We ‘ve been busy just lately so tried to rush this one rather than enjoy the solve!
It was only when Joyce came to write up the blog that she appreciated the surface readings and the lovely misdirections. We blogged Nestor’s weekday puzzles in February and April. One was a pangram and the other had a nina but we cannot see anything happening in this one. Maybe someone else can!
Thanks Nestor – we’ll try and take your next puzzle more slowly!
| Across | ||
| 1 | Beginning of hue and cry over nonsense | |
| BOSH | H (beginning of hue) + SOB (cry) reversed or ‘over’ | |
| 3 | Basic principles I agree to stop enjoyable alcoholic effect | |
| FUNDAMENTS | AMEN (I agree) inside or ‘stopping’ FUN + DTS (alcoholic effect) | |
| 10 | Chase in this star’s home would be perfunctory | |
| SKY | If you include ETCH (chase) inside SKY (star’s home) you would get SKETCHY (perfunctory) | |
| 11 | Some demand Emu’s safety, backing basis for anonymity | |
| ASSUMED NAME | Reversed and hidden within the clue dEMAND EMU’S SAfety | |
| 12 | Silky yarn’s no good start for knitting waterproof jacket | |
| ANORAK | AN |
|
| 13 | Ale drinking very mature? Anything but water | |
| BEVERAGE | BEER (ale) around or ‘drinking’ V (very) + AGE (mature) | |
| 15 | Firm in ocean fleet, at first not catching anything | |
| STONE DEAF | TONED (firm) in SEA (ocean) + F (initial letter of Fleet) | |
| 16 | Welsh port abounding in pubs? | |
| BARRY | A play on the fact that if a place had lots of pubs (bars) it may be described as BARRY! | |
| 18 | Annoyance with hotel – I’m not impressed! | |
| HUMPH | HUMP (annoyance) + H (hotel) | |
| 19 | Stores maintained by skeleton staff? | |
| OSSUARIES | As skeletons are made up of bones one could possibly describe OSSUARIES as being looked after by these staff | |
| 21 | Is one distraught about back-to-front slip? Far from it! | |
| NO SIRREE | An anagram of IS ONE (anagrind is ‘distraught’) round ERR (slip) reversed or ‘back-to-front’ | |
| 24 | I must leave ancient priest, say, returning skivvy | |
| DRUDGE | DRU |
|
| 26 | Label vegetable eaten by less evolved insects | |
| STAG BEETLES | TAG (label) + BEET (vegetable) round or ‘eaten by’ an anagram of LESS (anagrind is ‘evolved’) | |
| 27 | Egg collected by ornithologists | |
| NIT | Hidden in ‘orNIThologists’ | |
| 28 | Note, G&S part may involve rattling this off | |
| PATTER SONG | A play on the fact that this is an anagram of NOTE G S PART. A patter song is characterised by a moderately fast to very fast tempo and is used in comic opera, especially Gilbert and Sullivan. We had never come across this term but the anagram (anagrind is ‘rattling this off) was pretty easy to sort out. | |
| 29 | Bound west finally, carried by backless military vehicle | |
| JETE | T (final letter of wesT) inside or ‘carried by’ JEE |
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | Travel permit shown by fools aboard vessel heading north | |
| BUS PASS | SAPS (fools) inside SUB (vessel) reversed or ‘heading north’ | |
| 2 | Pen range: inside is made from plastic | |
| STYROFOAM | STY (pen) + ROAM (range) around OF (is made from) | |
| 4 | One group in 10 like sport upset | |
| URSA | AS (like) + RU (sport as in Rugby Union) reversed or ‘upset’ – URSA referring to the constellation in the sky (10ac) | |
| 5 | Ruddy inconsiderate swimmer! | |
| DAMSEL FISH | DAM (ruddy) + SELFISH (inconsiderate) | |
| 6 | Margaret forced to preserve government’s lead | |
| MADGE | MADE (forced) around or ‘preserving’ G (initial letter or ‘lead’ of government) | |
| 7 | Mention in article promoted African lake | |
