My face fell when up came the name Nimrod. He is just terribly difficult. I can’t quite see why, because in most cases the clues can easily be explained; in fact they are often very good and I ought to enjoy it — after all, that’s why we do crosswords — for the enjoyment. But I’m afraid I find it all rather a struggle, as I did here.
Towards the end it became clear what the Nina was, quite simply (I think) ONWARDS in the top and the bottom unches and UPWARDS going upwards in the left and right unches. So my usual gripe about the lack of 50% checking of four of the answers had to be put on hold: when there is a Nina the usual “rules” can be relaxed a bit.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 8 | SP HERE — I think I’ve seen doubts expressed before about sp = lowdown: presumably it’s the SP that is short for starting price, and I can’t quite see why this is lowdown (and is Nimrod here? Perhaps he is in a sense, at the Indy, although I bet he isn’t there at the moment) |
| 9 | DI(ALE)CTS — the work of a brewer is to make ale, and the COD and the OED are dictionaries (= dicts) |
| 10 | DOWNSTROKE — (doesn’t work)* and a downstroke is part of handwriting (= hand) |
| 11 | AULD — laud with its leader moved towards the rear, but ‘of Edinburgh Castle’ seems to me to be a rather doubtful definition of ‘auld’ |
| 12 | REAM — to ream is to enlarge the bore of a tube, and it’s RE a.m., nice clue |
| 14 | EURODOLLAR — cd, ready = money |
| 16 | A TATI ME — referring to Jacques Tati |
| 17 | CURIOSA — cu, then (a soir)rev. — very European we seem to be getting in these three clues |
| 20 | WAKE-UP CALL — a (Puck)* round {Flut}e, all in Wall, referring to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, when Snout played the part of the wall — Puck and Flute are also in MND, so a very clever clue, if a little cumbersome |
| 22 | SiGN AWay — so either it’s hidden or ‘gnaw’ is half of ‘sign away’ |
| 23 | P(IT)H |
| 24 | CR(U)ISES HIP |
| 26 | U (BERG) EEK |
| 27 | IN LIEU — I (line)* u — texting language again: we mentioned this recently |
| Down | |
| 1 | OP P(ON)ENT — I’m not convinced here: pent is the past tense or past participle of pen, so ‘to shut up’ (which it surely is, not just shut up)) is not ‘pent’ — it’s ‘pen’ |
| 2 | N EON |
| 3 | WEATHER MAP — an attempt I think at an &lit., which I don’t fully get: evidently it’s an anagram (how indicated, by the way?) of (W [= West] E [= Spain] P [= Portugal] heat mar (but how?)), all very vague and I need help here |
| 4 | A DJ O URN |
| 5 | RATE — 2 defs |
| 6 | DEFAULTING — (at field gun)* |
| 7 | STELLA — all the quoted works are ballets, which is reversed and the b is lost |
| 13 | MATTER HORN — a horn is part of the brass in an orchestra |
| 15 | DOUGLAS FIR — dour around (flag is)* |
| 18 | SE(AM I)LES — I initially thought sea miles were some sort of counterpart to air miles, but it’s simply that a liner accumulates miles |
| 19 | M(AZ)URK A — a Polish dance made famous of course by Chopin |
| 21 | A KIM BO — could be an &lit. |
| 24 | CREW — 2 defs |
| 25 | SO {o}LD |
auld is Scottish for old, which Edinburgh Castle definitely is
Thank you Johns for an excellent puzzle and blog respectively.
3D ins of A THERM (little heat) A (one) in W (west) E (Spain) P (Portugal)
I’d suggest ‘auld’ is a reference to Auld Edinburgh – which is behind (I think) the castle. Beat me anyway. And missed the nina.. Thanks.
Ps – re: auld – I think it’s the castle area, rather than the rear (which moves the ‘l’ rather than locating the answer). Still smarting from not opening my eyes to that, let’s face it, impressive (and hard to miss if I’d bothered to open my eyes) nina!
Good grief why do I find Nimrod so hard, got about 6 so far – most setters I can see where the clue is going but I’m staring at this with no idea how to proceed.
I loved this. So many wonderfully constructed clues with surface readings that make complete sense, STELLA, CRUISE SHIP, and AKIMBO being just a few. But the real stunner, the one that absolutely floored me, was WAKE-UP CALL. What a marvelous piece of observation! Many thanks to the setter.
Others have enjoyed the challenge, which is great, but this was just way beyond me today. Flashling’s currently beating me by some distance.
If I can contribute something, isn’t Edinburgh called Auld Reekie? Is that something to do with it?
It is called that because it stank.
Thanks Nimrod and John. Too difficult for me and I’m too sleepy but enjoyed the blog to enlighten me.
Not sure I fully understand 19; is the definition ‘measure’ as in: ‘2.Music for such a dance or in its rhythm, which is triple and moderately rapid, with a capricious accent on the second beat of the measure?’ Otherwise, I am in more darkness than the clue.
Thanks John.
As usual a very tough puzzle from Nimrod.I would have struggled were it not for the Nina.Plenty of very good clues here,my particular favourites being 16,20,24 and 26 across and 15 and 19 down.
Great stuff!
Late entry:
7D STELLA No-one’s mentioned “wanting” in the clue is a reference to Tennessee William’s play “A Streetcar Named Desire”, one of whose main characters is named Stella. Too nice a point not to be shared, if a little belatedly.
Another belated response.
Re 1 dn, I don’t see any problem. ‘To shut’ is one of those verbs where the past tense and past participle are the same as the present. So anything which is pent is shut up. As in prison – cue the well-known lines from ‘The Mikado’ – “… and make each prisoner pent/ Unwillingly represent/ A source of innocent merriment… “.
Re 19 dn, both Chambers and Collins give ‘dance’ as a meaning of ‘measure’. Collins qualifies the meaning as archaic; Chambers adds ‘especially a slow and stately one’ (which hardly describes a mazurka).
Allan_C: So far as I can see the present is ‘pen’, and the past tense/past participle is ‘pent’ (presumably similar to penned). There is no verb ‘to pent’ (although there is the term ‘pent up’, which may be what makes one think there is). If the clue is “Work on chokes to shut up rival” then the only way I can parse this is ‘op’ on top of ‘p(on)ent’, where the ‘pent’ is a mistake and should be ‘pen’. Perhaps there’s another way that I can’t see.
John: I see your point. I saw the ‘to’ as just an inserted word making the clue read more smoothly, but looking at it again it would have read just as well without, i.e. as “Work on chokes shut up rival”.