First Saturday in November, as the fireworks prepare to fly, Nimrod sets the clues. Better put my best analytical head on then.
Possibly not as tough as I was expecting, but still a good workout.
5dn was probably my favourite clue, 14dn hit the spot too and 4ac would complete the top three. 22ac was very very clever and original, which is what we expect from Nimrod
Thanks Nimrod – I was expecting much worse when I saw your name
Rev. reverse; * anagram; DD double definition; underline definition
Across
1 Force special lock (6)
s(special) + tress (lock) = STRESS
4 Surely being led astray must have fines halved? (2,6)
off course (being led astray) – f (fines halved) = OF COURSE
10 It’s unfortunate only the last of fliers is accepted, in truth (9)
ads (fliers) + verity (truth) moving s into verity = ADVERSITY
11/21 Dragoons describing Rob Roy and An Elegy to listeners? (5,5)
scot’s (describing Rob Roy) + greys (homonym of Gray’s elegy) = SCOTS GREYS
12 One takes walk around Italian city (5)
i(one) in turn (walk around) = TURIN
13 Scanty pants? Predictable response in rule-following order (9)
(scanty)* + tic (predictable response) = SYNTACTIC
15 Broadcast NHS open secret, do you? (3,6,6)
(nhs open secret do)* = THE SECOND PERSON
17 With one off-beam wit in US dividing country, the best possible outcome? (3-3,9)
w(wth) + i (one) + nation (country) around (wit in Us)* = WIN-WIN SITUATION
18 This will be getting nasty with local canvassing (9)
(this local)* = SAILCLOTH
20 In language, e.g. writing in past tense (5)
r (e.g writing) in ago(past) + t (tense) = ARGOT
21 See 11
22 Anagram letters written like this for solving clique, say? (2,1,6)
Homonym of Inner circle (clique) = IN A CIRCLE
23 Warm beer, this Yorkshire Terrier (8)
aired (warm) + ale (beer) = AIREDALE
24 Rolling preserves verges of couch grass (6)
Rev. tins (preserves) + ch (verges of couch) = SNITCH
Down
1 Why, we hear, divers won’t put into Portsmouth region? Poor areas (11)
S Hants (Portsmouth region) around (won’t)* + y (why we hear) = SHANTY TOWNS
2 Might you get e.g.Abba B or Leffie to make a copy like this? (7-8)
Reverse engineer eg abba B (Babbage) or Reverse leffie = Eiffel (engineer) = REVERSE ENGINEER
3 Greene novel in the ascendant it’s plain (9)
Rev its around (greene)* = SERENGETI
5 KLM captain still not cleared for landing? (6,8)
Cryptic definition = FLYING DUTCHMAN
6 Is about to appear in big adaptation’s opening or musical (5)
os (big) + is + a (adaptations opening) = OSSIA
7 Enough in snug for whip-round? (4,2,5,1,3)
Cryptic definition with cat being a whip (one of Schadenfreude’s favourite misdirections) = ROOM TO SWING A CAT
8 At printer’s, measures editor’s initial written submission (3)
e(editor’s initial) + ms (written submission) = EMS
9 So employee stepping up must grow a pair? (3,5,2,4)
Cryptic definition = BIG SHOES TO FILL
14 One seen in the canteen exercising __? (6,5)
i (one) in (the canteen)* = CANINE TEETH
16 Person at the top you shouldn’t have to call over issue (9)
Rev. [No 1 (Person at the top) + ta (you shouldn’t have) + name (call)] = EMANATION
19 Made a check of tea leaves in a box? (5)
casted (made a check) – t(tea) = CASED
21 OK for head to leave part of India (3)
go ahead (ok) – head = GOA
In 2d, the other engineer is Babbage (e.g abba b<). In 10a, I had ads (fliers) + verity (truth), with only the last letter of ads put inside it.
Phew! Needed help with parsing at least 6 answers…
Good workout though thank you Nimrod and twenceslas
I parsed ADVERSITY the same way Hovis did @1 but there were many I couldn’t parse fully…or parsed wrongly. I took CASED to be a DD as in ‘check made by tea-leaves/thieves’ and ‘in a box’.
All too tortuous for my brain but I’m sure some will have breezed through.
Thanks to both.
And REVERSE ENGINEER is brilliant now that it is fully explained by H & T.
Salad @3. That’s how I parsed CASED but wasn’t convinced.
Thanks @Hovis – I knew I wasn’t right. Have amended blog. I think cased as a DD may indeed be the correct intention.
What a lovely surprise to find a Nimrod to solve. Not as difficult as he can be, and great fun -my particular favourites were 2d and 5d
Thanks very much indeed to Nimrod and to twencelas
REVERSE ENGINEERS was great. Once you see it you can’t imagine how you missed it at first. Is “divers” an anagram indicator in 1d?
@Petert – regarding divers – it is
The blog for 14D is missing the I (one) in the anagram fodder and I’m not sure where in the clue there is a definition of canine teeth.
Am I missing something?
@reddevil – good spot – apologies now added. The whole is a cryptic definition to using one of your teeth in a canteen to eat food is my interpretation.
Struggled with a lot of this so really needed the blog to help me fully parse several so thank you Twencelas and thanks Nimrod.
At 6d I had the definition as ‘or musical’ – ossia is an alternative musical passage.
Thanks @Sourdough – I’ve updated the underlining.
If I had known Nimrod was Enigmatist/Io I never would have started this because I find those alter-egos impeneteable. After struggling a bit and getting a few measly answers I looked up Nimrod but still I persisted and everything seemed to slowly fall in place. OF COURSE (great clue) my gaps in parsing were many but at least my “lucky guessing” has improved. I loved THE SECOND PERSON. Thanks to both.
Good one! Loved the Scanty pants! And The Second Person!
19d Thieves (tea leaves) CASED (checked-over) a joint. In a Box is cased alsp. So two oblique definitions really.
KK: That’s how I read 19d, too. It seemed so obvious I didn’t bother to check what the blog said. Can “casted” mean made a check?
Thanks both. Solved most but not all over two days. Will join the admiration for REVERSE ENGINEERS which was one of many unparsed, but feel much was an uneven struggle
I specially enjoyed the cheeky def in 15a. 4d was classic Nimrod too. Thanks to setter and blogger!
Oops – that ‘4d’ should have been ‘4a’.
Too much ambiguity for my liking. I can’t honestly see that many people would find this a satisfying solve.
As the comments have shown there are a few questionable instructions in the clues for many people. I’m sure they could all be argued, but if there’s more than 1 or 2 people quibling over more than 1 or 2 questions then I would personally say the threshold has been overstepped.
You might have guessed, Nimrod has totally outdone me here. There are plenty of very clever and perfectly fair clues that I should have solved. But too many for my liking that are questionable. As show n in my opinion by the number of corrections to the blog.
I don’t tend to keep a track of setters I don’t get on with but I reckon Nimrod might stick out for me. Completely out of my depth here.