(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) An early morning wake-up call didn’t do much for me when solving this. But in the end I did manage to complete with a bit of electronic help. Thanks to Nutmeg. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8 Crossword fan losing last cent in New York, not in this state? (8)
SOLVENCY : “solver”(a crossword fan) minus its last letter(losing last) + [ C(abbrev. for “cent”) contained in(in) NY(abbrev. for New York city).
Answer: If you were in this state, financially, you’d be far from losing your final cent. A clever WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition) clue.
9 Hostile male’s disregarded order (5)
ALIGN : “malign”(hotile;showing ill will) minus(…’s disregarded) “m”(abbrev. for “male”).
10 Endless hilarity over barber’s offering (4)
TRIM : Reversal of(… over) [ “mirth”(hilarity;merriment) minus its last letter(Endless …) ]
11 In time to stop case involving me and 15 more? (10)
TRILATERAL : LATER(in time to come) contained in(to stop) TRIAL(a case in a law court).
Defn: Involving me and two(answer to 15down) more, ie. three altogether.
12 Walton did it turning the other way (6)
ANGLED : Cryptic defn: Reference to Izaak Walton, English author of “The Compleat Angler”.
Defn: Continued by turning at an angle.
14 Star‘s in danger crossing square and base independently (8)
ASTERISK : AT RISK(in danger of) containing(crossing) [S(abbrev. for “square”] and E(in mathematics, the base number of the natural logarithm) separately(independently)].
16 Clarinet short of one broken key (7)
CENTRAL : Anagram of(… broken) “Clarinet ” minus(short of) “I”(Roman numeral for “one”).
18 Find guilty on six counts, initially, in court (7)
CONVICT : [ ON + VI(Roman numeral for “six”) + the 1st letter of(…, initially) “counts ” ] contained in(in) CT(abbrev. for “court”). An nice apt surface.
21 Three lines cut from full English production in Chinese arrangement (4,4)
FENG SHUI : Anagram of(… production) “full English ” minus(… cut from) Three x “l”(abbrev. for “line”).
Answer: The Chinese practice of arranging the environment around and in, say, an office, a house, etc. to bring good fortune.
23 Everything seized by Asiatic invader thrown over ravine (6)
NULLAH : Reversal of(… thrown over) [ ALL(everything) contained in(seized by) HUN(the Asiatic invader of old, the most famous being Attila) ].
Answer: From Hindi.
24 Provokes home countries hampering return of serviceman (10)
INSTIGATES : IN(at home) + STATES(countries) contained in(hampering) reversal of(return of) GI(an American serviceman).
26 Spike Milligan finally breaks restraint (4)
TINE : The last letter of(… finally) “Milligan” contained in(breaks) TIE(a restraint).
27 Motion rifles to retreat (5)
STOOL : Reversal of(… to retreat) LOOTS(rifles;plunders).
Defn: Excrement.
28 One day bearing name of god, probably (1,4,3)
I DARE SAY : I(Roman numeral for “one”) + DAY containing(bearing) ARES(the Greek god of war).
Down
1 Comic raconteur heading off for dance (8)
COURANTE : Anagram of(Comic) “raconteur ” minus its 1st letter(heading off).
Defn: … of the 17C.
2 Mother’s basic contribution, boundless love? I’m not sure (4)
OVUM : “love ” minus its 1st and last letters(boundless …) + UM(expression used when one is unsure).
Cryptic Defn: The egg cell from the mother, the basis for an offspring.
3 One team’s sobriquet for college bear? (6)
UNITED : UNI(short for “university”;college) + TED(name of the teddy bear in the movie and story of the same name). Double defn: 2nd: A sporting team’s nickname, from its name, eg. Man U.
4 Enthusiastic players regularly dropped, one briefly impassive (7)
LYRICAL : “players ” minus its 1st, 3rd and 5th letters(regularly dropped) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) + “calm”(impassive) minus it last letter(briefly …).
5 Dope somewhat backward (4)
DATA : Reversal of(… backward) [A TAD](a bit;somewhat).
6 How Italian, going back, ran into French scorer? (4,6)
TIME TRAVEL : Reversal of(…, going back) IT(abbrev. for “Italian”) + MET(ran into;encountered) + RAVEL(Maurice, French composer of music scores).
Answer: How anyone (Italian or otherwise) in this day and age could meet Ravel. Another WIWD clue.
7 Records left in high priest’s possession (6)
ANNALS : L(abbrev. for “left”) contained in(in …’s possession) ANNAS(high priest before whom Jesus was brought for judgement).
13 Tailor got initial work for barrister (10)
LITIGATION : Anagram of(Tailor GOT INITIAL) .
15 “Deuce” likewise announced (3)
TWO : Homophone of(… announced) “too”(likewise;also).
17 Nameless architect remains (3)
ASH : “Nash”(John, British architect in the Regency era) m(…less) “n”(abbrev. for “name”).
