Independent 8893 / Nestor

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[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here

Nestor is an irregular contributor to the Independent weekday series.  He is more often seen at weekends.

 

 

 

This was a puzzle I returned to a few times before I cracked it completely, but I get more satisfaction out of puzzles like that than I do from single sitting puzzles.  The wordplay made you think and the definitions weren’t just lifted word for word out of a dictionary.

There were some excellent clues today.  My two favourites were the ones for LAMBETH PALACE (15 across) with its five constituents parts to the wordplay and its surface, and the one for PICNICKING (12 across) as it was my last one in and generated a groan when the penny finally dropped.

Like some solvers, I’m a science and analysis man rather than an arts and allusive image one, so it was good to see VECTOR (6 down) in the grid.  CEEFAX (19 down) was state of the art once in terms of breaking news, but although it was only switched off in October 2012 it seems like stone age technology now

I liked the misdirection around  archaeological ‘digs for ancestor’ in 13 down.

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

7

 

Beat lead, limiting temperature so far (8)

 

HIT (beat) + (HERO [lead character] containing [limiting] T [temperature])

HIT HER (T) O

HITHERTO (up to this time; so far)

 

9

 

Flea possibly in bin (6)

 

HOPPER (fleas hop, so a single flea could be termed a HOPPER)

 

HOPPER (container; bin) double definition

 

10

 

Euphoric son drew on a joint (6)

 

S (son) + TOKED (puffed [drew] on a cigarette especially one containing marijuana [joint])

 

STOKED (exhilarated; euphoric)

 

11

 

Take sustenance in opening prayer (8)

 

EAT (take sustenance) contained in (in) ENTRY (opening)

ENTR (EAT) Y

ENTREATY (earnest prayer)

 

12

 

Feeding on grass and taking photos? (10)

 

PIC (photograph[s]) + NICKING [stealing; taking]) where the whole could describe the taking of photographs.

 

PICNICKING (eating outdoors; feeding on grass)

 

14

 

Perhaps male Facebook friend that follows Spanish course (4)

 

E (electronic) + BRO (brother, male friend) which taken together could indicate an electronic friend such as a Facebook friend)

.

EBRO (river [course] in Spain)

 

15

 

Meek person shifted the power according to Anglicans – from here? (7,6)

 

LAMB (meek person) + an anagram of (shifted) THE + P (power) + ALA (in the style of; according to) + CE (Church of England; Anglican)

LAMB ETH* P ALA CE

LAMBETH PALACE (official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the leading person of power in the Anglican Church)

18

 

Buzz off cocaine during half of weekend (4)

 

C (cocaine) contained in (during) SAT (Saturday; half of the weekend)

S (C) AT

SCAT (Go Away!; Buzz Off!)

 

20

 

 

Comedy effect after wettings one’s bed? (6,4)

 

 

RISING DAMP (what the moisture will become if a mattress get’s wet)

 

RISING DAMP (rather old ITV Sitcom broadcast originally from 1974 to 1978 starring Leonard Rossiter, Frances de la Tour, Richard Beckinsale and Don Warrington, two of whom sadly are no longer with us)  double definition

 

22

 

Singer rejected conscious thought initially to capture a note (2,6)

 

(AWAKE [conscious] + T [first letter of {initially} THOUGHT]) all reversed [rejected] containing (to capture)  (A + N [note])

I interpret the clue to indicate the reversal before the containment, so it parses as

(T EK (A N) AWA)< with just (AWAKE T) reversed,

but I think some will interpret it as meaning everything is reversed as:

(T EKA (N A) WA)<

TE KANAWA (reference the New Zealand soprano Dame Kiri TE KANAWA [1944 – date])

 

24

 

Not halting virus with relevant medical speciality? (6)

 

FLU (contagious viral infection) + ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat, the hospital department where a serious flu patient would be treated)

 

FLUENT (smooth, easy or graceful; not halting)

 

25

 

Working CIA job, he’s played many parts (6)

 

Anagram of (working) CIA JOB

JACOBI*

JACOBI (reference Sir Derek JACOBI [1938 – date], English actor [man of many parts])

 

26

 

US narcs toss place with capital outcomes (5,3)

 

DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration, the US Government Department responsible for policing the drug trade.  Narc is short for narcotics agent) + THROW (toss)

 

DEATH ROW (the place where prisoners awaiting capital punishment are housed)

 
Down
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Hearing failure (8)

 

MISTRIAL (this is a cryptic definition based on the definition of HEARING relating to a court case)

 

MISTRIAL (a trial [hearing] void because of error; hearing failure)

 

2

 

In shock move he sank (6)

 

Anagram of (move) HE SANK

SHAKEN*

SHAKEN (in shock)

 

3

 

Pester Olympics organiser, interrupting wretch’s keen 11 (3,2,5)

 

(RIDE [annoy; pester] + COE [reference Lord Sebastian COE, Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympics and Paralympic Games {LOCOG}]) contained in CUR [wretch]

C (RI DE COE) UR

CRI DE COEUR (a cry from the heart, a heartfelt, passionate ENTREATY [11 across]; keen 11)

 

4

 

Flyer caught by bowler, say (4)

 

C (caught, in cricket terminology) + HAT (a bowler is an example of a HAT)

 

CHAT (small songbird; flyer)

 

5

 

Are uninspiring sports over? They’re not popular for long (8)

 

(ARE + MEH [slang for mediocre; uninspiring] + PE {physical education; sports]) all reversed (over)

(EP HEM ERA)<

EPHEMERA (things that last a short time; they’re not popular for long)

 

6

 

Indication of displacement of conqueror losing island to English (6)

 

VICTOR (conqueror) with I (island) being replaced by [losing to] E (English)

VECTOR

VECTOR (a directed quantity); indication of displacement)

 

8

 

Loose end’s not a thing that’s often connected to a pick-up (3-5,5)

 

Anagram of (loose) END’S NOT A THING

ONE-NIGHT STAND*

ONE-NIGHT STAND (a sexual relationship lasting only one night; could well be the consequence of a pick-up)

 

13

 

Digs for ancestor of US president around Buffalo and Miami locations (6,4)

 

GRANT (reference Ulysses S GRANT, 18th President of the United States [1869- 1877]) containing (around) NY [New York State, location of Buffalo] + FLA [Florida, location of Miami])

GRAN (NY FLA) T

GRANNY FLAT (accommodation for Granny or other older relative [ancestor]; digs for ancestor)

 

16

 

Halt endless money changing to become solvent (8)

 

Anagram of (changing to become) HALT and (MONEY excluding the final letter [endless] Y)

METHANOL*

METHANOL (methyl alcohol, wood spirit, used as a solvent and antifreeze.)

 

17

 

Capital AB has reverse "anti-alias" definition cropping plume (8)

 

(NOT [anti] + NOM DE PLUME [pseudonym; alias] excluding [cropping] PLUME) all reversed (reverse)

(ED MON TON)<

EDMONTON (capital of the Canadian State of Alberta [AB])

 

19

 

Roughly taking payment up, Times discontinued text broadcast (6)

 

(CA [circa; roughly] containing [taking] FEE [payment] reversed [up]) + X (multiplied by; times)

C (EEF)< A X

CEEFAX (teletext service of the BBC, now discontinued)

 

21

 

I have pain in middle of duodenum, a cause of flushing (6)

 

OUCH (expression indicating one has a pain) contained in (in) DE (middle two letters of [middle of] DUODENUM)

D (OUCH) E

DOUCHE (a jet of water directed upon or into the body from a pipe; resulting in a need to flush the water away)

 

23

 

Surrounded by motorway, needing help to get across (4)

 

AID (help) containing (get across) M (motorway)

A (M) ID

AMID (surrounded by)

 

16 comments on “Independent 8893 / Nestor”

  1. Lovely blog as always, Duncan, for which thanks.

    I thought I was going to have to throw in the towel with this one, but I persevered and finally got there. Many excellent clues, but GRANNY FLAT, PICNICKING and MISTRIAL were favourites. Lots of proper names in this one, which is what perhaps made it difficult.

    The surface reading of the clue for EDMONTON is possibly one of the most bizarre I’ve ever seen.

    Bravo, Nestor – fine puzzle.

  2. Quite tricky, but absolutely clear clues once you understood the answer, a masterclass in precision clue-writing!

    I needed all the crossing letters to guess “Edmonton” and then gasped in admiration at the clue.

