The puzzle can be found here.
Hi everyone. Thanks to Nitsy for a puzzle which didn’t detain me unduly but entertained me greatly. There were a couple of instances where I had to leave clues half parsed and come back later. I forgot my wine — most unusual! — and was embarrassingly slow to tumble to the second definition of PUNT. I also had to look up to find the stars in NORMALISE.
There’s plenty to choose from, including two &lits, so I’ll just leave it to you to highlight your favourites.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.
Across
1a Free wine – nothing left (4)
SAVE
S[o]AVE (wine), with O (nothing) not included (left)
3a Girl’s boomerangs collection? It’s probably next to mine (4,4)
SLAG HEAP
GAL’S is reversed (boomerangs), then we have HEAP (collection)
10a One entering tournament isn’t prepared for what score shows? (15)
INSTRUMENTATION
I (one) inserted into (entering) TOURNAMENT ISN’T, anagrammed (prepared)
11a Coaches leaving one Italian river oddly seen to turn (9)
TRANSPOSE
TRA[i]NS (coaches) without (leaving) I (one), PO (Italian river), and the odd letters of (oddly) SeEn
12a Dutch politician a load of rubbish? (4)
DUMP
DU (Dutch, Du., abbreviation) + MP (politician)
13a Boxers? Nancies’ pants (7)
CANINES
NANCIES, anagrammed (pants)
15a Remove obstruction by the net, perhaps, in river (6)
DELETE
LET (obstruction by the net, perhaps, in tennis) in DEE (river)
17a I start rocking? (6)
ARTIST
I START, anagrammed (rocking), with the wordplay also functioning as a definition by example. Having done things backwards and solved 29a first, I was momentarily confused by the definition, but of course the clue points us to a musical artist
19a Bird caught in low country (7)
MOROCCO
ROC (bird) and C (caught) in MOO (low)
20a Independence after boy turns 17 (4)
DALI
I (independence) after LAD is reversed (turns). 17 is 17a
21a Working with those people with aim to be getting better (2,3,4)
ON THE MEND
ON (working) next to (with) THEM (those people) and (with, again) END (aim)
24a Terrible author could write this novel – note inept prose about lake (6,3,6)
POISON PEN LETTER
An anagram of (novel) NOTE INEPT PROSE around (about) L (lake)
25a Tense about a certain term of endearment (8)
TREASURE
A charade of T (tense), RE (about), A (from the clue), and SURE (certain)
26a Heard victim beg (4)
PRAY
A homophone of (heard) PREY (victim)
Down
1d Small group of spies with involuntary twitching – a nervous condition (8)
SCIATICA
S (small) and CIA (group of spies) with TIC (involuntary twitching) and A (from the clue)
2d View travel document in Thailand? On the contrary (5)
VISTA
VISA (travel document) around (in … on the contrary) T (Thailand)
4d In Dublin see diesel oil producer? (7)
LINSEED
The answer is found in DubLIN SEE Diesel
5d Labour unravels red flag, dismissing singular complaint (9,5)
GLANDULAR FEVER
Make an anagram of (labour) UNRAVEL[s] RED FLAG, leaving out (dismissing) S (singular)
6d Mysterious Eastern drink knocked back and mother starts to turn immensely clingy (9)
ENIGMATIC
E (Eastern), followed by GIN (drink) reversed (knocked back), then MA (mother) and initial letters of (starts to) Turn Immensely Clingy
7d Boat back against the bank (4)
PUNT
Two definitions
8d They could give stir provisions, perhaps (6,8)
PRISON VISITORS
An anagram of (they could give … perhaps) STIR PROVISIONS. Another &lit
9d This writer rejected employer’s raise in relief (6)
EMBOSS
ME (this writer) reversed (rejected) + BOSS (employer), the “‘s” being a link, standing for “is” in the cryptic reading of the clue
14d Make ordinary group of stars special in made-up story (9)
NORMALISE
NORMA (group of stars: the Rule, a small southern constellation), then S (special) inside (in) LIE (made up story). The answer was clear from the rest of the clue, but I had to look up Norma (in the dictionary, not the sky! Wrong hemisphere …)
16d Shy about most of crap material (8)
CORDUROY
COY (shy) around (about) all but the last letter of (most of) ORDURe (crap)
18d Upsetting gunshot entertaining old soldier (7)
TROOPER
REPORT (gunshot) containing (entertaining) O (old)
19d Service from graduate isn’t fantastic (6)
MATINS
MA (graduate), then an anagram of (… fantastic) ISN’T
22d Go in hospital department with the woman, ignoring husband (5)
ENTER
ENT (hospital department) next to (with) [h]ER (the woman) without (ignoring) H (husband)
23d Teenager’s potentially squeezing this? (4)
SPOT
Teenager’S POTentially is embracing (squeezing) the answer
I’ve never come across Nitsy before. This was light but, apart from 16d which I think is in poor taste, it was a lot of fun.
Many thanks to Nitsy and to Kitty.
A real mixed bag for me. I’d certainly never heard of Norma’s starring role, didn’t care for 17a and share RD’s reservation about 16d – just not necessary.
Elsewhere there were some goodies to be found, from which I chose the SLAG HEAP as my favourite.
Thanks to Nitsy and most especially to Kitty – loved the kitten praying and really laughed over the cartoon of the Cookie monster!
Class! Am very impressed with this setter’s natural surfaces, my kind of puzzle.
I particularly appreciated 12a and 19a. Plenty more to like, 8d, 23d, well loads really.
Nitsy makes it look easy. It isn’t. Well done. And thanks kitty
To quote the blog, a puzzle which didn’t detain us unduly but entertained us greatly; and some great picyures to go with the blog. Thanks, Nitsy and Kitty.