Another excellent puzzle from the ever reliable Monk. Thank you.
And another failure to spot the inevitable Nina from me. Can anyone see what is going on in the grid?
Thank you to Monk for dropping in and explaining what is going on here. In the grid we have North, South, East and West; Left and Right; Upper (uppa) and Lower (lowa). They look so obvious now they have been pointed out.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | VITUPERATE |
Rivet up cracked, corroded slate (10)
|
| anagram (cracked) of RIVET UP then ATE (corroded) | ||
| 6 | FEAR |
What could be contained by safe area? (4)
|
| found inside (what could be contained in) saFE ARea – the definition is &lit (and literally): a clue where the entire wordplay is also the definition | ||
| 8 | CAMPAIGN |
Military ops affected by Maxim guns regularly going off (8)
|
| CAMP (affected) then every other letter (going off) of mAxIm GuNs | ||
| 9 | JAILOR |
Naked pilot found in the drink is 17 (6)
|
| pILOt (naked, with no outer letters) inside JAR (the drink, alcohol) – screw (17 across) is slang for a prison guard | ||
| 10 | OUST |
Remove tilt after cutting off an end (4)
|
| jOUST (tilt) with one end cut off | ||
| 11 | RESPIRATOR |
Gas mask needing repairs – faulty rubbish returned (10)
|
| anagram (faulty) of REPAIRS then ROT (rubbish) reversed (overturned) | ||
| 12 | EYE SHADOW |
Regards root of herb, woad, crushed for war paint (3,6)
|
| EYES (regards) Herb (first letter, root of) then anagram (crushed) of WOAD | ||
| 14 | ESTOP |
First topless work in old bar (5)
|
| bEST (first, topless) then OP (opus, work) – in the definition old indicates an archaic word | ||
| 17 | SCREW |
9 seconds taken by men (5)
|
| S (seconds) with CREW (men) – a screw is slang for a prison guard (JAILOR, 9 across) | ||
| 19 | ERRONEOUS |
Mistaken individual stopping user or suspect (9)
|
| ONE (individual) inside (stopping, like a cork) anagram (suspect) of USER OR | ||
| 22 | LAND LUBBER |
Capture fat bishop escaping – not at all hearty? (4-6)
|
| LAND (capture) then bLUBBER with B (bishop) removed (escaping) – hearty is an address to a fellow sailor e.g. aye-aye me hearties! | ||
| 23 | ISLE |
Key ingredient of nickel-silver sent over (4)
|
| found inside (ingredient of) nickEL SIlver reversed (sent over) | ||
| 24 | LASTED |
Held out for decapitation, damned (6)
|
| bLASTED (damned) missing first letter (for decapitation) | ||
| 25 | LAW LORDS |
Select members with sod all power finally caved in (3,5)
|
| anagram (caved in) of W (with) SOD ALL and poweR (last letter, finally) – the Lords of Appeal, select members of the House of Lords | ||
| 26 | LIAR |
Pork-pie manufacturer in trouble about abattoir’s closure (4)
|
| AIL (trouble) reversed (about) then abattoiR (last letter, the closure) – pork pie is rhyming slang for lie | ||
| 27 | WISHY-WASHY |
Weak question about one’s will to keep mum (5-5)
|
| WHY (a question) contains (about) I’S (one’s) then WAY (will ?) containing (to keep) SH (quiet, mum). Will is given as one meaning of way in Chambers (no. 22 of 27) but I am struggling to think of an example. Can someone help me out please? | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | VICTORESS |
Isaac, gutted, raced in five athletics events, finally a winner (9)
|
| IsaaC (gutted, nothing inside) TORE (raced) inside V (five) then last letters (finally) of atheleticS eventS | ||
| 2 | TUMESCE |
Swell corporation executive ultimately holds the key (7)
|
| TUM (belly, corporation) Executive (last letter, finally) contains ESC (the key, on a computer keyboard) | ||
| 3 | ERITREAN |
African flag hoisted above ground? Not so (8)
|
| TIRE (flag) reversed (hoisted) then (above, in a down solution) REAsoN (ground) missing SO | ||
| 4 | ANNUS HORRIBILIS |
Shot rhinos – burials in 1992 for one? (5,10)
|
| anagram (shot) of RHINOS BURIALS IN – a phrase popularized by Queen Elizabeth in a speech in 1992 following a succession of family problems that year | ||
| 5 | ENJOIN |
English unite to follow New Order (6)
|
| E (English) then JOIN (unite) following N (new) | ||
| 6 | FRICASSEE |
In a stew – buttocks bitten by fierce mongrel (9)
|
| ASS (buttocks) inside (bitten by) anagram (mongrel) of FIERCE | ||
| 7 | AMOROSO |
Tender a mostly severe offer to begin with (7)
|
| A then MOROSe (severe, mostly) and Offer (first letter, to begin with) | ||
| 13 | SPEEDSTER |
Boy racer, unrelenting, failing to finish when suppressed by drug (9)
|
| STERn (unrelenting, failing to finish) follows (suppressed by, underneath in a down solution) SPEED (drug) | ||
| 15 | PASSERS-BY |
Potential witnesses in reserve as press messed up beforehand (7-2)
|
| BY (in reserve) follows (with…beforehand) anagram (messed up) of AS PRESS | ||
| 16 | SOARAWAY |
Making spectacular progress in a conflict up in a Scottish island (8)
|
| A WAR (conflict) reversed (up) inside SOAY (a Scottish island off the coast of Skye) , | ||
| 18 | CHAPATI |
Bread man mostly up to no good (7)
|
| CHAP (man) AT It (up to no good, mostly) | ||
| 20 | OF SORTS |
Vague toss for break (2,5)
|
| anagram (to break) of TOSS FOR | ||
| 21 | SUNDEW |
Plant constructed in two days back- to-back (6)
|
| SUN and WED (two days) with the second day facing the opposite way (back-to-back) |
Small error in blog for 25a. Anagram fodder also needs W for “with”.
