By the time you read this I’ll be on holiday, so I won’t be able to respond to any questions myself. I finished this in 8:36 so found it fairly easy for a Saturday prize puzzle, but there’s lots of entertainment, and a weekend theme, with the overnight bag, dirty weekend and Sunday best. Knowing that Nestor very often has a puzzle somewhere in the Times championships, I was solving as fast as I could as an early bit of practice for next year, so wrote in seven answers without full wordplay understanding – 1, 9, 10, 22, 24, 2, 7.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | OVERNIGHT BAG – G = “guest primarily” in (have to bring)*, with loaded=drunk as the anagram indicator – an all-in-one, though with the aid of “primarily”, which can get a bit sore-thumb for all-in-ones. |
| 9 | A(C)1,DRAIN |
| 10 | WAS A BI = “had versatile [sexual] tastes” – a clue with a bit of spice, wasabi beng the hot green paste made from mountain hollyhocks (though I tend to think of it as green horseradish) and used in Japanese cuisine. |
| 11 | S.C.(RYE)R. – fairly easy, possibly because “divining” isn’t very deceptive – but it is accurate, and concen for accuracy should probably come first |
| 12 | MAR GRAVE = “do some damage in cemetery” – beginners note that several German nobles end in “grave” – this is probably the most common one |
| 13 | W(AGEE)ARNER – I probably remembered agee = “off the straight” = crooked from barred-grid puzzles |
| 16 | PO = rev. of “op”,S=small,H=hospital |
| 17 | AC(M)E = top |
| 18 | SUNDAY BEST – N in (busy dates)* |
| 20 | BLEACHER = “possible peroxide user” – hidden word |
| 22 | ABSEIL = rev. of ¾ of “lies back” |
| 24 | ROLL UP = rev. of PULL, O(a)R |
| 25 | EPISODIC = (is copied)*, with “broadcast”=scatter as the anagram indicator |
| 26 | DIRTY WEEKEND – CD playing on another meaning of “bath”. |
| Down | |
| 2 | VICE=failing,CHANCE=opportunity,LLOR = “roll up” = 24 |
| 3 | REDDY – first letters – I’m guessing that singer Helen Reddy was in a group called Delta Dawn – this is beyond my pop knowledge. Nearly rght – Delta Dawn was a song. |
| 4 | INAR REARS – “wordplay in the answer” for “rani” in the clue |
| 5 | HANGMAN – cryptic def |
| 6 | BOWER – 2 defs |
| 7 | GA(STROP=wobbly=fit of temper,U=posh)B |
| 8 | ABOVE SUSPICION = (obvious in space)* |
| 14 | EYEBALLED from “(p)iebald” – quite novel this, combining sounds-like and subtraction. But perfectly logical. |
| 15 | RE,AG(A,NIT)E – unusual but constructable word for a Reagan supporter |
| 19 | N,URSERY = Surrey* |
| 21 | H(alfwa)Y,PER=through |
| 23 | SHOO,K |
thankyou for this. i finished the crossword (and very pleased to do so as i find nestor hard)without really understanding the wordplay for a lot of the clues. 14 dn eyeballed was my last, a satisfying clue, and dirty weekend funny if not difficult
i still don’t understand 4dn:where does rears come from?
Clue was “What happens to make rani late with payments?” I think what it’s saying with the definition being “late with payments” is RANI REARS ie ‘rani’ goes upwards ie IN ARREARS.
Could anyone give me the clues for 25A and 26A? I seem to have omitted them from my print-out version. Just the clues, not the solutions.
Thank you
trialnerror
“Short break not spent in Bath?”
the “not” is in italics
Thanks pennes…which one is that? 25A or 26A? Er…sorry to be a pain but any chance of both clues (cringe cringe humble tug of forlock)clearly marked?
TRIALNERROR:
25A is “Broadcast is copied in several parts (8)”.
26A is “Short break not spent in Bath? (5,7)”.
pennes/nmsindy: Not quite. It’s that reading the answer as wordplay, ie “INAR rears” (INAR goes up), the result would be RANI.
Thanks Nestor. For some unfathomable reason your response only showed on the blog today.
By the way, is it intentional that your handle is an anagram of Stoner?