The puzzle can be found here.
Hello everyone. I hope you and your loved ones are well. I found this very much on the gentle side for Hob, but beautifully clued – just what my brain needed. Part of the way through the solve I dismissed the possibility of a nina in the top and bottom rows. It was only during a more focussed nina hunt afterwards that I idly thought, that looks a bit like that Icelandic … oh, wait! The nina reading right to left along the bottom had delayed me spotting a name which I had enjoyed learning to pronounce, oh, ten years ago. Doesn’t time fly?
Yes, with a nina as well as a generous helping of thematic clues and grid entries, Hob marks 10 years since the volcano on the Icelandic ice cap of Eyjafjallajökull created an ash cloud which caused widespread disruption to air travel for a week. Simpler times.
Many thanks Hob.
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
9a Grievance leads to volcanic eruption by Jimmy (5)
PEEVE
The first letters of (leads to) Volcanic Eruption next to (by) PEE (Jimmy – Jimmy Riddle, Cockney Rhyming Slang)
10a Touring African country, score twice for punctiliousness (9)
FORMALITY
Around (touring) MALI (African country) is FORTY (score – twenty – twice)
11a Part of service university held in public (9)
COMMUNION
UNI (university) inside (held in) COMMON (public)
12a Choice of window seats? Divine! (5)
DOWSE
The answer is a selected part from the middle of (choice of) winDOW SEats
13a Criticise expert primarily advocating non-specific cure (7)
PANACEA
PAN (criticise) + ACE (expert) + the first letter of (primarily) Advocating
15a Made agreeable by dear editor (7)
HONEYED
HONEY (dear) + ED (editor)
17a One that kills headless chicken, potentially? (5)
LAYER
sLAYER (one that kills) without its first letter (headless)
18a Fly? After initial clearance, leaves from here perhaps (3)
ASH
wASH (fly, in the sense of stand up to argument or scrutiny) with the first letter removed (after initial clearance). As Hovis @1 points out, this could be dASH, which I think is more likely
20a Dismiss European high-flier that’s taken cocaine (5)
EJECT
E (European) + JET (high-flier) which contains (that’s taken) C (cocaine)
22a Instrument, note, is one that plays itself (7)
PIANOLA
PIANO (instrument) + LA (note), the “one” in the definition referring to the aforementioned instrument
25a Interval of time before aircraft finally flew back home (7)
TWELFTH
T (time) comes before the last letter of (… finally) aircrafT and FLEW, both reversed (back), then H (home – the abbreviation is in the ODE, with reference to sporting fixtures)
26a Early take-offs from Delta, easyJet, Monarch…oh, and BMI…put out of action (5)
DEMOB
Initial letters of (early take-offs from) Delta, EasyJet, Monarch, Oh and BMI
27a All welcome round at top floor flat, taking time out (4,5)
OPEN HOUSE
O (round) + PEN[t] HOUSE (top floor flat) with the removal of T (taking time out)
30a In high spirits from energy extra bun produced (9)
EXUBERANT
E (energy) + an anagram of (… produced) EXTRA BUN
31a Less affected by what was in cloud, trapped characters are out of danger? That’s right (5)
DRIER
The inner letters are removed from (trapped characters are out of) DangeR, then we have I.E. (that’s, that is) + R (right). The cloud in the definition held precipitation rather than ash
Down
1d Very long online movie? (4)
EPIC
An online movie could possibly be described as an E–PIC
2d A force within the TA on my year off (8)
YEOMANRY
ON MY YEAR anagrammed (off)
3d Crazy fast driver starts to joyride, eventually hospitalising us (4)
JEHU
The first letters of (starts to) Joyride, Eventually Hospitalising Us. A new word for me, and for some reason I had guessed American rather than biblical origins, but he was generously clued, so easily caught
4d Cultural artefacts from travelling fair somewhere in Galilee (8)
AFRICANA
An anagram of (travelling) FAIR + CANA (somewhere in Galilee; the wedding at Cana is where water was allegedly turned into wine)
5d Fellow runs with topless servant girl in cross-channel race (6)
FRENCH
F (Fellow) + R (runs) with all but the last letter of (topless) wENCH (servant girl)
