Solving time: 22 mins 38 secs. I’m sure there’s a Nina there somewhere, there being all those “loose ends” round the outside, and much of the bottom line saying FOOLS, but I can’t see it. It must be quite difficult to produce a grid in which there are loose ends at the outside yet not contravening the “rule” about never having a word with more than 50% of its letters unchecked.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | WHEE(L) |
| 8/1 | Cryptic definition, I think. Can’t quite categorise this one. |
| 11 | (IF FED)* R |
| 12 | MAN TRA(P) |
| 13 | TIE [= Bond] BREAK [=rest] |
| 15 | (TRIBAL REVERIE)* |
| 18 | (PEDANTIC)* |
| 21 | L in (MODES)< |
| 22 | HORN I N |
| 25 | (A IS)< ROUND (ANTAMAR) |
| 26 | E YES; central areas as in”eye of the storm” |
| Down | |
| 3 | (G PLAN) in GET* |
| 4 | (EG DOTS)< |
| 5 | (RE FLIP)<. Nicedefinition. |
| 6 | I(SOLATE)D L(ODG)E |
| 9 | Presumably a crypticdefinition, but I don’t really get it. Is Phi saying that tohim it is particularly shocking that the US put people todeath at all? |
| 16 | V(CRIES)*AL |
| 19 | T O around (TUNE)< |
| 20 | DO around (LOTS)<. Is it inelegant to have two clues of similar type next to eachother? |
| 23 | Hidden reversed |
9 Down – yes, that’s the way I read it with death penalties abolished in many other countries. Having seen a Nina that was not there and missed one with Phi in recent weeks, I’m reluctant to be dogmatic about whether there is one here. I did notice FOOLS along the end quite early on, but can see nothing else.
Didn’t keep this one, but it did have “Great minds think alike” near the top, so ‘NEVER DIFFER’ may be in there as well as FOOLS.
It’s, ‘… fools seldom differ’, and SELDOM and DIFFER appear in the grid. So FOOLS on the bottom row looks like a deliberate Nina.