I made some notes when I solved this: First pass of the clues – 10 minutes – 1 answered (18D – 2nd to last clue read)
One. That’s all. It’s Nimrod. Oh dear. How Am I Going To Blog This If I Can’t Solve It!
Take a break. Restart. Get a few answers. Get NEWSPEAK and wonder if there’s an Orweell/1984 theme (later dispelled).
Get 23 REINED IN and marvel at the wordplay (see also: 9, 10, 20, 21, 24, 2, 5, 14 etc.)
Begin to think – They weren’t too bad really, I can even see the wordplay.
Struggle to finish the last few – use computer help – get there in the end (I think).
Decide to count the hours spent getting this far as “education”.
While writing up the blog discover nuances in the wordplay I hadn’t seen earlier and marvel further.
I’m beginning to think when I see Nimrod at the top of a puzzle a switch in my brain says “This’ll be hard” and reduces my IQ by 10 points.
There is at least one set of wordplay, for 13A, insufficiently explained in the detail below. Any elucidation appreciated
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | WHAT IF | With “Eureka!” counter well hypothetical question (4,2) W[ith] HA! (Eureka!) FIT< (Well, reversed (counter)) |
| 5 | GALLIPOT | It‘s got a tablet for knocking back inside (8) A PILL< inside GOT. &Lit Gallipot: “a small glazed pot used by apothecaries for medicines, confections, or the like.” |
| 9 | PIRI-PIRI | Current rent in arrears, again – this will give big buddy thrills! (4-4) I (current) RIP (rent) reversed (in arrears) twice (again) Piri-piri The buddies getting the thrills will be your taste buds |
| 10 | ABOARD | A winner at Eisteddfod penning Love at Sea? (6) A BARD (A winner at Eisteddfod) around O (love) |
| 11 | THICKSET | Solidly built but stupid group of people (8) THICK (stupid) SET (group of people) One of those “how did I not see it earlier?” PDMs |
| 12 | BECAME | Got suited (6) Double Def |
| 13 | EXAMPLES | Like, perhaps, for one to illustrate four of them? (8) I am having trouble explaining this one. “For example” is “like” so, for ‘one of examples’ is For ‘example’, don’t understand the significance of “four”. Wouldn’t the clue still work if it said, say, “several” instead of “four”? |
| 15 | ONER | Expert nicker … (4) Double Def. A “Oner” (or more familiarly to me “Oncer”) was a pound note. cf. “Tenner” |
| 17 | NEAR | … covering face when moving around a close (4) [o]NER (the ellipsis refers to the previous clue from which we take the answer, covering face tells us to lose the first letter) around A |
| 19 | ARRESTEE | Person who’s been taken in meets errand-boy on return (8) Hidden reversed in mEETS ERRAnd One of the answers that got me going after being stuck a while |
| 20 | OTHERS | Interior of gift to Troy secretes the people not yet accounted for (6) THE inside [h]ORS[e] (gift to Troy, interior of) Last in |
| 21 | STETSONS | Felt covers of Let it Be and Help! inspired Lennon finally (8) STET (Let it be) then [lenno]N inside SOS (Help) Great clue surface. Most hats (covers) are made of felt even ridiculous ones like stetsons. I expect some of my clothes are ridiculous to stetson wearers – silly loud ties for instance. In fact, all clothes are ridiculous really (where does this argument lead …) |
| 22 | BARNEY | Composer gets in during shouting-match (6) ARNE (composer) inside BY (during) |
| 23 | REINED IN | Stopped anti-Loyalist returning? (6,2) (N.I. DENIER)< “anti-loyalist” reversed – returning. Superb phrase-coining |
| 24 | DERIDERS | They mock retarded revolutionaries, southern island captured (8) RED< twice with S[outhern] then I[sland] inside (captured) |
| 25 | TAKING | Kleptomania is by definition this infectious (6) Double Def. infectious as in taking hold |
| Down | ||
| 2 | HEIGHTEN | Facetious girl squeezes four couples in lift (8) EIGHT (four couples) inside HEN (facetious girl) Cracking clue |
| 3 | TWITCHER | Can’t he hold the binoculars steady? (8) Lovely CD referring to both senses of the answer: Someone who twitches / A bird watcher = a well-known binocular lover |
| 4 | FAIR’S FAIR | It’s just as if RAF bombed Ireland (5,4) (AS IF RAF)* AInd: bombed, then IR[eland] |
