Nimrod was a regular nemesis of mine when I used to blog weekday Independent puzzles, but it seems like a long time since I came up against him on a Saturday.
In several years of trying, I’ve never really grasped Nimrod’s style, and while I enjoyed the challenge this time, I predictably wasn’t able to finish the whole puzzle, having to source answers to two or three clues today. There’s a fair bit left to explain.
On which note, is anyone successfully able to do the Indy crossword online any more? It’s such an archaic version of Java that none of my browsers will let me anywhere near it, so I find myself downloading the .bin file and parsing it by hand to try to decipher the answers.
| Across | ||
| 1/24 | JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE LOSING | True Scouse joy: a Blue rout! All together now … (4,7,5,6) |
| (TRUE SCOUSE JOY A BLUE)* + SING. Presumably some sort of football chant, though I’m not familiar with it, and Googling it turns up very little. I cannot see the definition here. | ||
| 9 | THE ARCTIC | Camp’s time’s getting on a bit, biting cold here? (3,6) |
| from THEATRIC, with the T (“time”) moving on a bit, then with C inserted. Again I’m missing the definition, maybe it’s just “here”. | ||
| 10 | POACH | Head-hunt cook, but not too hastily (5) |
| And then two come along at once. Double definition. | ||
| 11 | TAWNY | Brownish-yellow beard appearing by the start of the year (5) |
| T[he] + AWN + Y. | ||
| 12 | PERISHING | This infantryman’s head caught by missile? (9) |
| I[nfantryman] in PERSHING. This one eluded me completely. Again, definition? “This”? | ||
| 13 | EYOTS | River features retrospectively mentioned by Dostoyevsky (5) |
| [do]STOYE[vsky]<. | ||
| 15 | ROAD AGENT | Losing head, big man cuffs a robber on old US highway (4,5) |
| A in ([b]ROAD + GENT). An unfamiliar term, but thankfully quite clear from the wordplay. | ||
| 17 | MUFFIN MAN | Mistake Mr Humphries for Drury Lane resident? (6,3) |
| MUFF + John INMAN. A nursery rhyme character who, it turns out, lived on Drury Lane. | ||
| 18 | TIGON | Can turn inwardly cross (5) |
| GO in TIN. A cross between a tiger and a lion. | ||
| 19 | PYROMANCY | Inspired by therapy – Roman cynic’s flaming conjectures! (9) |
| [thera]PY ROMAN CY[nic]. Very nicely hidden answer. | ||
| 20 | GULAG | Detention-centre funny about university lecturer (5) |
| (U + L) in GAG. | ||
| 21 | LYSIN | Completely lost pride perhaps the reason for breakdown? (5) |
| Absolutely no idea how this works. | ||
| 22 | EN FAMILLE | Unceremonially left to enter new file-name (2,7) |
| L in FILENAME*. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | JETSTREAM | Highly-experienced current setter’s novel in press (3,6) |
| SETTER* in JAM. |
||
| 2 | SHERWOOD FOREST | Where men were merry and supply foods were short (8,6) |
| (FOODS WERE SHORT)*. | ||
| 3 | BARMY | Bananas in reserve adorning branch (5) |
| ARM in BY. | ||
| 4 | CAT | Lash a spiteful and malicious woman (3) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 5 | UNCERTAINTY | Doubt is not getting in the way of fantastic century (11) |
| AIN‘T in CENTURY*. | ||
| 6 | EN PASSANT | Unorthodox move to capture an aptness for re-design (2,7) |
| (AN APTNESS)*. A chess term. | ||
| 7 | GALILEO GALILEI | Star spectator, Georgia international, pressing out-of-form goalie in French club team (7,7) |
| GOALIE* in LILLE in (GA + I). | ||
| 8/19 | SHAGPILE | Long cover (Doctor Medics’ fourth) – fine rock crowds (8) |
| (GP + [med]I[c]) in SHALE. | ||
| 12 | PORTMANTEAU | Left meal in team motel for one (11) |
| PORT + (TEA in MENU). | ||
| 14 | SHIP MONEY | Lunchtime breaks not half so sweet for Charles’s old charges (4,5) |
| 1PM in (S[o] + HONEY). Another unfamiliar one solved from wordplay. | ||
| 16 | TONY GREIG | Commentator that was in touch about describing Desert Orchid at last making it to the front (4,5) |
| Nope, no idea. | ||
| 20 | GUMBO | Ladies’ fingers all over old boy’s face (5) |
| (OB + MUG)<. | ||
| 23 | FEE | Wages are perceived to be baseless (3) |
| FEE[l]. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition
Thanks Nimrod for an enjoyable challenge and Simon for the blog. I missed out on 15ac, but can help with two of the others.
