Independent crossword 9787 by Nimrod

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As the frost makes a welcome return a warming crossword from Nimrod?

Maybe for warming read warning!

Nimrod’s puzzles are always extreme and this one was no exception. A very fine balancing line between clueing ingenuity and solver fairness. Some of my selected samples below:

  • 3dn in my opinion transgressed – how many people really know where Clerkenwell is – let alone its postcode
  • 17ac in my opinion excelled – a kick yourself when you see the answer moment
  • 14dn was the first triple hidden answer I can recall
  • 1dn is a compound complex anagram whose direction also includes the definition
  • 7dn indicated the surname of the character with only her to indicate you needed the first name

Whilst maybe sounding over critical – I did enjoy this puzzle especially working out of the parsing. A certain Derrick Somerset Macnutt may have had a few issues though with his three Ximenean clue elements.

  1. a precise definition
  2. a fair subsidiary indication
  3. nothing else

I’m all for progress – at least once or twice in a while anyway. To be honest the only answer (without parsing) I needed to look up was the clam at 18ac which was precisely clued – so by my reckoning fun and fair.

Thanks Nimrod

Key:

Rev. Reverse; * Anagram; DD Double definition; underline – definition

Across

1 BBC boss is fool to seize Ecstasy found in Blowers’ trunks (6,9)

DG (BBC Boss) + is + mug (fool) around e (ecstasy) in Buglers (Blowers) = BUDGIE SMUGGLERS

9 Unsweetened French coffee revolutionising tea? We hear it’s true (5,4)

Brut (unsweetened) + Rev, café (French coffee) + t (tea we hear) = BRUTE FACT

10 Wanting initially to be green (5)

To – t (wanting initially) + live (be) = OLIVE

11 One floating top new play parts (4,3)

Lid (top) around (play)* = LILY PAD

12 With no strategy in place, plane trees rot (7)

plane – plan (strategy) + yew + ash (trees) = EYEWASH

13 When tile falls off for no good reason? (2,3,4,2,1,3)

A tile is slang for a hat = AT THE DROP OF A HAT

17 What you must have to fully comprehen viewe backgroun? (5,10)

The d’s are missing from the ends of 3 words – d can represent depth which then becomes a straight definition = DEPTH PERCEPTION (to fully understand the clue)

18 Clam: water shifts one into hold (7)

Aqua (water) + hug (hold) around a (removed from aqua) = QUAHAUG

21 Unfortunate case in which tip for memorising assists (7)

(case in)* around m (tip for memorising) = AMNESIC

23 Going in the appropriate direction, Joe’s joined the rowing crew (5)

Rev. (Gi (Joe) in the) – reversal indicated by direction of rowing =  EIGHT

24 I’m the champion Frenchman who directed retrospective parody (9)

I’m + Rev. (No 1 the champion) + (Tati) (Frenchman who directed) = IMITATION

25 Fox won’t go on ark with fly, I will (4,1,5,2,3)

(won’t go on ark with)* =  KNOW A THING OR TWO

Down

1 Not e.g. a fry-up of baked beans with beluga? Queen tucks in (6,3,6)

(beluga baked beans – ega (Not e.g. a) + q(queen)  = BUBBLE AND SQUEAK – which is not a fry-up of baked beans and beluga

2 During refurb, Black Lion invests ton for highly-sought-after bed (6,3)

B(black) + Leo (lion) around t (ton) in Do-up (refurb) = DOUBLE TOP (think darts)

3 Completely freeze, giving address in Clerkenwell? (3,2)

Clerkenwell is in EC1 and if this is reversed = ICE UP

4 Flag of St George? It’s what we’re taught (8,7)

Standard (Flag) of St George? (English) = STANDARD ENGLISH

5 Shocking cuts raise digit by a point, roughly as predicted (2,2,11)

ECT (shocking) in up (raise) + toe(digit) + x (by) + (a point)* = UP TO EXPECTATION

