A nice, tough puzzle from Nestor with some lovely clues. I have to admit I struggled with the NW and SW corners though and there are a few I don’t understand even after resorting to help!
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 7 | FOCUSSED – FO[-e],CUSSED | |
| 9 | APACHE – APACE straddling H | |
| 10 | SCHEME – Hidden in ubermenSCH EMErges | |
| 11 | SPECIMEN – MICE rev. in S,PEN | |
| 12 | INNER SPACE – (PRE[-g]NANCIES)* | |
| 14 | ALSO – Not sure how this one works – “Are people in capital playing strings and other things too?” | |
| 15 | CATE BLANCHETT – CA[-r]TE BLANCHE + T[-ex]T – Fantastic clue | |
| 18 | BRAN – BRAN being letters common to BRAIN (mental strength) and BRAWN (physical strength) | |
| 20 | ELEVEN PLUS – ELEVEN (prime) + PLUS (advantage) | |
| 22 | DATABASE – A and B (both sides of single) + AS in DATE | |
| 24 | CLOTHE – LOTH in C (of)E | |
| 25 | HETERO – HERETO with T and R swapping | |
| 26 | TAKE THAT – THAT (which) after TAKE (individual perspective) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | VOLCANIC – GIRL rev. in THA[-t] rev. | |
| 2 | EUGENE – [-r]ENEGUE rev.- A Very difficult clue, which requires you to have a knowledge of the Pink Floyd song and not to be fooled by the capital W on Welsh. Or, if you’re like me, requires you to cheat and press the ‘Reveal’ button! | |
| 3 | OSTENSIBLE – T (rabbit’s foot) in O SENSIBLE | |
| 4 | GAZE – “Gays” | |
| 5 | SALIVATE – (I’VE A LAST)* | |
| 6 | CHEERS – CHE[-at]ERS | |
| 8 | DISPARAGEMENT – I SPAR A GEM in DENT | |
| 13 | ECCLES CAKE – CC in (LAKE EEC’S)* | |
| 16 | TINTAGEL – LEG AT NIT rev. | |
| 17 | TOUCH PAD – UCH + P in TOAD (as in ‘of Toad Hall’, I think!) | |
| 19 | REAPER – RE-APER | |
| 21 | PRONTO – RON in PRO | |
| 23 | AGOG – Cheated with this one too and not sure how it works: “Curious earlier acceleration in fall?” | |
Think 23D is AGO (earlier) + G (unit of gravitational pull). Not sure about 14A though…
I think 14ac is A + L(ondon) S((ymphony O(rchestra) – ‘people in capital playing strings and other things’.
Nick
Another wonderful puzzle from Nestor, who seems always to find new ways to approach things. And all rigorously and precisely clued.
I got EUGENE from the wordplay without understanding exactly what it referred to so thanks for explaining that.
Nick
Think you are probably right for 14ac, where does the “A” come from though?
Cheers
Craig
Craig, a is abbrev for ‘are’ (metric measure), I think.
1dn. volcanic
This is just a reversed hidden word.