Oh no – it’s a Nimrod today!
As expected, this was a serious but ultimately very satisfying challenge.
Nimrod’s clues are always inventive and it always takes us a while to get into the right mindset to solve them, so we had a slow start and were frustrated by the unusually disconnected grid – effectively four separate crosswords each connected to the next by single entries. We decided that there must be a theme for Nimrod to have adopted such a strange grid, but it took us quite a while to realise what it was.
As we gradually unearthed the various real and fictional characters who emerge from the clues, we realised that BOWLER HAT (7/15) was the key – the common factor in the various characters we had discovered. We had come across all the hat-wearing characters (mostly from the fairly distant past!) except 23/21 – The Addams Family was not essential viewing for us!
We cannot help but be amazed that Nimrod has managed to fit no less than 11 bowler hat-wearing characters into the grid (4 of them occupying two spaces) – the disconnected grid pattern is forgiven!
nOT HERe (‘having left this place’) missing the first and last letters or ‘unclad’
H (Hungary) with IS (lies) in front or ‘to the west’
OH (I see) after a reversal of OH (‘in both directions’) + A
GO Cold (cool) missing ‘old’ + HEAP (pile)
RUM (spirit of the Caribbean) BLED (was flowing freely)
H (Henry) in or ‘wrapped by’ ON (working) AND (with)
A clue-as-definition?: AS (e.g.) E R S (last or ‘final’ letters of Menace, Destroyer and Governess) after C H (last letters or ‘heels’ of optimistic bunch) – A reference to ‘The Chase’ TV programme
Double definition – the first being German for ‘good’ (enjoyable)
A reversal (‘returned’) of NIL (love) after CHAP (crack) – Charlie Chaplin was usually seen wearing a 7/15
I (international) DO (event)
OSCULAR (kissing) with S (south) moved to the right or ‘east’
Is this a triple definition? BOLT-ON could be ‘secured’ as an adjective or ‘additional part’ as a noun and BOLTON is ‘part’ of Greater Manchester – ‘part’ doing double duty
Alternate or ‘every second’ letters in tUrNoUt So UnAbLe
A homophone (‘in the auditorium’) of WHY DOUBT (‘you’ve no reason to question’) – our last one in, as we have never heard of a WIDEOUT – apparently a player in American football
QUI (French for ‘who’) + a reversal (‘turned’) of UP
Hidden (‘party to’) in joiN UNion – according to Chambers, as a noun, a ‘religious’ is a person bound by monastic vows
O (nothing) NICE (particularly good)
O (over) in or ‘taken by’ BY GEORGE (‘that surprises me!’) – the Culture Club singer usually wore a 7/15
CHICk (young thing) missing the ‘k’ or ‘Kay short’)
An anagram (‘disorderly’) of NoN-MEmBeRs without an anagram (‘poor’) of ‘some’ – a reference to a children’s cartoon character who has adventures wearing various costumes from a fancy-dress shop, but who’s ‘normal’ attire includes a 7/15
WhY (the reason) missing or ‘out of’ ‘h’ (hospital) round or ‘admitting’ I’M (one’s) P (soft). As per comment 4: J Wellington WIMPY was a 7/15-wearing character in the Popeye cartoons
CHURCH (Charlotte Church – Welsh singer) and HILL (Lauryn Hill – American singer) sharing the last/first ‘h’ or ‘cell’ – Clementine was Winston Churchill’s wife – he was frequently seen wearing a 7/15
An anagram (‘sacked’) of WoMaN (missing the vowels or ‘vocal elements’) and IN HOTSPOTS – the 70/80s pop band named themselves after the two cartoon detectives in The Adventures of Tintin – who both wore 7/15s
HOWLER (mistake) BAT (‘Wayne’s inspiration’ – Bruce Wayne aka Batman) with the initial letters swapped (‘clash of heads’) – in the Batman comics, Riddler wore a BOWLER HAT – the theme for the puzzle
U (universal) in or ‘parting’ ARE LAND (light) HARDLY (just) with the ‘L’ (50) moved to the front, or ‘promoted’ – both actors wore 7/15s
JOHNS (‘ladies and gents’ – toilets) TEED (‘got ready to strike’ – on a golf course) – John Steed is a fictional spy who wore a 7/15 in The Avengers TV series in the 60s and 70s
CALLUS (thick skin) round or ‘enveloping’ CU (cubic) – Professor CALCULUS is another 7/15-wearing character in The Adventures of Tintin
USIN’ (practisin’) IT (sex) in COT (bed) – a new one for us – a very hairy fictional character in the Addams Family TV and film series, often wearing a 7/15
A reversal (‘retiring’) of BOJO (Boris Johnson, former PM) ‘taking in’ D (Dutch) D (department) – the fictional 7/15-wearing henchman to Goldfinger in the James Bond novel and film
A reversal (‘up’) of A Q (‘division secretly devising gadgets’ – in James Bond novels) RUB (clean)
An anagram (‘getting hammered’) of INTO
Excellent puzzle and superb blog.
