Basilisk provide's this morning's entertainment
I've been lucky with my puzzles recently, and this one was no exception. My first trawl though the across answers had me a little worried, as I only had a few in, but the down solutions suggested themselves to me quite readily. Some of the parsing was a little challenging, but nothing was overly obscure or difficult and this was a joy from start to finish.
Thanks, Basilisk
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | FRACAS |
Uproar after losing current leader of South Africa in disorder (6)
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*(s afrca) [anag:in disorder] where S is [leader of] S(outh) and AFRCA is AFR(i)CA after losing i (symbol for electrical "current" in physics) |
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| 4 | PHOBIA |
Thing that has old man embracing old boy in greeting (6)
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PA ("old man") embracing OB (old boy) in HI ("greeting") |
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| 8 | CURATOR |
Person arranging work schedule policemen once backed (7)
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<=(ROTA ("schedule") + RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary (now defunct), so "policemen once", backed) |
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| 9 | DIARIST |
Writer is tense after counter-attack (7)
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IS + T (tense) after [counter] <=RAID ("attack") |
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| 11 | ATTAINMENT |
Case of apparent corruption involving staff acquisition (10)
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[case of] A(pparen)T + TAINT ("corruption") involving MEN ("staff") |
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| 12 | IAMB |
Bit of poetry penned by William Blake (4)
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Contained in [penned by] "willIAM Blake" |
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| 13, 14 | BRAVE NEW WORLD |
Work of author concealed end of novel in daring neologism (5,3,5)
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[end of] (nove)L concealed in BRAVE ("daring") NEW WORD ("neologism") |
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| 16 | PLANKTON |
School dinners comprising tiny portions in the main? (8)
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Cryptic definition, with the school in the question referring to a school of whales, for whom plankton is food. |
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| 18 | OFFED |
American got rid of following pages in dictionary (5)
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FF (following pages) in OED (Oxford English "Dictionary") The "got rid of" in the clue refers to offing someone (killing them) in gangster-speak. |
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| 20 | HYMN |
Song that man heard (4)
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Homophone [heard] of HIM ("that man") |
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| 21 | PROSECUTOR |
Lawyer’s writing ignored body of work (10)
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PROSE ("writing") + CUT ("ignored") + [body of] (w)OR(k) |
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| 23 | SCALLOP |
Shell’s concession involving summons (7)
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SOP ("concession") involving CALL ("summons") |
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| 24 | FACTUAL |
What is true, notwithstanding a bit of fiction? (7)
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ACTUAL ("true") with [a bit of] F(iction) and &lit. |
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| 25 | ESSAYS |
State blocks 60% of press articles (6)
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SAY ("state") blocks [60% of] (pr)ESS |
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| 26 | DEBRIS |
Refuse to reduce debt and risk (6)
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[to reduce] DEB(t) + RIS(k) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FAULT |
Error made by football manager last month (5)
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FA (Football Association, organisation that "manages football" in England) + ULT. (an outdated term for "last month" in formal correspondence) |
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| 2 | ALABAMA |
State of several articles punctuated by large black marks (7)
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A A A A ("several articles") punctuated by L (large) + B (black) + M (marks) |
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| 3 | ADORNMENT |
Decoration comprising a small circle worn by members of Royal Navy? (9)
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A DOT ("a small circle") worn by RN MEN ("members of the Royal Navy") |
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| 5 | HOIST |
What’s used to raise army to protect Italy (5)
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HOST ("army") to protect I (international vehicle code for Italy) |
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| 6 | BURRITO |
Fare from Mexico City’s centre charges the earth almost (7)
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(c)IT(y) ['s centre] charges BURRO(w) ("earth", almost) |
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| 7 | ASSEMBLED |
Rallied American behind me, turned and ran (9)
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ASS ("American behind") + [turned] <=ME + BLED ("ran") |
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| 10 | LEANING ON |
Bias in operation is intimidating (7,2)
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LEANING ("bias") + ON ("in operation") |
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| 13 | BELLYACHE |
Complain beautiful woman has commandeered vessel briefly (9)
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BELLE ("beautiful woman") has commandeered YACH(t) ("vessel", briefly) |
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| 15 | WHOLESALE |
Spooner’s only greeting is indiscriminate (9)
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For Spooner, SOLE HAIL ("only greeting") may have come out as HOLE SAIL (homophone of WHOLESALE) |
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| 17 | NONPLUS |
Hotel abandons seemingly spartan floor (7)
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H (hotel) abandons NON-PLUS(h) ("seemingly spartan") |
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| 19 | FLUSTER |
Whistleblower recalled being filled with desire to cause embarrassment (7)
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<=REF ("whistleblower", recalled) being filled with LUST ("desire") |
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| 21 | PROXY |
Substitute player who’s paid by year (5)
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PRO ("player who's paid") + X ("by" as in 4 x 4) + Y (year) |
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| 22 | OKAYS |
Sanctions really limiting pointless dialogue after revolution (5)
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<=(SO ("really") limiting YAK ("pointless dialogue"), after revolution) |
As expected with Basilisk, there is a nina. This time it is the author of 13/14.
