There are a few remaining gaps in my parsing, and a few I just don’t feel comfortable about. Help always welcome in both cases.
| Across | ||
| 8 | DIASPORA | Migrants told to return almost left a … (8) |
| SAID< + POR[t] + A | ||
| 10 | IGNORE | … region to rebuild bypass (6) |
| REGION* | ||
| 11 | DIED AWAY | Long time, a week to fill, gradually disappeared (4,4) |
| DIE + ((A Week) in DAY) | ||
| 12 | GWYN | Actress and comedienne’s part doing Wyndham’s (4) |
| [doin]G WYN[dham’s]. A reference to Nell Gwyn? | ||
| 13 | MEDITATION | What’s prescribed’s not cocaine, taking time for serious thought (10) |
| T in MEDI[c]ATION | ||
| 14 | SYMPTOM | Hypocrisy, MP to MP – could be a problem here (7) |
| [hypocri]SY MP TO M[p] | ||
| 16,9,21,24 | POACHER TURNED GAME KEEPER | Cook’s gone off Prior, perhaps after match – he’s joined the opposition! (7,6,10) |
| POACHER (cook) + TURNED (gone off) + GAME (match) + KEEPER. Matt Prior is England’s wicket-keeper | ||
| 19 | BREAK RANKS | Get out of line, end of holiday being delayed by a Boojum’s return (5,5) |
| from BREAK, with its final K being “delayed” by SNARK< | ||
| 22 | ENDORSEE | Filling of form for enclosure by closing date: he eventually gets cheque (8) |
| This reads as [f]OR[m] in (END + [h]E), but where does the SE come from? | ||
| 23 | EL NINO | Muses retrogressively about laevo-rotatory circular current (2,4) |
| (Laevo-rotatory in NINE<) + O, I guess | ||
| 25 | TEETOTAL | 72 at Muirfield, as champ not taking a drop + (8) |
| not sure this really works, the implication being that a round (“total”) of 72 at Muirfield (“tee”) should be enough to win (become “champ”)? | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | RIDGEWAY | I waged wars, crossing line, one over the mountain (8) |
| (I WAGED)* in RailwaY. Again, a little strange. You have to accept “wars” as an anagrind, “crosses” as an insertion indicator, and “line” doing double duty as part of wordplay and definition. I did wonder if it might all be justified as a cracking &lit, but Google couldn’t find anyone named Ridgeway who fought wars in the mountains. | ||
| 2 | ESLOIN | Take away antique from Nile, so excited (6) |
| (NILE SO)* | ||
| 3 | HONEYMOON RESORT | Consummate in this location, transformed by Henry Moore? Not so! (9,6) |
| (HENRY MOORE NOT SO)* | ||
| 4 | CANDIDE | Cracking basket-maker performed satire (7) |
| DID in CANE | ||
| 5 | ATTENTION-SEEKER | When we hear the news, I’m afraid Nestor and I crack up about problem child (9-6) |
| AT TEN + (EEK in (NESTOR + I)*) | ||
| 6 | ORGASTIC | Its cargo is loaded at the other end? (8) |
| (ITS CARGO)* | ||
| 7 | PEDALO | Daughter wearing one ring on another pleasure boat (6) |
| Daughter in (PEAL + O) | ||
| 15 | PEA-SOUPY | Go round impersonating French where they won’t have the foggiest, like? + (3-5) |
| (AS + OU) in PEP + [the]Y | ||
| 17 | EMMENTAL | Setter’s thrown up nuts and cheese (8) |
| ME< + MENTAL | ||
| 18 | IN-DEPTH | Thorough, working for Section No 8? (2-5) |
| IN DEPT H. Nice one. | ||
| 20 | RINGER | Double Gloucester in German houses? + (6) |
| [glouceste]R IN GER[man] | ||
| 21 | GUN DOG | 21A 24’s hound and horse keeping loose (3,3) |
| UNDO in GG | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed
I read this as a champ (who would have played all 72 holes) would have encountered a TEE TOTAL of 72.
Thanks for the blog of this entertaining crossword which I found quite testing.
