[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
A Nimrod-ean master class in cramming connected cryptic content in to a fifteen by fifteen grid – with just a hint of Cyclops-ean, or maybe Paul-esque, schoolboy smut, to generate a little heat under the collar.
Once I’d got my head around where all the connected/multiple entry clues were – which took a while in itself! – it then took me while longer to get a foothold into this. The hidden IRENA at 28A was probably first in, and probably the only ‘write-in’. HAWES at 6D struck a chord, as my parents live in Swaledale, and I am familiar with the awe-inspiring landscapes up there.
So, on to the linked clues…first to fall was ‘HOW’S YOUR’ + ‘ FATHER’ – which led me to put a bit of ‘THE OTHER’ in at 8D, without getting the rest of that set. This euphemism, ‘coupled’ with the fairly XXX-rated clue at 2D and ‘necking Janet’ at 4D, had me expecting a smut-fest, along the lines of the Masters & Johnson theme in the previous week’s Grauniad prize puzzle.
But, as it turned out, Nimrod was actually just keeping his cards close to his chest – FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE at 20D. NINE, TEN, JACK at 4D. SIX, SEVEN and EIGHT sprinkled around in other entries, and then MOTHER and FATHER for the QUEEN and KING. Quite a lot to fit in – along with the SIX OF ONE/HALF A DOZEN linkage as well – and maybe there is more complexity/thematic material that I have missed?
Most of those long linked clues were pretty devious anagrams, and I liked the multiple uses of 8/the other in various places. I was less sure about 30A – with the REVERSER reversing the S and V of RESERVER, and ‘its’ as the self-referential definition.
LOI was LINGUINE – I had all the crossing letters but it took a while to parse it properly and determine whether it was E or I for the last letter!
A pretty tough workout, I would say – maybe some liked it, maybe some didn’t – SIX OF ONE, HALF A DOZEN OF THE OTHER?! My pleasure in (eventually) completing this puzzle was enhanced by the fact that I’d been lucky enough to be drawn out as a winner of the previous week’s!
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 1A | SIX OF ONE | Unusual noise fox makes…(see 11) (3,2,3) | linked clue with 11D – ‘equally’ / anag (i.e. unusual) of NOISE FOX |
| 5A | THWART | Snooker battles that one may have succumbed to? (6) | Snooker (as in prevent someone doing something) / TH(A)T – with A (one) ‘succumbing’, and being replaced by WAR (battles) |
| 9A | LINGUINE | Losing games, king perhaps is overwhelmed by positioning pieces at table? (8) | pieces (of pasta), at a table (maybe) / LI_E (positioning) around (PE)NGUIN – King Penguin, losing PE – physical education, or ‘games’) |
| 10A | TWO ONE | See 20D (3, 2) | See 20 D / See 20 D |
| 12A | ON-DIT | Report a series of conditions (2-3) | Report (French – rumour, hearsay) / hidden word (series of letters in) ‘cONDITions’ |
| 13A | TEARSHEET | What ‘came from outer space’ holding attention’s a rip-off (9) | a rip-off / T_HE ET (an ET – Extra Terrestrial – might have ‘come from outer space’) around EAR (attention) and S (possessive ‘s’, or contraction of ‘is’) |
| 14A | IRON | See 25D (4) | See 25D / See 25D |
| 15A | FAST ONE | Such as Bolt may have been pulled in cheating allegation? (4,3) | &lit-ish double defn? / Sprinter (Usain) Bolt could be described as a ‘FAST ONE’; and if you are accused of ‘pulling a FAST ONE’ you have allegedly cheated |
| 19A | ONESELF | A certain person emphatically feels no suffering (7) | A certain person (one) emphatically / anag (i.e. suffering) of FEELS NO |
| 21A | JACK | See 4D (4) | See 4D / See 4D |
| 24A | SHOVE OVER | Son gets sucker admitting Mayday move! (5,4) | (command to) move! / S (son) + HO_OVER (sucker), around VE (VE Day, 8 May 1945) |
| 26A | IRENA | Woman from Eire, naturally (5) | Woman / hidden word in ‘eIRE, NAturally’ |
| 27A | ON HIGH | Zero hour crosses upon us in heaven (2,4) | in heaven / O (zero) + H (hour), interlaced with N_IGH (upon us) |
| 28A | WIRE MESH | Engineers trapped by long fencing material (4,4) | fencing material / WI_SH (long for) trapping REME (Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineere) |
| 29A | RARITY | You don’t see it very often – take it into the light (6) | (Something) you don’t see very often / RA_Y (light) around R (recipe, Latin, take) + IT |
| 30A | REVERSER | Section 5 in Booker given its treatment? (8) | &lit-ish (‘it’ referring to a ‘reverser’, who would have this effect)/ RESERVER (Booker, somone who reserves something) with S (section) and V (five) reversed, to give REVERSER? |
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 1D | SALMON | Square kernel not completely pink-orange in colour (6) | pink-orange in colour / S (square) = ALMON(D) (nut, or kernel, not completely) |
| 2D | XANADU | One probing innermost parts of sexual pleasure centre? (6) | pleasure centre (ref, Kublai Khan) / X AN_D U (X and U are the innermost letters of seXUal), around (being probed by!) A (one) |
| 3D | FOUR THREE | See 20D (4, 5) | See 20D / See 20D |
| 4/21AD | NINE TEN | Endlessly necking, Janet wags tail (4,3,4) | tail (end, last three batsmen in a cricket team) / anag (i.e. wags) of NECKIN(G) (endlessly) and JANET |