6 Saw a little chap fishing in the garden (5)

DD saw is a saying as is gnome = GNOME

7 Work a bit at her enunciation? (5)

Homonym of Do little (work a bit) i.e. Doolittle as in ELIZA

8 Perhaps circumflex C, then ec + o: investigate possible solutions (3,4,3,3,2)

C w (with) hat on (circumflex C) + ec + and (+) + o = SEE WHAT ONE CAN DO

14 Character appearing in fringe theatre thrice? Thrice (3)

Hidden x 3 = ETH

15 Fine theatre job, exquisite (3)

F (fine) + op *(job) = FOP

16 Deerstalker perhaps worn by tiddly Irish rector – is he sorry to have put it on? (4,5)

Hat (Deerstalker perhaps) around (Irish)* + r (rector) = HAIR SHIRT

19 Greek consumed by past grief (5)

Gr (greek) in ago (past) = AGGRO

20 Hollow spaces in European trains (5)

Hidden EuropeAN TRAins = ANTRA

22 Nervously go in a wood (5)

(go in a)* = NGAIO (as in tree)

22 comments on “Independent crossword 9787 by Nimrod”

  1. Challenging but not impossible and I found this more accessible than some other Nimrods. I’m probably too uncritical but I didn’t find anything which was clearly unfair and I even liked the original clueing of 7d.

    As expected, missed the parsing of a few, including the ‘circumflex’ (v. good) in 8d and I’m still not sure about 25a. Is ‘Fox’ or ‘fly’ the def. with the other as the anagram indicator, and in either case what is ‘I will’ doing?

    Sorry to be picky, but a v. minor correction in 1d. It should be ‘beluga baked beans – ega (Not ‘e.g. a’) + q…’, not just ‘…beans – eg (Not eg) + q…’.

    The triple hidden ETH was great (I felt far from glum after getting that one) as was DEPTH PERCEPTION but the best for me was BUDGIE SMUGGLERS, a word I was surprised to hear had spread beyond these Antipodean shores. I was even more surprised to see “it’s in Chambers”, so am reassured it can now be used in polite society.

    Also quite chuffed to have parsed/guessed the ‘Clam’ at 18a.

    Thanks to twencelas and Nimrod.

  2. I think Bunthorne would have approved of this. Disagree about Clerkenwell.It is a UK puzzle and with the def its obvious anyway.

    I failed to see ELIZA so thanks for parse (one of my check button uses). DEPTH PERCEPTION took a while.ETH was excellent but tea trayish .Doh My bad,The two 1s were a case of seeing the answer and then parsing-great fun.

     

    Thanks Nimrod and twencelas

     

  3. I finally finished a Nimrod without aids. Followers of Family Guy will be familiar with ‘quahog’ for clam so it wasn’t a stretch to guess the alternative spelling at 18a. Didn’t know where Clerkenwell was but the clueing made it clear. Got ELIZA with parsing as in blog but wasn’t convinced I was right. Like WordPlodder@1, I still don’t get 25a but the answer and the anagram bit are both clear and also noticed blog missed the removal of A as well as EG in 1d. I’m surprised to say I really enjoyed this as I usually find Nimrod a bit too hard a slog (not a criticism, just an admission).

    Thanks to Nimrod and twencelas.

  4. Thanks Nimrod and twenceslas

    I found this puzzle less daunting than some from this setter in his various guises. And there were lots of touches that I liked, eg 1A and 8D, which both raised more than a chortle.

    I very much wanted 17 to be THREE DIMENSIONS, as you need 3D(s). It parses fine, but unfortunately doesn’t work with the crossers.

    Have there been many puzzles with 8 15-letter solutions?

  5. Just worked out 25a. Fox Is the anagram indicator and if I am fly then I will ‘know a thing or two’, so last 3 words give a definition.

  6. You wait for ages for a ‘Henderson’ crossword and then you get two really good ones turn up more or less together.   What’s more, you don’t realise what you’ve been missing until he’s back.

    Lots to enjoy throughout – it turned out I did 25a as I even knew the particular spelling of the clam.  I know another setter who does triple lurkers but will admit that the one in 14d is particularly splendid

    Thanks to Nimrod (please don’t leave it so long next time)  and twencelas too

  7. I really enjoyed this. JH is amongst other things a top grid-filler, and to accommodate 8×15 lights is a 15×15 grid is pretty special I think.

    Great stuff; thanks to both

  8. Thanks for very necessary help with parsing. I dont really get why bed is a relevant word in 2 across and d for depth seems far-fetched in 17. For me this had too many obscure words to be fun, crossing the line from clever to too clever, but I’m sure you’ll tell me that just shows my ignorance.

