Nimrod – so an easy puzzle is highly unlikely!
Clever clue-ing as always, as to whether some of it is too clever, it is difficult to say. I feel confident I’ve parsed all but 2 correctly. I just don’t think I’ve tuned into Nimrod’s frequency for 18ac and 21dn.
16ac did make me laugh.
Thanks Nimrod – much head scratching as always.
Across
1 Number 1 (not very hard) on a scale of mental challenges … (4)
Hidden menTAL Challenges = TALC (Moh’s scale of hardness)
4 Loss, say, of poor swimmer who drowned relocating north (10)
Bad Leander (poor swimmer) moving n (north) = BAND LEADER (Joe Loss)
9 Such as upset Beaujolais Nouveau through inept clownishness? (8,7)
Rev. Red (Beaujolais Nouveau) in (clownishness)* = CHINLESS WONDERS
10 An Independent whisky giveaway? (4,6)
DD FREE SPIRIT
12 Its bands are in black and white half of New York Times (4)
O (half of) + NY New York + x (times) = ONYX
13 Awfully nervy on the trail of Welsh monster (6)
W (welsh) + (nervy)* = WYVERN
14 Teary aye-aye almost caught by grandmother (7)
I obey (aye-aye) – y in nan (grandmother) = NIOBEAN
15 Old fashioned seat on cycle covered by bill (7)
Chair (seat) on cycle to rchai in Ac (bill) = ARCHAIC
16 Means to move body, head having been extracted from buttocks (6)
The arse (buttocks) – t = HEARSE
18 Twisted band of gold – not silvery metal – at first light (4)
Or (gold) is the only indication I can see the T may come from not silvery metal though if it’s c for light then the physicist in me does object = TORC
19 Shifty blighter pinching Nimrod’s trick (10)
(blighter)* around I’m (Nimord’s) = THIMBLERIG
20 Improv quotes from the likes of Yogi Berra? (8,7)
Yogi Berra was a baseball figure who played on a ballpark = BALLPARK FIGURES
22 “Nous serons” she translated with only a little English (5,5)
(serons she)* + e = HORSE SENSE
23 … and more exceptional solving cases (4)
Hidden exceptionAL SOlving = ALSO
Down
2 Hendry’s first to break off – and remains here at table (7)
Astray (off) around H (Hendry’s first) = ASHTRAY
3 Juicy pairings, did you say? These linkups involve more than two (10,5)
Homonym of pairings – pear (conference) + rings (calls) = CONFERENCE CALLS
4 Generally agreed Apennines must range across Italy in part (4,7)
Bit (part) swapping (Apennines)* for I (Italy) = BIEN PENSANT
5 Ancient Orpington out of bounds? (2,6,7)
Chicken (Orpington) + no spring (out of bounds) = NO SPRING CHICKEN
6 Too old to get up (locked in lav) (3)
Rev. hidden toO OLd = LOO
7 Man endlessly out rocking with 4 Across stars (9,6)
(Bandleader + out + ma)* = ANDROMENA NEBULA
8 Ability to pick up French players in the first few minutes (5,2)
Ear (ability to pick up – as in music) + Lyon (French players as in football) = EARLY ON
11 Something perhaps ironic about cross old media mogul’s Hall? (6,5)
Trope (something perhaps ironic) around hybrid (cross) = TROPHY BRIDE as in Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall
15 Mexican native not entirely eloquent when gate-crashing a party (7)
Vocal (eloquent) – l in A do (a party) = AVOCADO
17 Reaction to winter wind, ice and snow flakes (7)
DD SHIVERS
21 One must have at least – surely – some 22? (3)
I assume the whole clue is cryptic, but I’m sure I’m missing something = ASS
Well we know what to expect from Nimrod….. a hard slog with the ‘show errors’ button on so thanks for the parsings. No idea on Torc either apart from the ‘or’ bit. Never heard of Thimblerig.
21d maybe the SS comes from Surely Some but only guessing.
Slight typo in 7d. Thanks again to S&B.
Thanks twencelas
My parsing of 18ac was as follows. The ‘silvery metal’ is mercury, chemical symbol Hg, so ‘silvery metal at first’ is H[g]. Then ‘light’=TORCH and remove the H (‘not silvery metal at first’) to leave TORC, ‘Twisted band of gold’.
Fiendishly difficult! I needed to make much use of electronic aids to finish this one.
Nimrod’s own annotation for TORC in this puzzle was
T[OR (for Al}]C ref 1ac
so I think that means OR (gold) replacing AL (aluminium, silvery metal) in TALC (1 across, the first light)
Thanks to all.
Re 21dn – Nimrod gives the annotation
ASS (& A/S,S first letters)
which I read as A (one) with (must have) the first letters (at least, the smallest part) of Surely Some. That would make the definition some 22 (HORSE SENSE) which would require “some” to be part of both the wordplay and definition.
Lots to do on this lovely sunny day, but when you see its a Nimrod, there’s obviously one thing that must take precedence.
A very enjoyable time was had in amongst the head scratching. My particular favourite is 5d – one of the many people for whom I test solve has a thing about breeds of hens so I’m becoming quite an expert on the various breeds.
Thank you to Nimrod – nice to have you back again – and to twencelas for the explanations
What I call a pencil job (rubber nearby).No reveals but too much check button to claim a solve.
Fiendish stuff. I was desperate for a nina as a lifeline so was left treading water for a while.
I loved Loss (was he Joe or Dead?)Beauolais nouveau was a deliberate wild goose chase,
For aye-aye i was trying to fit LEMU(R) into something but to no avail. With all that swashbuckling it is easy to miss sitters like TALC, ALSO, WYVERN etc.
Fave clue TROPHY BRIDE-not much else to say when the first in is 22a.
Thanks twencelas for blog and JH for the hellac King.
Very disappointed not to finish, as what I managed didn’t take too long and was very enjoyable. NIOBEAN too much for me, although HEARSE and TROPHY BRIDE shouldn’t have been.
I hadn’t a clue about TORC, except for the answer. ASS, no problem – two ways to read a cryptic def + all the letters, more than enough.
Favourites were NO SPRING CHICKEN, BALLPARK FIGURES and HORSE SENSE, also THIMBLERIG for being a nice word. Hybrid in trope’s a pretty neat construction, should have got it, but couldn’t get from irony to trope and couldn’t see the definition. Is Jerry Hall a trophy bride? I wonder if he’s not the trophy husband.
Thanks Nimrod, twencelas
A lot of wordfinder help needed plus a couple of cheats for 4ac and 11dn. But having seen 4ac we were able to parse 7dn which we’d guessed from a few crossers and the enumeration – incidentally the parsing is (Bandleader + man + ou)* to give Andromeda Nebula. And there were a few which we got without help – including our favourites, HORSE SENSE and NO SPRING CHICKEN.
Thanks, Nimrod and Twencelas
The usual mix of “What on earth?”, frustration, just about giving up, admiration and finally some satisfaction as I eventually finished this in a tad over 3 hours.
New words were NIOBEAN and THIMBLERIG and I had no idea about the parsing of TALC, TORC and CONFERENCE CALLS.
Favourites were SPRING CHICKEN and the French ‘we’ for HORSE SENSE. No comment about the surface for 16a!
Thanks to Nimrod and twencelas.
Attempted on an extended return from the Derby do, (thank you various train companies). Sadly (ha ha) had to visit the Vat and Fiddle in Nottingham on numerous occasions between nipping to Station to see just how long the delay would be. Wordplodder @9 my new words were yours and your favourites too. Thanks to Nimrod and twencelas.