21ac: This is DEADLY SIN (pride perhaps) less DEAD (Completely lost).
16dn: The definition is “Commentator that was”. Then “in touch” means “contained in TIG”. The contents are ON (about) + [YGRE (describing Desert Orchid – GREY) – with the Y moved to the beginning (at last making it to the front)].
Simon, you have my sympathy for having to blog this one. Some of the clues were Nimrod at his most obscure, and there were a few answers I entered from the definition or wordplay only, such as PERISHING (what is the definition?), TONY GREIG (no idea how the wordplay works), THE ARCTIC (possibly an extended definition, but if it is it isn’t a very good one, IMHO), and LYSIN which was my LOI and I needed aids to get it. I can’t see for the life of me how “completely lost” equals LY (the “pride perhaps” is obviously “SIN”).
As far as 1/24 is concerned, I remember chanting it at opposing fans quite a lot back in the day after we’d gone ahead, and I thought this was an excellent extended definition clue.
It also took me ages to see SHIP MONEY. I knew the second word was going to be “money” from the M???Y checkers, and I mistakenly assumed that the “ONE” needed to fill it out was the “lunchtime” in the clue. I eventually saw the correct wordplay, and a tip of the hat to Nimrod for a devious clue.
Thanks to PB@1 for the explanations of 21ac and 16dn.
Thanks Nimrod and Simon.
I think the idea in 12A is that a perishing (i.e. dying) infantryman could possibly have been killed by his head being caught by a missile.
Thanks to Simon for a heroic effort. Minor typo in parsing of 12 down: … TEA in MAN U.
Masterly analyses by Pelham Barton, especially of 16 down – I had the solution, but could get no further than RE GG for ‘about describing Desert Orchid’, which didn’t quite work since it depended on Desert Orchid describing [surrounding] about.
It took me ages to see SHAG PILE, since I had PIANO (which can be a request to an Italian to speak more slowly) rather than POACH for 10 across. I had no idea where ‘head hunt’ came into my original solution but was stumped by so much of the wordplay in other clues that it didn’t occur to me to question it.
I remember ‘Have you seen the muffin man?’ from my childhood, in which far-off days, untainted by American influences, we sang ‘IN Drury Lane’.
Quite a challenge but as usual with a Nimrod, well worth the struggle. Some nice bits of wordplay. Thanks to him for making the grey matter work hard and to Simon for the blog.
I had the much the same problems or issues that have already been mentioned, although I was pleased to parse 16d successfully. I’m also not sure that 23d works as “are perceived” or “perceived” leads to “felt” as the word to be made baseless – or is there some usage of “feel” which has escaped me?
HL@8, I took this to mean “feel” as in “my socks feel wet”, i.e. are perceived to be wet.
AB@2, perhaps “biting cold” is doing double duty here, both contributing a C and giving the definition “biting cold here”.
I found this a stretch in places, but all fair and quite a quick solve apart from my LOI, 21A – palm hit face just as just as head hit pillow.
In the end gave up with a few to go, though annoyed I didn’t spot 7D even with all the crossers. Also missed the wilfully obscure 16D. I presume “grey” in this clue refers to the horse (previously unknown to me) Desert Orchid; or is this also the colour of the … desert orchid?
I expect somebody can produce an entry buried in one of the dictionaries to justify “gag” (v or n) equalling the adjective “funny”; but I can’t find it.
Overall, a very taxing and entertaining workout. Particularly liked MUFFIN MAN; something Mr Humphries definitely was not.
Thanks to Nimrod and Simon Harris.
gwep@9
I think it’s more the other way round – “funny” can be a noun, meaning “joke”. It’s in my 1983 Chambers.
Phew – toughest one I’ve done for a while. Left a few unresolved but all cleared up between you all above – esp PB – thanks – except maybe 9a – WP as per the blog but there’s no need for an extra C – no funny business – the def is just the last three words – “biting cold here”.
Well maybe it’s a bit of misdirection – it certainly had me stumped for a while.
Many thanks S&B – and those above.
Oops – 9a – you do need that extra C – so “biting cold here” for the def and it’s a semi-&lit (according to some) with rather a lot of spare parts – or (exactly as per the blog) just “here” as the def – ie a place – not uncommon.
I must have stared at it so long I was starting to see double.