Thanks Nimrod and B&J.
My faves: CHASERS, WIDEOUT, BOY GEORGE, BOWLER HAT, LAUREL AND HARDY and ODD JOB.
BOLTON
If we consider BOLT-ON as an adjective meaning ‘additional’, then the clue works without any
double duty by ‘part’.
Some refs known but not well — all the singers, Tintin, Addams Fam — and some not at all — US footy, Chasers, cartoons (thought Tony Benn in a bowler, surely not!). Pretty hard going, watching cricket, not into pondering, so had a bit of help. Good for those needing a challeng, thx both.
I thought noun. KVa; a bolt-on = a secured additional part.
With a considerable nudge or should we say shove from the ‘hunter king’, there is another ‘bowler hat’ in the grid. J Wellington WIMPY from Popeye.
Enjoyed not being able to do this. I can add WIMPY to the themed entries, though – he was a character in the Popeye cartoons, generally eating burgers and always wearing a bowler hat. Thanks to Nimrod and B&J. Treated it as a learning exercise!
Almost got there – two answers short but I wouldn’t have finished in any case because I wrongly had WISPY instead of WIMPY. I missed the theme as I thought it was just Nimrod’s normal theme of “pop culture references that predate the technicolor era”, with Boy George from 40 years ago being a startlingly modern anomaly.
Great puzzle, though, now it’s been revealed in all its glory, and I got on with the clues a lot better than Io from yesterday. Some of the word order was still characteristic Nimrod, eg 14 across (does anyone else do this? Is it unfair, overly convoluted, or just very clever?) but I suppose we have to accept it comes with the territory.
The pedant in me screams.
The guys in Tintin weren’t twins. They were Thompson with a P as in Peru, and Thomson without a P as in Venezuela.
Also, I was heavily defeated by this one.
Mr Benn was voiced by the actor Ray Brooks who sadly died recently.
I was heavily bested by this as well, so it is with great humility that I suggest CHURCHILL could be read as Church and Hill sharing a cell in the puzzle, rather than ‘sharing the last/first “h” of “cell.”‘ A deferential nod to Nimrod’s cleverness, and a big thank-you to Bertandjoyce for clearing up a great many mysteries.
Thanks to Universal*Rundle for pointing out the typo – now corrected. We’ve also added WIMPY to the hat-wearers.
Well, this was a rout for me. I got one answer in over an hour
Not even close.
This is my first completed crossword from this man in any of his forms. Chuffed with that, although the theme was a big help – I immediately searched for the Thom(p)sons upon getting it and was rewarded, then opened up the Wikipedia article on the article in question and got from about 50% complete to the full set in a much-reduced time. Didn’t parse them all oh gracious nowhere near.
LOI OCULARS which can go stuff itself quite frankly. “As a joke, eyes”!? Yikes.
Above my pay grade, sadly. Ho hum, onwards and upwards.
I got about 2/3 of this and enjoyed what I was able to solve. I truly admire anyone able to solve “oculars”, I still failed despite twigging that the S would move. I might have done better with the puzzle overall with more GK. Guessed Churchill, NHO either part of the wordplay. Never heard of the Thompson Twins, although I knew it would be a band. No idea about the Avenger at 18d but guessable from the wordplay, likewise Cousin Itt. I try to solve these on paper without the internet and give up when I can’t. Thanks to Nimrod and to B&J for a very illuminating blog.