We always anticipate a good challenge on a Thursday, but this was a little easier than we expected, although there quite a few head-scratching moments.
26d was our LOI – having never heard of one of the double definitions! We puzzled over the parsing of 16ac for quite a while, but we think we have sorted it out – if anyone has other thoughts, please let us know!
Thanks to Polly for pointing out it was a pangram!
| Across | ||
| 8 | Between old priest and hospital there’s variable aid for Queen | |
| ELIZABETH | Z (variable) + ABET (aid) between ELI (old priest) + H (hospital) | |
| 9 | Opening and middle of Shamela by Fielding, Henry | |
| MOUTH | M (middle of Shamela) + OUT (fielding – as opposed to IN – batting!) + H (Henry) | |
| 11 | Dandy appearing twice in Shakespearean comedy | |
| SWELL | SWELL found twice within ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (Shakespearean comedy) | |
| 12 | What drapes one may be wringing or all wet | |
| TOWEL RAIL | Cryptic definition – An anagram of OR ALL WET + |
|
| 13 | Derelict esplanade denies slogan with fatal consequences for Italian port? | |
| SEE NAPLES AND DIE | An anagram of ESPLANADE DENIES (anagrind is ‘derelict’) | |
| 16 | Wood turned into a tool or vice versa | |
| GIMLET | ELM (wood) reversed or ‘turned’ in GIT (tool – a foolish person). A Gimlet is a tool for boring holes in wood, hence the ‘vice versa’ for the definition. | |
| 18 | Dissembling king in old enchanted land | |
| FAKERY | K (King) inside FAERY (enchanted land) | |
| 20 | Make changes to renew trust, stopping gaffe for cop’s predecessor | |
| BOW STREET RUNNER | An anagram of RENEW TRUST (anagrind is ‘make changes’) inside BONER (gaffe) | |
| 23 | Regret breaking chlorine bonds in wanton acts | |
| CRUELTIES | RUE (regret) inside or ‘breaking’ CL (Chlorine) + TIES (bonds) | |
| 25 | US dramatist sheltered from bluster about book | |
| ALBEE | ALEE (sheltered from bluster or wind) about B (book) | |
| 27 | Chair historically carried dean’s duff | |
| SEDAN | An anagram of DEAN’S (anagrind is ‘duff’) | |
| 28 | In series, apart from its debut, see skill with words | |
| ELOQUENCE | LO (see) in |
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | Survey Saracens, usually taking a sample | |
| CENSUS | Hidden, or ‘sampled’ in SaraCENS USually | |
| 2 | Jack the writer’s the talk of Harlem | |
| JIVE | J (Jack) + I’VE (the writer has) | |
| 3 | Trouble experienced over flowering plant | |
| DAHLIA | AIL (trouble) HAD (experienced) all reversed, or ‘over’ | |
| 4 | Focus around one literary volume | |
| CENTILITRE | CENTRE (focus) around I (one) LIT (literary) | |
| 5 | It’s a relief map’s final cut | |
| PHEW | P (final letter of map) + HEW (cut) | |
| 6 | Light bender in big city shortly, one near Belarus | |
| SMOLENSK | LENS (light bender) in SMOK |
|
| 7 | As well as plugging Parisian from the rugby, managed a pop band | |
| DURAN DURAN | AND (as well as) in or ‘plugging’ DU (French for ‘from the’) RU (rugby union) RAN (managed). Thanks to Paul A for the correction! | |
| 10 | Briefly assist police force’s protection at the top level | |
| HELMET | HEL |
|
| 14 | Side with couple, united in aims where slugs have come out? | |
| EXIT WOUNDS | XI (eleven, or ‘side’) TWO (couple) U (united) in ENDS (aims) | |
| 15 | Remarks about iron temperature burning, which could make it hard to play ball | |
| SAFETY SHOT | SAYS (remarks) around FE (iron) T (temperature) + HOT (burning) | |
| 17 | Spike in movie-making involves Hawk’s feature much less | |
| LET ALONE | LEE (Spike Lee, movie director) around or ‘involving’ TALON (hawk’s feature) | |
| 19 | Air conditioning in a coach is something to count on | |
| ABACUS | AC (air-conditioning) in A BUS (coach) | |
| 21 | Sky-god and bishop dismissed by a pope and people generally | |
| URANUS | UR |
|
| 22 | Send to a specialist to bind back of knee joint | |
| REEFER | REFER (send to a specialist) around or ‘binding’ E (last letter or ‘back’ of knee) | |
| 24 | First person to live by mountain-dweller | |
| IBEX | I (first person) + BE (live) + X (by, as in multiply by) | |
| 26 | Hollow sound from water pipe | |
| BONG | Double definition – we had to look this one up, as we had never come across ‘bong’ = water pipe!! | |
A tiny point: I think in 12, the I is inside (‘draped’ by) the anagram rather than part of it.
I hadn’t heard of Shamela, but sounds like a well-deserved parody.
I’m disappointed that more was not made of the REEFER/BONG theme – or perhaps it was, and in my ignorance I failed to spot it. Still, Nestor has given us a pangram to compensate.
Another tiny point in 7d – DU is French for ‘from the’, rather than just ‘from’. I agree that it was easier than expected for a Thursday Nestor, and deciding it was going to be a pangram helped find the Q and the G.
B&J – I think your parsing of 16ac is spot on. I knew the bong/hookah connection so 26dn wasn’t a problem.
On first read-through I had only solved a few of the clues and I thought it was going to be a long solve, but I saw BOW STREET RUNNER from the definition and the B checker from the easy ABACUS, and I built out from that fairly quickly. The CENSUS/SWELL crossers were my last ones in, both of which were excellent clues.
Thanks, both. A mixture of easyish clues to get you going, including the two long across clues, but then some tough ones to finish off. But certainly easier than some Thursday Indy puzzles I’ve solved (or more often, not solved). Well done for explaining GIMLET – got it but couldn’t parse it. I thought SWELL was a clever clue, although it took me ages to see it.
Nestor is on firm ground with ‘du’ as being equivalent to one of the French words for ‘from’. Je viens du Danemark/Japon. I come from Denmark/Japan, or indeed any other of the small number of countries that are masculine in French.
Enjoyed this one, and for once saw a pangram revealing itself, which helped me to finish. Thank you to the setter.
@5
But Nestor’s using “du” to mean “from the” in 7d, not “from”! That was Paul A’s point.
Of course. My bad, as my children say. Paul A is quite right in his parsing of the clue.
Thanks to everyone (as opposed to Everyone @6!) for their comments and corrections. We have only just returned from visiting gardens in Cornwall with Joyce’s parents who are both 90!
Will correct the blog now…..