Independent 7,116 by Nimrod

by

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.

It must be Thursday, then! I found this very tough going indeed, and had to cheat relentlessly. Getting 15ac was something of a help though.

Across
1 PILLAR-BOX RED – cd?
9 IRONIC – IR + ON IC[e]. “Irony” in the original sense of “professing ignorance”.
11 LENIENCE – [th]E in (LENIN + CE).
12 MODEST – MODE + ST.
13 LIMB – LIMB[o].
15/16/17/ 18/10 OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN INTO THE FIRE – (HE HIT AGE FIFTY POINT OF NO RETURN)*. From PILLAR to POST seems to be one example. The second isn’t apparent to me at this time, and I could do with some lunch, so over to you.
19 ANEW – [j]ANE W[yman]. Jane Wyman was a noted actress with a career spanning six decades.
21 LEERY – hom. of “Lear-y” after the Shakespearean king who goes a bit loopy, albeit temporarily.
22 DUMP – [thir]D UMP[ire].
24 REWIND – RE WIND.
26 INNUENDO – (UNDONE IN)*.
28 INDULGE – ELUDING*.
29 PATOIS – PS “includes” A TO I.
30 WHIPPING POST – (W + HIPPOS + T) “to consume” (PING [pong]).
Down
2 ISRAELI – IS + RA + ELI.
3 LUNGI – (Cherie) LUNG[h]I. A “long cloth used as loincloth, sash, turban, etc” according to Chambers.
4 ROCK ‘N’ ROLL – ROC + (R in KNOLL). A roc is an enormous legendary bird encountered, much to his detriment, by Sinbad the Sailor.
5 OUTRE – [ab]OUT RE[filling].
6 RHEUM – hom. of “room”.
7 DRIP-DRIED – (RIP + D[ea]R) in DIED.
8 BEDSIT – EDS in BIT.
14 BOW WINDOW – BOW (London E3) + W1 + (D in NOW).
20 NOESIS – SES[s]ION*.
23 MUD PIES – (DIMES UP)*.
25 DELHI – H in DELI.
26 ICE UP – [th]E CI[d]<. Clever.
27 ESTOP – [entri]ES TO P[ublic].

8 comments on “Independent 7,116 by Nimrod”

  1. Given the “from NW to SE” in the clue to 15 et al, I was expecting something appropriate down the long 15-letter diagonal, but I soon found nothing from those letters (PSOGERUHRIUSOET anyone?).
    Nevertheless, PILLAR TO POST is to be seen in the leftmost and rightmost edges.
    So I suppose taken with 1A and 30A it “exemplifies OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN INTO THE FIRE twice”, or does it?

  2. Yes, that’s it, beermagnet, I think. I noticed them only at the very end – like you, I saw the diagonal very early on but when it started in PS got worried.. I agree with Simon that PILLAR-BOX RED is a cryptic definition – I found this quite early on, the puzzle as a whole was quite hard, I thought.

  3. PILLAR and POST also form appropriately placed parts in PILLAR-BOX RED and WHIPPING POST, forming second examples.

    That’s a lot of Ps for one short short message.

  4. Yes, I’d seen the two instances all right tho only when the grid was complete, but maybe I did not make it clear enough in my earlier comment.

  5. Blimey, I’m glad I had a relaxing 2-hour train journey on which to do this. After 45 mins I had 8 answers in. I then took a break to do today’s Times puzzle. Came back, realised the key clue was an anagram, pieced it together and then the pillar/post bits helped me race through the rest in around 10 mins. Fiendish stuff, but enjoyable to get there in the end!

  6. Yes, I was a bit lucky, I saw FRYING-PAN emerging as a possibility so I did not need to work too much on the 28-letter anagram that I’d seen from fairly early on. Otherwise the puzzle would have take me a lot longer, I think.

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