It’s a Saturday and once again we have a Serpent to blog. It was quite a challenge.
Not that we are complaining but some of the parsings certainly caused some problems. In 11ac for example, we were both under the impression that ‘being’ was a verb rather than a noun. We have not seen ‘showcase’ used as an inclusion indicator before either.
A E D (department) around or ‘nursing’ WARD (charge). The first part of the parsing suggests the other way around but then we are told to ‘do the opposite’.
RISE (price increase) on or after APP (computer programme)
An anagram of USA SURE TO – anagrind is change’
Hidden in or ‘clothed’ by characteR IN SExy
E (last or ‘final’ letter of the) EYE (observer) around or ‘covering’ OR (other ranks or ‘men’)
HE HE (laugh) about AD (publicity) AC (account)
STILE (steps) T (first or ‘initial’ letter of taken) TOES (members)
Sounds like NOT (I really didn’t mean that)
NT (books) in O I (bits as used in Boolean algebra)
DESERt (abandon) missing last letter or ‘abruptly’ S (saint) around TROY (besieged city)
VIRUS (malware) around or ‘catching’ OUT ‘reversed’
ED (journalist) IS (lives) around or ‘circumventing’ CT (court)
bLOUSEs (clothing) missing first and last letters or ‘outer layer’
TOO (besides) H (husband) inside or ‘sporting’ TACHE (facial hair)
An anagram of OUTED – anagrind is ‘radical’ + US (American)
EXPO (trade fair) around or ‘showcasing’ L (large) + IT (computer systems)
An empty gallery may well have no art so it would be ARTLESS
A (American) NY (city as in New York) around or ‘encapsulating’ GO (success)
DE (first and last letters or ‘limiting factors’ of diligence) SERVED (were sufficient)
cREW (company) with ‘c’ (first letter or ‘head’) being increased from C (100) by 400% to give D (500)
US (American) MEN inside an anagram of MATE’S – anagrind is ‘dancing’. The use of ‘divorced’ means that they are not next to each other.
ROD (staff) in or being ‘squeezed by’ PAY
Sounds like or a ‘report’ of INNER SENSE (intuition)
Hidden in or ‘some’ of clientELE MENTioned
An anagram of EATS TUNA – anagrind is ‘salad’ – around or ‘drinking’ TEa missing last letter or ‘lots of’
INTER (Milan – football team) with PT (physical training) after RU (game as in rugby union)
LORDS (sounds like or the ‘broadcast’ of LAUDS – acclaims) HIP (joint)
IN (trendy) LID (top) around or being ‘worn by’ VA (Virginia)
SECT (religious group) around or ‘including’ USP (unique selling point – peculiar aspect)
An anagram or ‘remix’ of DUET and X (kiss) + O (love)
CA CA (about or roughly) doubled + O (ending of embargo). The cacao is a tree – a substantial growth.
Four definitions although we are unsure whether we should have underlined ‘to get well’ as you definitely bore a well.
Nina alert…
New pet in Serpent household perhaps?
Oh, thanks for that. We really should have looked further as we expect Serpent to have something else going on in his puzzles. Thanks to Phi and Andrew.
Found this hard even for a Serpent (but did see the nina). Failed on DREW. Got the idea of C -> D but kept thinking the C was “head of company” which was going nowhere. Not sure in what context go=success but I’m sure somebody will provide an example.
Thanks to Serpent and Bertandjoyce.
Me too on the hard even for a Serpent, although I didn’t see the Nina (nothing new there)
Any Eeyore related clue always gets my vote for favourite
Thanks to Serpent and B&J
Hovis – How about – make a go of it?
Bertandjoyce @6. I always thought that referred to an attempt rather than a success. Maybe it can mean both depending on context?
Just checked in Chambers. Go is defined as success (informal) under noun 2.
I didn’t finish by a long chalk; ran out of time and left much of the top half unfilled. However, having come here, I can see the Nina around the inside perimeter. Boolean algebra indeed – come on! Despite which, thanks Serpent and B&J.