| 5 | GUILTY PLEASURES | “One doesn’t usually admit them”, orderly replies augustly (6,9) (REPLIES AUGUSTLY)* AInd: orderly. Needed pencil & paper & persistence to work it out – among the earlier answered clues (9th – Yes, I was keeping count) so that opened up the grid |
| 6 | LIB DEMS | Left here as before, I departed son’s party (3,4) L[eft] IB[i]DEM (here as before – I departed) S[on] |
| 7 | PHALANGE | Hang out with Henry in pub, on the beer – one of quite a few in hand! (8) [h]ANG (out with Henry = lose the H) inside PH ALE (Pub – Public House is PH on OS maps, beer) Def: any of the bones of the fingers or toes. |
| 8 | TO DIE FOR | Extremely desirable editor of Nuts! (2,3,3) (EDITOR OF)* AInd: Nuts. I somehow imagine the editor of Nuts is NOT. |
| 14 | EXTREMIST | Radical not entirely negligent in falling off the wagon? (9) REMIS[s] (negligent, not entirely) inside EX-TT (falling off the wagon – now not teetotal) |
| 15 | OUT OF BED | Couple’s turn to describe future without following up (3,2,3) DUO< (couple’s turn) around TO BE (future) around F[ollowing]. Sneaky little definition in that clue |
| 16 | EITHER OR | Bind over Hercules, perhaps on sixth of Labours, offering unavoidable choice (6,2) TIE< (Bind over) HERO (Hercules perhaps) [labou]R[s]. The B&B I stayed in last week had the appropriate sign up in the dining room – “Breakfast Choices: 1. Take it. 2. Leave it.” |
| 17 | NEWSPEAK | There’s little thought in this all-points bulletin, going over the top (8) NEWS (all-points bulletin) PEAK (top) I got this early on and wondered if there might be some George Orweell / 1984 theme – sadly not |
| 18 | ASUNCION | Capital, like “C” in “Confederation” (8) AS C in UNION. Asuncion is the capital of Paraguay as any fule kno. This fool did, so the first answer fell. |
| 19 | AIRHEAD | Twit‘s big bird bandaged with help (7) RHEA (big bird) inside (bandaged with) AID (help) |
Many thanks Beermagnet for your blog of another really challenging Nimrod.
13ac gives us, as far as I can see it, four EXAMPLEs: “like”, “perhaps”, “for one” and “to illustrate”.
That’s it, I think.
Started with 3d and 16d on first pass. Then dotted a few more in here and there but these gave not much help to the others. The rest came slowly like pulling teeth with much brain exertion for each one, but just quickly enough not to lead to despair.
An excellent puzzle and an extremely enjoyable hour and twenty to start my Saturday morning.
Thanks to both and Sil for explaining 13 which I shoved in because it had to be, without seeing the very clever relevance of the clue.
Love the word GALLIPOT – must use it more often. Favourite clue perhaps 11ac or 18d but so many it’s difficult to choose.
Thanks Beermagnet for the blog – we often feel the same way when starting to solve Nimod’s puzzles if we are the scheduled bloggers. If we’re not, we then wonder how the blogger is feeling.
We parsed 13ac the same way as Sil.
Thanks Nimrod for the challenge – keep them coming!
I have known tougher Nimrods but would agree this wasn’t his most fluffy-slippered crossword. Lots to enjoy so hard to pick a favourite.
Thanks to Nimrod for the fun challenge and Beermagnet for the blog.
A similar experience to others. No answers at all on the first read through of the acrosses, and not even a hint of one. I got a couple of downs and slowly started to make inroads, but “like pulling teeth” per almw3@2 is a pretty fair description of how it felt. I finished in the SW corner with the OUT OF BED/DERIDERS crossers. As with a lot of Nimrod puzzles the answers were there if I thought about them hard enough, and it was an intellectual challenge, but fun was in short supply.
A self-indulgent piece of self-congratulation from me that deserves to vanish unseen into the ether. Phew! Very tough but managed to get all the clues eventually. LOI and COD was 3d. Only succeeded after the answer came in a flash of inspiration when I was in the car driving home from work after struggling for many hours on Sunday. Ultimately satisfying, but I didn’t feel as charitable staring at a mainly empty grid after hours of frustration and I was reassured others found it difficult.
Thanks to beermagnet and (I think!) Nimrod.