We always look forward to the Thursday Indy puzzle with a certain sense of trepidation, as they have a reputation for being more challenging than the rest of the week.
When we saw that it was Nimrod today, we knew were in for a serious battle of wits – and we weren’t disappointed. He threw every setter’s trick at us today!
Fortunately the theme became obvious early on, with heavy hints in many of the clues and several solutions being write-ins – but when it came to parsing them, it was another matter. After a lot of serious head-scratching, we think we’ve sorted them all out.
Nimrod has managed to include all the actors who have played 007 in the official film series, two other characters, two of the film titles and a well-known catchphrase, as well as several references to the theme in the clues – quite an achievement! We’re not sure about the device used to connect the six actors in lieu of a definition or thematic reference, but it is clear that the … at the beginning or end of the thematic clues connect them to others, so we can’t really complain.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Commentator on Test Match knock believed in delivery | |
| BLOFELD | Sounds like or ‘in delivery’ BLOW (knock) FELT (believed) – a reference to Henry Blofeld, the cricket commentator and to James Bond’s arch-enemy | |
| 5 | See 26 | |
| 9 | Get satisfaction over nursing experience | |
| TASTE | Reversed or ‘over’ and hidden in or ‘nursed by’ gET SATisfaction | |
| 10 | See 26 | |
| 11 | See 26 | |
| 12 | Artillery smoke screens present…(see 31) | |
| CRAIG | RA (Artillery) in or ‘screened by’ CIG (smoke) – a reference to Daniel Craig, the most recent incarnation of 007 – hence the connection to 31 | |
| 13 | Spy-holes regularly revealing the girl | |
| SHE | Every third letter (‘regularly’) of Spy-HolEs | |
| 14 | One of Graf’s partners running round court – King’s next outing? | |
| SPECTRE | SPEE (‘one of Graf’s partners’ – Graf Spee was a German pocket battleship scuttled after the battle of the River Plate) ‘running’ round CT (court) R (king) – the solution refers to the title of the next 007 film – the ‘next outing’ | |
| 17 | See 19 | |
| 19/17 | MP’s fully extended secretary | |
| MONEYPENNY | Abbreviations for MONEY (M) PENNY (P) ‘fully extended’ – M’s secretary in the 007 books and films | |
| 21 | Racy? It’s obscenely horny! | |
| SATYRIC | An anagram of RACY IT’S – anagrind is ‘obscenely’ | |
| 25 | OK to pursue agreement from Russia without love letters | |
| DAK | DA (‘yes’ in Russian) followed by |
|
| 26/11/10/5 | It’s not normally amritas that 007 drinks! | |
| VODKA MARTINI SHAKEN NOT STIRRED | This one was so obvious from the surface and the letter count, but it took a long time to parse: it’s an anagram of AMRITAS THAT OOSEVEN DRINK DRINK! The anagrind is ‘it’s not normally’ – an amazing clue that must have made Nimrod smile when he figured it out! | |
| 28 | Some time later crime catches up with the elderly | |
| YEARS ON | ARSON (crime) after or ‘catching up with’ YE (old or ‘elderly’ word for ‘the’) | |
| 30 | Pectoral flexing attracts a “beauty queen” | |
| CLEOPATRA | An anagram of PECTORAL – anagrind is ‘flexing’ + A | |
| 31 | …(see 12) 007, embodied by me…. | |
| MOORE | Another tricky parse: OOR (Rontgen unit – see 7d) in or ‘embodied by’ ME – a reference to Roger Moore, another film incarnation of 007 – hence the reference to 12 | |
| 32 | …at least three relatives… | |
| BROSNAN | BROS (at least two brothers) NAN (grandmother) – i.e. ‘at least three relatives’ – Pierce Brosnan, another 007 actor, indicated by the .… connecting it to the previous clue | |