| 6D | HAWES | Top of hill inspires wonderment – location of Gateway to such (5) | location of gateway to (wondrous views of the Yorkshire Dales) / H (first letter of Hill) + AWES (inspires wonderment) |
| 7D | A DOZEN OF | See 11D (1, 5, 2) | See 11D / See 11D |
| 8D | THE OTHER | See 11D (3, 5) | See 11D / See 11D |
| 11/7/8D | HALF | (See 1 Across)…equally bad health (hate frozen food?) (4,1,5,2,3,5) | linked clue with 1A – ‘equally’ / anag (i.e. bad) of HEALTH HATE FROZEN FOOD |
| 16D | SACRILEGE | Disrespect wise man accepting damaged relic (9) | Disrespect / SA_GE (wise man) around (acceptind) CRILE (anag, i.e. damaged, of RELIC) |
| 17/23D | HOWS YOUR | 8 Generator enquiry… (4,4,6) | double defn? / 8D = ‘the other’, euphemism for sexual relations, as in ‘a bit of the other’ – also euphemistically referred to as a bit of ‘how’s your father?’; and a non-euphemistic enquiry as to the health of one’s father, or generator! |
| 18D | BE MOTHER | …take role of 8 Generator when the clock strikes 3? (2,6) | crypic definition? / If one pours the tea, when the clock strikes three, one could say ‘Shall I be mother?’ – in which case, you could be taking the role of the ‘other’ generator – mother, rather than father from the previous clue. (3 might refer to 3 o’clock, or to the FOUR at position 3 – as 4 o’clock is more traditionally tea time?) |
| 20/3/10D | FIVE | Without fee for even or odd numbers down (4,4,5,3,3) | (some) numbers (counted) down / anag (i.e. odd) of WITHOUT FEE FOR EVEN OR |
| 21D | JARDINE | Controversial tour captain has preserve to eat (7) | Controversial (cricket) tour captain (ref. The Bodyline Series) / JAR (container of preserve) + DINE (to eat) |
| 22D | SEVENS | Sailors getting chucked out of The Plough, Rugby (6) | (Format of) Rugby (Union) / SEVEN (S)TARS – The Plough, star shape, or asterism – without (chucking out) TARS (sailors) |
| 23D | FATHER | See 17D (6) | See 17D / See 17D |
| 25/14D | EIGHT | The other Press Club? (5,4) | (Golf) club / EIGHT (clue 8’s answer is ‘the other’) + IRON (press) |
An enjoyable puzzle slightly marred for me by LINGUINE and REVERSER. I had both of these pencilled in and had parsed REVERSER as you had done, but wasn’t really happy with it. I hadn’t worked out the parsing of LINGUINE, perhaps partly because the definition part was dubious enough that I wasn’t really sure it was the right answer so wasn’t mentally committed to cracking it. Thanks for the explanations.
Massive error stopped me dead in NE corner and prevented me finishing.
My FOI was a very confident PLIANT at 5ac, namely PLANT (snooker battle) around I (one), definition SUCCUMBED. Yes I know it looks flaky now …
Btw – paper version of 6dn doesn’t mention Gateway – “Top of hill inspires wonderment – looking down on it”.
I found this exceedingly tough, having to come back to it several times this week and still failing to get 22dn and 30ac, plus guessing several I couldn’t parse – 9ac, for instance.
Thanks for the feedback/comments – looks like this was generally regarded as a ‘toughie’. I’m hoping to bump in to Nimrod – and any others out there? – at the Times National Crossword Championship today. If so, we can give feedback in person, hopefully over a pint!
Geebs – thanks for pointing out the difference in 6D – I have occasionally noticed small differences between the clues in the paper version and those online – not sure which is the master version – presumably the paper version…
I agree that this was a toughie, and I echo OPatrick@1’s sentiments about LINGUINE and REVERSER which were my last two in. I didn’t know HAWES but the wordplay was clear enough.
Seems as if our experience was very similar to the rest of you. Our last one in was 9ac which we only cracked once we had 2d. It took us a while to parse.
We thought that 6d was the weakest clue but with the latest edition to the online version, it makes more sense.
A great puzzle which kept us amused for sometime. Quite an achievement to be able to include all the themed answers. A pint on us Nimrod when we see you in York!
Thanks mc_rapper67
Harder than many Listeners I’ve done, even with the solution I found many parsings impossible so congratulations to those who managed them. Never heard of Hawes, looking the place up it seems utterly unremarkable, certainly no gateway to anywhere and not famously overshadowed by a hill, ho hum, a bit Pluckley for me.
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Even when I had got a good foothold into where he was going, I still had a lot of work to do to finish. I thought it was excellent with just the reservation of the convoluted 9ac. My favourite was 24ac apart from the linked ones.
Thanks both.
3 JH puzzles although the H different here- all on the same day- Paul(Graun), Mudd(FT) and this. This was the toughest and I needed a slight leg up at the end.All good.Might get something done tomorrow
Really enjoyed this and it was quite tough even though 1 and 1 were my first ones in.
Don’t understand why Gateway in 6D and Generator in 17/18 have capitals though – any suggestions?
That should have been 1 and 11 !
I couldn’t parse LINGUINE but absolutely loved the rest of it. Genius.