There’s a Nina/theme in this puzzle, which I refer to after the clue explanations. Solving time, 16 mins
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 SERF frees< less the central e
4 TOWE(r) L
7 BU (M) F (f)
9 C LEAVE
10 DISRAELI 19th century PM (airs)* in (I led)< an &lit touch also, I guess
11 (f)IN (TERN) AL
12 A TOM(e) I C
13 EVIL-MINDEDNESS (sinned devils me)*
16 GATWICK AIRPORT (I twig to car park)*
18 N EUR AL Danny (La Rue)<
20 PAST RAM I
22 CON SOM(M)E
23 MON (A C) O
24 ES PY first and last letters
25 NISAN Hidden
25 O (BA) N
DOWN
2 ELLE (French for ‘she’) N
3 FLAGEOLET (Get all of e)*
4 THE INVISIBLE MAN (Seen him in vital b)* by HG Wells
5 W ADDLED
6 LA(ST AND) FIRST MEN stand in (terminal SF)* by Olaf Stapledon New to me and it was my last answer
8 MUL (TI-US) E R suit<
14 VIGNERONS (serving no)* whisky from whisk (vb), I guess, as anagram indicator so nothing to do with the drink
15 ESPERANTO (p notes are)*
17 (s)KIPPERS
19 (t)RUSTY
21 MO CHA
Theme/Nina left and right columns spell SCIENCE FICTION, two examples of which are symmetrically placed in columns six and ten. Very impressive that Phi achieved this without using obscure words in the rest of the puzzle.
I had three (minor) quibbles with this:
24A for the cryptic reading to be grammatically correct this would need to say “are gutted” to indicate that they are both separately gutted to give ES and PY. If the two words were treated as a single entity then gutting it would just give EY
19D if TRUSTY were “timeless” it would be RUSY: “timeless initially” might have been fairer.
14D I wasn’t keen on the whisky anagrind but I can see where it’s coming from.
Otherwise typically good from Phi.
BTW, does today have some special Sci-Fi relevance? Or is something afoot for tomorrow? Or does Phi have the Saturday slot and Eimi doesn’t want to give him two days running?
1) Not as far as I know; 2) That would be telling; 3) No one appears twice in the same week.
Is there any particular reason why some setters, e.g. Phi and Dac, have a weekly slot and others appear less frequently?
I inherited a team of setters, some of whom appeared weekly, and I was happy to continue this as they are consistently good, although Virgilius has since opted to go fortnightly. I also inherited some other setters and have introduced twelve new ones and have to juggle their appearances among the weekly ones.
Thank you. It’s something I’ve often wondered.
In response to Eimi at comment No. 2
1) Nor me
2) How should I know?
3) That’s what you think!
Re: 3
No one has appeared twice in the daily puzzle from Monday to Saturday under my editorship, although Phi could appear 3 times in the same week if he sets the Inquisitor as well as the Beelzebub.
As an Indy solver since near the start back in the 1980s, I think I can remember only one instance where a setter appeared twice in the same week (daily puzzle only referred to). By coincidence, I think it was Phi. However, I think what seemed to be two separate setters (pseudonyms ALBIPEDIUS and LUCIFER) were one and the same and they would have have appeared together in many weeks – the late Richard Whitelegg.