Kairos’s monthly appearance today – always good fun.
We got our money’s worth today. You don’t often see 36 clues in a daily broadsheet puzzle. Often, an increased number of clues indicates a Nina and this was the case today although it took me a while to spot it. It was only saying the first two acrosses to myself that I got an inkling.
If you put a number of words in the puzzle together, and allow a bit of artistic licence, you can find homonyms of words or phrases in the song Chatanooga Choo Choo. I have found links to each of the words / phrases shown in blue in the lyrics below:
Pardon me, boy
Is that the Chattanooga choo choo?
Track twenty-nine
Boy, you can gimme a shine
I can afford
To board a Chattanooga choo choo
I’ve got my fare
And just a trifle to spare
You leave the Pennsylvania Station ’bout a quarter to four
Read a magazine and then you’re in Baltimore
Dinner in the diner
Nothing could be finer
Than to have your ham an’ eggs in Carolina
When you hear the whistle blowin’ eight to the bar
Then you know that Tennessee is not very far
Shovel all the coal in
Gotta keep it rollin’
Woo, woo, Chattanooga there you are
There’s gonna be
A certain party at the station
Satin and lace
I used to call "funny face"
She’s gonna cry
Until I tell her that I’ll never roam
So Chattanooga choo choo
Won’t you choo-choo me home?
Chattanooga choo choo
Won’t you choo-choo me home?
CHATTER NOUGAT SHOE CHEW (1, 5 across and 12, 17 down)
PENCIL VANYA (31 across, 27 down)
HAMMOND EGGS (21, 28 down)
CAROL LINER (1, 14 down)
TENOR SEIZE (12, 23 down)
I told you there was a bit of artistic licence in some of them! I may have missed one although I have looked fairly hard for a homonym of Baltimore.
To turn to the clues, there were plenty that I liked, particularly for the surface. This category included the group of canons at 1 across, the Poet Laureate touring at 31 across, the ship and the old transport company at 14 down and the lead amateur landing a part in a Chekhov play (27 down).
There was a good range of clue constructions and most of the entries were well known or easily deducible.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Group of canons taking time for quiet gossip (7)
|
CHAPTER (an assembly of the canons of a cathedral or collegiate church) inserting (taking) T (time) as a replacement for (for) P (piano; quiet) CHATTER |
CHATTER (gossip)
|
|
5
|
Baker’s product unwrapped and put in natural sweet (6)
|
(DOUGH [baker’s product] excluding the first and last letters [unwrapped] D and H) contained in (put in) NAT (natural) N (OUG) AT |
NOUGAT (a hard, chewy confection made of a sweet paste filled with chopped almonds, pistachio nuts, cherries, etc; sweet)
|
|
8
|
Arab bigot imprisons spiritual leader (5)
|
RABBI (hidden word in [imprisons] ARAB BIGOT)
|
RABBI (spiritual leader)
|
|
9
|
Sketch small animal returning with little relative (8)
|
S + (PONY [animal] reversed [returning]) + SIS (shortened form of [little] sister [relative]) S NOPY< SIS |
SYNOPSIS (outline; sketch)
|
|
10
|
Settled upon Greek character’s fruit (6)
|
LIT (settled upon) + CHI (character of the Greek alphabet)
|
LITCHI (Chinese fruit)
|
|
11
|
Stab leading writer (8)
|
ESSAY (tentative effort; stab) + IST (first; leading)
|
ESSAYIST (writer)
|
|
14
|
I may leave broken urinal for use on the moon (5)
|
Anagram of (broken) URINAL excluding (may leave) I LUNAR* |
LUNAR ([use] on the moon)
|
|
16
|
Journalist attending hard working technical event (9)
|
HACK (journalist) + AT (attending) + H (hard, describing pencil lead) + ON (working)
|
HACKATHON meeting where people work together on computer programming tasks; technical event)
