Serpent gives us an entertaining challenge today.
Thursday is often a theme day in the Independent. I couldn’t see one in the entries, but I often have a look at the unchecked letters to see if there is something there. Today was a good day for the unches where you will see that rows 6, 8 and 10 spell out EUNICE KATHLEEN WAYMON which was the given name of the singer Nina Simone. She changed in order hide her identity as a jazz singer from her mother who viewed jazz as the devil’s music. The name was chosen in honour of the French actress, Simone Signoret. Simone spent her later years in France, near Aix-en-Provence which may explain some of the French references in the clues. NON-SMOKER at 27 across may be a reference to one of her album tracks – Don’t Smoke in Bed. Similarly the clue with album leading to RECORDING is probably a thematic reference.
I’m not sure why a puzzle in memory of Nina Simone should be published today as she died on 21st February 2003 and today is 13th February. She was born in April 1933.
With the theme in the unches, I can understand why the potential for getting thematic material into the entries was quite low.
The clues were very fair. The only entry I query is REPEL as a synonym for ‘revolt’ at 3 down. I would have thought that REBEL was a better match.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Shellfish from Yellow Sea exported to France (5) |
OR (in heraldry, the tincture gold or yellow) + MER (French for sea) OR MER |
ORMER (an ear-shaped shell, especially the edible Haliotis tuberculata, common in the Channel Islands) |
| 4 | Religious figure asks questions atheists regularly disregarded (9) |
PRIES (asks questions with impertinent curiosity) + TESS (letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 [regularly] of ATHEISTS) PRIES TESS |
PRIESTESS (religious figure) |
| 9 | What one might call a huge sum? (9,6) |
TELEPHONE NUMBER (something that one might call) TELEPHONE NUMBER |
TELEPHONE NUMBER (a very large number or amount; huge sum) double definition |
| 10 | Bring to mind prayer after bible class (9) |
RE (Religious Education; bible class) + COLLECT (prayer) RE COLLECT |
RECOLLECT (bring to mind) |
| 11 | Lacking in energy, gloomy and weighed down (5) |
L LADEN |
LADEN (burdened; weighed down) |
| 12 | Firm undergoing cyclical readjustment with supreme competence (6) |
STABLE (standing firm) cycling all letters two places to the left with the first two letters moving to the end to form ABLEST ABLEST |
ABLEST (most competent; having supreme confidence) |
| 14 | Creator of issue removed boxing article (6) |
FAR (distant; removed) containing (boxing) THE (definite article) FA (THE) R |
FATHER (originator; creator) |
| 18 | Took another look at grey area lady uncovered (6) |
RE (letters remaining in RE RE AD |
REREAD (took another look) |
| 19 | Maniac chops yuppie’s head off (6) |
Anagram of (off) CHOPS + Y (first letter of [head] YUPPIE) PSYCHO* |
PSYCHO (maniac) |
| 22 | Confines overambitious guards (4) |
AMBIT (hidden word in [guards] OVERAMBITIOUS) AMBIT |
AMBIT (precincts; confines) |
| 24 | Line at end of letter lists retired fighters (9) |
(SERIF [short decorative foot at the end of a stroke on a printed character; line at end of letter] + TIPS [tilts; lists]) all reversed (retired) (SPIT FIRES)< |
SPITFIRES (fighting aeroplanes used in World War II) |
| 25 | Drunk actor in a rage, mainly rude and offensive when on the defensive (9,6) |
Anagram of (drunk) ACTOR IN A RAGE and RUD REARGUARD ACTION* |
REARGUARD ACTION (defensive action [offensive] undertaken to try to stop something happening or continuing) |
| 27 | She shouldn’t have weed on monks shot by head of state (3-6) |
Anagram of (shot) MONKS ON + ER (Elizabeth Regina; Queen Elizabeth, head of state of the United Kingdom) NON-SMOK* ER |
NON-SMOKER (one who shouldn’t have marijuana [weed], which is often SMOKEd for effect as an intoxicant) |
| 28 | Good university dons get to continue without taking a break (5) |
(G [good] + U [university]) contained in (dons) SEE (understand; get) SE (G U) E |
SEGUE (proceed without pause) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Public holiday causes epidemic (8) |
OUT (published; public) + BREAK (holiday) OUT BREAK |
OUTBREAK (epidemic) |
| 2 | Normal clue lacking definition ultimately becomes elementary? (9) |
Anagram of (becomes) MOLECULAR* |
MOLECULAR (descriptive of the smallest particle of any substance that retains the properties of that substance; elementary) |
| 3 | Revolt as a result of undesirable uprising (5) |
LEPER (outcast; undesirable) reversed (uprising; down clue) REPEL< |
REPEL (revolt; Bradfords lists revolt as a synonym for repel. I would have said that rebel is closer to revolt than repel) |
| 4 | Established church driven out of French region (6) |
PROVEN PROVEN |
PROVEN (established) |
| 5 | Showing some reluctance to go initially in latrine that’s out of order (8) |
