Inquisitor 1400: Beat the Clock by Nimrod

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Nimrod‘s bagging #1400 with his 13th Inquisitor – unlucky for some? Hope not.
 
Preamble: Corrections to single-letter misprints in the definition part of each down clue in order hint at Theme A. Each across clue is really two non-overlapping clues for the two answers in a given row of the grid, one letter of one or other answer being ignored in wordplay. Solvers must determine which pair belongs in which row and which of the pair is clued first; in given clue order, the omitted letters hint at Theme B. Both themes feature in advice for obtaining an answer to be located in the completed grid (35 cells in three sets, one set non-continuous) which, when highlighted, will provide a possible – topical – answer. One across answer is two words.

This was tough. First pass: three down clues solved. Then a couple more. After a while, one of the across pairs. S L O W L Y a few more fell into place. STRETCH, as one of the words from the down corrections, became apparent. Not much to go on.

As I plugged away, a feedback loop started to kick in. Acceleration was meagre. But after another couple of evening sessions (the weekend having been wiped out with family matters), I had a completed grid, and two sets of words: NICK, BIRD, PORRIDGE & STRETCH from the down corrections, and BOBBY & FLATFOOT from the across omissions. So, ‘time in prison’ + ‘policemen’, which fitted in with Beat the Clock.

Stared at the grid for ages. Then some more.

Spotted POLICE over on the right (but the wrong P); Inq_1400_R spotted IF YOU ARE on the left (with the wrong OU ARE); Inq_1400_L and spotted TIME in the middle of CENTIMETRES. At some point I put it all together, and saw that the advice was IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE TIME ASK A POLICEMAN. And after shading those cells, we see the emergence of 2pm (14:00 on a 24-hour clock) as the possible – topical – answer. Inq_1400

Thanks Nimrod – several neat touches. But at the end, the feeling was more relief than enjoyment.
 

Across
  Answer Omission/
      row+L/R		 Wordplay
  NOBLESSE B 12 L NO LESS (I kid you not) (se)E(dy)
  KNEE   12 R (s)EEN K(nocking) rev.
  CROCHETS   5 L CROTCHET (whimsy) − T (timeless)
{don’t know where the plural S comes from}
  APIOL O 5 R PAIL (water bearer) with PA<
  YOGIN   4 L YO (here I am) + GIN (spirit)
  RUBLE B 4 R RULE (government)
  BRIERS B 13 R RAIDERS − A − D(uke)
  STRAYED   13 L YE (the, archaic) in STRAD (violin)
  CHARACT   1 R CHAR (do) ACT (do)
  IN SYNC Y 1 L INSTINC(t) − IT<
  DEAF F 3 L DEA(r) (costly)
  VERONICA   3 R V (letter given to sign) + ON (by) in ERICA (heath)
  NITE   2 L homophone: KNIGHT (man)
  ARCANELY L 2 R ARC (bender) + A YEN< (longing)
  IMP   6 R SKIMPY − SKY (blue)
  AT-RISK A 6 L [SKIRT]*
  NETS T 7 L (o)NES (people)
  LAIC   7 R CIA (Feds) L (learner, new motorist) all<
{“Feds” = FBI, not CIA}
  FINE F 11 R IN (home) (car)E
  HITTITES   11 L [TEST IT]* after HI (greeting)
  OPERAS   8 R ERA (long time) SOP (soaking) with letters cycled
  TOT O 8 L TT (teetotal, dry)
  RATEL   10 R (electo)RATE L(acks)
  PASOK O 10 L P AS K (change needed to make PILL into KILL)
  ATHENIAN T 9 R A(yr) + NAIN< (own, Scot) around HE
  SPAIN   9 L A in SPIN (ride)
 
