Nimrod’s puzzles have a very individual style, rarely more exemplified than here. Found it very hard, but got there in the end, but decided I’d better verify in some cases by using the new free ‘reveal’ facility which confirmed my answers.
Solving time: 65 mins
* = anagram
ACROSS
1 FIRST LIGHT Dawn. Nothing to do with the Sun replacing the Daily Herald in the late 1960s. And ‘light’ is an old-fashioned word for a crossword answer and this is the first in this puzzle.
7 C-IN-C cf cinc(h) de-tailed
9 ID LING Two fishes, familiar to solvers.
10 LIME RICK
11 NAME SAKE Good
12 ARMANI Airman with the i ‘demoted’
13 GAINED ADMISSION Double definition with the split at suspect/got
15 ETHNIC CLEANSING (China neglects in)* “What China neglects in forces?” Finally got this, which was key to the difficult lower half of the puzzle, when I’d sufficient crossing letters. I do not understand it though. Does China = mate have something to do with it definitionally?
20 RED-TOP Liverpool play in red tops, shorts etc (‘coverage – partial)
21 CU (copper) T IN T WO (walkover). Clue of the puzzle for me.
23 LITTLE MO (Maureen Connolly, tennis player) – clue also had a &lit element as she passed away, prematurely, if I recall.
24 NUN C (I) O
25 IN TO(w)
26 SE (SAME SEE) D Very subtle = walls is a containment indicator. Sed = but in Latin
DOWN
2 IN DIANA Roman goddess of hunting
3 SPIKE Milligan Very good
4 L (A GG) ARD It can be a adj though given as rare in Collins
5 G OLDEN DELI C IOUS
6 T IMP (AN) I
7 CERAMISTS Got it from definition and verified but not understood “Handicraftsmen writing author’s name into formal declarations”
8 NO CAN DO
14 NINETY-TWO (twenty-on I)* Another very subtle one that I got only near the end.
16 THE LION Sign of the Zodiac and typical pub name? If the latter, that’s a bit vague and I really struggled in that corner of the grid.
17 CY PRES S Trust = wills
18 ANTONY Mark
19 NEW LINE key worker = typist carriage return (do you remember that?)
22 NINES Hidden
15ac. My best guess is that ‘what … forces’ acts as the anagram indicator (or would ‘what’ alone – as in ‘what?’ – do?), with ‘forces’ as the definition – ‘compulsion, especially with threats or violence’ according to Chambers???
I ran out of time with this one, but was doing quite well up to then. Think I’m getting a bit more used to Nimrod’s style. Managed better with the top half also.
7D is AMIS in CERTS
15A I took to be an &lit with “forces” as the anag ind.
9A I wasn’t aware of the ID fish (and can’t find it in on-line dictionaries or wiki) so thanks for that.
21A WO for walkover is new to me too.
26A I didn’t know SED and I didn’t understand this at all so thanks of the explanation. I presume that “their own” must yield “SAME”???
18D I really liked this one
17D I still don’t understand despite the explanation above.
22D Is “What’s” at the start of the clue serving any purpose (other than to confuse me)?
Nina – “Finger lickin’ good) down the left and right sides.
17 Down Cy pres is a legal term relating to achieving as close as possible what a testator wants (from French) – hence ‘trust’ used when bequeating though a bit indirect. Thanks for Nina – I was so absorbed with the difficulty that I never looked at those columns – they might have helped me!
Thanks. So is the “National” bit just there to confuse again? Or is it trying to say that the National Trust’s guiding principle might be to restore properties as close as possible to the original?
This was very difficult. I was stumped with about four to go when it occurred to me to look for a nina, and FINGER LICKIN GOOD (which I assume ties in with GOLDEN DELICIOUS) allowed me to fill in the blanks. I still couldn’t explain 23 or 26ac or 17 down, so thanks for all the explanations. What beats me is how Nimrod got a topical comment on Tibet into 15ac at such shot notice (who’s cleansing whom is perhaps a question for a different board!)
Clearly there’s some ethnic cleansing going on in China’s forces, to which generals are turning a blind eye. Some of us have known about this for years.
Can’t see the relevance of the Nina, unless it’s a foil for the nauseating ‘excellent fare’ remark we sometimes see. Notwithstanding, there is DINNRN reversed in the third unch line down. Maybe Nimrod was enjoying a spot of this, in the form of Kentucky Fried Chicken, whilst compiling. And the LYRIOIL? I expect he was off to choir practice later.
I’ve got a bit of a headache at the moment. Can I have some of what you’re on?
TGIGF!
Never heard of id as a fish. Ide, sure, but not id. Sounds very Freudian.
ID – I know it only from crosswords, mainly the thematic/’advanced’ ones.
It’s in Chambers as an alternative form of IDE. Not in my Collins or Concise OED.
I get a bit fed up with clues about pulling women — but I suppose it makes a change from C Townsend pulling men