  9. EW @ 8: WHD for Width Height Depth are standard abbreviations for dimensions when they are given as a list of numbers separated by x.

    hth

  10. Worth noting that Blowers in 1a presumably refers to Henry Blofeld, the cricket commentator. (Perhaps obvious, but it doesn’t seem to have been mentioned yet.) Very amusing clue.

  11. @Nila Palin….who, it is announced today, is joining Classic FM as a presenter. JH is a Classic FM nut; I suspect insider trading

  13. Well that was a struggle, but I got there eventually without aids, apart from confirming a couple of things after I’d worked them out(the clam and antra). It took me the best part of an hour and a half to finish, with ELIZA beuing my last one in after I’d tried ERICA and EVITA without success. There are some devious machinations going on inside JH’s brain! Thanks Twenceslas and Nimrod.

  14. @Eric Wolff – the “bed” is a darts reference. often double and triple segments of the board are referred to as a bed.

  15. It’s a matter of opinion, but I always find this setter tries too hard to impress. Leaving aside the over-stretched definitions and the clues where it was a question of thinking of a word or phrase that fits the intersecting letters and working it out from there, it felt over-engineered. The Paul prize crossword in the Guardian took about the same time to complete, but is in a different class. Nothing laboured or contrived, but clean, crisp quality.

  16. We confidently wrote in THREE DIMENSIONS, too, for 17ac which threw us for quite a while, but then we saw ETH and FOP which had us reaching for the Tippex.  With some help we got there in the end  (well, almost – didn’t get ELIZA, much to the chagrin of one of us who played Freddy in Pygmalion many moons ago!).  Took ages to see BUBBLE AND SQUEAK – the ‘beluga’ (as a species of sturgeon) had us wondering if it was something to do with caviar.  LOI was SEE WHAT ONE CAN DO

    @10 Nina: Why should ‘Blowers’ refer to Henry Blofeld?  He’s not Australian – born in Norfolk.  And in the clue it’s “Blowers” with an apostrophe at the end indicating a plural possessive.

    Thanks, Nimrod for the workout and twencelas for explanations of those we failed to parse.

  17. Another THREE DIMENSIONS here, but I then got stuck with only a couple more answers.  I’d been working on a printed version so I went to the computer and used the check answers and found my mistake.  And it was still hard work after that.

  18. Allan @16: Blowers for Henry Blofeld was what the surface immediately suggested to me, but I could be wrong. I can’t see what else Blowers with a capital B could be.

    ‘Blowers’ is Blofeld’s nickname, and he used to work for the BBC. I don’t see why his not being Australian matters (because Budgie Smugglers is an Australian term?), or what’s wrong about the apostrophe.

     

  19. @18 Nina: nothing wrong with the apostrophe as such, but it comes after the S, so it indicates the trunks of more than one blower – with or without a capital B.

  20. But if the surface is indeed meant to refer to Henry “Blowers” Blofeld’s items of luggage (although it could be his swimwear, I suppose), the apostrophe is correct. Blowers = buglers only in the wordplay, not in the surface, with or without an apostrophe.

  21. Amazed actually to finish this with only one cheat, QUAHAUG early on.  Some staggeringly clever stuff, though agree with some about a few excessive contrivances, particularly 8D.  Overall, great to get a really difficult puzzle like this that repays a lot of brain fag.

    The parsing in 24A is I’M then (NO 1 + TATI) reversed (“retrospective”).

    Thanks and admiration to Nimrod; and well done to twencelas for a challenging blog.

  22. Absolute corker. Llike London buses – you wait an age – then three come at once. Telegraph and Guardian on successive days last Friday – the DT one being , for me at least, the much harder one – but (for me again – it may well be apersonal thing and depend on how your solve went on the day) this one beat the pair of them.

    Packed with wit in the cluing – the gridfill itself is quite a work of art. Obviously the letter counts went a long way to giving away the answers to the biggies – some dislike that but for me it brought the overall level of difficulty down to what I want from a daily puzzle – a good tussle – a few laughs – and then I get to win in the end.

    Great stuff – forget the ninas and all that other clever clogs hidden messages stuff – this is what I want.

    Many thanks – also to twenceslas for the blog – even though I don’t buy any of those quibbles.

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