Apologies for the brevity/lateness here. Work Xmas party last night, so I solved this one with a belting hangover on the bus 2 hours late for work and am still playing catch-up.
Good stuff from Nimrod, I do like his style. Not sure of the relevance of the matching SEPARATEs in the outer columns – or if there’s anything else going on – but spotting the pattern midway through helped quite a lot with finishing this one off. Unsure on a few though, so a few pointers will be appreciated.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SUBSIST – NOt sure on this. Think it’s SUBS (reserves) + IST, but not sure on the IST part | |
| 5 | TIMBERS – IT rev. + BE in MRS | |
| 10 | EARL – [-n]EARL[-y] | |
| 11 | NO NONSENSE – Think this is NO-NO + NSENSE (repeated points) | |
| 12 | PITS – Double def. | |
| 13 | AGOG – Think this is AGoG[-o] | |
| 14 | USE UP – Hidden in hilarioUS EUPhemisms | |
| 16 | AMOEBAE – MOE (from The Simpsons) in ABE + A | |
| 17 | EPHEDRA – HE’D in (RAPE)* | |
| 18 | REVISIT – REV + IS IT | |
| 20 | TREKKER – ThReE + KK + RE: rev. | |
| 23 | ARETE – Hidden in bARE TEeth | |
| 24 | HA-HA – HA (hectare) x 2 | |
| 23 | OKRA – OK (approve) + RA (artillery) | |
| 25 | TRANSFEREE – (SNEER AFTER)* | |
| 27 | ABET – ABE + ciTy | |
| 28 | EMPEROR – REP in ROME rev. | |
| 29 | RIPOSTE – OST in RIPE | |
| Down | ||
| 2 | URANIUM – RANI + U in [-s] | |
| 3 | SALES RESISTANCE – (ISN’T AS CARELESS)* +E | |
| 4 | SANTA MARIA – Think this is TAM in (ASIAN + R)* | |
| 6 | INNS – NN (news) in IS | |
| 7 | BEEFSTEAK TOMATO – (OK TO BET MEAT SAFE)* | |
| 8 | RESCUER – RES. + CUER | |
| 9 | IN BOX – I + N.B + OX | |
| 15 | SPERMACETI – PER MACE in IT’S rev. | |
| 19 | EARDRUM – A in (MURDER)* | |
| 21 | EARNEST – E + ARNE + ST. | |
| 22 | PAIRS – 1 in PARS | |
| 26 | AFRO – (FOR A)* | |
Two SEPARATES and two TOGETHERS.
Thanks Ali,
There are also two “togethers” towards the middle.
1ac. Is it that “all others” (not reserves) are in the first (IST) team?
11ac. NSE + another NSE.
4d. Tamar (river) in ASIAN*
Sorry nms,
Busy typing…
The two central down slots with their -X-X- patterns made me suspect there was more than the two SEPARATE columns and, in particular, Nimrod’s unusual choice of a plural for the -A-R- slot, so I suspect INBOX PAIRS was an attempt to say there were two pairs to look out for.
An enjoyable outing from Nimrod, difficult at times but the easy 15-letter jobbies helped a lot.
Blimey, there was a lot going on here. I struggled with the last half dozen clues. The IST of SUBSIST, though, must be 1st – i.e. in advance of all others.
I like ‘High Barnet for a change’ – must mean the drinks are on me soon as a Barnetian.
Much too tough for me today, even without a hangover, but glad others enjoyed it.