Down
No. Answer Correction
to definition		 Wordplay
1 INDICANTS N signs ACID< (tart) in INN (pub) + T(able) + S(eat)
2 NIEF I fist FEIN(t)< (show falsely)
3 STAY OUT C not come home STAT (it’s true) around YOU (solver)
4 NAUGHT K duck TH(e) GU(t) AN(d) all<
5 HARASSER B one bothering S(unday) SER(mon) after A+RAH< (cheer)
6 ANORAKS I … they may wait … AS (while) around [RAN OK]*
7 ALIBI R claim to court AL(l) (everyone) IBI(d) (in the same place)
8 CYCLOPIC D wide [POLICY]* in CC (small measure)
9 TWAE P a pair of Scottish T(attoos) W(ith) A(ll) E(dinburgh)
10 CENTIMETRES O not long CENTRE (heart) around TIME (occasion)
11 VIE R wager VIEW (see) − W(ife)
12 PILS R beer SLIP< (cricket fielder)
13 LICENSEES I … serve me bitter LICE (parasites) + NS (poles) around SEE (twig)
14 WET PAINT D drying coat on WENT (left) around [A TIP]*
15 ASTI G grapes make it A (1950)S (sui)T + I (one)
16 REPARTEE E some jest RE (about) PEE (urinate, go) around ART (creative skill)
17 WONKILY S amiss OK (sanction) in WILY (cunning) around (pla)N
18 ANILINE T tar product [ALE INN]* around I(ndependent)
19 AETHER R air A ET (extraterrestrial, visitor from …) HER (woman’s)
20 ASTOR E woman who had
a seat in the House		 (p)ASTOR (shepherd)
21 HAS T takes in (whic)H A S(urveyor)
22 PHIS C precursors of chis SHIP (craft) with ends exchanged
23 ONER H hotshot (d)O(w)N (d)E(r)R(y)
hit counter

 

13 comments on “Inquisitor 1400: Beat the Clock by Nimrod”

  1. Tough indeed, but I had time (non-thematic) to kill, so a welcome challenge. I had a different E highlighted to make the p – I doubt it matters.

    My only lingering question was why 2pm was topical – doh!

    Thanks to blogger and setter, as ever.

  2. I had at least six answers I couldn’t parse so thanks HG for sorting these out for me. I agree that the CIA are not Feds and I also thought that Nimrod had miscounted the number of two-word entries in the across clues. AT RISK has always been two words for me although on checking I see Chambers gives the hyphenated version as well. As well as relief, I felt a certain amount of surprise that I was able to stumble on the hidden theme. Perhaps I grew up in an age when you really did ask the time of a policeman.

    The topicality is supplied by the Inquisitor number 1400.

    Thanks to Nimrod and HG

  4. Goodness me, I found this tough going. I didn’t help myself by confidently pencilling in RISERS instead of BRIERS for PIPES to begin with and teasing out the rest of the answers was sometimes like pulling teeth. I just don’t think I am ever on Nimrod’s wavelength. Got there in the end though.

    I also highlighted a different E to make the P.

    Many thanks to setter and blogger.

  5. Thanks to both for the puzzle and blog. Everything solved my end, but since I didn’t actually highlight the words I didn’t spot the 2pm bit. I agree with your Feds comment. It’s true that the first definition of “Fed” in Chambers is “any federal employee” but I reckon that’s a bit too tenuous, especially when the second definition is specifically the FBI, which had me searching for quite a while for a place to fit G-men. Maybe JH will pop in and comment.

  6. Awesome puzzle, but unfortunately beyond my solving capabilities. I spent a week on this on and off. I got the grid half filled and got the down theme, but the lack of crossing letters to help solve the clues was too much for me.

    I find it particularly impressive that Nimrod creates this puzzle using a symmetrical grid containing only a small number of obscure words, only 4 words that I had not come across before.

    I wouldn’t say that I was wearied by this puzzle, just defeated by it. Hugely impressive stuff. Thanks Nimrod.

  8. Yes, tough going indeed but offering just enough for me to persevere and get there after three fairly lengthy solving sessions.

    Just finished a book about the river Meander in Turkey so HITTITES came up trumps for me and spotted RATEL and KNEE early so managed to get just enough down clues to start fitting in the across answers….after which it did get easier.

    Two weeks running with NIEF/NEIF ? Must be an unusual coincidence of sorts ?!

    Many thanks Nimrod and HG.

  9. This was the first Inquisitor I have ever given up on (I may not have solved others correctly – think Trilby) and even with HG’s notes I had trouble understanding some of the clues. I take my hat off to those who did solve it.

    I had RISERS instead of BRIERS like BF @4 for a while – eventually sorted out – but I never got enough bits to help solve other clues.

    Too hard for me!

  10. I highlighted the P exactly as HG does above, which I found comforting … until I saw this morning’s solution !

    Yet another instance of “what can be regarded as correct or not ?” … what would the verdict be, had it been a Listener ?
    Unfortunately there is no IQ recourse, prosecco-wise !

  11. OK – so I highlighted a different E in the “p” from the one in the published solution. I was so relieved to have finished that I didn’t look around for alternatives. And if I had, I’m not sure which way I’d have gone (after probably agonising for hours). I reckon my version looks prettier – at least typographically it has a proper baseline & descender. Anyway, I probably won’t chalk this one up as a ‘fail’.

  12. We complete this puzzle most weeks, but got nowhere on this one: 8 downs and a few acrosses before we gave up. Congratulations to Nimrod for beating us and to HG for cracking it.

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