| 33 | …and central part of stopping-place hogged by Buddhist… | |
| LAZENBY | LA |
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | Early Bonds take place initially without Lee or Dench | |
| BETIMES | TIES (bonds) with BE (take place) in front or ‘initially’ round or ‘without’ M (007’s boss played in various films by Bernard Lee and Judi Dench) | |
| 2 | See spy with cover blown keeping British Queen as captive | |
| OBSERVE | This was our last one in, because we had yet more difficulty with the parsing : it’s OOSEVE |
|
| 3 | With unbridled glee, it seals the demise of Charles Gray? | |
| ELEGIST | An anagram of GLEE IT (anagrind is ‘unbridled’) round S (the last letter or ‘demise’ of Charles) – reference to Thomas Gray, who wrote ‘Elegy written in a Country Churchyard’ in 1751 | |
| 4 | Loathe loveless poem on MI6 with twist in tail | |
| DESPISE | ||
| 5 | First James B overlooks European meeting where death may be lurking | |
| SÉANCE | SEAN C(onnery) – the first James B(ond) in the film series + E (European) | |
| 6 | Topless seductress, a lady from Eastern Europe? | |
| IRENA | ||
| 7 | Without protection, face man – (unknown) 16s man | |
| RONTGEN | ||
| 8 | Information making you a bit upset | |
| DATA | A TAD (a bit) reversed or ‘upset’ | |
| 15 | Has the power to preserve “The Office” | |
| CAN | Triple definition – we hadn’t come across ‘The Office’ as a euphemism for a toilet, but we’ve lead sheltered lives! | |
| 16 | Streamline torpedo? | |
| RAY | A somewhat cryptic double definition – a RAY can be defined as a ‘line’ along which a ‘stream’ of particles is propagated, and a ‘torpedo’ is a fish related to skates and rays | |
| 17 | Q’s predecessor radioed occupant of pod | |
| PEA | Sounds like (‘radioed’) the letter P – ‘Q’s predecessor’ in the alphabet | |
| 18 | Heads turning in some denial | |
| NAY | ANY (some) with the first two letters or ‘heads’ swapped or ‘turning’ | |
| 20 | Love for Goldfinger to struggle over wine | |
| ORVIETO | OR (gold – what Goldfinger loved) TO round or ‘over’ VIE (struggle) | |
| 21 | Under the weather, time for American’s last outing? | |
| SKYFALL | SKY (weather) FALL (‘time for Americans’, better known as autumn!) – a reference to the last 007 film or ‘last outing’ | |
| 22 | A month’s loan for West Ham – Muzzy, is it? | |
| THAMMUZ | Hidden in (’loaned by’?) wesT HAM MUZzy – another slightly iffy wordplay, in our humble opinion, and another new word for us | |
| 23 | Not in the first place original, have broadcast again | |
| RESHOWN | ||
| 24 | …(see 33) actors having nearly all learned lines… | |
| CONNERY | CONNE |
|
| 25 | …chemist’s voice drowning one out in brouhaha | |
| DALTON | ALTO (voice) replacing or ‘drowning out’ I (one) in D |
|
| 27 | Detective banged up inside jails | |
| DUPIN | Hidden, or ‘jailed’ in ‘bangeD UP INside’ – a fictional French detective from the mid-19th century – possibly why we had never heard of him before! | |
| 29 | Strikebreaker means to pay up | |
| SCAB | BACS (Bank Automated Clearing Services – ‘means to pay’ – except occasionally when operated by RBS) reversed or ‘up’ | |
Thanks a bunch B&J and Nimrod. I finished this (with a good deal of satisfaction!) but some of the parsing was way beyond me – notably the amritas etc.
The gateway clue for me was 26/11/10/5 – a write-in from the enumeration although I couldn’t parse it. Loved the misdirection to SW19 in 14ac; that’s got to be my CoD, with 28ac a close second.
Thanks, Nimrod and B&J.
Thanks Nimrod and B&J. I too got this filled in via knowledge of Bond trivia, but I was utterly lost on the parsing of 2d and the content of the long anagram.
