Tees does sometimes test us to the limits (all right, he did here for me with 16dn, although that was just my fault) but in this enjoyable crossword, with clues that are all so far as I can see good and interesting despite my misgivings about 24dn, he has been fairly gentle to us.
The simple theme uses the unches at the top and bottom and near the sides. In these types of Nina we usually see the unches at the very left and right, not as here, but perhaps it’s easier to fill a more conventional grid.
Definitions underlined
Across
9 Star here exhausted – winger unable to move (3,6)
OWL NEBULA
owl [= winger] (unable)* — read about it here: no doubt a star runs out of steam around there
10 Call cricketing pair effective at both ends after century (5)
COOEE
C 0 0 e{ffectiv}e — in cricket a score of 0 in each innings is called a pair
11 Act stupid to make things unclear (5)
BEDIM
be dim
12 Inspiration from singer at opera (5)
ERATO
Hidden in singER AT Opera
13 Planes flying our flag start to pitch and roll (3)
BAP
BA p{itch} — BA is British Airways
14 Controversial seminars course is in Latin (3)
EST
est is a word derived from the first letters of Erhard Seminars Training, a programme used by some businesses and organisations (although this link doesn’t seem to suggest that it is all that controversial: why does Tees use that word?)— ‘is’ in Latin is ‘est’
15 Anglicans’ leader, his credo CE, revived appropriate district (11)
ARCHDIOCESE
A{nglicans’} (his credo CE)*
17 Say jumper‘s left among articles by hollow tree (7)
ATHLETE
(a th(l)e) t{re}e
18 Burn up old woman in Greek island (7)
CREMATE
Cre(Ma)te
20 What our grid reveals in border is in this puzzle, in message added (11)
HEMISPHERES
The grid reveals NORTHERN, SOUTHERN, also EASTERN and WESTERN in the unches at or near the sides, and the wordplay is hem is P(here)S — here = in this puzzle, PS = message added
23 Bloody demise for another newspaper boss (3)
RED
{another}r ed. — the last letter indicator is ‘demise’, an indicator I haven’t seen before
25 Slip! Republican’s in East River! (3)
ERR
E (R) r
26 An outlaw pursues student choreographer (5)
LABAN
L a ban — L = learner driver = student driver = student — this tells you about Laban Movement Analysis, with which I was vaguely but not really familiar
27 Tamworth residence in which soldiers lie? (5)
STORY
st(OR)y — a Tamworth is a type of pig
28 Opponents at table take action to get result (5)
ENSUE
EN sue — E and N are the opposing bridge-players
29 Glue at last on strap fixing crest put together again (9)
RECOMBINE
re(comb)in {Glu}e
Down
1 Bachelor born in Leon ripped hamstring (6)
NOBBLE
(B b) in (Leon)* — hamstring a verb
2 Extinct language from ex-wife in Bow? (3,5)
OLD DUTCH
old Dutch — ex = old, Dutch = wife (Cockney rhyming slang — Duchess of Fife)
3 Imagine having squandered 500 sheets! (4)
REAM
{D}ream — D = 500, and it’s just a neat thing that a ream happens to have 500 sheets in it
4 Bump from slow boat damaged creel (8)
TUBERCLE
tub (creel)*
5 Was forced to bury headless tyrant in bunker? (6)
HAZARD
ha({t}zar)d — a bunker as in golf, which is only an example of a hazard, hence the question mark — nice to see this word clued via golf rather than footie and that Chelsea player, as has happened here in the past
6 Italian novelist keeping hard copy (4)
ECHO
Ec(h)o — ref Umberto Eco
7 Money difficulties checked at the outset (6)
ROUBLE
{t}rouble
8 Kinky one said to smooth down rubber (8)
NEOPRENE
(one)* “preen”
15 States not entirely hostile (5)
AVERS
avers{e}
16 Author in love with son starts show (5)
OPENS
0 (pen) s — if a show is opened it is started — I have to admit that I never got this although it’s simple enough now I look at it; it’s just that I was looking for a specific author rather than a writing implement, and ‘author’ seemed to be the definition
17 I’ve collapsed in pain society creates (8)
ACHIEVES
(I’ve)* in ache s
18 Lament for dead king taking place in Hackney? (8)
CORONACH
co(R on)ach — on = taking place — a Hackney is a type of coach — didn’t know the word coronach
19 Missile‘s first-rate: with roar it exploded (3-2-3)
AIR-TO-AIR
A1 (roar it)*
21 Second Eros destroyed to greater extent (4,2)
MORE SO
mo (Eros)*
22 Fairy works to generate capital (6)
HOBART
hob art — a mere state capital, so not in my list of capital cities
24 Poet-physician’s desire to embrace daughter! (6)
DRYDEN
Dr y(d)en — am I right in thinking that taking the definition as one part of a double-barrelled word is not usual?
26 Seconds for glutton – minion sets Bunter’s place (4)
LIEU
{g}l{utton} {m}i{nion} {s}e{ts} {B}u{nter’s}
27 It’s Tees in uniform! (4)
SAME
SA [= it, at any rate quite commonly in crosswords] me
*anagram
Thanks John/Tees, saw the start of the Nina very early on, but didn’t spot the east/west till quite a bit later on. The poet-physician bit didn’t fox me as by that stage I had the crossing letters and thought that’s going to be Dryden before looking at the clue.
That poet-physician thing is Guardian-style, and gets my hackles up, of course! But there are no others in a well-clued puzzle. Thank you John, PEN as a verb foxed me too!
I find it curious that the world has four hemispheres, and so I must presume did ‘Tees’.
Thanks John, in 20a you need ‘border is’ to give HEM I to complete it.
Thanks to Tees & John,
I hadn’t come across ‘demise’ as a last letter indicator either. I had wondered if the ‘R’ came from ‘requiescat’, as in RIP = ‘demise for another’ (well, sort of!).
Maybe I’m reading too much into the theme, but the placement of some of the answers is appropriate to the hemisphere. HOBART, a southern capital is near the bottom (S) of the grid, DUTCH is near the W side, ROUBLE is near the E side, and looking up Wikipedia, I see that the OWL NEBULA, near the top (N) of the grid, is part of Ursa Major, which is seen in the northern sky. Again, probably stretching a point.
Thanks again.
First time I’ve ever got a nina! Thanks to both, very much.
‘Demise’ is certainly a novel last letter indicator, but fairly simple to follow taking ‘demise’ = ‘end’.
Some very nice cluing, my CoD was ARCHDIOCESE for its apt surface.
Thanks, Tees and John
Many thanks John and to all who chimed in.
I have to say it is a bit of a fiddle doing the grid when you have Ninas in the positions specified here, indeed I’m just ‘enjoying’ that procedure once again with an idea I’m sending to the FT. Rod for own back. Fool. It limits you on word-selection too, and you can end up with some right coronachs if you’re not careful.
Sorry about those hedgehoggy-hackles, but Guardianist ‘poet-physician’ is now an Indyism too. At least there’s no grammatical liberty taken, AFAICS. Which isn’t very F in these glasses.
Cheers all, have a great NYE.
Teesey-Weezey
Very nice.
I particularly enjoyed 8d. It suggested an FT clue:
Kinky one: he puzzles us (3)
Thanks Tees – this was enjoyable…and seemed to get harder the further one ventured into the southern hemisphere.
Clever little Nina, and neat that North & South and East & West have the same number of letters…and that there is a grid which can accommodate that.
John – re OPENS, if you ‘open’ for someone (e.g. as the support act) you start the show. I think that’s what Tees is getting at.