The puzzle can be found here.
Hello everybody, and happy weekend. When I see that Tyrus is the setter, I know we are in for a real challenge, so I was pleased to finish this without undue bother, especially after a busy week. Plenty to enjoy, and a little something extra to discover too. My favourite clues were 12a REAWAKEN, 20a EARMARK and 15d ELIMINATOR. Thanks, Tyrus!
There is a nina in the perimeter squares, which was of some help in places although it took until the end for me to decipher it fully:
KELLYANNE ER WAS THERE A COVID ONE
— referring to this story, and the answer to 3d. There also just may be one or two allusions to be found in the surface reading of some of the clues, but I couldn’t possibly comment.
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
8a Sheets on early in the day (4)
REAM
RE (on) + AM (early in the day)
9a Nothing good postponed (2,3)
ON ICE
O (nothing) + NICE (good). O meaning zero is given in the dictionary, so it’s not just that they are similar shapes. I’m sure it would be used regardless, though – after all we still occasionally see OO = spectacles!
10a Print whole of section (4)
OLEO
WhOLE Of section. A short form of oleograph, a print imitating an oil painting
11a Financial arrangement protecting Charlie’s not so good in retirement (6)
ESCROW
Around (protecting) C (Charlie) is the reversal of (… in retirement) WORSE (not so good)
12a Perk up again – briefly back with a street Lothario (8)
REAWAKEN
All but the last letter of (briefly) REAr (back) + W (with) + A (a) + KEN (street Lothario). At first the street Lothario was beyond my ken but just as I was about to investigate, into my head popped Ken Barlow, a character in Coronation Street. I may not have known that he was a ladies man, but given that affairs are the meat and two veg of soaps, it was a fair bet!
13a California’s sporting icon (3)
ALI
CALIfornia’s containing (sporting) this icon
14a That woman’s back, extremely sensible – why most people don’t believe this! (6)
HERESY
HER (that woman’s), then we need to reverse (back) the outer letters of (extremely) SensibleE and add Y (why), the last part being text speak, as the letter spelling is apparently wy or wye
16a Good point about ‘The Real Slim Shady’? Writer may use it (8)
GRAPHITE
G (good) and E (point, of the compass) around (about) RAP HIT (‘The Real Slim Shady‘?)
18a Fancies deranged from the start – isn’t the sharpest tool in the box (7)
TITBITS
An anagram of (deranged) the first letters of (from the start) Isn’t The Sharpest Tool In The Box
20a Mare panicking on ship – keep back! (7)
EARMARK
MARE anagrammed (panicking) next to (on) ARK (ship)
21a Virtual people carrying costly weapons (8)
SIDEARMS
SIMS (virtual people) containing (carrying) DEAR (costly)
23a Rest to apply again – I’m leaving (6)
REPOSE
RE[im]POSE (to apply again) with I’M removed (leaving)
24a Metal container‘s yellow with handle on right (3)
ORE
OR (yellow, heraldry) with the rightmost letter of (… on right) handlE
25a Draw foal worrying another animal (8)
AARDWOLF
DRAW FOAL anagrammed (worrying)
27a I, for one, listened to declaration (6)
AVOWAL
This sounds like (… listened to) “A VOWEL” (I, for one)
29a Without room to wriggle (4)
WORM
WO (without) + RM (room)
30a Take care of announcing third and second in series (3,2)
SEE TO
A homophone of (announcing) “C” and “2” (third and second in series)
31a Darling, promise of marriage’s a little late (4)
IDOL
I DO (promise of marriage, promise during marriage) + the first letter of (a little) Late
Down
1d Fish fingers with no starter (4)
EELS
fEELS (fingers) without the first letter (with no starter)
2d Earl became criminal liable to incur fine (10)
AMERCEABLE
EARL BECAME anagrammed (criminal)
3d Reluctant to admit Swann’s content playing far less effective spinner (6)
CONWAY
COY (reluctant) containing (to admit) sWANn’s inner letters (content) anagrammed (playing). Swann is Graham and the different kind of “spinner” is Kellyanne
4d Shout to young woman climbing platform (3,3)
OIL RIG
OI (shout) + GIRL (young woman) reversed (climbing, in a down entry)
5d Evan’s abroad – it’s OK in Bordeaux where the claret flows (4,4)
VENA CAVA
EVAN’s anagrammed (abroad), then we have CA VA (ça va, it’s OK in Bordeaux). Claret is slang for blood
6d Island location army conceals (4)
IONA
LocatION Army conceals our answer
7d Needs brute to loosen bonds (10)
DEBENTURES
NEEDS BRUTE anagrammed (to loosen)
15d I’m struggling with oriental heat (10)
ELIMINATOR
An anagram of (… struggling …) I’M with ORIENTAL
