Independent 10,144 / Nimrod

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Nimrod has provided the Thursday teaser this week.

I didn’t have a lot of time to blog this week, so when I saw that I had a Nimrod first to solve and then to write up, I wondered if I would be up to the job!

In the end, I think this was a medium-difficulty Nimrod and, fortunately for me, it did not take me as long to crack as some of his tougher offerings. Perhaps the grid, with its six 15-letter lights, was more forgiving than some other grids might have been.

I think that I have parsed the clues more or less to my satisfaction. I would appreciate input from solvers on 8, where I am not sure in what context “heel” could be used as a synonym for “knob”: as a despicable person, perhaps? In any case, this is definitely the right answer as it is listed in Chambers.

My favourite clues today were 4, for construction; 6, for the misdirection around “Met”; and 16, for surface. The entry at 19 was unfamiliar to me.

*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues

Across    
     
01 FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH I don’t expect change from my tuppeny-ha’penny

Cryptic definition: the “change” refers not to money returned but to a “change” in a situation as a result of a (modest) contribution to a discussion, say
     
09 UNTIL Attribute of great-aunt I look up to

Hidden (“attribute of”) in “great-aUNT I Look”
     
10 PHTHALATE Apt, the garbage consuming Henry Salt

HAL (=Henry) in *(APT THE); “garbage” is anagram indicator; a phthalate is a salt or ester of phthalate acid
     
11 TWO For couple over in Yorkshire, anything goes

OWT (=anything); “over in” indicates reversal
     
12 REFRESHERS Take charge of race, overlooking superb setting of Sandown Park’s courses

REF (=take charge of, i.e. referee) + R<ace> (“overlooking superb (=ace)” means letters “ace” are dropped) + ESTER’S (=setting of Sundown Park’s, i.e. race course in Surrey)
     
14 GALUMPH Bound so excitedly, a bulge appearing in middle of tights

[A + LUMP] in <ti>GH<ts> (“middle of” means middle two letters of six  only); to galumph is to bound around excitedly, to take exultant strides (coined by Lewis Carroll)
     
16 HARD NUT Tough, hot and windy plain?

H (=hot, e.g. on tap) + ARDNUT (TUNDRA=plain; “windy (=winding, turning)” indicates reversal); a tough (guy) is a hard nut to crack
     
17 ETA Letter read out by customer in taverna?

Homophone of “eater (=customer in tavern)”; eta is a letter of the Greek alphabet, hence the reference to a Greek tavern!
     
18 ANTONYM An award for theatrical excellence given to Mark? Nick’s could be free

AN + TONY (=award for theatrical excellence) + M (=Mark, in radio telecommunications); “nick (=arrest)” is an antonym of “free (=release)”
     
19 MOONEYE Who in the end divides bread and last of the fish?

[<wh>O (“in the end” means last letter only) in MONEY (=bread, colloquially)] + <th>E (“last of” means last letter only); a mooneye is a N American freshwater shad-like fish
     
20 HAMMER HOME To impress fan calls the London Stadium this now?

Cryptically, London Stadium could be described as the “hammer home”, i.e. the home ground of West Ham United; to hammer home a message is to impress it on someone
     
21 EAR Musical appreciation of grime artiste?

Hidden (“of”) in “grimE ARtiste”; e.g. to have a good ear for music
     
23 CLINICIAN Popular old industrial chemists taken in by family doctor

[IN (=popular) + ICI (=old industrial chemists)] in CLAN (=family)
     
24 ARGON Deficient in iron, ready to drop another element

<f>AR-GON<e> (=ready to drop); “deficient in iron (=Fe)” means letters “Fe” are dropped; far gone is well-advanced in decline, hence “ready to drop”
     
25 MESSENGER-AT-ARMS Court official, playing games, arrests men

*(GAMES ARRESTS MEN); “playing” is anagram indicator; a messenger-at-arms, in Scots law, executes the summonses and other writs of the Court of Session and Court of Justiciary
     
Down    
     
01 FOURTH GEAR This, turning into thoroughfare? Oh, no!

*(T<ho>ROUGHFARE); “oh no” means letters “oh” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “turning into”; semi- & lit.
     