19 Forceful cutter, batting after tea, was out (8)
CHAINSAW : IN(descriptive of the team taking its turn at batting in cricket) placed below
(after, in a down clue) CHA(tea, from Chinese) + anagram of(… out) WAS.
20 Pub’s standard drink leads to trouble, ducks (7)
PINTAIL : PINT(the standard unit measure of beer or cider served in the UK and Ireland, even post-metrication) + AIL(to trouble, as in “what ails you?”).
Answer: Plural for the greyish-brown ducks with pointed tails of the Northern Hemisphere.
22 Boy from East enthralled by surrealist (6)
ERNEST : E(abbrev. for “east”) contained in(enthralled by) ERNST(Max, German painter and sculptor and pioneer of Surrealism).
23 Fool’s gold underpinning northern capital (6)
NASSAU : [ ASS(fool) + AU(chemical symbol for the element, gold) ] placed below(underpinning, in a down clue) N(abbrev. for “northern”).
Defn: … city of the Bahamas.
25 Surface with metal reflected in headlights (4)
GILD : Reversal of(reflected) and contained in(in) “headlights “.
Defn: To coat on the surface with a film of metal, usually gold.
26 Our opponents ultimately lost, old boy! (4)
THEO : “them”(our opponents, as in “us vs. them”) minus its last letter(ultimately lost) + O(abbrev. for “old”).
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
If cats could walk they wouldn’t
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua
I found the bottom difficult and the top more so, but after solving (except for LYRICAL) I found the parsings very fair.
I don’t agree with the nina – ours would say “Feed me NOW!”
* talk, even
Seriously annoyed with myself. I failed to fathom 26d and guessed at ‘them’ on the basis of ‘them and us’. With a setter as accomplished as Nutmeg, I should have been alive to the possibility of a nina and that would have enabled me to avoid my error.
Nonetheless, another excellent puzzle from Nutmeg, for which many thanks.
Thanks Manu and muffin. As usual, the nina went over my head. Grr!
Thanks scchua.
Has anybody found any relevance between the nina and (part of) the solutions? Can’t see any.
Thanks for parsing ASTERISK (which I would never have got, not knowing the necessary mathematics).
Thanks scchua and Nutmeg. This took me ages and I did think there must be something special going on in 11ac. Didn’t think to check for a nina afterwards though! Great crossword.
Thanks sschua. I stared at TRILATERAL, last in, for ages afterwards without making sense of it – and still don’t see the ‘come’ you identify in it. ASTERISK not quite as bad, there just had to be some reason for the S and E. and th e ‘independently’ which you have now explained. Otherwise it was fine, well up to Nutmeg’s high standard.
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua
I found this quite difficult and failed to solve 28a as well as 3 clues in NE corner – 11a, 5d, 7d. New word for me was NULLAH.
My favourites were 18a and 6d.
Of the clues that I solved, I could not parse 9a, 22d, 12a, 14a, 22d.
11a – I still find it hard to understand why “in time to” = “in time to come”.
Oh, and I did not see the nina….
11ac. I made it “in time”. As in I will do it in time or at some time in the future i.e. Later to stop (or fill in) trial, which I am sure is what Scchua said too.
I was held up in the NE too. But the nina helped there.
Thx
molonglo and michelle, it’s “in time” (to come) = “later”, as in “In time (to come)/later, you’ll get to the answer.”
I have found that the nina is a quotation from someone called “Nan Porter”, otherwise unknown to me.
Thanks, scchua.
Enjoyable puzzle from Nutmeg. Bottom half went in before I had much at all in the top half. Missed the Nina, as per usual.
Couldn’t fully parse ASTERISK – I didn’t spot the significance of ‘base’. I parsed 3d slightly differently: I read the two defs as ‘one’ and ‘team’, and ‘soubriquet for college bear’ as UNI TED. A ‘soubriquet’ is a nickname – ‘Toffees’ or ‘Canaries’ would be a soubriquet for a team, but not ‘United’, which is just shorthand, surely?
I particularly liked TRILATERAL and CONVICT.
I gave up with four clues today, but now I came here to see the answers (thank you scchua) I have to say a cheerful “Oh, of course!” rather than a grudging “H’m, well, if you say so”. Thank you Nutmeg for the best puzzle this week.
Tricky but I am delighted to report that I did see the Nina! Thanks to Nutmeg and scchua.
I am in the illustrious co. of Geo. Clements in cocking up 26d. I thought this a magnificent puzzle, with TRIM the pick of a bumper crop for me.
I must now go back to the puzzle and find out what all the Nina fuss us about….
Far too tricky for me today, though I can’t blame that on Nutmeg – no quibbles on the clues.
Much more of a struggle than yesterday for me. I seem to remember the last Nutmeg was tricky too. Failed on DATA, having no idea that DATA = DOPE – I’d assumed it was something like GAGA. If I’d seen the nina I would at least have got as far as DA*A.
Thought after the big E yesterday it might be an easy day. No such luck. But seeing the Nina in the lower half helped fill the top half.