17d It’s funny about cleaner’s endless prejudice … such as this? (10)
HOMOPHOBIA
HO HO (it’s funny) around (about) MOP (cleaner), then all but the last letter of (endless) BIAs (prejudice). The definition refers back to the “prejudice” in the clue
19d Animal raced round it? So unlikely (8)
TORTOISE
TORE (raced) goes round an anagram of (… unlikely) IT SO
22d Cushion beginning to sag regularly (6)
SOFTEN
The first letter of (beginning to) Sag + OFTEN (regularly)
23d Think capital offence does require beheading (6)
REASON
To get the answer, [t]REASON (capital offence) must have its first letter removed (does require beheading)
26d Broad raised stupid point (4)
DAME
The reversal of (raised) MAD (stupid) followed by E (point)
28d Mainly greeting a very successful Olympian? (4)
AHOY
A (from the clue) + HOY (very successful Olympian, Chris). Mainly greeting needs to be read as greeting in the main/sea
Magnificent stuff. Chortle. Thanks to Tyrus for a really challenging puzzle in which I particularly enjoyed the ding! noise that went off in my head when I pieced together the Nina, and thanks to Kitty for the great blog and for the parsing of TITBITS which I just couldn’t see.
Another demonstration of why Tyrus is one of my favourite setters. Lovely constructed surfaces and cleverly challenging clues. The only question marks I had when solving were KEN in 12a and CONWAY in 3d. After finishing and seeing the nina and googling, I thought 3d may well be KELLYANNE and I then wondered about KEN BARLOW.
Thanks for clarifying the O for zero. One of my bugbears is the use of anagrams for obscure words. 2d fell into that category for me today, but obscure for one can be well-known to another.
I certainly can’t criticise Tyrus for 22d but I think it is a shame that “regularly” has come to mean “often”. Comets can appear regularly but not often. I often sneeze but don’t sneeze regularly. Would have preferred “frequently” myself but have to move with the times.
Thanks to Tyrus and Kitty. Now I know what an aardwolf looks like.
I always have a go at a Tyrus puzzle, but seldom complete them (too hard for this solver, since you ask). But this one fell out nicely, and demonstrated the reason I keep trying – Tyrus’ puzzles are always fun and usually poke fun. As random ninas go, this is up there, but it reads better surely as ER, WAS THERE A COVID ONE, KERRYANNE?
I too was pleased to make the acquaintance of the AARDWOLF.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Not my cup of tea – too many obscure references for me, from the Nina via Conway to Slim Shady. Some nice clues but I really didn’t like 13a or 24a which both seem very vaguely clued.
That has to rate as one of the most bizarre Ninas I’ve ever seen but I guess it will appeal to others.
I did like 9&20a plus 19,22&28d so thanks to Tyrus for those and thanks also to the ever upbeat Kitty for the review and the hilarious sequence of the cat skating on thin ice. Not sure who’d get the biggest shock if the ice gave way under his weight!
I didnt emerge completely unscathed tripping up on a couple of clues but thought this was an absolute belter.The “ER” threw me on the nina
many thanks Kitty and Tyrus.
We found this quite a challenge but completed it thanks to the nina even though it didn’t make much sense to us not knowing that it referred to a White House inanity. Some of the parsings proved tricky too, and we couldn’t parse GRAPHITE (apart from the G and the E).
Hovis’ comment @2 about ‘often’ and ‘regularly’ reminded us of the notice posted at a motorway service area to dsicourage illegal use of the private access road as an unofficial exit: ‘Random checks made regularly’ 🙂
Thanks, Tyrus and Kitty
Well, got there in the end but I couldn’t parse several. The only Ken that came to mind was Barbie and Ken, the only Conways I could recall were Russ Conway, a popular pianist when I was growing up and John Horton Conway, the mathematician who died of Covid-19 earlier this year. And didn’t spot the Nina.
Many thanks to Kitty for her excellent blog (and link to the nina story) and to others who commented.
Sadly, Kellyanne recently announced she was stepping down ‘to spend more time with her family’. Word on the street is she somehow got wind of this puzzle which influenced her decision. Suspect this is an ‘alternative fact’ though, just like the Bowling Green massacre.
Thanks to Kitty and Tyrus
Great crossword, easy target, let’s focus on why these pantomime villains are in power.
Otherwise …