A Remembrance Day-themed crossword from Eimi most of which was pleasant and accessible but which I found hard to finish. Help needed with 22dn, please.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | MIMI C — I’m not keen on the ‘by’ |
| 4 | MYOPIC — (copy I’m)* |
| 8 | HIP — two defs |
| 10 | ER(RAT)A |
| 11 | YemENI PORT Aden (rev.) — at this point I thought it was going to be easy, with the first five so straightforward, but no |
| 12 | LEY LINES — “lay lines” |
| 13 | SNIVEL — n in (levis)rev. |
| 14 | IsraEL IS HAllowed |
| 16 | H(ILLS)IDE |
| 19 | VAN ALLEN — the Van Allen belt and the Allen key |
| 21 | PETROV — (over PT)* — there seem to be a few Bulgarian footballers called Petrov |
| 23 | EMILIA — (ai lime)rev., ref. Emilia Fox |
| 26 | ART HOUSE I think: an art house can be seen as a house where art is exhibited, as well as a place where movies of a certain type are made |
| 28 | NUEVO SOL — nu, so in (love)rev. — oh I see, very clever, it refers to the currency of Peru, of which I’d never heard |
| 29 | COLUMN — ref. Nelson’s column |
| 30 | ER K |
| 31 | NERVES — (Severn)* |
| 32 | S EDGE |
| Down | |
| 1 | MAR NE |
| 2 | MEASLES — (sea m(i)les)* |
| 3 | CHAIN (= fetter) (Daily) MAIL |
| 5 | (c)YPRES(s) |
| 6 | POP(PI)E’S |
| 7 | CANOE — (ocean)* |
| 9 | PASSCHENDAELE — (handles peace)* around s(topping) |
| 15 | doubLE Agent |
| 17 | L 1P STICK (Boot)S |
| 18 | DUO — (oud)rev. |
| 20 | ALL OVER — finished, and if it’s all over the place it’s the opposite of nowhere (I think) |
| 22 | TOOTLED seems to be the only thing that fits and makes any kind of sense, in that ‘tootled’ means ‘went for a drive’, and the ‘led’ is the alternate letters of ‘already’, but … |
| 24 | MO URN |
| 25 | DickENSIAn (rev.) |
| 27 | SOM(M)E |
22d alternate letters in ‘took out already’
I quickly realised that the unchecked columns on the left and right sides each spelled ELEVEN. That helped a fair bit.
You pipped me there Geoff! There’s a simple and poignant Nina too.
You too, Colin!
Dang.
23A Just how well known is Emilia Fox? Although (after IMDBing her) I realise that I recognise the face but I had certainly never come across her name. I guess that the constraints of the Nina and the theme words froced Eimi’s hand a bit.
Appropriate crossword for the day – I saw the Nina a little earlier than I sometimes see them (and I often miss them entirely) but the bottom half I still found pretty hard, but I got there in the end. I particularly liked COLUMN and AISNE as well as the whole idea.
By coincidence I watched a movie with Emilia Fox in it last night, so that helped a lot.
FWIW for the last twenty years my French holidays have all been taken right on the front line of the battle of the Aisne,
An excellent crossword, and the Remembrance Day theme was much appreciated. I found the bottom left corner rather difficult, but largely due to a lack of general knowledge.
I thought “Fox perhaps” was nice, especially in contrast to the “Villain’s wife” definition that we had elsewhere recently – Azed, I think?
Elegant and deceptive puzzle, with 11/11 theme delicately treated. I footered about with 22d too – had to ‘reveal’ it to confirm. With only the E of ELEVEN in 23a, it looked like Edward (Fox); nice to see his daughter/niece? instead. She gets top billing in that forensic TV series, Silent Witness, I think. Haven’t seen (or heard) too many ouds around recently.
Thanks to all for your comments. When I realised that none of the other setters had sent in anything appropriate, I decided to fill the gap. An extraordinary event that should hopefully never be forgotten, even after the last survivors have gone.
The Emilia answer was forced on me by the Nina and the inclusion of Aisne and Mourn, but I didn’t think it particularly obscure and with the Nina it was effectively two-thirds checked. The other options for the clue were simply referring to a girl’s name, or a historical Italian region, or a character in Othello. I thought the member of the Fox acting dynasty would provide an easier clue, but as with all general knowledge, you either know it or you don’t.
Petrov I thought more obscure, but again effectively two-thirds checked and there are two of them in the English Premier League.