It’s very rare that I draw a Kairos to blog, so it was hard to know what to expect.
I can tell you that I’ve managed to get to blogging day without completing the puzzle, so it can’t have been terribly easy, the bottom left corner proving particularly troublesome.
Fortunately, glancing at the paper sideways whilst typing up the post I spotted the Nina, allowing me to finish things off just in time.
I’ll save that for the end of the post, in case you want to go and have a look for it now.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SHAFTS | Screws handle on board (6) |
| HAFT in SS. | ||
| 5 | SASH CORD | Opening mechanism in, say, Baldrick’s short trousers! (4,4) |
| SASH + CORD[s]. This took a bit of figuring out after the answer was written in, but it turns out a “baldric” or “baldrick” is a warrior’s shoulder sash. | ||
| 9 | INTAGLIO | I return grease gun after introduction of novel printing process (8) |
| I + N[ovel] + (OIL + GAT)<. | ||
| 10 | DANUBE | River expert meets with Hubble on a regular basis (6) |
| DAN + [h]U[b]B[l]E. | ||
| 11 | NEOCLASSIC | I once represented college girl within a form of art (10) |
| (C + LASS) in (I ONCE)*. | ||
| 12 | UNIX | University has to reject operating system (4) |
| U + NIX. I wonder how obvious this was to non-techies. | ||
| 13 | IBERIANS | People from a peninsular in Serbia perhaps (8) |
| (IN SERBIA)*. | ||
| 16 | RAT-TAT | Tell about a dry tapping sound (3-3) |
| (A TT) in RAT. | ||
| 17 | SLICED | Badly hit ball from United lacking a bit of panache (6) |
| S[p]LICED. | ||
| 19 | WATERIER | Battle over Thailand lake is more tasteless (8) |
| (T + Lake ERIE) in WAR. | ||
| 21 | TYRO | Beginner included in duty roster (4) |
| [du]TY RO[ster]. | ||
| 22 | GRETA GARBO | Actress who could make Bogart rage (5,5) |
| (BOGART RAGE)*. Lovely surface reading—I wonder if it’s true! | ||
| 25 | ECZEMA | Greek starter cut with cocaine – send it back with a complaint (6) |
| (C in MEZE)< + A. | ||
| 26 | HONOLULU | Honourable old singer in state capital (8) |
| HON + O + LULU. | ||
| 27 | REMASTER | Terms are arranged to make a new recording (8) |
| (TERMS ARE)*. | ||
| 28 | EMBOSS | Provide relief from Kansas aunt’s employer (6) |
| EM + BOSS. Aunt Em is the character from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, of course. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | HINGE | Joint of beef – not Welsh (5) |
| [w]HINGE. | ||
| 3 | FRANC | African politicians supporting French currency (5) |
| FR + ANC. | ||
| 4 | SULTANA | High class officer seen in hospital with a concubine (7) |
| ((U + LT) in SAN) + A. | ||
| 5 | SPOUSES | Husbands and wives dash around Portugal and Spain at first (7) |
| (P in SOUSE) + S[pain]. | ||
| 6 | SIDECAR | People with hellish ruler come back with cocktail (7) |
| (RACE + DIS)<. | ||
| 7 | CONDUCTOR | Concur with Dot about leader (9) |
| (CONCUR + DOT)*. | ||
| 8 | RABBINATE | Tribe ban a revolutionary Jewish office (9) |
| (TRIBE BAN A)*. | ||
| 14 | BELLYACHE | Earl will feature in Times with a revolutionary to protest (9) |
| ((E + ‘LL) in BY) + CHE Guevara. | ||
| 15 | ROCK OPERA | Musical work featuring Lorelei? (4,5) |
| I think this is just a cryptic/whimsical definition. I needed Google to remind me, but it turns out that Lorelei is, well, a rock. I’m not sure if there’s any more to it than that. | ||
| 18 | DOGCART | Follow trail almost back to vehicle (7) |
| DOG + (TRAC[e])<. | ||
| 19 | WHETHER | Expression of doubt about male sheep we hear (7) |
| Homophone of “wether”. | ||
| 20 | TRAINEE | 21‘s time with Hindu queen involves Indian leader (7) |
| I[ndian] in (T + RANEE). | ||
| 23 | AD-LIB | Notice to Liberal: wing it (2-3) |
| AD + LIB. | ||
| 24 | BELTS | Moves quickly to hit son (5) |
| BELT + S. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition
The Nina is in the unchecked squares down the left and right of the grid, spelling out SINISTER and DEXTROUS, words derived from the Latin for “left” and “right” respectively.
I found this puzzle very tricky, and my last three answers took me quite a while. They were ECZEMA, SLICED and SASH CORD. I didn’t spot the nina so didn’t get any help from that angle. WATERIER doesn’t look like a real word and I can’t imagine I would ever use it.
There is an opera by Bruch – the mythical siren who sat on the rock was supposed to sing to lure sailors to their deaths so I suppose that might count as ‘rock opera’ too.
Thanks, Simon. I don’t remember this being too tricky, but there were one or two I couldn’t parse, so thank you for explaining those.
I didn’t spot the nina, but that’s probably because it’s rare that there is one in the IoS puzzle, so I wasn’t particularly looking for one. I think I’ve seen the GRETA GARBO trick before, but it’s still a good clue. And I liked the nod towards Aunt Em.
There is a spelling howler in 13ac, however. IBERIANS come from a peninsula, not a peninsular.
Thank you to Kairos for the puzzle.
Thanks for the blog, Simon.
Should 4D SULTANA also mention that the letter ‘U’ in the word comes from the ‘High class’ part of the clue?
Also, being pedantic, should the Hindu queen in 20D TRAINEE actually read RANEE?
Enjoyable puzzle from Kairos as usual.
Thanks, Greg. Corrections now made.
13ac is quite a clanger, but I’ve left it as it is, since that’s how the clue is in the paper and online.
I think 24 down is ‘belts’.
I agree with anon@6 – definitely BELTS
Never mind agreeing or disagreeing, the answer they gave in the paper yesterday was BELTS, so it would appear to be right. But I’d entered BOLTS, too. Bolt as in lightning bolt for hit.
Fair enough, BELTS it is then.