Independent 9464 (Sat 11-Feb 2017) Nestor

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This was a puzzle where the “All Reversed” method was used in the wordplay many more times than usual.
Not that I noticed till writing the blog.
I’m certainly happy to see Nestor’s name on a Saturday puzzle – especially when it’s my turn to blog.

Because I was blogging the puzzle, I gave it due care and consideration when solving, making notes as I went.  So I took more time than usual.  Considering each clue’s wordplay even after being sure of the answer, and going back to previously unsolved clues when a new crossing letter appeared.
I often cite “number of clues remaining unsolved after the first pass” – first pass ending just after the last previously unread clue is attempted – as a measure of difficulty.  I think I will have to find another metric for level of difficulty because the combination of heavily interlocking grid, and ponderous solve, mean it is possible to get a lot of the grid filled on a “first pass” if that first pass is the best part of an hour.

There were only 8 answers unsolved after the first pass – pretty much all on the right hand side.  It turned out some of the answers entered were wrong.
I will admit that I initially wrote in Photosynthesis instead of Photosynthetic, and (conversely) Claustrophobic instead of Claustrophobia, but it was only the former that remained uncorrected for too long – and gave me grief solving 8 down.  Anyway, nice to see some long words appearing on the outside edge that deliver loads of juicy first letters.

Across
1 PHOTOSYNTHETIC Refer to height, spinning, after typhoon’s somehow fed by solar energy (14)
(TYPHOONS)* AInd: somehow, gives us PHOTOSYN, after that we get THETIC from CITE (refer) H[eigh]T all reversed (spinning)
10 LARVA Immature form of grandparents holding first of relatives back (5)
R[elatives] inside AVAL (of grandparents) reversed (back).  I wrote in the answer from the definition readily enough but did not understand the wordplay till I looked up AVAL (Link: Collins dict). That’s a new word for me.
11 UNMANLIKE Madame’s one to hug baker in the morning, coming over stereotypically soft? (9)
UNE (Madame’s one – French feminine “one”) around (to hug) { KILN (baker) and AM (in the morning) } reversed (coming over)
Last One In, and no wonder with that strange word and convoluted clue.
12 UNDRESSING Getting out of gear, start in neutral amid foul rude signs (10)
N[eutral] inside (RUDE SIGNS)* AInd: foul
13 STUN Turn senseless? (4)
Cryptic Def. (-ish)  Is there some allusion to NUTS going on here that I don’t see?
15 TOMATO Love apple turnover from Yotam Ottolenghi? (6)
Hidden Reversed in yOTAM OTtolenghi.  The celebrity chef noted for his weird ingredients.  (Aside: I think he’s only boasting)
17 LET IT RIP Don’t hold back centre half from Yuletide outing (3,2,3)
[yu]LETI[de] (centre half from Yuletide – lovely) TRIP (outing)
19 ON TARGET Shot not great but likely to hit the mark (2,6)
(NOT GREAT)* AInd: shot
20 SHARON Israel’s plain lack of cheering words must be rebuffed (6)
NO RAHS All rev.  Another one I had to check – I knew the Sharon Fruit was the modern name for Persimmon, and that most bought in our supermarkets have a label that says “Product of Israel”, but I was not aware that it was named after the Sharon Plain (Wiki).
22 HOOF Hard ring made from keratinous growth (4)
H[ard] O (ring) OF (made from)
23 NATURAL GAS US astronomer admitting big city traffic damage rejected fossil fuel (7,3)
[Carl] SAGAN (US astronomer) around LA (big city) RUT (traffic damage) all reversed.
26 BRICK KILN Browser’s initial strain breaking link in site for baking course materials? (5-4)
B[rowser], RICK (strain), LINK* AInd: breaking.  Bricks are laid in courses, so this was another where I spotted the answer from the definition and crossing letters before parsing all the clue
27 LYRIC Some seriously rich singer’s text (5)
Hidden in seriousLY RICh
28 AUTOSUGGESTION Car trace changing one’s own mind? (14)
AUTO (car) SUGGESTION (trace).
Down
2 HEROD Saviour died? That was his plan (5)
HERO (Saviour), D[ied]. Near(?) &Lit
3 TRAJECTORY Le Pen’s first person aboard rural vehicle on unknown path (10)
JE (Le Pen’s first person) inside TRACTOR (rural vehicle) on Y (unknown).  Another clue where French required.
4 SQUASH Fruit crush (6)
Double Def.
5 NOMINEES Noticed the Speaker’s against put-up longlist, say (8)
SEEN I’M ON (noticed the speaker’s against) all reversed (put-up)
6 HONK Traffic noise of Asian city not including cracked gong? (4)
HONG KONG remove letters for GONG, in order but slightly “cracked”
7 TWITTERER It could be a lark, a laugh, entertaining with Queen (9)
W[ith] inside (being entertained by)  TITTER (a laugh), then ER (queen)
8 CLEAN UP ONES ACT Go straight to win big, aces not high (5,2,4,3)
CLEAN UP (win big) (ACES NOT)* AInd: high.  Not easy to get when you think it starts with an S
9 CLAUSTROPHOBIA Maybe Winkleman has tantrum over stove-top for daughter preferring open ranges? (14)
REF: CLAUDIA (Winkleman – Film critic, amongst other roles),  with D[aughter] replaced by STROP (tantrum) and HOB (stove top).
It didn’t stop me getting this early on, but I had some disquiet here:  Surely the answer is a noun whereas the clue definition is a verbal phrase? (But my knowledge of grammar is not good)
14 HIGHTAIL IT Battle and lose, losing the same lead in strike, and flee (8,2)
[f]IGHT (battle) [f]AIL (lose) both losing the same leading letter, all inside HIT (strike).  Enjoyable wordplay
16 METHODIST Evangelical satisfied with heat enveloping Hades (9)
MET (satisfied) HOT (heat) around DIS (Hades).  I may have been lucky, but the methodists I’ve known have not been particularly evangelical.
18 DECAYING Fading out, the reverse of excellent inside? (8)
ACE< (excellent, reversed) inside DYING (fading out) Semi &Lit (?) because we have to use the definition for part of the wordplay
21 QUINCE 15 of Seville fruit used for marmalade (6)
Double Definition. 15 is Tomato.  I had no problem believing a Quince might also be known as a “Tomato of Seville” but have drawn a blank when trying to check this.  (They certainly do well in marmalade.)
24 GARBO Star avoiding publicity, having nothing to be boastful about (5)
O BRAG All reversed “I vant to be alone”
25 SKIS Lives south of Saskatchewan and travels in the cold? (4)
IS (lives) under (south of) SK (Saskatchewan)

