A little Nutmeg to grate over the breakfast this morning
Rather trickier than yesterday’s Vigo in the other place, it’s a pangram but otherwise again it seems to be a straight crossword with no obvious theme or Nina, no doubt that’ll be proved wrong shortly.
Across
[EYES PILL]* doctored
SP(ecial) reversed & ALMS (relief). Took a remarkably long time to see the wordplay for some reason
Most of RES(t) around UNION
S&N (those crossword bridge partners staple) & IFFY. A superior attitude
TEMPO (speed) & reduced RIS(k) in EXE (river)
Triple definiton
ONE & CHIN (a facial feature) inside B(ritish) A(irways)
S(econd) & H(usband) inside WARTIER
A few seconds to twig this one. It’s DREAD with the final D=500 doubled=1000=M
[TRAINED A DOG]* going off
RIM in PAL
VI (six, half a dozen) in SKIVES
(b)RACING
STY (enclosure) & T(emperture) dropped from LIS(t)ED
Down
Film shooting that is. Subtraction anagram time, take A(ttourney) G(eneral) out of [SECRET (ag)ENTS]* involved. Nice coherent surface.
(1 & ROTA) reversed and inserted in EQUAL (one’s peer)
SIR in MP (fairly quiet musically) and reversed (elevated)
LONDON & BRIDGE. It’s falling down you know… ok the def’s a bit quirky but clever
last letters of (com)E (dow)N inserted into DESCENT* awkwardly
Homer as in racing pigeon, not Simpson (d’oh) nor Iliad author. L(ine) & OFT
Fiirst letters of S(ource) O(f) Y(east) A(lso)
D.J. can refer to either part
MIT (German for with) reversed & foreign ELITISM*
Without the skins (b)ON(y) (f)IS(h) eaten by HARMED
C(ape) removed from WIT(c)H & DRAWN (haggard)
Well I though the anvil was a relatively cool spot but… hidden answer
Last letter (bottom) removed from SPAR(e) (thin)
Z (mathematics unknown) & INC(h) – scottish island less H(ydrogen)
Lovely puzzle. Couldn’t understand DINNER JACKET – silly me. Lots to like including STYLISED (LOI), SWARTHIER, BONE CHINA, PSALMS, SNIFFY . . . Many thanks to Nutmeg and flashling.
Thank you flashling, fine blog.
Unusually for me with this setter, I fairly romped this. Much to enjoy (all the same as drofle @1 so I won’t repeat).
I, too, raised an eyebrow at ANVIL being described as a ‘hot spot’. The forge, certainly, or even the smithy itself, but my anvil stays pretty cool whatever I bash on it. Not a gripe, just an observation.
Failed to work out the DJ gag so that one got BIFD I’m ashamed to say.
All in all, an enjoyable crozzie, many thanks, Nutmeg.
No luck in being able to access the Indy crossword today so it was off to the Guardian. I enjoyed this one with some good clues eg 19a and words eg SKIVVIES. Couldn’t get the word play of 11 either but I like the idea of a DJ in ‘smart gear’ and PSALMS took a while before the parsing eventually fell into place.
Thank you to Nutmeg and flashling.
I’ve just got the My Fair Lady reference in 4d, after ooh a good ten minutes trying to go through the songs in the Shavian musical. BIFD of course but it’s always good to get there. I was OK with the DJ though.
An enjoyable solve, and maybe I’m starting to get on the setter’s wavelength after having had one or two struggles in the past. The little LOFT my favourite but by no means alone. But alas, missed the pangram … again …
Thanks Nutmeg, very enjoyable solve.
Thanks flashling; I also missed the DJ trick. I loved the My Fair Lady misleading reference. The word for ‘drooping eyelids,’ which I had forgotten is ptosis. Many great clues – BONE CHINA, DREAM, LONDON BRIDGE, LOFT & HARMONISED among my favourites.
May I suggest that the completed grid is pasted below the clue solutions? If one inadvertently opens the blog the entire solution can be seen immediately.
@Robi Done 🙂
Thanks Nutmeg and flashling.
Most enjoyable puzzle, although I did post-parse a few answers. LONDON BRIDGE fooled me for a while.
I think the ANVIL is a ‘Hotspot’ since it should be as close to the forge as possible, usually only one step, so as to prevent heat loss in the piece being worked – and surely it must heat up.
Thanks both. I enjoyed this – a very fair crossword with no esoteric answers. Didn’t see the pigeon reference in 7d so thanks for that
flashling @6, thanks!
Feeling slow today. Can someone more fully explain the London Bridge / My Fair Lady connection please?
@Gasman Jack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_Is_Falling_Down
Gasman jack – there is a children’s nursery rhyme which is called “London bridge is falling down”. Each verse ends with the refrain “My Fair Lady”. You can probably find it on YouTube if you’re not familiar with the tune.
Another beautifully crafted puzzle from the always impressive Nutmeg. Last in was DREAM, liked that, EXTEMPORISE, DEGRADATION, SCREEN TEST and SENTENCED. I did see the pangram, but can’t say that it helped solve anything.
Thanks to Nutmeg and flashling
A nice fair puzzle, I failed to complete the bottom left hand corner, despite spotting the pangram and knowing there had to be a Z in there somewhere. Homer for pigeon made me smile thank you flashing for the explanation, did spend a few seconds trying to work an anagram of P(lace) and DOH to given an answer connected to poetry before getting LOFT through the wordplay. Thanks also to Nutmeg.
Apologies to Flashling for the typo that implies something else (though I know I am not the first).
Thanks to flashling @ 11 and Shirley @ 12.
Thanks Nutmeg and flashling
Rapid though enjoyable filling in of the answers – I’m not saying completion as I missed the parsings of PSALMS and DREAM, the latter being particularly clever. Apart from that, SCREEN TEST was my favourite.
