Well…… this was a bit of a ‘tour de force’ by Hob. It wasn’t until Joyce came to write up the blog that Bert suddenly worked out the parsing for 24d and 19d.
When he sorted out the parsing of 19d, he also uncovered the theme. Nina Conti is an actress and comedienne and a number of thematic references are included within the grid (in green below). Conti also features within the across unches sharing a T with 19d. She’s not someone we’re familiar with, so we may have missed other thematic entries.
We are currently on Bryher in the Scilly Isles, so we may not be able to respond to comments very quickly.
| Across | ||
| 8 | Like Knotty Ash‘s hooter, keeping awfully loud (8) | |
| NODULOSE | NOSE (hooter) around or ‘keeping’ an anagram of LOUD – anagrind is ‘awfully’ | |
| 9 | Very happy heading off behind schedule (6) | |
| ELATED | |
|
| 10 | Copies from a month back (4) | |
| APES | A SEP (month) reversed or ‘back’ | |
| 11 | Teasing Len about bloomers (10) | |
| EGLANTINES | An anagram of TEASING LEN – anagrind is ‘about’ | |
| 12 | Sort of flat cap on chimneypot (6) | |
| GRANNY | Double definition – we had to check the chimney pot definition | |
| 14 | Antibiotic, one dispensed by my chemist if necessary initially (8) | |
| NEOMYCIN | An anagram of ONE (anagrind is ‘dispensed’) MY CIN (initial letters of Chemist If Necessary) | |
| 15 | Black line below boob (7) | |
| BLUNDER | B (black) L (line) UNDER (below) | |
| 17 | Float east of Bordeaux, say, to 22A again (7) | |
| REDRAFT | RAFT (float) after or ‘east of’ RED (Bordeaux say) | |
| 20 | Temple of Hope, Nantes, mostly rebuilt (8) | |
| PANTHEON | An anagram of HOPE NANT |
|
| 22 | Outline of small boat (6) | |
| SKETCH | S (small) KETCH (boat) | |
| 23 | Fielders starting to come in soon, since stupid ‘bad’ declaration? (10) | |
| CONFESSION | F (first letter or ‘start’ of ‘fielders’) ‘coming’ in an anagram of SOON SINCE – anagrind is ‘stupid | |
| 24 | Jogger, handsome, moving house (4) | |
| MEMO | Hidden or ‘housed’ in handsoME MOving | |
| 25 | A French girl with new flat? On the contrary (6) | |
| UNEVEN | UN (a in French) EVE (girl) N (new) | |
| 26 | Settle in: for starters, it’s snug enough (8) | |
| COLONISE | COLON (:) and first letters or ‘starters’ to It’s Snug Enough | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | A Teletubby’s broken into a cattle pen across the pond, officer (8) | |
| CORPORAL | PO (a Teletubby) inside or ‘broken into’ CORRAL (cattle pen). We’re not quite sure though why ‘across the pond’ is included. Neither corral or corporal are defined as ‘american’ in Chambers. | |
| 2 | Balls featuring in quotes regularly (4) | |
| NUTS | Regular letters in iN qUoTeS | |
| 3 | Countess Olivia and Malvolio, easily deceived? Yes at first, in Twelfth Night perhaps (6) | |
| COMEDY | Initial letters or ‘at first’ in Countess Olivia Malvolio Easily Deceived Yes | |
| 4 | Extremely evasive during affair? That makes sense (7) | |
| FEELING | First and last letters of EvasivE or ‘extremely’ inside or ‘during’ FLING (affair) | |
| 5 | Tall, thin person with a pulse to measure (8) | |
| BEANPOLE | BEAN (pulse) POLE (measure) | |
| 6 | Frenchman in Italy playing in Open with all the relatives there? (6,4) | |
| FAMILY TREE | M (Frenchman) inside an anagram of ITALY (anagrind is ‘playing’) inside FREE (open) | |
| 7 | Asian people in the old capital of India (6) | |
| YEMENI | MEN (people) in YE (old word for ‘the’) I (capital of Italy) | |
| 13 | 3 by 17, after 4 it’s time for a song! (4,2,4) | |
| NINE TO FIVE | Parsed just in time……. it’s 3 x 17 = 51 after 4 which on a clock gives you 04:51 or 9 to 5. | |
| 16 | Paradoxically, odds on good service (8) | |
| EVENSONG | Paradoxically odds in betting could be EVENS plus ON G (good) | |
| 18 | Confront first of medics and demand something to stop germs spreading (4,4) | |
| FACE MASK | FACE (confront) M (first letter in Medics) ASK (demand) | |
| 19 | After trip to China, a tonic’s drunk at hotel – ah, our Nina’s managed City once (7) | |
| ANTIOCH | Once again, parsed at the last moment……… it’s an anagram of TO CHINA (anagrind is ‘after trip’) but it is also an anagram of A TONIC (anagrind is ‘drunk’) and H(hotel). However, it’s also an anagram of CONTI (‘our Nina’, the theme of the puzzle) and AH (anagrind is ‘managed’) | |
| 21 | A cereal’s 2 (6) | |
| ACORNS | A CORN’S (cereal’s) | |
| 22 | Run like a spinster (6) | |
| SINGLE | Double definition | |
| 24 | Chap put in order worth £333.33? (4) | |
| MONK | MONK |
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