02 RATIO Walls of address lost proportion

<o>RATIO<n> (=address, speech); “walls of … lost” means first and last letters are dropped
     
03 HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE King portrayed in memorial phoney? That must be wrong – Charlemagne ruled it first

R (=king, i.e. rex) in *(MEMORIAL PHONEY); “that must be wrong” is anagram indicator
     
04 TOP OF THE MORNING Tam or Pat’s early salutation?

T<he> (“top of” means first letter only) + A.M. (of the morning); “top of the morning” is a typically Irish greeting, hence “Pat’s early salutation”
     
05 TATTENHAM CORNER Where Nijinsky was driven round the bend

Cryptic definition: Tattenham Corner is a bend on Epsom racecourse, where Nijinsky won the Derby in 1970
     
06 WEATHER FORECAST Met objective expending only a third of energy, so we’ll take a group of players round

[THER<e>FORE (=so; “expending only a third of energy (=E)” means 1 of 3 letter “e”s is dropped”)] in [WE + A + CAST (=group of players, i.e. actors)]; the “Met” of the definition is the UK’s “Met(eorological) Office”
     
07 REARRANGE Put new structure on back burner

REAR (=back) + RANGE (=burner)
     
08 HEEL Tilt // knob

Double definition= TILT is to lean, heel, as a verb AND a heel is a knob (=according to Chambers)
     
13 OTHER RANKS Time woman’s managed to divide gives go-ahead to soldiers

[T (=time) + HER (=woman’s) + RAN (=managed)] in OKs (=gives go-ahead)
     
15 LOTHARIOS Seducers blowing hot air in the Rising Sun

*(HOT AIR) in LOS (SOL=sun; “rising” indicates vertical reversal); “blowing” is anagram indicator
     
21 ELGAR Composer worked up left extremely angry?

L (=left) in RAGE (“angry”, i.e. in “rage”); “worked up” indicates vertical reversal; the reference is to English composer Edward Elgar (1857-1934); incidentally, Elgar is another pseudonym used by today’s compiler Nimrod
     
22 SCAM Do computers up

MACS (=computers); “up” indicates vertical reversal
     
     

 

10 comments on “Independent 10,144 / Nimrod”

  1. Not being a racegoer or a punter-AND with the great football result for Londoners, can I be forgiven for having a wrong vowel in 5d.

    Great puzzle I found it best not to overthink.

    And what a nice surprise on a Thursday

    Thank you Elgar and RR

  2. A nice surprise indeed – and not that tricky for a Nimrod.  Lots to enjoy but my particular favourite was 17a

    Knob is a slang term for an obnoxious person and a heel is a contemptible person so more or less the same thing

    Thanks to Nimrod and RR

     

  3. Very enjoyable except for the GK being out of my area. Bunged in REFRESHERS with the hope that ESHERS (not ESTERS as in blog) had some meaning related to Sandown Park in 12a. Like copmus, I also guessed TOTTENHAM in 5d. Missed the parsing for HARD NUT. Didn’t know MOONEYE but guessed it was this (or MONOEYE until I got 6d).

    For 1a, I always thought the phrase was “tuppence ha’penny”. Maybe both are used.

    I like your parsing for 6d. I took “only a third of energy” to refer to the third letter of energy.

    Thanks to Nimrod and RatkojaRiku.

  4. We surprised ourselves by completing this quite quickly and unaided apart from confirming our guesses for MOONEYE and MESSENGER-AT-ARMS in Chambers, although we failed to parse a few answers.

    Lots to like, but we’ll go for GALUMPH, CLINICIAN and LOTHARIOS as our favourites.

    There’s a minor error (a typo?) in the blog for 10ac – a phthalate is a salt or ester of phthalic acid.

    Thanks, Nimrod and RatkojaRiku.

  7. I had the wrong vowel for 5d too and there were a few others such as ARGON which I couldn’t parse, but overall I found this much less difficult than the last few from this setter in his various guises. A “gentle Nimrod” is a contradiction in terms, but it felt a bit like that at times.

    I’ll go for the clever use of ‘Tam’ in TOP OF THE MORNING as my pick.

    Thanks to Nimrod and to RR.

  8. Failed to parse 12a (the eshers bit) and gave up trying to parse 6d, but finished it easily enough. Easier than usual from JH.

  9. Thanks Nimrod and RR

    Hovis @ 3 “tuppence ha’penny” was the phrase for 2 1/2d (in old money, of course).

    “tuppeny-ha’penny” was a phrase for a cheap attempt at something purporting to be more elevated.

    hth

  10. Thanks to RatkojaRiku and Nimrod

    The long’uns gave it away for me, possibly the easiest Nimrod I’ve seen. Still very good though – a couple of very nicely concealed definitions : COURSES and MET OBJECTIVE.

    One device I can’t see is EXTREMELY ANGRY = IN RAGE, only IN A RAGE.

    @1a I’m not going to quibble about it’s validity but simply register how the phrases were used in my experience:

    “Tuppeny ha’penny” meant showy but of not much use or value. I remember it being used to describe a footballer (from Chelsea I think but that could be my prejudice), being described as a “tuppeny ha’penny ball player”. This meant that he engaged in what would now be called showboating but he was ineffective as a team player.

    “Tuppence worth” meant a verbal contribution that you didn’t expect would affect any result but that you had to get off your chest – ” I put in my tuppence worth but I might as well have been talking to the wall”

    BTW @18a I think MARK is the currency

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