The Thursday puzzle is from Serpent this week – we’re in for a challenge!
An enjoyable challenge at that, as we have come to expect.
We did however, have some quibbles with 6d and 7d, but our host put us straight on 7d, as noted below. We still don’t think the clue for 6d comes up to Serpent’s usual high standards – any thoughts out there?
As it is a Serpent we suspected that there would be something going on in the grid, although there weren’t any unusual words, or an unusual grid, that usually signify a theme or nina. Nothing jumped out at us during the solve, but on completion Bert noticed the diagonal nina, which we had to google to find out it’s significance – it is apparently a brilliant idea or discovery that seems simple after the fact – a bit like finding the nina!
HEAR (try) round or ‘boxing’ VIE (contest)
Magna Carta is an ANAGRAM of ANAGRAM and act – anagrind is ‘could be’
LIE (story) GEts (two letters only or 50%)
EMBER (hot material) round or ‘receiving’ DIOR (designer) reversed or ‘backing’
FIELDS (departments, as in ‘that’s not my department’) in or ‘blocking’ BROWNITES (ex-prime minister Gordon Brown’s supporters)
An anagram of BABY OFTEN CHOKED – anagrind is ‘tickled’
An anagram of SHE’S, S (first letter or ‘beginning’ of suspect) and VICIOUS MEN – anagrind is ‘affected’
CO-RAT (‘fellow singer’) in DEED (act)
ABH (actual bodily harm – ‘crime’) OnlookeR without the middle letters or ‘disheartened’
STEPS ON (quashes)
IMMEnSE (huge) with the ‘n’ (middle or ‘essential’ letter of economy) replaced or ‘obliterated’ by R (first letter or ‘onset’ of recession)
W (with) AGE (maturity)
PI (Greek character) + an anagram of GONE – anagrind is ‘astray’
FREE (complimentary) KICK (stop, as in kicking a habit)
A homophone (‘for the audience’) of GAMBLE (risky venture)
J (judge) A + an anagram of SOUL (anagrind is ‘tortured’) + IE (that is)
Cryptic definition – we struggled to parse this, and needed all the crossers to arrive at the solution – it’s a reference to receiving a CREDIT NOTE when goods are returned to the vendor, ‘making good’ the payment, but it’s not one of Serpent’s best clues in our opinion
We were not happy with this one – we could only parse it as: SMART’S (intelligence is) – the ‘is’ doing double duty, but ‘smart’ (adjective) is not a synonym for ‘intelligence’ (noun). However, we have been put straight by our host – the Oxford Dictionary of English has SMARTS as a North American informal word for intelligence or acumen, as in ‘I don’t think he has the smarts for it’ – could they be talking about their esteemed president? SMARTS is definitely not in Chambers or Collins – we suspect several others will have been caught by this one!
HUT (shed) round or ‘clothing’ an anagram of BAIL – anagrind is ‘jumping’
An anagram of ONE RESPECT – anagrind is ‘hidden in’
Hidden in (‘to some extent’) metAPHOR IS Meaningless
FOOD (board) round or ‘accepting’ L (last or ‘final’ letter of deal) + LIT (settled)
You SERVE when in the army, so one could fancifully say that when you leave you DE-SERVE
MO (instant) DISH (food prepared to eat)
E (base – in mathematics) X (by, also in maths) TENT (part of camp)
ARMY (host) after or ‘backing’ SM (sergeant-major – officer)
Alternate or ‘regular’ letters of ThRoUgH reversed or ‘climbing’
Beaten by JALOUSIE which I didn’t know. A word fit gave me the answer and allowed me to finish it off. Had no problem with SMARTS and was unaware that it is a US term. Saw the nina and had to google it as well. Favourite was 14a.
CREDIT NITE was my LOI. My best guess was “What may make good” as definition and “presents that aren’t wanted?” possibly referring to such as book tokens etc.
Thanks to Serpent and Bertandjoyce.
Obviously meant NOTE not NITE. Why do I never see typos until after posting?
I didn’t see the Nina which as B&J say is a perfect description of most Nina experiences
A nice test of the cruciverbal grey matter – thank you Serpent – and to B&J for the blog
Thanks Serpent and BnJ
I think 6 is fine. If you are given a present you don’t want, you can often return it to the vendor but will only be given a credit note (or an exchange), not a refund.
A good workout.
I liked 22ac – as someone working in the legal profession, it would have been a crime not to get it! SMARTS is fine but I agree about CREDIT NOTE.
Thank you Serpent and B&J
Re 7d – Smarts certainly is in Collins, or at least it was in 2014:
smarts
(sm??ts) pl n slang chiefly US know-how, intelligence, or wits: street smarts.
(Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014)
It’s not in my Chambers (2011), but I’m not sure why – it’s not exactly obscure and as Collins says it’s only “chiefly” American. I thought it was a very satisfying clue.
PS. “Street smarts” is actually in Chambers too, but not smarts on its own.
Serpent kept us on our toes today with one or two devices (such as ‘base’ for E) we’d not encountered for some time, fortunately we remembered them. We weren’t too sure about SMARTS for 7dn but decided that must be the answer. And because it was Serpent we looked for a nina and actually found it – after finishing.
Some great clues: we liked 25ac, but our CoD is 23dn.
Thanks, Serpent and B&J
Had to leave the SE corner unfinished for a while, but after a bit of gardening came back and finished it pretty quickly. Remembered to look for a nina, then had to look it up.
It was also a device to explain the rotating magnetic field that drove the new alternating current induction motors designed by inventor Nikola Tesla.
Thanks Serpent, B&J
I didn’t understand credit note save for the make good, but I think that’s because I wouldn’t have known how to use make good. Having looked it up I see it’s transitive, with ‘compensate for’ as definition, so make good presents = compensate for presents now makes good sense.
I’ve never spotted a diagonal nina, nor have I heard of this one, but I like it.
… shed clothes jumping bail was my favourite bit, also liked the magna carta, pigeon and jalousie
7dn was my LOI, but that was because of an oversight. When I came here and saw it mentioned in the introduction I went to look at the clue to see if I had had problems with it and found I’d not got round to filling it in. But I thought the answer was obvious with all the crossing letters. I’m surprised that SMARTS isn’t in Chambers, and I don’t think of it as particularly American I use it all the time. Maybe it’s all the American TV I watch.
Many thanks to Bertandjoyce for the usual excellent blog. And thanks to everyone who has taken the time to solve and comment on the puzzle.
Great stuff, though missed the Nina. loved the back of beyond, open secret and the elegant regular letters HURT – and more of course. I slowed down quite a bit in NE!
Many thanks Serpent and B&J
Too many we couldn’t parse for this to be fun so thanks for the blog. Not happy with department for field but the rest of you seem happy with it so must just be me. Smarts seems pretty obscure to me but I guess I have heard of it now I’m reminded. Jalousies unknown to me and the Nina certainly never come across before. Why is halibut a fishy character and not just a fish? I think I got out of bed the wrong side today….