As expected, we found this an enjoyable Saturday prize puzzle from Nestor, but we still can’t figure out part of the clue for 11across.
We’re not sure about the relevance of the nina, but it did help us to solve 17down – for us, a previously unknown author.
| Across | ||
| 7 | Clip the front of light brown beard (3) | |
| AWN | ||
| 8 | Audio receivers brought in close, once spread without thinking ahead (4-7) | |
| NEAR-SIGHTED | EARS (audio receivers) ‘brought’ in NIGH (close) + TED (‘once’ a word for ‘spread’) | |
| 11 | Oversexed chap has lead, then every third in stray cycling (5) | |
| SATYR | This has us puzzled – it is clearly an anagram of STRAY, the anagrind being ‘cycling’, but we can’t work out the relevance of the middle part of the clue | |
| 12 | Ready to excuse six involved in fakery (9) | |
| FORGIVING | VI (six) in FORGING (fakery) | |
| 13 | Endless Green promises to pay, keeping British in the dark (9) | |
| OBLIVIOUS | OLIV |
|
| 15 | Hide opening from the poor (5) | |
| SKINT | SKIN (hide) + T (first letter or ‘opening’ of ‘The’) | |
| 16 | Perhaps gutsy type in command (7) | |
| ENTERIC | ENTER (type – as in a form, etc) IC (in charge) | |
| 18 | Forward on raft, twisting left (7) | |
| FRONTAL | An anagram of ON RAFT – anagrind is ‘twisting’ + L (left) | |
| 20 | Trigonometry about primarily hypotenuse and circumference (5) | |
| GIRTH | TRIG (trigonometry) reversed or ‘about’ + H (first or ‘primary’ letter of ‘Hypotenuse’) | |
| 22 | Rewritten play is one part embracing ‘South Pacific’ (9) | |
| POLYNESIA | An anagram of PLAY IS ONE – anagrind is ‘rewritten’ | |
| 24 | Obsessive about City stud from unreliable stories? (9) | |
| ANECDOTAL | ANAL (obsessive) around EC (city) DOT (stud) | |
| 26 | Unknown amount in a container tipped over digger (5) | |
| ANZAC | Z (unknown amount) in A and CAN (container) reversed or ‘tipped over’ | |
| 27 | Metric units are wrong? Maybe pint unit serves country (6,5) | |
| SIERRA LEONE | SI (metric units) ERR (are wrong) ALE (‘maybe pint’) ONE (unit) | |
| 28 | Be beholden to some ne’er-do-wells (3) | |
| OWE | Hidden in (‘some’) ne’er-dO-WElls | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Participate in a hold-up for a health proposal? (5,4,5) | |
| RAISE ONES GLASS | Cryptic definition | |
| 2 | Give an office to ruthless leader switching unequal parts (6) | |
| INSTAL | STALIN (ruthless leader) with the last two letters moved to the front, or ‘switching unequal parts’) | |
| 3 | European, gutted over Greek state, who produces incisive letters (8) | |
| ENGRAVER | EN (‘European’ with the middle letters removed or ‘gutted’) GR (Greek) AVER (state) | |
| 4 | The reverse of fine and cool? (4) | |
| NAFF | Cryptic definition – F (fine) and FAN (cool) reversed – the entry being the opposite of ‘fine and cool’ | |
| 5 | Saigon cultivated Southern Hemisphere trees (6) | |
| NGAIOS | An anagram of SAIGON – anagrind is ‘culivated’. Would we ever have heard of these trees if it were not for crosswords? | |
| 6 | Moral expert‘s ancient letter on one sacred Greek box (8) | |
| ETHICIST | ETH (ancient letter) I (one) CIST (Greek box – a new one for us!) | |
| 9 | Worrying results adapted to cover science fiction (9) | |
| STRESSFUL | An anagram of RESULTS (anagrind is ‘adapted’) round or ‘covering’ SF (science fiction) | |
| 10 | Hands-free devices jerk constantly, leaving last two in dumps (7,7) | |
| DIGITAL WATCHES | GIT (jerk) ALWA |
|
| 14 | Westerner’s irrational to replace study that’s opposed to 18 (9) | |
| OCCIPITAL | OCCI |
|
| 17 | Writer‘s impulse to stop mounting release of emotions (8) | |
| TURGENEV | URGE (impulse) in VENT (release of emotions) reversed or ‘mounting’ | |
| 19 | E.g. Iceland’s brand new stuffing bird, the first to be killed? (3,5) | |
| OWN LABEL | N (new) in or ‘stuffing’ OWL (bird) + ABEL (according to the bible, the first person to be killed) | |
| 21 | The boy had time to become a climber (6) | |
| HEDERA | HE’D (the boy had) ERA (time) | |
| 23 | No English in canal site hospital or in French place on Grand Canal (6) | |
| SUZHOU | SU |
|
| 25 | Parking facilities must go on ring road, say (4) | |
| LOOP | P (parking) after or ‘going on’ LOO (facilities) | |
S tr A ys T ra Y st R ay
Thanks Muffyword – so obvious, can’t believe we missed it.
Very hard, but also very satisfying. There were no clues which left you wondering, once you’d seen how they worked. I had to come back to it quite a few times over the weekend and only saw how SATYR worked some time mid-week!
I’d missed the nina, but I suspect it may have something to do with a New Year’s resolution.
I too couldn’t parse 11ac, so thanks for the explanation. Can’t say that I think it’s obvious, even with the explanation. Took me a while to parse 14dn, as well, only getting it when I picked up the paper again this morning to check the answers.
Nina? I take it the top and bottom lines make a phrase in French but as I’ve said before, I failed O-level French in 1968, so there was no chance of me spotting that.
Another one here who couldn’t figure out how 11ac worked.
@4dormouse – if it helps my translation of the nina would be “nothing works any more” – not that it helps me see the relevance of it, unless Nestor originally compiled it around the time the Indy “improved” (i.e. messed up) its website.
Thanks, Nestor and B&J.
Rien ne va plus is roulette croupier speak for ‘no more bets’. American dictionaries seem to thin it’s pronounced ryan nuh va ply, odd.
Thanks, sidey. I’ve obviously led a sheltered existence.
Count me in as another to miss the parsing of 11. Overall quite hard for me too, with a few new words including HEDERA and in my ignorance I didn’t know about SUZHOU. Favourites among plenty of good clues were RAISE ONES GLASS, SIERRA LEONE AND ANECDOTAL. Hope the Nina doesn’t mean that this will be Nestor’s last appearance in the Indy.
Did this on paper last weekend – mostly quite straightforward but a few obscure words and tricky parsings – I’m in the couldn’t parse SATYR and never heard of SUZHOU (or its grand canal) camps.
Thanks to Nestor, Bert & Joyce