When you have a Nimrod puzzle to solve or to blog, you know you are in for a challenge, and true to form, he has not disappointed today. For me, more so with Nimrod than with any other compiler that I can think of, I often solve nothing on my first read-through, and then grind away at the puzzle slowly and patiently. Invariably, I solve shorter entries first, moving on to longer entries – with the help of 8, of course! Perhaps because I am on holiday and not in my usual state of fatigue, I cracked this one more quickly than the average Nimrod teaser, although I am not sure that I have parsed all the solutions wholly correctly – any improvements would be gratefully accepted!
This was something of a self-referential puzzle, a crossword about crosswords and crossworders, judging by the entries at 2, 5 and 8 (all three of the 15-letter downs) and in part at 24; less seasoned solvers were probably mystified by the “hidden feature” in 24, while it is standard fodder for Indy regulars.
26 was a highlight for me: clues offering four ways of arriving at the solution are a rare treat; alas, I could work out only two of them unaided and needed the dictionary to confirm the other two. There was also new vocabulary for me at 7, although it could be deduced easily from the wordplay, and a new meaning of a most familiar word at 24: I use this word in its general architectural sense a dozen times a day as I have one in my home, but I was totally unaware of its theatrical usage. Oh, the joy of crosswords!
*(…) indicates an anagram
| Across | ||
| 1 | EPIC | EPI<demi>C (=widespread, i.e. of disease); “not half” |
| 4 | BACKSTITCH | BACKS (=is behind, i.e. supports) + TITCH (=little chap); “rear entrance to sewer (=one who sews, does sewing)” is the cryptic definition. |
| 9 | UNDERSTOOD | *(DETOURS + DON); “alarmingly” and “out” are anagram indicators; the definition is simply “Roger” as in radio communication, as in Roger, over and out. |
| 10 | A FEW | Hidden in (“in”) “SantA FEWith” |
| 11 | EYOT | TO + YE (=the old, i.e. old word for “the”); “return” indicates reversal |
| 12 | DOSTOEVSKY | [DOS (=swindles, as noun) + TO] + [V (=Victor, i.e. the letter “v” in radio telecommunication) in ESKY (=cooler, i.e. an Australian word for a portable insulated container for keeping drinks, etc cool)] |
| 14 | BROADSWORD | ROADS (=such as the M1) in B-WORD (=bloody, as an expletive, cf the F-word); the definition is simply “arm”, as in weapon. |
| 16 | CANT | Double definition: CAN’T is “unable to” AND “a common language”, jargon, lingo. |
| 17 | OPAL | Definition is “(precious) stone”; cryptic definition is “appeal toChina(=mate)”, i.e. “O, pal!” |
| 18 | OBDURATELY | *(DURABLE TOY); “suffering damage” is anagram indicator; |
| 19 | MOONSTRUCK | MOONS (=reveals bum) + TRUCK (=dealings, as in trade, bartering); Moonstruck is a 1987 romantic comedy starringCher and Nicolas Cage. |
| 21 | OATH | Hidden (“in”) in “alsO AT Home”; “I’m sworn” is definition. |
| 22 | DEAR | Double definition: DEAR means “pricy” AND “letter-opener”, i.e. a form of words used to open a letter. |
| 24 | MEZZANINES | ANIN (NINA=hidden feature, i.e. of a crossword puzzle, often a message appearing around the perimeter of the grid; “moving around” indicates reversal) in MEZZES (=Greek courses, i.e. food); in North American English, the mezzanine is the first balcony in the theatre, the circle. |
| 25 | ATMOSPHERE | AT MOS<t> (=maximally; “de-tailed” means last letter is dropped) + P (=President) + HERE (=present, i.e. not absent) |
| 26 | TOSH | Incredibly, there are FOUR ways of arriving at the answer here: a triple definition AND wordplay. TOSH means “intimate”, friendly in Scots AND “twaddle” AND “chum”, friend; TO (=addressing) + SH (=mum, as in to keep mum) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | PENNY-DROP MOMENT | [NY (=Giants, i.e the American football team New York Giants) + DROP (=omit) + <tea>M (“back from” means last letter only) + OMEN (=not a good sign)] in PENT (=restrained, as in pent-up emotion) |
| 3 | CRESTFALLEN | *(LANCERS FELT); “hard done by”, i.e. mistreated is anagram indicator. |
| 4 | BASED | B<i>ASED (=out of prejudice; “ignoring one” means letter “i” is omitted) |
| 5 | CROSSWORD PUZZLE | CROSS (=adverse) + WORD (=rumour, as in word has it that …) + PUZZLE (=complication); the cryptic definition is “blocked headache”, with “blocked” referring to the style of grid of e.g. this crossword, i.e. not barred. |
| 6 | SIDE ORDER | *(RIDER DOES); “with dexterity” is anagram indicator; the definition is “one accompanying main (course, dish)”. |
| 7 | ITA | <v>ITA<l> (=extremely important; “in essence” means only the inner letters are used); the ita is the miriti palm. |
| 8 | CHECKING LETTERS | A kind of double definition: CHECKING LETTERS is “a task for a personal secretary” AND help to crossword solvers where grid entries intersect on checking letters, hence “your (=the solver’s) assistance”. |
| 13 | VACATIONIST | *(TO VATICAN IS); “rather excited” is anagram indicator; “one tripping (on a trip) in from the States” is the definition, i.e.USword for holidaymaker. |
| 15 | SHOOT-’EM-UP | SHOOT (=film) + EM UP (=ME, i.e. a vertical reversal of EM); shoot-’em-up is an originallyUSslang term for a film, programme, game involving violent scenes. |
| 20 | KNAVE | K<etch> (“head” means first letter only) + NAVE (=body, i.e. of church); the definition is “jack”, as in cards. |
| 23 | RIO | R (=take, abbreviation of the Latin recipe) + IO (=ten); the reference is to the 1982 single Rio by British pop group Duran Duran, which contains the lyric “Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand”. |
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