Independent 7,816/Nimrod

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Well, with the Indy website still playing up and the humble blogger left without recourse to starting at midnight and/or the odd bit of help with the Reveal button, Nimrod is one of the names you’d rather not see at the top of the puzzle when you finally manage to get a copy of the paper! That being said, it’s been a while since I blogged a non-Phi Henderson, and Nimrod’s clues are never anything less than very entertaining and inventive. I enjoyed this one a lot.

But yes, I couldn’t quite finish it off and will need help!

Across
7/25 SUSPENDED ANIMATION – Cryptic def.
8/9 HEADACHE – A + CAD rev. in HE-HE
10 ANTI-SEMITE – IS EMIT in ANTE
11 ANOTHER CUP OF TEA – Cryptic def.
14 HANSEATIC LEAGUE – (AGE AS IN THE CLUE A)*
17 SYMPTOMOLOGICAL – TOM (Daley) in (OLYMPIC GOALS)*
20 DECREE NISI – 1 in (RESIDENCE)*
23/24 SPICCATO – SPIC (in good order) + CATO
Down
1 ASPECT – “Ass pecked” – If this doesn’t appear in the Guardian blog’s clues of the week round-up next week, something is wrong!
2 DE VALERA – ALE in (RAVED)*
3 EDIT – TIDE rev.
4 ADDS UP – D-DA[-y] rev. + PUS rev.
5 ?H? MAFIA – I’d guess this must be THE MAFIA and then it’ll be FAME rev. + I(sland) in THA, but not sure about that bit
6 WAFT – W(oman) + AFT (behind)
7/13 SECONDARY EDUCATION – (SO COUNTRY DANCE IDEA)* – Not sure of the pre-Leonidas link here?
12 CHINO – Hidden in patCH IN Old
15 SUPERLOO – US rev. + ER (queen) + L (quids) in POO (No.2)
16 LEONIDAS – SAD + 1 + NOEL rev.
18 ONE DAY – (AN[-n(ame)OYED)*
19 ?INSTIL? – I think it’s INSTIL, but can’t piece it together – ‘Gradually establish permanency, carrying bat not quite to the end’
21 ESAU – Hidden in worcestershirE SAUce – I have no idea where the definition ends and the wordplay begins here!
22 IBID – I BID

10 comments on “Independent 7,816/Nimrod”

  2. Thanks Ali. Just wandering past, so:

    5 THA(w)
    7/13 ref is to age not clue no.
    19 IN STIL(l) = carrying (one’s) bat, i.e. not yet out
    21 refers to the birthright story involving Esau, his twin and a mess of pottage.

    Hope that helps.

    Nimrod

  3. It was a particularly tricky Nimrod, well I thought so but with the help of a friend I did get to the end. Thanks to Nimrod for the brain-stretching and Ali for the blog.

  4. Hi Ali, I’m glad to see I’m not the only one having trouble accessing the Indy on line. The puzzle I finally managed to download today was nº1134 by Glowworm, though the date is today’s ;(

  5. I zapped through this one on a 3-mile bus journey plus one session of Countdown without any reference books. Lots of long anagrams with accurate definitions combined in a grid with familiar short words helped. Is it me or is Nimrod getting easier?

  6. It’s a terrible shame that so many people will have missed this puzzle because of the Indy’s online problems. I went out (in pouring rain) and actually bought a newspaper, as I believe the phrase is. I only hope the Indy spend my pound on fixing the site!

    Loads of wonderful misdirection here – pre-16 time etc. Not sure which is my favourite clue, possibly 20a. Or maybe 5d now I come to think about it – it’s slightly chilling, in an almost film noir way.

  7. cor guv bannsider and nimrod in the same week without help. Didn’t realise eimi hated us bloggers so much. I found this hard but it could well have been the hangover from celebrating getting a new job. 🙂 Will have to see how that affects my ability to do the blog. Cheers Ali well done sir.

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