I (first letter of [initially] IN) + an anagram of (that’s out of order) LATRINE) I NERTIAL* |
INERTIAL (showing disinclination to move or act) |
| 6 | Sucking noises suppress last couple of kisses (9) |
SQUELCH (suppress) + ES (final two letters of [last two] KISSES) SQUELCH ES |
SQUELCHES (sucking sounds) |
| 7 | Journalist covering man battling enemy primarily (5) |
ED (editor; journalist) containing (covering) MBE (first letters [primarily] of each of MAN, BATTLING and ENEMY) E (MBE) D |
EMBED (journalist accompanying an active military unit) |
| 8 | Unruffled by lifting of some hygiene restrictions (6) |
SERENE (hidden word [some] reversed [by lifting; down clue] in HYGIENE RESTRICTIONS) SERENE< |
SERENE (calm; unruffled) |
| 13 | Plot contains treasure under layers of rock (9) |
STRATA (layers of rock) + GEM (treasure) STRATA GEM |
STRATAGEM (plan; plot) |
| 15 | Album of new arrangement for strings? (9) |
RE– (again but in a different way; new) + CORDING (arrangement for ropes, strings or laces) RE CORDING |
RECORDING (musical album) |
| 16 | Rural pile has riding gear around yard (8) |
(HAS + TACK [riding gear]) containing (around) Y (yard) HA (Y) S TACK |
HAYSTACK (large built-up pile of hay; rural pile) |
| 17 | Absurdity of Nationalist version of "oneness" (8) |
N (nationalist) + an anagram of (version of) ONENESS N ONSENSE* |
NONSENSE (absurdity) |
| 20 | Conflict almost tore apart densely populated area (6) |
WAR (conflict) + REN WAR REN |
WARREN (densely populated area) |
| 21 | Underground worker buries dead guard (6) |
MINER (underground worker) containing (buries) D (dead) MIN (D) ER |
MINDER (bodyguard) |
| 23 | Britain managed to implicate one intelligence agent (5) |
B (Britain) + (RAN [managed] containing [to implicate] I [Roman numeral for one]) B RA (I) N |
BRAIN (seat of intellect and sensation; intelligence agent) |
| 25 | Female insect without wings is centre of attention (5) |
F (female) + FOCUS |
FOCUS (centre of attention) |
I did not see ‘EUNICE KATHLEEN WAYMON’ in the puzzle, and cannot reload the solved puzzle online now.
Was at a loss how to parse 24a.
Thanks duncan and serpent.
Serpent is so neat in his ninas and I spend a while after filling the grid searching-I got a pleasant surprise when I found it was Nana’a real name-which of course deserved a nina.And she was a bit of a priestess ion her recording.I can live with REPEL but point taken as I’ve never heard of a leber.
Thanks to Serpent and duncanshiell
Nina I meant-but Nana is a fine book.
Yes indeed, Nina as a Nina. Only spotted after finishing but didn’t need it for completion.
Didn’t fully get 7d as I had forgotten that meaning of EMBED.
I suspect I wasn’t the only one to think 3d was going to be ARISE. (Reverse inclusion signified by “uprising” in a down clue.)
Such an excellent setter. Always enjoy the challenge. Many thanks to Serpent and Duncan.
Hovis@4, yes, I also thought of ARISE for 3d.
I had to look up who the Nina referred to. Very appropriate. Looking at her Wikipedia article, I wonder if a few other answers such as PRIESTESS may also refer to her.
I took REPEL=’revolt’ as in ‘repulsive’=’revolting’, that is REVOLT as a transitive verb. (Sorry to point out the obvious, but there’s a typo in your Entry column explanation for the clue). Also listed as synonyms in Chambers Thesaurus.
EMBED was my favourite; it would do as an &lit for me.
Thanks to Serpent and Duncan
WordPlodder @ 7
Thanks – error corrected now
I was repelled (revolted) by him. He behaviour was repellent (revolting); and of course it was a reversal of leper.
Thanks to Serpent. Missed the Nina. Have a couple of albums by Nina Simone, but did not know the derivation of her name.
We thought this was towards the easier end of Serpent’s spectrum but not, of course, a doddle – some serious thought was required. We didn’t think to look for a nina – doh!
Lots to enjoy, with PSYCHO, SPITFIRES and NON-SMOKER vying for CoD. Regarding the latter, ‘weed’ can sometimes refer to tobacco as well as marijuana.
Not a complaint against this puzzle but why is ‘cycling’ a synonym (as in 12ac) permissible but an indirect anagram is not? Is it just one of those conventions like the one which allows ‘false’ initial capitals but doesn’t permit replacing necessary ones with lower case?
Back on topic, though – thanks to Serpent and Duncan
Many (belated) thanks to Duncan for the excellent blog and to everyone who took the time to comment.
Allan @9, I think “cycling” may be allowed because this has a well-defined effect on the fodder, unlike anagramming. Okay, there may be several possibilities to consider, but a single cross-checking letter and/or the definition is often enough to disambiguate the entry, so it I would say “cycling” is no more unfair or indirect than indicators such as “regularly” that indicate some periodic sequence within the fodder.