..oh, and I also missed the MIT in TIME LIMITS.
Thanks to Nutmeg and flashling. I missed the triple definition of THROW and had trouble parsing DJ-DINNER JACKET but (unusually for me) did catch DREA[D]M and the mit” in TIME LIMITS. Very enjoyable.
I assumed this was a anagram although I didn’t check -once you’ve got a Z and a J, it’s quite likely. I didn’t like the last Nutmeg we had but I thought this rather enjoyable. I found that I did fair amount of post parsing and I completely missed the pigeon reference in LOFT which was really annoying. LONDON BRIDGE and DINNER JACKET were fabulous.
Thanks Nutmeg.
Should have been PANGRAM of course. Sorry!
Re 7d – I had come across Homer as a pigeon long before I had heard of the poet, and long before Homer Simpson was thought of. THe pigeons in Arthur Ransome’s Pigeon Post were called, Homer, Sappho and Sophocles! They lived in a LOFT, which Dick had managed to make ring automatically when a pigeon returned.
@andyk000 I’ve been called worse 🙂 yesterday flashlight in the Indy blog was a new one though.
Thre was a while at the start when I thought I’d never get started on this, but once the rirst few clues fell it was an enjoyable, though challenging, solve. I missed the pangram, perhaps because most of the ‘awkward’ letters (J, Q, X) went in quite late. ZINC and SKIVVIES should have made me consider the possibility, though.
I also missed the pigeon reference – we are in the middle of planning a houe renovation, so too much time looking at related sites means LOFT now equals “conversion” to me (even though we aren’t doing that). I assumed “place for Homer” just meant part of a home, which would have been much clunkier than the real explanation. muffin’s reference @22 to Ransome and “Pigeon Post” made me smile nostalgically. I’d forgotten the pigeons’ names.
Favourites include THROW (for the economical surface), DREAM, SKIVVIES, SCREEN TEST and EQUATORIAL.
Thanks to Nutmeg and flashling.
21d. The setter has obviously never been in an engineering workshop where an anvil is used a lot (rivetting for example) but it is nothing to do with a furnace.
One thing I thought of but didn’t put in the blog was anvil is a part of the ear. Couldn’t make the leap to a hot spot though. Perhaps that will stirrup something and hammer this clue better. 🙂
My favourite Nutmeg to date. All fairly clued and a reasonable challenge.
I enjoyed this.
Thanks to flashling and Nutmeg
P.S. I still can’t believe people look for pangrams. How much time must they waste looking for those that don’t exist compared to how little time they save when they find them. (I’m sure a psychologist could explain this behaviour 😉 )
I salute Nutmeg’s skill in putting this puzzle together. It was a challenge, some clever clueing is there to be appreciated, and I don’t recall anything unfair. I still don’t get hotspot = ANVIL, though.
Annoyingly, I never seem to spot a pangram or a Nina! After completing about 500 Guardian puzzles in all (just a guess), I remember spotting a Nina some time ago but not yet a pangram. I must have a blind spot or two, I suppose. Perhaps the day I discover a pangram for myself will be the day that I see some point or purpose to the output of Garry Trudeau or Steve Bell.
Let me just say that the pangram gave me something else to admire about the crafting of this puzzle. Thanks to Nutmeg and flashling.
Alan Browne
One last word on ANVIL.
I had no problem with it. An anvil is found in a smithy or forge. It has to be near the source of extreme heat of the furnace/forge as the smith works has to heat the metal he is working and keep it hot during the process. Therefore it’s close to heat ina a “hotspot”. Where’s the problem?
Last word on a pangram. Where’s the skill in constructing a pangram? It’s only a little more difficult than filling the grid with ordinary “random” words. Just make sure that you get all the letters in early so that the later “fillers” aren’t restricted to containing the lesser ocurring letters! (There’s actually “no point” to a pangram IMHO as is also the case with Garry Trudeau or Steve Bell 😉
Thanks Brendan (29). An anvil is in a hotspot, yes, but it is not a hotspot. That was my only problem. It was an easy clue to solve, but the definition bit didn’t cut it for me. It’s hardly a gripe, but I thought it worth bringing up.
As for the pangram, I might have gone a bit over the top in my appreciation of it. I’ve composed a couple myself and remember finding it more difficult to get not just the words I wanted but the letters as well into the grid.
Alan Browne
New at this: what are a pangram, a nina, and BIFD? Is there a lexicon for such references? Am I too late?
Alphalpha @31
A pangram is a crossword whose solution contains every letter of the alphabet. They’re not all that uncommon; there is some difference of opinion here about whether they are worth looking for. Occasionally a double pangram will be set (every letter at least twice), and I have heard of a triple.
BIFD is an acronym for “bunged in from definition” – i.e. without understanding the word play. I have promised not to use it again!
A nina is a hidden message – this is explained in the FAQ section here (about half way down):
http://www.fifteensquared.net/faq/
Thanks for that kindness Muffin @30. Wasn’t going anywhere fast with guesswork.
Thanks flashling for the blog and Nutmeg for the challenge.
I needed your help to parse 19 which is actually very clever.
I was less convinced about a number of others including PSALMS, DINNER JACKET and SPAR which all felt a bit lame. And though I liked 1dn, is AG really a common abbreviation for Attorney General?
Could of course just be me being grumpy half way through a tough week.
Thanks Nutmeg and flashling
Actually did this last week (started in the train ride into work and finished over lunch), but only checked it off now. Found it a pleasure to do with some really clever clues – in particular, DREAM and LOFT.
The last few in were SWARTHIER, DINNER JACKET and STYLISED. For once was able to parse all the answers and didn’t think to look for the pangram. Did look for a nina – but to no avail.
Good stuff !