I’m still unsure about 20d – to work as a containment I think it would have to say “Love for Goldfinger to over struggle”. My theory is that “to struggle” is TO VIE, and “to struggle over” is VIE TO, using “over” to indicate word reversal rather than letter reversal. I’ve never seen that usage before, though. Does anyone have other ideas?
Hi Cyborg @3
“I’m still unsure about 20d …”
It’s OR (love for Goldfinger) plus VIE (struggle) above (over {it’s a down entry}) TO.
Thanks Gaufrid @4, that makes more sense.
A very helpful theme – I did have to leave it to ‘cogitate’ for a while but the outstanding solutions soon filled themselves in after a break.
Thanks to Nimrod for an entertaining puzzle and to B&J for the explanations.
Well done to B&J for figuring out some of the more obscure parsings. I got the long expression fairly quickly but didn’t bother try and parse it, which is a shame in a way because it was very cleverly put together even if drinks=drink+drink is a little indirect for anagram fodder, IMHO. OBSERVE was also biffed, DAK was entered from the wordplay alone, and THAMMUZ went in once all the checkers were in place and I was satisfied it had to be a hidden. As B&J said, it was quite an achievement to have so many 007-related references in the answers and the clues.
Yes, the theme (which unfolded itaself very quickly) was really helpful to fill the grid.
Actually, this is the first time in a long while that I got everything right in one of Mr H’s crosswords.
However, unfortunately, I could not (fully) parse 9 (nine!) entries – about one quarter of all clues ….
The blog is therefore more than welcome, so thanks for that!
And Nimrod? He’s clever, isn’t he?
Too clever for me, I’m afraid.
Sil, I am with you on this one, although I would rather say too hard than too clever; but for a solver of my ability it amounts to the same thing. I did in fact finish this one eventually, helped by the friendly grid and the theme.
I’ve only ever solved a couple of Nimrod crosswords unaided before, and this one wasn’t unaided. It was a bit of fun, but I just don’t have the time to spend on a daily cryptic that is this difficult (for me). But then other solvers will comment that they like to have some really tough ones during the week. Nimrod, Anax and Donk are your setters of choice, then.
BLOFELD was my favourite today, with its cricketing reference, reminding me that after sending New Zealand home with their tail between their legs, we are going to absolutely trash Australia in The Ashes series. And that’s about as likely as me solving the next five Nimrod puzzles on the trot.
Thanks to S&B.
Wow, well done b&j for this, what a real job deciphering this must have been, I just had to write in letters saying it must be that and one of my colleagues will do the hard work.
Actually it makes you wonder if only the blogger ever works it out is the clue frankly useless? Ok it’s a nice logic exercise for the setter but most of us have real lives too.
Thank you nimrod but I’m glad I only got donk this week.
Not that anyone will care but the “Muzzy, is it?” reference is a reference to Muzzy Izzet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzy_Izzet
Interestingly enough (or not as the case may be) Izzet finished his career at Thurmaston Town which is almost a vowel spoonerism of Thammuz. Ok. I’m leaving.
Thanks Nimrod – all fair and very gettable given the theme. I, for one, really enjoyed it.
second flashling @ 10, super job b&j. thanks
Did much of this on a ferry in the Baltic, but the top left corner held me up. Needed a lot of help to finish and could’t parse several.
Anyone know why the skip in numbering? Yesterday’s was 8952.
Thanks Dormouse@13 – our mistake on the numbering!
But it was 8954 on crossword solver, too. Can’t get a copy of the paper here in Finland to see what the number was there. 🙂
It’s 23:10 here, and the sun is just setting.
That explains why we had the wrong number! We downloaded the puzzle on Crossword solver but the dead-tree version has the correct numbering.
Enjoy Finland!