Rattled through this until I hit my last 3: NONPLUS, LEANED ON & PLANKTON. Managed to complete without cheating so was very pleased.
Second one today from our slithering friend. Enjoyable challenge, with a Nina to top off the pleasing sight of a filled grid. I just couldn’t work out the parsing for FRACAS (obvious now) and didn’t see BURROW for ‘earth’. Everything else parsed, though PLANKTON was a sneaky cryptic def.
Favourite was the misleading surface for FLOOR.
Thanks to Basilisk and loonapick
Always interesting to see the different ways we solvers get held up or stumble. PLANKTON (great surface) NONPLUS and FRACAS were fine for me but HOIST and (embarrasingly) PROSECUTOR proved tough. The book was a favourite and its lurking author helped with HOIST and PROXY.
Also enjoyed BELLYACHE and the neat Spoonerism.
Thanks to Basilisk and to Loonapick for a sterling and much-needed blog.
Two treats from the same setter in one day – what more could one ask? And again, I did see the Nina!
Lots of lovely clues but smile of the day has to go to the ‘school dinners’ in 16a
Thanks to Basilisk and Loonapick
Too hard for me. I do congratulate our formidable blogger. One day I might be able overcome our slithery setter who gave us an admirable puzzle. Surprisingly HOIST was one of my easier clues .
SM@5 don’t congratulate me – I was so busy parsing that I completely missed the nina!!
I thought I’d posted before but must have hit the wrong button.
Anyway I liked the symmetry of ALDOUS at the top and HUXLEY at bottom with Brave New World in the middle
Copmus@7 This is a spoiler for the Indy puzzle, I fear
copmus @7 – I’ve deleted the second part of your post because as Rudolf pointed out, it was a spoiler for the Indy puzzle.
Thanks Basilisk and Loonapick
I did not spot the Nina until it was mentioned here, but it has occurred to me somewhat belatedly that “concealed” in the clue for 13/14ac could be part of the definition referring to the Nina. After all, “Work of author” does not really make much sense, and “end of novel in” is enough on its own for the inclusion.
Thanks Basilisk for your usual cleverness. Despite failing at FRACAS, FAULT, and CURATOR (did not know RUC) I found this most satisfying with clues like PHOBIA, DIARIST, BRAVE NEW WORLD, DEBRIS, ASSEMBLED, NONPLUS, and PROXY all getting ticks from me. I didn’t think to search for a nina; that was unfortunate because I’ve read Huxley and it might have helped with completing the NW corner. Maybe I’ll do better with Serpent but somehow I doubt it. Thanks Loonapick for the blog.
What exactly is “the nina”?.
thanks
Harry @12: Al Hirschfeld did drawings in the NY Times years ago and he used to hide his daughter’s name (Nina) in his drawings. It was always fun to find these. A “nina” has come to mean anything hidden in the completed crossword grid that the setter intends for the solver to find. Some setters do this routinely.
Thanks Tony.
Some poor clueing here
Thing = phobia, host = army, earth = burrow & floor = nonplus all a bit too obscure and/or imprecise.
Ninas don’t impress me. Good clues do.
…and staff = men is unacceptable sexism.
Hilda D @ 15
“obscure” just means “I didn’t know it”
How about
I have a thing / phobia about spiders
Host from Chambers Thesaurus
“multitude, myriad, array, army, horde, crowd, throng, mass, swarm, pack, troop, herd, mob, crush, band”
Earth from Chambers Dictionary
“11. A burrow, esp of a badger or fox“
Floor from Chambers Thesaurus
“1 baffle, defeat, overwhelm, beat, frustrate, confound, perplex, nonplus, dumbfound, puzzle, bewilder, disconcert, throw”
Always worth checking before commenting.
Hilda@16: Just as 21ac does not imply that lawyers have to be prosecutors, similarly 11ac does not say that staff have to be men. There is nothing remotely sexist about that clue.
I wonder what Hilda @16 would make of ‘man’ cluing ‘queen’ (chess piece) as recently seen…
With apologies for my tardiness in posting, many thanks to loonapick for the excellent blog and to everyone who has taken the time to solve and comment on the puzzle.
Thanks Basilisk and loonapick
Very late to this one and had the time to sit down and do it in a very pleasant single session. Didn’t manage to spot the nina again, despite it being telegraphed in the clue for the title of his work. Loved the clue for PLANKTON and thought that the word play for ALABAMA was an innovative one.
Finished in the SW corner with ESSAYS (with its tricky definition), HYMN, SCALLOP (rarely think of it as a shell, more a very tasty delicacy) and NONPLUS (with its amusing word play).