Thanks Nutmeg.
Cats can scratch too Manu and I’ve certainly being scratching my head the last 3 days. Found today’s particularly difficult and missed the nine and failed to finish . Thanks for the challenge Nutmeg and scc hua.
When will I ever learn? I spent ages thinking 26d an odd clue/answer but didn’t twig that it was necessary for the nina I obviously didn’t spot. And after three ninas last week.
Thanks Nutmeg and scchua
What a cracking puzzle … which is starting to become a bit of a catchcry with this setter!
Started off with the two small ones at 15d and 17d.
Had initially entered three wrong words into the grid. Had PINTADO at 20d and struggled for a while with a three word phrase starting with the word D. Put THEM originally at 26d without understanding how HEM = old boy – it was only after looking for and seeing the humorous nina, that a fully parsed THEO presented. ALIEN as in hostile was my first try at 9a for the last clue entered – couldn’t parse it , and took ages to think of looking for a new word and finding ALIGN.
Every word impeccably clued by the setter, with no ambiguity whatsoever in what the correct answer could be.
Another very good Nutmeg puzzle IMHO. I entered about a third of the answers very quickly but then ground to a relative snail’s pace for the remainder of the answers. I’m really annoyed with myself for not spotting the nina because as soon as I saw the grid I thought there could be one, but after struggling for so long I then forgot the possibility. COURANTE was my LOI after ANGLED (which I should have seen immediately).
I parsed UNITED as “one team” for the definition with “Uni Ted” as the “soubriquet for college bear” in the wordplay.
Thanks scchua and Nutmeg. I found this pretty tough – came to it late and DNF. Didn’t spot any Ninas, and entered “tang” for 26a (n in tag – electronic restraint). Oh well . . .
Just like Gervase we more or less breezed through the bottom half without having much above the equator.
The construction in 1d was pretty clear but we entered COURTANE as it sounded like a dance.
So, trouble at 12ac (the LOI)!
Then I spotted the Nina and decided that 1d had to be COURANTE (which sounded even more like a dance).
We entered ANGLED without knowing why as we were focused on the composer Walton. Don’t like angling anyway. By the way, is “turning the other way” really a good description of ANGLED?
Yes, a really nice puzzle with a fine bonus.
[starting the Nina in the SW helped to disguise it well]
Meanwhile, we have a feeling that Nutmeg’s excellent crosswords have become easier of late. Less devious (but still very elegant).
I too expected a nina from the grid, then forgot all about it. It seems a common syndrome.
Thanks to scchua & nutmeg (who is always impeccable)
Got there in the end but without much enthusiasm. (Just the opposite in fact)
I didn’t see the nina of course and now it’s been pointed out I don’t see the point of it??? (I’ll just write a random quote around the perimeter and then fill in the grid 🙁 )
As Sil has already said ANGLED appears to be grammatically wrong!
Thanks to scchua and Nutmeg
What crypticsue @16 said.
Just finished after sleeping on it. LOI 5d. I had tricameral at 11a. It nearly works!
Thank you all for your comments. Re Ninas, it’s one way of making a start on an otherwise blank grid, and usually done for my own amusement, I’m afraid. There is rarely any hidden message to solvers, but it can help with completion of trickier words, as mentioned by several of you. This one, however, came to mind from Steve B’s comment on my last puzzle but one that he’d named his mother’s two new kittens Nina and Nutmeg. A feline Nina seemed called for…
Given the last couple of weeks, some of the less intense followers of 15×15 may by now think that a NINA only refers to a phrase round the perimeter! Actually, I would say that’s the form that is least defined by NINA. Let’s have some proper hidden words!!
But at least I have learned to look at a grid like that and expect a NINA. Those who regularly post ‘missed the NINA, of course’ take note.
B(NTO) – you can be a right misery guts sometimes. You don’t see the point of the NINA? It’s the same point as a crossword. Or scrabble. Or sudoku. Or any other amusing diversion intended to bring a little interest or, dare I say it, joy into our lives…
Thanks for looking in, Nutmeg – I was wondering about the significance of the nina – as I said earlier, I think our cats would speak (as would our dog).
Finished this in the pub after work on Friday, and I was out for a very long walk yesterday so I’ve only just got round to reading this. We found it pretty tough (it took longer than Thursday’s Enigmatist), but we got there in the end and I found it quite a rewarding challenge. Last in was DATA – not sure I was familiar with that meaning of dope, but one of my colleagues was, we also had to look up NULLAH, which was guessable from the wordplay. I don’t think any of us saw the nina, which might have saved a bit of time.
Tim Phillips – Nicely said! Though B(NTO)’s comments are, to me, often an “interesting diversion” that brings a little joy into my life. I’m all for a touch of irascibility!
I heartily endorse Crypticsue’s comment.
Very good puzzle. Above my level, but I was able to persevere and go all the way. Spotted the nina and used it to get some support for the last few clues. Thanks folks.