Need some exercise for the new year – Nestor’s puzzle is certainly a good work out! As you would expect.
So the first Saturday of 2012 brings us a Nestor puzzle, with some elegant mis-directions in the clues.
17 down took some effort to parse with each of its word’s meaning not the one that would come first into one’s thoughts. 1ac has a lovely surface and a misdirection too and its in good company with an array of mis-directed definitions in 11 ac, 27ac, 28ac, 2dn, 3dn and 24dn (to highlight but a few). The Spoonerism for 25ac is quite sublime and the combination of 9 and 10 down took some working out.
Many thanks Nestor – just what I needed after Christmas and so many marvellous clues.
Key:
* Anagram: Rev Reverse
ACROSS
1 Halt (- t) (Stop endless) + finch (tweeter as in bird) = HALF INCH (Appropriate as in steal)
6 L (left) in Mat (Carpet) = MALT (Whisky)
11 Ram (smash) + B.O (Box office) = RAMBO (Sly Feature as in Sylvester Stallone film)
12 Rev (Us – people) + peruser (scanner) = SUPERUSER (Computer Administrator)
13 got (persuaded) + other (alternative) + y (party finally) around count (tally) = GO TO THE COUNTRY (thus? As in election)
14 (Ranted)* = ARDENT (with passion)
16 sing (chant) around team (players) = STEAMING (Legless)
19 tea (dinner) + raw (not cooked) + ay (very well) = TEARAWAY (Reckless)
20 Ban (Disqualification) around ATM (Hole in the wall – Bank machine) = BATMAN (Champion for justice)
22 Fences (Hedges) around (trapelse)* = FALSE PRETENCES (Deception)
25 Spoonerism of Laced wine = WAISTLINE (Measurement)
26 e (last of the) + MaCkErEl = EMCEE (Present)
27 P (map’s ultimate) + hew (shape with cuts) = PHEW (It’s a relief)
28 Rev (Spans – vaults) + hot (stolen property) = SNAPSHOT (Still Taken Quickly)
DOWN
2 A Dit (Morse code) around M (Male) = ADMIT (Confess)
3 Flat (Still) around O (Oxygen) + in + gas (evaporated state) + sets (solidifies) = FLOATING ASSETS (What can be liquid)
4 Homonym of compiler (Nestor – me) = NESTER (Brooding type?)
5 (Phew 27ac)* + or (as an alternative) + th (sides of triptych) = HEPWORTH (Sculptor)
7 (drums bias)* = ABSURDISM (Senseless world-view)
8 TE + RM (TeenageR RowdyisM outwardly) = TERM (what being pregnant leads to? i.e. completion of pregnancy)
9 Pant (Long) around Reg (registration) + n (gun at last) = PREGNANT (Loaded)
10 Bran (Cereal fibre) + (asanswered)* = BRAND AWARENESS (Subject of consumer awareness)
15 Drama (histrionics) + Mine (For me) = DRAMAMINE (Anti-nausea drug)
17 Rev(Ret (Steep as in soak) + Snag (Ladder) ) around G (fifth note of C) = GANGSTER (soprano possibly as in the US series SOPRANOS)
18 Sap (Vigour) + Pics (illustrations) around h (hard) = SAPPHICS (Lesbian writing)
21 Genera (Classes) v (see) for r(run) = GENEVA (Convention site as in Geneva Convention)
23 ChArCoAl (evenly) + o (over) = CACAO (Tree)
24 Swamp (Slough) – m (miles) = SWAP (Interchange)
Yes, a good workout – thanks, Nestor and twencelas. I couldn’t parse 17d even tough the answer was obvious. Superuser and Dramamine were new to me but easily confirmed by googling. 25a raised a smile.
For ‘tough’ read ‘though’
Agreed, tiptop puzzle v inventive, tough and fair. Thanks, Nestor and twencelas.
This was an entertaining and very demanding tour de force from Nestor. Twencelas has mentioned many of the clever deceptions. I particularly liked Batman, where I was tempted by Lawman until I got the wordplay. It is a tribute to Nestor’s skill that all the wordplay becomes clear once the answer is arrived at. I had no queries or quibbles.
I only knew Dramamine from the couplet in Allan Sherman’s song about the Jewish travelling salesman, Bye Bye Bloomberg:
Packed my Playboy magazine,
Drip-dry shirt, Dramamine…
I found this easy. OK I lie, but solveable after(quite)a while without assistance, which I couldn’t say after the previous Nestor. Thanks Twencelas and Nestor.