9 comments on “Independent 9464 (Sat 11-Feb 2017) Nestor”

  1. Very enjoyable puzzle from Nestor; it took me ages to unpick UNMANLIKE – kiln again. Is there some bake/off thing going on here? Isn’t Claudia Winkleman involved in that now?(I don’t watch it)
    15 in Spanish is QUINCE
    Thanks to S&B

  2. I too was in the photosynthesis/claustrophobic club for quite a while – but once I’d sorted out that small problem, I got on really well with the rest of it.

    Very enjoyable indeed, thank you Nestor and beermagnet too

  3. QUINCE was a beauty. I happened to know (sad foodie that I am) that ‘marmalade’ comes from ‘marmelo’, Portuguese for the quince from which marmalade was indeed originally made. A little knowledge can turn out to be a dangerous irrelevance in crosswords.

  4. Sure Grant, but in poetry it is a little learning that is dangerous (sad pedant that I am).

    Tremendous puzzle. And thanks beermagnet.

  5. I gave up with half a dozen clues left. Some unusual words in the grid. At least I was clear on photosynthetic and claustrophobia. I liked autosuggestion and honk

    Many thanks Nestor and thank you beermagnet for the illumination

    Stun is an &lit – the whole clue is wordplay and the whole clue is def – so yes, nuts is key

  6. Engaging puzzle which defeated me by two in the NE (11a & 5d). I also fell into the claustrophobi[c/a] category, but saw the error of my ways after a while. Defo a lot of baking, cooking and food in here, talking of which, my COD was 15d for the nice surface. Many thanks to Nestor for the nice puzzle and to our ale-attracting blogger for the enlightenment.

  8. I found this very hard. Of the long ones, I didn’t get 1a for ages, though should have seen it earlier, had never heard of Claudia Winkleman and was also delayed by 28a. Some other tricky ones including 11a – as you say an unusual word and ‘convoluted’ – and 5d. Fell hook, line and sinker with ‘orange’ initially for 21d which delayed 23a, another tough one. STUN was a terrific clue.

    Thanks to Nestor and beermagnet.

  9. Thanks for the comments, everyone. (I’ve only just noticed that the blog was published a week ago.)
    There was a minor Nina: all the six-letter entries are fruits.

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