When you see that Nimrod has produced the day’s puzzle, you know for sure that there are plenty of fun and games in store.
Today’s puzzle was no exception, offering lots of entertainment and, inevitably, head-scratching – no pain, no pleasure, as they say!
I think that I got there in the end, having taken too long to track down the Latin expression at 7 and having misread “solider” for “soldier” at 18 for ages, hence it was my last one in. I would appreciate confirmation (or otherwise) of my parsing of 12 and 17, the latter of which I struggled to parse even after the entry had written itself in.
23 and 27 were both new words for me, and I needed Chambers to find the latter, since I didn’t understand the clever River Island –device until I had the correct answer before me.
My favourites today were the utterly cryptic 11, where I saw that the first part had to semi- and then thought about what could come next, laughing out loud when I experienced my PDM; and 24/16, not least for its topicality.
And now it’s time for work and I feel exhausted already!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | TAPE DECK | Perhaps Barnaby King has copied in recorderAPED (=copied) in TEC (=Barnaby, i.e. detective, from Midsommer Murders) + K (=king) |
| 05 | ENGULF | Overrun in turn, iron lung stops malfunctioning*(LUNG) in EF (FE=iron, i.e. chemical formula; “turn” indicates reversal); “functioning” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | ENLARGED | General worried – duke’s bigger*(GENERAL) + D (=duke); “worried” is anagram indicator |
| 10 | UNFAIR | It’s not just topping sideshows and rides!<f>UNFAIR (=sideshows and rides; “topping” means first letter dropped) |
| 12 | RAT-TRAP | Gangsta rap, Britart and utilitarianism are all over in Roland’s End?“gansTA Rap”, “BriTARt” and “utiliTARianism are all “part(ly) tar” – in that the word “tar” is hidden in all of them; this is reversed (“over”) to give “rat-trap”, which cryptically could spell the end of e.g. children’s TV character Roland Rat |
| 13 | ENGLISH | Single’s awfully hot tongue*(SINGLE) + H (=hot, e.g. on tap); “awfully” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | CUCKOO SPIT | Froth loony knocks backCUCKOO (=loony) + SPIT (TIPS=knocks, i.e. hits; “back” indicates reversal) |
| 17 | COP | Snow-covered old landO (=old) in C P (=Snow, i.e. the British scientist C P Snow); to cop is to land, i.e. get, end up with |
| 19 | IDLE | Python’s sluggishThe reference is to Eric Idle from the TV comedy Monty Python’s Flying Circus |
| 20 | WHERE IT’S AT | With the man who’s getting more dishy when backing Paris in Fashion Week?W (=with) + HE (=the man) + REITSAT (TASTIER=more dishy; “when backing” indicates reversal) |
| 22 | ROSEHIP | Increased in fruitROSE (=increased) + HIP (=in, i.e. trendy) |
| 23 | CUMSHAW | Gift was much shown off*(WAS MUCH); “(shown) off” is anagram indicator; a cumshaw is a tip, gratuity, hence “gift” |
| 24/16 | GOLDEN BOOT | This World Cup striker aspires to get blood on pants*(GET BLOOD ON); “pants” (=rubbish) is anagram indicator |
| 25 | LORDLIER | Increasingly proud lecturer stands by one in Latin class[L (=lecturer) + I (=one)] in [L (=Latin) + ORDER (=class, i.e. in taxonomy)] |
| 26 | TIMBER | Back to refer the decision again, ignoring US feller’s warningTIMB<us>ER (RESUBMIT=to refer the decision again; “back” indicates reversal; “ignoring US” means letters “us” are dropped); the “feller” in question is a lumberjack! |
| 27 | ISOPLETH | Work in River Island, taking hard conditional lineOP (=work) in ISLET (=”River Island”, i.e. small island since it lies in a river as opposed to a sea!) + H (=hard); an isopleth is “an isogram (“line”), especially one on a graph showing variations of a climatic (“conditional”) element as a function of two variables” (Chambers) – phew! |
| Down | ||
| 01 | THE PRICE IS RIGHT | Show it’s crept higher, and one’s confounded*(IT’S CREPT HIGHER + I (=one)); “confounded” is anagram indicator; The Price is Right was a TV game show, hosted in the UK in the 1980s by Leslie Crowther |
| 02 | POLITICAL ASYLUM | Location sought for Monster Raving Loony Party conference?Cryptically, mad politicians might seek a “political asylum” to hold their conference in! |
| 03 | DARKROOM | Mark road carelessly: zero in for a developing location*(MARK RO<O for A>D); “zero (=o) is in for a” means that a letter “a” is replaced by an “o” in the anagram, indicated by “carelessly” |