Thanks Serpent and BnJ
Excellent puzzle. I don’t think the bits in 18 need to be Boolean, I saw them as simply the I & O binary bits used in all computers (other than quantum ones, I suppose).
agree with Bertandjoyce re parsing of several clues .. the least favourite being the use of EEYORE as a verb… followed by an unconvincing 1ac… the joys were less frequent.. on a brighter note the Nina did reveal itself after prompting by Andrew n Phi… thanks!!
thanks to Serpent and Bertandjoyce
ouch … just realised that “being” is of course a noun… not all being human! doh!
A day that reminds me I have some way to go, the “reveal letter” option was used far more heavily than in recent days. Also took me forever to see the Nina even after Andrew @1 ‘S pointer…
Thanks to Serpent for the learning experience and to B&J for the teaching
Found the top left especially hard. Would never have parsed the 400% rise, too clever for me. I thought arms and legs were members but not toes. Please be clearer when you spot a Nina, it shows how clever you are but leaves those of us who can’t see it feeling even more stupid (yes I got some strange breed of dog in the end but only half an hour after I was told it was there). Thanks to Bertandjoyce for making things clear.
This was one of those days when it was a relief to hear even the experienced setters struggled! Apart from a reasonable showing in the SW quadrant I got very few right without use of the reveal button. I did at least pick up some new insights on cluing such as the use of divorced in 5D.
I’m with Sheepish @15: it’s somehow reassuring when even the expert solvers find it tough going. I’d finished the last couple of Serpents, but pride cometh etc. and I only managed this with a lot of help and checking. Sigh. Thanks to Serpent and Bertandjoyce for being way cleverer than I am!
Absolutely brilliant, I thought, and my favorite of the year so far. Unusual positioning for a Nina, which alas I failed to spot. There’s so much originality here that it’s hard to know where to start, but 4D, 16A, 22A were outstanding among many others. All that with amusing surfaces too.
Painful in the end: feeling like I’d already got TOOTHACHE and a HEADACHE, I definitely felt like an EEYORE and ended up in AGONY. Failed on three interlinked answers: the aforementioned AGONY, AWARDED and DREW. I had some of the right ideas for the first but not the crucial starting letter to help my thinking, I should have got the second and I doubt if I’d have got the third if I had a month to play with. And another who spotted no Nina even after the helpful posts @ 1&2.
Not that I am complaining (though I raised an eyebrow at the INNOCENCE homophone. Some might rail more vociferously but I’m no great stickler on homophones). I particularly enjoyed the divorcees in AMUSEMENTS, the beautiful surface and construction of VIRTUOUS, the surface/anagram for TROUSSEAU, the cd for ARTLESS and the tache device in TOOTHACHE. EEYORE has to be COTD precisely for that brilliant use of being that challenged B&J in the blog.
Always one to enjoy coincidence, LORDSHIP was discussed today as a solution to last Saturday’s Guardian Prize and the EEYORE clue resonates also… 😀
Thanks Serpent and B&J
Alliacol @ 17
Serpent has form for placing a nina in the unches of the inner rows & columns, so it’s always worth checking there (if the grid suits, obviously).
Quite a challenge but we got it all in the end. We found the NW quadrant most tricky, despite TROUSSEAU being our FOI. But EEYORE was brilliant. We spotted the nina (but not until we’d finished) which was fairly obvious with GERMAN appearing in the top unches.
Thanks, Serpent and B&J.
Ericw – sorry if you found my hint unhelpful: the idea of doing it like that is to give people a chance to find it themselves if they hadn’t thought to look, which can be more satisfying than just having it pointed out. Showing cleverness is not the intention, though I appreciate it could come across that way.
Many thanks to Bertandjoyce for the excellent blog and to everyone who has taken the time to comment.
Phi @2 is right – there is indeed a new pet in the Serpent household.
Late again to this puzzle, held up by Skylark in the i yesterday.
Just near the end, I filled in four remaining letters in the nina, and it helped me over the line, especially with 11a, when I then had ?EY???.
I found some of the parsing quite tricky, 9a in particular, because I was wanting to use ST for saint.
I’ve seen USP a few times now, but still never remember it.
I was stuck on 4d until I found the Serpent signature
Woof woof!
Thanks JC and B&J