|
|
19
|
Nine popes arranged to see Far Eastern people (9)
|
Anagram of (arranged) NINE POPES NIPPONESE* |
NIPPONESE (descriptive of Japanese people; Far Eastern people)
|
|
21
|
Manic games in hospital yard regularly overlooked (5)
|
PE (physical education; games) contained in (in) (H [hospital] + YR (letters remaining in YARD after the letters at 2 and 4 [regularly] A and D are excluded [overlooked]) H Y (PE) R |
HYPER (displaying intensive or artificially induced excitement about or enthusiasm for something; manic)
|
|
22
|
Left and came back to football club? (8)
|
RE SIGNED (signed again, possibly describing a footballer SIGNing a contract on return to a previous football club)
|
RESIGNED (gave up the job; left)
|
|
25
|
Briefly get better form of drama (6) |
IMPROVE (getting better) excluding the final letter (briefly)
|
IMPROV (improvisation; a form of theatre [drama] presentation)
|
|
29
|
Group captures bird leaving South Canadian city (8)
|
WING (group of several squadrons in the Royal Air Force) containing (captures) (SNIPE [any of several wading birds] excluding [leaving] S [South]) WIN (NIPE) G |
WINNIPEG (Canadian city)
|
|
30
|
Many a time moderate leader is missing (5)
|
SOFTEN (moderate) excluding (is missing) the first letter (leader) S
|
OFTEN (many a time)
|
|
31
|
Poet Laureate tours Eastern state with Independent writer (6) |
PL (Poet Laureate) containing (E [Eastern] + NC [North Carolina {American State}] + I [independent]) P (E NC I) L |
PENCIL (writing implement; writer)
|
|
32
|
Assistants back installing 51 church seats (7)
|
AIDES (assistants) reversed (back) containing (installing) LI (51 in Roman numerals) SEDI (LI) A< |
SEDILIA (seats for the officiating clergy)
|
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Post office leaves fleet of vehicles for Noel (5)
|
CAR POOL (fleet of vehicles) excluding (leaves) PO (Post Office)
|
CAROL (Christmas [Noel] song or hymn)
|
|
2
|
Bishop involved in a program to search for friar (5)
|
A + (B [bishop] contained in BOT [computer program designed to perform routine tasks, such as searching the Internet]) A B (B) OT |
ABBOT (person in charge of an abbey of monks; friar)
|
|
3
|
Tribute about husband beginning to rest on the far side (7)
|
(TITHE [levy or fee of one-tenth; tribute is similarly defined as a percentage of ore or its value received {or paid to the owners} by a miner] containing [about] H [husband]) + R (first letter of [beginning to] REST) T (H) ITHE R |
THITHER (on the far side)
|
|
4
|
Possibility of two knights making a comeback (4)
|
(K [knight] + SIR [form of address for a Knight of the Realm]) all reversed (making a comeback) (RIS K)< |
RISK (possibility) |
|
5
|
Not a single person’s beginning to sing in services (5)
|
NONE (not a single person) + S (first letter of [beginning to] SING)
|
NONES (church services originally held at the ninth hour, or three o’clock, afterwards earlier)
|
|
6
|
Excited father embraces sailor docked in Swedish city (7)
|
UP (excited) + (PA [father] containing [embraces] [SALT {sailor} excluding the final letter {docked} T]) UP P (SAL) A |
UPPSALA (fourth largest city in Sweden)
|
|
7
|
Broken bail, one excuse for not being there (5)
|
Anagram of (broken) BAIL + I (one) ALIB* I |
ALIBI (the plea in a criminal charge of having been elsewhere at the relevant time; excuse for not being there)
|
|
12
|
General course for singer (5)
|
TENOR (general course)
|
TENOR (singer) double definition
|
|
13
|
What a farrier may do to get away we hear (4)
|
SHOE (sounds like [we hear] SHOO [go away!])