Apart from the Bond stuff, I’m still chuckling at the simply brilliant Muzzy Izzet homophone
Thanks for a top puzzle and an excellent blog
Rorschach at no 11. ‘Not that anyone will care.’ Exactly. So why include this in a daily cryptic? As people of this parish will know, I like my footie, but a step too far even for me. And yes, I know it’s hidden and staring you in the face, but when it’s not an everyday word and you’ve been roughed up by the rest of the clues …
Question for pundits: If a clue for a long phrase uses a complicated (and maybe sometimes even unfair) construction, making it very difficult to parse, but giving an answer that can be written in quite easily after consideration of the definition and the checked letters, is that clue a satisfactory one? I refrain from answering my own question of course!
I thought the STIRRED might have been used for the indicator, but no. I agree it is hard to get the ‘OO SEVEN’ and ‘DRINKDRINK’ separations.
That’s an interesting question and one that may not have just one obvious answer.
When the solution falls out more or less immediately from, say, the enumeration alone, enough crossing letters or certain words in the clue pointing in the right direction, then I usually think “a bit of a shame, the setter’s gone through so much trouble and what for?”.
Very often I do not make an effort to parse the clue, long anagrams are a clear example – so, yes, ‘unsatisfactory’.
But there are clues and clues.
If the clue has convoluted wordplay and does not look very ‘interesting’, it leaves me rather cold.
If the clue tickles my brain cells because I do not see an immediate connection between clue/surface and solution or because – as in Nimrod’s case – one feels that something’s going on there, it’s a different matter for me.
I will indeed make an effort to crack the clue.
In Nimrod’s puzzle 26/11/10/5 has a very neat theme related surface and, as a result, I found it intriguing enough to find out how it might work (the grid entry was easy enough).
Hence, this clue may fall into the ‘satisfactory’ category.
But, unfortunately, I couldn’t parse that long one.
I looked at the explanation in the blog (Hats off to B&J) and changed my mind. Clever but an anagram with so much indirectness that I wondered whether this was fair?
In any case, I labelled it now ‘unsatisfactory’.
Meanwhile, I can imagine that a setter is enjoying him/herself very much when finding a nice clue to describe a long, even easily gettable solution.
A few years ago I wrote : “Guess what? Blind date a risk, possibly (1,4,4,2,3,4)”.
For many a write-in (and therefore not really ‘satisfactory’) but still enjoyable to me as I was happy with having the definition so well embedded in the surface (that read very well too).
Most solvers cannot be bothered and you write clues for them, don’t you? However, in my opinion, the setter may have some fun too.
So, Quixote, your question has not a clear-cut answer – not for me, that is.
I still think the long clue is good.
Quixote and sil @19&21.
I think it depends what you want from a puzzle. Do you just want to get all the answers, or is there more to it than that? Sometimes you get an obscure word but the parsing is immediately obvious so that the hard work is in finding the obscure word; at other times the answer is a write-in, as 26/11/10/5 was in this case (for me, at any rate) and the puzzle is to work out the parsing. And there are occasionally clues where both the answer and the parsing are extremely difficult to get. In all three instances I suggest that labelling a clue as satisfactory or unsatisfactory must be very subjective.
[Quixote – the Martini clue, if not “the most beautiful clue in the world” – try a 9 of 11, was doubly satisfying]
A very enjoyable crossword (glad I saved for a Saturday solve) and superb blog. (surprised you say the ….s are “in lieu of a definition” – surely the ‘actors’ in 24dn is that?)
Many thanks all.
@Quixote
It’s an interesting one! Ultimately it’s down to the solver, and the only comparison I can make is to The Times. For a non-competition puzzle like this, some solvers will bung in the answer because they know it must be right – and leave it at that – while others will go back and unravel the wordplay.
For Times puzzles (even ignoring Championship ones) the emphasis is weighted heavily towards solving speed, and I’ll bet many excellent, concise clues end up being ignored because the answer has arrived without the need for parsing; solvers are more interested in their solving times as they train for the next Championship. From the setter’s point of view that’s a bit like spending 6 hours in the kitchen preparing a lavish dinner party only for guests to wolf everything down in 5 minutes and nipping off to the pub.
Catch 22: if your clues aren’t ‘excellent and concise’ you won’t be penning a comp puzzle 🙁