There are 3 unchecked Ls in the leftmost column and 3 Rs on the right, but that’s all I can see.
As expected from Monk, pretty hard work, but satisfying to get out in the end. SOARAWAY was my last in, never having heard of the ‘Scottish island’ or in fact ‘islands’ as there is apparently also a Soay off the coast of St. Kilda. The Wikipedia entry for the one off Skye is particularly interesting and mentions the (to me unexpected) role Gavin Maxwell played in its history.
I took a while to come up with VICTORESS and was put off by the ‘Boy’ bit of the def for SPEEDSTER.
Sorry, but beyond the consecutive answers FEAR CAMPAIGN, I can’t help with a theme or Nina.
Thanks to Monk and PeeDee
On “way” for “will”, I was thinking along the line of “Boris forces his will/way on the British public”. Where there’s a will there’s a way, as they say.
Fairly straightforward for a Monk but the quality shone.
I dont think the grid was very nina-friendly
Thanks PeeDee and Thelonius
Thanks to Monk and PeeDee. I finally got VICTORESS but SOARAWAY defeated me.
Thanks Hovis, fixed now.
Very enjoyable so many thanks to Monk.
I failed on 14A, 24A and 26A (embarrassing for a Londoner!) so thanks also to PeeDee for the blog.
The nina is lost on me, in spite of much thought. Elucidate please someone?
Thanks Monk – this took an overnight brain reset to complete. Enjoyable though.
Thanks for the blog Peedee.
I noticed the R/L on the edges and think each of those on one side “sort of” linked with one on the other.
I also nominate ERRONEOUS as the word of the day.
Thanks PeeDee for the excellent blog as usual and to all posters for positive comments. Worplodder@3, I went thro’ a phase of reading everything writting by and about Gavin Maxwell, as well as visiting Skye several times, which made Soay very familiar to me.
Copmus@5 was bang-on when saying that this grid wasn’t very Nina-friendly, so the bitty Nina comprises: (i) the last Ns in both 3dn and 5dn are at the apices of two cardinal-point quartets; (ii) [as spotted] the left- and right-hand sides were flagged by triplets of L and R respectively; (iii) the double unches in the first and last pairs of rows were filled with UP/PA and LO/WA respectively.
Perhaps PeeDee could colour the cells in the published grid above, as I don’t know how to add a picture to a blog post. Thanks!
Colouring is now done!
Thanks Monk and PeeDee
This one (along with getting busy at work) set me back a couple of days in crossword solving. By the time that it was finished, was too puffed out to go looking for ninas / themes – but no way would have found it anyway ! Very neat when it has been pointed out.
A number of new terms that included VITUPERATE, SOARAWAY, SOAY and LAW LORDS. Wasn’t all that enthused with MOROSE = ‘severe’ – both words angle towards a word like ‘grim’ but one from a sullen direction and the other from a serious or stern one.
Enjoyed the variety of the word play construction, especially where one had to find a synonym and then operate on it, such as in ERITREAN and quite a number of others. Had to construct SOARAWAY from the directions, starting with the reversed A WAR and having to track down the Scottish island.
Finished with CAMPAIGN (tricky misdirection), ANNUS HORRIBILLIS (needing all but one of the crossers) and the unknown LAW LORDS the last one in.