|
SHOE (one activity of a farrier is to SHOE horses)
|
|
14
|
Ship – one acquired by old transport company (5)
|
I (one) contained in (acquired by) LNER (formerly London and North Eastern Railway; old transport company) L (I) NER |
LINER (ship)
|
|
15
|
Sleep with American in New Providence (3)
|
A (American) contained in NP (New Providence [Bahamas]) N (A) P |
NAP (sleep)
|
|
17
|
Gnaw on cold chop (4)
|
C (cold) + HEW (chop)
|
CHEW (gnaw on)
|
|
18
|
Trendy music – not half (3)
|
HIP-HOP (a form of rap music) excluding (not) HOP (half of the word)
|
HIP (trendy)
|
|
20
|
Only child fed with milled grain grown without chemicals? (7) |
OC (only child) containing (fed with) (an anagram of [milled] GRAIN) O (RGANI*) C |
ORGANIC (grown without chemicals)
|
|
21
|
Foreign secretary‘s qualification about bullets (7)
|
HND (Higher National Diploma; qualification) containing (about) AMMO (ammunition; bullets) H (AMMO) ND |
HAMMOND (reference Philip HAMMOND, British Foreign Secretary when the puzzle was published)
|
|
23
|
Arrest group of seven overheard (5)
|
SEIZE (sounds like [overheard] SEAS (reference the seven SEAS])
|
SEIZE (arrest)
|
|
24
|
Throw out old short coat (5)
|
EX (former; old) + PELT (coat) excluding the final letter (short) T
|
EXPEL (throw out)
|
|
26
|
Artist’s allowed to rear honey badger (5)
|
RA (Royal Academician; artist) + (LET [allowed to] reversed [rear; down clue]) RA TEL< |
RATEL (honey badger)
|
|
27
|
Lead amateur lands unknown part in Chekhov play (5)
|
(VAN [vanguard; forefront; lead] + A [amateur]) containing (lands) Y (a letter frequently used to represent an unknown value in mathematics) VAN (Y) A |
VANYA (reference the Chekhov play, Uncle VANYA)
|
|
28
|
Encourages personalities to welcome good for nothing (4)
|
EGOS (personalities) with G replacing (welcoming ,,, for) O (nothing) EGGS |
EGGS (encourages)
|
Like you say Duncan, really enjoyable – and (natch) I never saw the nina. My significant other is an ace nona-spotter and even she couldn’t see it (after I had assured her there really was one).
However did you spot it in the first place?
I feel humbled. 🙂
Nice puzzle with some older-style clues, I think. I had the ‘pel’ in 24d as short for ‘pelisse’, but that worked too. Thanks to both, and especially for the elucidation of such a grand nina!
Another nina missed – but what does it matter with so good a puzzle? I needed the blog, though, to understand some of the parsings, for example WINNIPEG which was a write-in once I had the G. CHATTER was my CoD.
Thanks, Kairos and Duncan
I was going to come on the blog to say that I thought eimi must have mixed up the (easy) Monday puzzle and the (themed) Tuesday puzzle. This would have been ideal for yesterday and yesterday’s Animal Farm theme would have been ideal for today.
So well done to Kairos for fitting this stuff in while retaining an easy feel to it; and well done especially to Duncan for spotting it. Never in a million years would I have seen that. And I suspect that most of the good folk that solve the Indy regularly but haven’t discovered/don’t contribute to 225 won’t have either. Doesn’t matter. Good puzzle – end of.
Can I claim a sub-nina of ecclesiastical references? ABBOT, NONES, CHAPTER, RABBI, SEDILIA, POPES? No, thought not.
Thanks to the setter for the wonderful idea and grid fill, and gobsmacked congratulations to Duncan for finding it! An enjoyable solve, and an even better nina.
Oh, and further to my previous comment, thank you to the setter for having given me an earworm for Chattanooga Choo Choo all afternoon. Much appreciated.
Top spot, Duncan. Absolutely brilliant!
My thanks to Duncan for the kind review and congratulations on spotting the Nina.
I tried to get more dreadful puns in but there comes a point at which the grid then requires too many obscure words to make it worthwhile.