    “Amid”, 23D, was my last answer, which just shows how good the misdirection was – familiar, short word, two letters already known, and still I couldn’t see it.

    The only answers I wasn’t entirely sure of were “Stoked” (I wasn’t sure of the usage) and “Ebro”. My knowledge of Spanish geography could be written on the back of a dog-eared school atlas with most of the countries still coloured pink. And probably was.

    I mourn Ceefax. When the text on a TV screen was limited to 2000 characters in 8 colours, I used it all the time. It was a great way to check the news or the TV listings. Now the TV text has become utterly unusable, it often doesn’t even work.

    My personal favourite clue was 5D, “Ephemera”.

    Thanks, duncanshiell, and thank you very much indeed, Nestor.

  3. Some quite tricky clues here that I only fully understood from the blog. ‘Meh’ for ‘mediocre’ was new to me; though I got 5dn from the definition. But I saw PICNICKING straightaway in my first pass.

    Thanks, Nestor and Duncan

  5. A cracking puzzle from Nestor, and a blog worthy of the puzzle from duncanshiell! Thanks a ton to both.

    It took four attempts to complete the puzzle – each time, cracking clues that had seemed impenetrable on earlier attempts brought a high that made me want to return to the remaining ones later!

  6. I got CRI DE COEUR from the definition and the crossing letters, and spent ages trying to work out how de Coubertin could be made to fit the wordplay – I was convinced the “Olympics organiser” referred to him, especially because so many letters from his name appeared in the answer! Coe never crossed my mind. 🙁

  7. Thanks Duncan for the blog. With only the third letter in place in 15ac, Joyce sat pondering WIMPOLE STREET for some time without being able to get any further with the parsing than weak person = wimp. Thankfully, with a couple of other letters in place, Bert sorted it out.

    EDMONTON was our LOI which took a bit of sorting out too.

    Thanks Nestor.

  8. I agree that this was excellent puzzle, although I confess that I biffed (BIFD – bunged in from definition) EDMONTON at the end so thanks for that Duncan. I always find it interesting how our minds can work differently because COE for Olympics Organiser was my first thought.

  9. I’m not comfortable with 17dn. If it’s as stated, then why is it ‘anti-alias’ rather than just ‘alias’? It’s ‘nom de plume’ which is reversed, and nom de plume = alias. Can’t quite get my head around this. And incidentally I was rather unhappy with ‘Capital AB’ for ‘Capital of Alberta’. As K’s D says, an extraordinary surface reading. I just biffed EDMONTON, actually not even from definition since I couldn’t see that. It was about the only word that fitted.

    And a pedantic point, Duncan, a typo in 13dn. It’s Ulysses not Ullyses.

  10. Thanks Nestor and Ducanshiell,

    Hard going, needed help with parsing STOKED and quite a few others. I did like MISTRIAL!

    Another typo, I think, at 15a, + P (power) not + P (palace).

  11. Wil Ransome @ 9 and Cookie @ 10

    Sorry – guilty on both the typo charges – now corrected.

    Surely it’s the NOT in the word play for EDMONTON that is the ‘anti’ bit leaving ‘alias’ correctly for NOM DE PLUME

  13. Yes, I think you’ve all got it now:
    Definition = “Capital AB has”
    Wordplay = NOT NOM DE PLUME (= “anti-alias” definition) minus PLUME, all reversed.
    The surface sense is supposed to be about some anti-aliasing technique that chops off part of a letter, but I admit it’s really stretched!

  14. Great puzzle which almost defeated me and in the end I still missed out on EBRO as well as not being able to parse a few others. Others have sung the praises of many of the clues which I also liked, but my favourite was PICNICKING which I definitely didn’t see on my first pass!

    Thanks to Nestor and Duncan.

  15. Super puzzle (ticked PICNICKING, double-ticked EBRO!) and terrific blog.
    Many thanks to Nestor and Duncan.

  16. I found this one really challenging and took three visits to complete it. Like others, I biffed 17d; I still think the word play is tortuous. Thanks to Nestor for some super clues otherwise and to Duncan for shedding light on 14ac and 3d. (Puzzle reprinted in i paper 18 July 2019.)

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