unchecked letters on the left and right edges of the puzzle. I believe Nimrod wrote the puzzle after some conversation at the Ilkley pub meet in November about One Foot in the Grave, series 4, episode 5, which a BBC website describes thus:
The Trial – Victor spends a day at home while on-call for jury service. He contemplates his various ailments once again, gets a letter from a disgruntled Jehovah’s Witness, tackles a difficult crossword, and struggles to save himself from a blow-by-blow account of Mrs Warboys’ holiday in Cork.
I didn’t spot the catchphrase until nearly the end, which may account for the slow time. Or maybe Nimrod was deliberately making the puzzle as tricky as Victor’s one.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | IN F.O. = Foreign Office |
| 8 | SAVOY HOTEL – move the “el” in “saveloy, hot” |
| 10 | DIANNE – (and I)*,NE |
| 11 | CHA(PAT)T,I |
| 16 | I(A.(M)B.)S = (poetic) feet |
| 19 | TRUSTFUL – rust in luft rev. |
| 22 | BLOTTIER – Blott (re. Tom Sharpe books), rev. of “re I” = on one. Don’t know whether this is a reference to Victor’s problems with his biro while working on the puzzle. |
| 24 | MEDICI(ne) |
| 26 | FOOT – 2 defs, one as in “foot the bill” |
| Down | |
| 1 | ON(TIP,TO)E |
| 3 | ASSES,S |
| 4 | MYRA HESS – spoonerised as “hire a mess” |
| 9 | VICTOR,ME(Ld.,RE)W – WE = “west and east” (edges of puzzle) |
| 14 | BROWN(ED)OFF |
| 16 | IN-FLIGHT – change R to L in “in fright” |
| 18 | A,S,UN(C)ION |
| 21 | TIM(B.R.)E – eventually = “in time” |
| 23 | TIER – 2 defs, inc. “one who ties” |