Normally Monday is the easier of days here, but oh dear Filbert can be as tricky as they get.
Well in truth it wasn’t as hard as I feared – the perimeter Nina quickly appeared and was entirely guessable allowing for extra solving hints. Don’t believe there’s any more in the grid but I’ve been very wrong on that in the past. I do find it odd however that last Friday’s Phi had a very similar NOTHING DOING, is this the Indy signalling the end of such Ninas? I very much doubt it.
O for love & RAT from the clue & a headless (t)ORY
I’m no fashion expert but I’ve heard of DIOR & A.M. – morning & A(merican).
The works here is fACTORy without its fringes
Start of E(lection) & SEEN+IMAX all reversed. IMAX is a very large cinema screen which you pay quite a premium to be allowed to sit in front of.
DIG for like and ONES OWN GRAVE a bit whimsical for the french grave accent
Yep if you hadn’t guessed a cricket term bit like a googly, bosey or chinaman- where do they get these terms from? – where the ball spins the other way to the one a batter would have expected. A winding [ROAD SO]*
P(ower) inside RAIDS
A wrongly placed [LEICESTER IN THE N(orth)]*
C(aught) & to RUST – turn orange & ACE & A – one by one
End of (start)S & most of ALON(e)
BAP – bread & IS inside TT – not drinking
COR – my! & DIAL for face
I suspect non-UK solvers may be a little bemused by this. OCADO is delivery firm that does household deliveries for at least one Supermarket. N(ew) & N(oon) inside OCADO
O & AS for like & T(emp)
OR for golden & R(iver) inside a TENT hence camping & S(on)
Def seems a bit loose but then any definition would be I suspect. P(riest) inside a nuts [HAS CREEPY]*
AIDE is the secretary with the initial letter A somewhat later in the answer
NO SIN – before man fell he had no sin & G(ood). Nosing is the edge of a step, I didn’t know this to be honest and had to look it up.
WAR in the GAME DEN. Memories of Dr Strangelove and you can’t fight in here – this is the war room … [fixed thanks Hovis]
A rogue [SET TRAP]*
GOO (slime) & SEBUM – oily skin secretion & U for everyone removed from P(u)S. Not really a clue to be done over breakfast perhaps
WORD- oath, promise & S(mall) & CH(ildren) with EAR for attention inserted
PLEA & SURE
PLACE – to find employment for & Y(ear) removed from BO(y)
Sounds like skating RINK (wi)LL
Hot water bottle – HOT sexy & TIE to couple
CUT – to knife & E for compass point
L(ive) seen in electrical connections & AIR for element
In 11a, I think the definition should include “in part” and in 7d it should read GAME DEN.
NOSING was new to me and, surprise surprise, never heard of DOOSRA (or forgot it). Liked the fact that “old barman” wasn’t a composer and had a chuckle over the surface for 3d.
Well spotted Hovis. Doesn’t matter how much you try and proof-read your own stuff it seems.
Not sure I’d agree with ‘easy-ish’, flashling. Started off OK but really struggled towards the end. All fairly clued – excellently clued – in retrospect but I don’t think I could claim my mind to be in synch with the setter. I’m another for whom NOSING in this sense was new and, likewise, nho DOOSRA so, whilst I had the parsing, that is not a word order with which I experimented. SE corner was really tricky – didn’t think DIAL for face (doh!), the homophone for rink escaped me til the very end and I was looking at ‘wire’ for what turned out to be LAIR. I’m pleased to see the correct parsing of ACTOR: I had part = ACT and then a rather unsatisfactory uneven cutting of the fringes of ‘works’ which didn’t seem right …
I liked TAPSTER for the barman misdirection – funny how a definition in plain sight can mislead (I recall another poster saying ‘one day ‘locks’ will actually mean the things you put a key in and I’ll be totally thrown’). The European is an amazing anagram, the assembly of CRUSTACEA was cunning and I enjoyed the definition of BAPTIST. Slightly less taken with the definition of GAME WARDEN – I suspect it may be hunting with telephoto lenses rather than rifles or something similarly misleading that I haven’t spotted. Filbert has been scrupulous elsewhere so this is probably my bad.
Thanks Filbert and flashling
Not easy for me either with NO CAN DO entered from the def and a few other bits, eg ‘pus, not for everyone’ at 14d unparsed. Seeing the Nina helped with LAIR and the crossing SALON in the SE corner. Who knew there was a name for an ‘edge on stair’? Certainly not me.
Favourites were DOOSRA (thanks, Murali) and the ‘Golden river when camping?’ at 3d.
Thanks to Filbert and flashling
I enjoyed this very much, as always with this setter. I also played for the, er, doosra with the “barman” definition and almost got done by a straight ball.
Thanks to F & F
Way above my pay-grade. Must try harder, and longer.
Thanks to Filbert and to flashling fo many (many) parsings.
Thanks for the blog and all for comments.
I had completely forgotten about that message in the grid, and didn’t spot it during editing. I think I must have forgotten about it before ever sending the puzzle in, because I didn’t draw attention to it then. So, whether or not it was a coincidence that Phi had almost the same thing last week I could not say. Thank goodness it was nothing rude.
me @ 7
The paradoxical nina (which states that there is nothing to see, although it is, itself something to see) set the tone for me. Very clever and enjoyable in so far as I could manage it. Thanks, both.
Enjoyed TORRENTS, HYPERSPACE, CRUSTACEA & BAPTISTS. V nice puzzle. Thx Filbert & Flashling.
ack. And DOOSRA!
Nice to start the week with a proper cryptic
Thanks Filbert (well bowled) and flashling