| 04 | CHEAP AS CHIPS | Most affordable epic has twists around the time of PassoverPASCH (=time of Passover) in *(EPIC HAS); “twists” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | NON-EGO | Everyone’s staying not I!NONE GO (=everyone’s staying); the not-I or non-ego is “the object as opposed to the subject, whatever is not the conscious self” (Chambers) |
| 07 | UNANIMOUS CHOICE | I owe you a nem con – one such represents?*(IOU (=I owe you) + A NEM CON + I (=one) + SUCH); “represents” is anagram indicator; “nem con” (=nemine contradicente) means “with no one speaking against, hence a “unanimous choice” |
| 08 | FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH | I’m just saying “1 Down”If “the price is right” (entry at 1D), something is bought and sold “for what it’s worth” |
| 11 | SEMI-PRECIOUS | I say, are you only this valuable when not getting by?RU (=homophone (“I say”) of “are you”) + BY together give a precious stone; cryptically, <ru>BY on its own would be semi-precious! |
| 15 | POE | Some people open this writer up repeatedly(Edgar Allan) POE (=writer) is twice (“repeatedly”) hidden (“some”) and vertically reversed (“up”) in “pEOPlE OPen” |
| 18 | FIRMED UP | Solider mass to break apart with a passionM (=mass) in FIRED UP (=with a passion) |
| 21 | PHOEBE | Pub, regularly open, by the rear of The MoonPH (=pub, i.e. public house) + O<p>E<n>B<y> (“regularly” means alternate letters only) + <th>E (“rear of” means last letter only); Phoebe is one of the moons of Saturn |
Thanks RR and Nimrod,
SEMI-PRECIOUS was my favourite too.
I wonder whether the clue for RAT-TRAP is saying that all of the three are “part tar”?
Thanks RR and Nimrod. Excellent, both. I got there, with some reference to Chambers (CUMSHAW and ISOPLETH, both new to me) but had no idea how to parse 11d. Solving was slowed down by trying to make 24/16 be George Best!! D’oh?
A typically tough workout from Nimrod. I had the most trouble on the RHS, and both SEMI-PRECIOUS and UNANIMOUS CHOICE went in unparsed, although now I’ve seen the parsing (thanks RR) I appreciate what good clues they were. CUMSHAW and ISOPLETH (my LOI) both went in from wordplay alone, and it took me a while to see how FIRMED UP and LORDLIER worked.
I shall comment, because it’s not often I can say that I finished a Nimrod puzzle. You can’t say that the grid wasn’t solver-friendly, which helped, and in the end it all fell out nicely. I’m glad someone else was fixated on ‘soldier’ in 18dn. Why does your brain do that?
Lots to like here, but my favourites were GOLDEN BOOT and PHOEBE, because they reference football and beer. Which could be a combination chez nous at eight o’clock tonight.
Thanks to RR for explaining several that I couldn’t parse, and to Nimrod for the puzzle.
The doubly rare thing – a Nimrod puzzle (hooray) and one I finished all in one sitting although I did have to check that there were such things as ISOPLETHs and CUMSHAWs. Thanks to Nimrod for the fun and RR for the explanations.
Well, the right hand side was a bit of a struggle (yes, soldier here too), but I did complete it with only one e-search (27ac) although I guessed 23ac, thinking it couldn’t possibly be a word but looked it up anyway on slim chance that it might be. The expression at 4dn I don’t think I’m familiar with.
For a while with 12ac I was thinking of the Song of Roland and trying to remember how and where he died.
And lots went unparsed, so thanks for the explanations.
Got snagged by solider/soldier too. Not quite the beasting that Nimrod can dish out with 1d and its counterpart falling quickly but Ruby beat me for parsing.
well done and thanks RR and grudging respect to Nimrod as ever.
Count us another one (or two in our case) who also got hooked on ‘soldier’.
The LHS went in fairly quickly and we then ground to a halt. We needed the blog to parse a couple including SEMI-PRECIOUS. We had CHUMSAW as a possible anagram at one point having never heard of the actual answer. Joyce almost gave up on the football clue until she suddenly realised it was NOT a footballer!
All good fun – thanks Nimrod. Thanks too RR we needed the blog tonight.
Surprised nobody has highlighted the coruscating brilliance of 2dn (perhaps others have seen similar before; not I)
A truly wonderful puzzle only marred, I felt, by the two irksomely abstruse words at 23ac and 27ac. Many thanks to Nimrod.
Thanks to RR for a super blog.