Tyrus fills the Thursday slot this week.
We always expect a few unusual words in Tyrus’ puzzles, so we weren’t surprised to find some previously unknown words at 11ac and 16ac. We had to make a stab at the anagram in 16ac when we had all the crossing letters (it’s not in Chambers or our dead-tree version of Collins) and check it on-line to confirm the definition. We then realised that there is a perimeter Nina that relates to 16ac – see the note in the blog below for our thoughts on this. The original is obviously offensive but are we the only ones who find the take on it rather unfunny?
IS with DOWN (not happy) outside or ‘on the surface’
We think this must be: L (first letter or ‘start’ of lazy) E (the middle letter or ‘heart’ of ‘sweet’) E (repeated as ‘sweethearts’ is plural) with SPIN (turn) outside or ‘over’ – we’re not convinced by the wordplay for repeating the ‘e’ though but maybe we are reading it wrongly.
A (away) + an anagram (‘bubbly’) of PERSON and H L N (alternate or ‘regular’ letters of Helen)
ON reversed or ‘reflecting’ + OR (other ranks – ‘men’). We had to check this Queen – apparently an American-born lady who was Queen of Jordan from 1978 until the death of King Hussain in 1999.
LIEN (right) with ST (street – ‘way’) inside or ‘entering’
An anagram (‘cavorting’) of WIN HEART
An anagram (‘fantastic’) of ALEXA OPUS IS – a new word for us, and one that is not in Chambers – someone who finds intelligence sexually attractive. This is the connection to the perimeter Nina – a mildly amusing adaptation of a cruder and not-at-all amusing chant which seems to be beloved of the baser members of the male sex, particularly when in a crowd.
ANGLE (fish) after an anagram (‘torn’) of NET
I E (that is) + ILL (poor) reversed or ’rounded’ after or ‘on’ N (last or ‘latest’ letter of Brydon) – we would never have heard of niello/nielli if it had not appeared so often in crosswords
HELLo (celebrity magazine) without the last letter or ‘most of’
An anagram (‘easy’) of COMPILE ITS
Hidden and reversed (‘regressive’) in AmericA IS SURPrisingly
R (runs) in SPOTS (sees)
SIR (teacher) LOg-IN (access to computer) without the ‘g’ (good)
G (grand) ONE (united)
pENCHANT (fancy) with the ‘p’ (quietly) omitted or ‘going’ + IN (home) G (last letter or ‘end’ of evening)
Hidden (‘held’) and reversed (‘up’) in extRA STudies
YES (I agree) round or ‘cut by’ W (with)
An anagram (‘problem’) of NAME POSES + E (last letter or ‘border’ of Chinese)
An anagram (‘unfortunately’) of ROMAN and L U (alternate or ‘occasional’ letters of loud)
TEAL (duck) OUR (for us) round or ‘maintaining’ PAR (standard)
Double definition
X (wrong, as in marking students’ work) in TAO (principle) + NO MIST (‘nothing to prevent one seeing clearly’). Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist as well as the taxonomist who formalised the modern system of naming organisms.
UN (‘one’ in French, as in Nice) KEMP (Martin Kemp, the actor) T (last or ‘ultimate’ letter in perfect)
CLOSET (secret place) O (Oscar – in the phonetic alphabet)
PE (exercise) with SO (like this) after
LO (see) + a reversal (‘overcoming’) of FA (nothing)
CHOUx (pastry) without the ‘x’ (unknown)
I didn’t know what the Nina referred to and failed to see the connection to 16a, which I semi-guessed from crossers and anagram fodder; you may be pleased to know it’s in the Urban Dictionary but hasn’t made its way to the OED (yet).
I parsed ‘sweethearts’ in 9a as you did but wasn’t confident. I was also unsure whether UNMORAL for ‘rarely wicked’ at 7d meant just a little bit bad, though not very bad (or wicked) or indicated it is an archaic word, rarely used these days. NIELLI went in courtesy of previous crosswords and antiques programs on the TV. Last in was ALPENHORNS, despite an appearance elsewhere only a few days ago.
All in all, not too hard for a Tyrus / Vlad, helped by the Nina even if I didn’t appreciate its significance.
Thanks to Tyrus and B&J
I love JT’s puzzles, particularly the Tyrus which usually have a nina, often political. But I couldnt quite make sense of this and wondered if there was a new version of men Behaving Badly
“That ” middle word almost defeated One Look but it parsed OK
It seemed like a description of Dorothea at the start of Middlemarch
Googling the word led me to rather vile )C)RAP track complete with auto tune and other unmusical devices
Hope the instigator pops in to shed some light
Thanks for blog
I’m in the ‘rather unfunny’ corner this morning and found this tricky in more than one place
Thanks to Tyrus and B&J
I’m afraid I found it rather amusing, but I suspect I’ll be in the minority. I had to reveal SAPIOSEXUAL and several others, but then I usually have trouble with Tyrus/Vlad, although I can never understand why once the answer is revealed. Most annoying.
Thanks Tyrus and B&J
Even less (or more??) amusing is the OAP version ‘Get your teeth out for the lads’. Sorry, standing in for
Harry.
Never heard of SAPIOSEXUAL and although we realised there was a nina it took us ages to work out what it was, not to mention several clues where we had to resort to a wordfinder. And if the nina/16ac connection was intended to be funny, we’re sorry but it went down like a lead baloon with us. Thanks, though, to B&J for the explanations.
Is the pastry not just the plural of the cabbage? Does that make 24 down less cryptic?
Thanks both. Interesting a high proportion of personal objections to the theme/nina, albeit amongst so few posts (perhaps as this was a tough solve) I feel there is a danger crossword setting may become like comedy – an environment of lots of ‘no go’ areas lest someone takes offence
Would the repetition of the letter E in 9ac follow from “sweethearts” being plural. So “sweetheart” would be a single E; “sweethearts” is EE
Sorry: just re-read the original explanations and made myself look an idiot. Clearly I didn’t have my Wits about me the first time I read it
Not just crosswords and comedy TFO @8 – practically any public discourse.
I enjoyed the Nina : I’d always prefer to get my wits out rather than any other option. It also helped with the solve, and that W at the end of 14a made it very clear it was a witty, not offensive, version. Never heard of nielli – not done enough crosswords, evidently! Thanks to Tyrus and Bertandjoyce
Almost total defeat for me, got half a dozen answers all day.