Re 22 ENDORSEE: End = closing, OR = Form filling, See = date (as verb).
I had exactly the same thoughts as you about RIDGEWAY.
This was tough and I was very happy to have been able to finish it without recourse to aids. Having said that, ESLOIN and ORGASTIC went in as the most likely answers from the anagram fodder, and PEA-SOUPY went in from the definition alone, so thanks for the parsing of it. I parsed ENDORSEE the same way as Muffyword.
I wasn’t too happy about “crossing” in 1dn. When I’ve encountered it before in clues it’s been as a containment rather than an insertion indicator. But I suppose it can be seen as an insertion indicator in that if you are crossing something you are in the middle of it.
Is there a nina here? The unches in the top row spell POACHER backwards, and I can see DIGS down the left had side – but there doesn’t seem to be anthing else.
Anyway, thanks to Nimrod and Simon.
A very testing experience,not least for the time I spent looking at the letters I WAGED and RY but couldn’t see how to rearrange them. D’oh with knobs on.
I think the Nina relates to the fact that POACHER is reversed in the top row and there is POACHER, TURNED, GAME and KEEPER in the solutions.
Thank to Nimrod for giving my cryptic brain a proper workout and to Simon who had to explain it all.
It took me a while to get going on this as I was unable to solve 16/9/21/24 until very last but even so the struggle to solve the puzzle was even more enjoyable!
I particularly liked 17d, 13a, 8a, 15d, 19a & 7d and my favourites were 5d ATTENTION SEEKER & 16/9/21/24 POACHER TURNED GAME KEEPER (last in).
New word for me was ESLOIN.
I needed help to parse 18d, 22a & 25a.
Thanks for the blog, Simon. I parsed 1d as you did.
Very nice – tough to start – steady progress after that. Nice to have so many familiar words and phrases from toughish clues.
1d I don’t see a problem. Wordplay as you first describe – then “one” refers back to a line (ie path or some such presumably) so no double duty (why is that the most heinous sin?).
Nice puzzle and neat blog. Many thanks both.
Only other comment (not a niggle) – I often think Nimrod should give a few more gimmmes, not just to make it easier for me, but so that more solvers could get to experience some of these great clues. Once you’re in it’s not that hard – but sometimes you (ie I) wonder whether you’ll ever get a foothold.
Not a sin at all (let alone ‘heinous’) in an &lit, I suppose we could say.
Just to clarify 1d, since it is so extensively discussed.
Whilst [from the blog] “Google couldn’t find anyone named Ridgeway” there was in fact a US General Ridgway [no E in the spelling] who was active in the Battle of the Bulge, one which took place mainly in the Ardennes mountains – well hills at least.
I read the clue in two ways with:
“I waged wars, crossing line” as the wordplay
and “one [ie a line] over the mountain” as the def both times.
Wordplay version 1:
Taking E [the direction] for line you can have:
I waged wars: RIDGWAY (General Ridgway)
crossing line: crossing E
giving RIDG(E)WAY (a road or path that follows a ridge)
Wordplay 2:
As per the blog
I waged wars: (I WAGED)*
crossing line: RY is crossing
R((I WAGED)*)Y
Since Gen Ridgway fought over “mountains” it is obviously tempting to try to read the whole surface as an &lit.
That doesn’t work because the answer is spelt differently from the General in question. Having two readings of the wordplay gives you the similar feeling of a BOGOF deal but that’s not an &lit.
An &lit (of whatever degree) needs coincidence of wordplay and def.
However the imagery is still good – and it’s obviously a rather special clue.
To clarify…
“wars” is the anagram indicator. So it’s I WAGED* in RY. There’s no double duty: as has been said above, “one” refers to “(another instance of) line”; “crossing” in the sense of “going across” (a bridge, for example).
No-one seems to have spotted the (rest of the) nina…
Thanks Simon and John H. I’ve been away so only got to this late. Failed on quite a few but still an excellent puzzle. Is the rest of the Nina GAMEKEEPER, travelling SE from 12a?
That’s the one, MikeC!
Sneaky john h actually I looked for gamekeeper after seeing poacher rev and failed to find it. I should stick to word search puzzles…