| NYASA | SAY (mention) in AN (article) reversed or ‘promoted’ | |
| 8 | What’s viewed, talked about, when on railway? | |
| SCENERY | Sounds like (‘talked about’) SEEN (viewed) + RY (railway). If we don’t manage to get seats in a quiet coach when we travel by train, we tend to find that most passengers are talking on their phones – their conversations don’t often feature details of the scenery they are passing through! | |
| 9 | Miracle-worker’s home from Arizona region, mostly in north | |
| NAZARETH | AZ (Arizona) + ARE |
|
| 14 | Unlikelihood of brooding music number in topless attire | |
| REMOTENESS | EMO (brooding music) + TEN (number) inside |
|
| 16 | Ex-PM’s policies with Murdoch say, breaking British strike | |
| BLAIRISM | IRIS (as in Murdoch the writer, not the other one) inside or ‘breaking’ B (British) + LAM (strike) | |
| 17 | Exertion intended to lead to Heaven’s opening? | |
| RAIN DANCE | A play on the fact that a RAIN DANCE hopefully leads to rain or the heavens opening! (Thanks Abhay!) | |
| 18 | Pressure raised stores as well as order to submit | |
| HANDS UP | PUSH (pressure) reversed or ‘raised’ around or ‘storing’ AND (as well as) | |
| 20 | Cover the woman in the presence of the man | |
| SHEATHE | SHE (the woman) + AT (in the presence of) + HE (man) | |
| 22 | Pipe down to the back passage? | |
| SHAFT | SH (pipe down as in ‘hush’) + AFT (back) | |
| 23 | Currency regulation impounds Berezovsky’s capital | |
| RUBLE | RULE (regulation) around or ‘impounding’ B (first letter or ‘capital’ of Berezovsky) | |
| 25 | Tart’s outer thigh hiding bottom | |
| FLAN | FLAN |
|
By courtesy of my beloved I can report that hidden in the grid are Dame Edna Everage, Barrie Humphries, and Les Patterson.
Well done to your beloved, Conrad!! Bert says there’s even SIR Les Patterson in the grid!
Well done also to Nestor.
Well, having got my retaliation in first, so to speak, let me agree with B&J about the absolute joy of solving this. So many gems, it seems invidious to single out any particular one, but Blairism made me laugh out loud. The misdirections were nothing short of wonderful. I am quite envious of B&J for having such a gem of a puzzle to work on – and I congratulate them on producing a fine blog.
Missed the nina myself of course. (Comme d’habitude.)
I found this very tricky, and because I was running out of time I used aids for my last three, NAZARETH, DAMSELFISH and FUNDAMENTS. All fairly clued though.
I did have to take a couple of goes at this one before I finished. Continuing the Nina, Madge in 6a was Edna’s bridesmaid.
Thanks to Nestor for a fun ‘fight’ and B&J for the explanations.
Some fairly easy clues, e.g BOSH, PATTER SONG, NYASA to balance the trickier ones, e.g STAG BEETLES, BLAIRISM; all in all a great puzzle. Thanks, Nestor
And thanks, B&J for the blog – I needed it for some of the parsings.
I found this quite difficult, but enjoyable. Missed 4 words, but no complaints! Thanks for a great puzzle, Nestor!
B&J, thanks for the blog. It helped me parse the few I couldn’t get.
(Incidentally, while Nestor must have used the apostrophe in “Heaven’s” for misdirection, shouldn’t it be omitted in your explanation?)
You are quite right Abhay!
Saved this to enjoy on Sunday evening (now!) – and what a lucky ploy was that! Super, super fun puzzle. Completely missed the Nina! (Congrats to Conrad’s better half) That Nestor – clever fellow! Loved it. Many, many thanks.
And to B&J also thanks – and well done! This special puzzle deserved a special blog. We were fulfilled indeed!
PS 12dn (“rain dance”). What a beautiful clue! Magnificent!!