6d Ornament for displaying flowers, Jan 31? That is organised (10)
JARDINIÈRE
JAN (Jan) + DRIER (31a) + I.E. (that is) anagrammed together (organised)
7d As Iceland released worsening ash, you’d each head for the Channel (6)
AIRWAY
As Iceland Released Worsening Ash, You’d – all the initial letters (… each head)
8d Component of early reed instrument (4)
LYRE
A part of (component of) earLY REed instrument
13d It could be a sea anemone, parrot said softly (5)
POLYP
POLY, which sounds like (… said) POLLY (parrot), followed by P (softly)
14d Cloud borne away in first-class style (6,4)
CORDON BLEU
CLOUD BORNE anagrammed (away)
16d Wife has tax cut by Switzerland (5)
DUTCH
DUTy (tax) without the last letter (cut) next to (by) CH (Switzerland)
19d Until now, hot one – hotter after erupting (8)
HITHERTO
H (hot) + I (one) + HOTTER anagrammed (after erupting)
21d Left with wings clipped – reportedly flew through nasty emissions (8)
EFFLUVIA
lEFt without the outer letters (with wings clipped), FLU, a homophone of (… reportedly FLEW, and VIA (through)
23d Hancock said his bloody pint was almost this toxic? Not initially (6)
ARMFUL
hARMFUL (toxic) without the first letter (not initially). The definition refers to Tony Hancock’s famous sketch The Blood Donor
24d Gradual reduction in amount coming from volcano? Extra work towards the end for nerd (6)
ANORAK
A decreasing number of letters each time taken from the ends of (gradual reduction in amount coming from … towards the end) volcANO extRA worK. This took me a while to parse
26d Owed money for prearranged fight (4)
DUEL
DUE (owed) + L (money, pounds)
28d Henry joins Bill and Jack for trip to Mecca (4)
HADJ
H (Henry) joins AD (Bill) and J (Jack)
29d Nobleman taking year off before the appointed time (4)
EARL
Removing Y from (taking year off) EARL[y] (before the appointed time) gives us our final answer
Loved 24d once I saw what was needed.
In 11a, you need UNI for University. For 18a, I had (d)ash for “fly” but I think either works.
Marvellous puzzle even if on the easy side for a Hob (but still quite difficult). Didn’t see the Nina so thanks for that. I’ve just finished today’s Guardian which I also recommend.
Thanks to Hob and Kitty.
Thanks Hovis – blog updated.
Well done Kitty for spotting that nina. Although I too tried to memorise the name I would never have considered reversing the unches. I think it’s actually easier to pronounce in reverse. I got, but failed to parse, Drier and Anorak. Open House was my favourite. Thanks Hob and Kitty.
This was good fun. I would never have spotted that Nina in a thousand years – respect to Kitty! I couldn’t parse 6d and was grateful for Kitty’s explanation. 3d was a new word for me. 24d was very clever and my favourite.
Many thanks to Hob and to Kitty.
That was a blast, and possibly the cookiest crossword of the year. Surely any compiler with any sense would have written the letters in at the top and bottom then promptly screwed it up and binned it.
Alerted by some pretty extraordinary clues, particularly for DRIER and ANORAK, I stopped for an early review and spotted both the theme and the likely nina. I couldn’t remember how to spell it so it didn’t really make things easier but did make me giggle more at the clues.
I’d like to think Hob spent at least a couple of hours wrestling with the very fine ANORAK clue, making it nicely self-fulfilling.
Thanks Kitty, Hob
No obvious place to announce this, but solvers might like to know that today’s Globe and Mail (a Canadian national newspaper) includes a giant 24×24 barred straight cryptic by Fraser Simpson, as well as Simpson’s regular weekly 15×15. Go solve it if you can get your hands on it.
I recall, at the time of the eruption, being told that the best way to memorise the name was to think of ‘hi – a fellow yokel’. Not that it did me much good today – missed it completely!
Like RD@4 3d was a new word for me and I struggled with 31a as I had the wrong ending for 21d.
No particular favourite but it was an enjoyable solve so thanks to Hob and to the clever Miss Kitty for making sense of it all!