Independent 8977 / Nestor

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This was a good Thursday challenge from Nestor, with several clues that got the old grey matter working overtime.

 

We had to check some entries which we had not come across before – more due to our lack of knowledge of horror films, chemistry and dog breeds than real obscurity – but the wordplay was always fair and pointed us in the right direction. The parsing of 26ac caused us some trouble, but if we’ve got it right, it is a very crafty bit of clueing.

Thanks copmus – we forgot to mention that it was a pangram.

Across
7   Case of nobody born in Michigan?
NOMINATIVE NO MI (Michigan) NATIVE
9   Regularly skip double gym to follow instruction
OBEY Regular letters in dOuBlE gYm
10   Perhaps Domino’s Pizza’s major ingredients?
FATS FATS as in this jazz player and also pizzas usually have cheese as a major ingredient
11   Having written something, in French, to the Thunderer’s fashionable…..
AUTHORSHIP AU (‘to the’ in French) THOR’S (Thunderer’s) HIP (fashionable)
12   …for Parisians, who study peace
QUIETUDE QUI (‘who’ in French) ETUDE (study)
14   Lulu, who has strong voice
BELTER Double definition
16   Change to new symbols, having read up on gender identity?
TRANSLITERATE If you had read up on gender identity, you would be TRANS (transgender) LITERATE
18   Mother approved pushing ring back, to cope with limited means
MAKE DO MA (mother) OKED (approved) with O (ring) being moved to the back
19   More than one bent on loss of head is captivating
ENCHANTS pENCHANTS (bents) without first letter, or ‘loss of head’
21   Broken in halves, no good for vampire hunter
VAN HELSING An anagram of IN HALVES NG (no good) – anagrind is ‘broken’. We had to guess this one when we had all the crossing letters and after checking we found THIS film
23   Name on hand tool
PAWN N (name) on PAW (hand)
25   Antioxidant element central to booziest brunches
ZINC Central letters in booZIest bruNChes
26   Avarice, accepting n divided by 23 for agricultural payment rate
GREEN POUND This took a bit of sorting out, but we think it must be: GREED (avarice) round or ‘accepting’ NOUN (‘n’) round or ‘divided by’ P (pawn – 23ac)
Down
1   Posturing that’s risen in the past year
YOGA AGO (in the past) Y (year) all reversed, or ‘risen’
2   Musical takes mikes off
KISS ME KATE An anagram of TAKES MIKES – anagrind is ‘off’
3   Wonderful place by a commercial university
XANADU X (by, as in multiplied by) AN AD (a commercial) U (university)
4   Strengthen fort rented without any closing time?
REDOUBLE REDOUBt (fort) LEt (rented) without both the last letter ‘t’s, or ‘closing times’
5   Big Apple guy providing employment
JOBS A double definition, referring to Steve JOBS, the former high profile front man for Apple computers
6   Wayward teen filmed corruption
DEFILEMENT An anagram of TEEN FILMED – anagrind is ‘wayward’
8   Annoyance when splitting subtle distinction without first being worked on
IN THE PIPELINE THE PIP (annoyance, as in ‘it gives me the pip’) in or ‘splitting’ fINE LINE (subtle distinction) without the first letter
13   Arab cult is working with small amount of silica
ULTRABASIC An anagram of ARAB CULT IS – anagrind is ‘working’. We had to check the definition but it does mean ‘very poor in silica’
15   Learner driver tricks those who help motorists parking and help dogs
LHASA APSOS L (learner driver) HAS (tricks) AA (Automobile Association – those who help motorists) P (parking) SOS (help!). A new breed of dog for us!
17   Rotting fodder that’s stored across Italian river
SPOILAGE SILAGE (fodder) round or ‘across’ PO (Italian river)
20   Persuasive, firm, polite fellow
COGENT CO (company – firm) GENT (polite fellow)
22   Joint of meat for 23
HOCK Double definition – HOCK being a joint of meat and a synonym of ‘pawn’ (23ac) as in the activity of a pawnbroker
24   Hear complaint, say 22
WINE Sounds like (‘hear’) WHINE (complaint) – Hock (22d) also being a type of wine

 

15 comments on “Independent 8977 / Nestor”

  1. Oh, this was a treat! I will never think of ‘transliteration’ in the same way again! The trip to find 15D Lhasa Apsos took me half way to Timbuktu, it was so misdirected. And what a superb clue for 7A Nominative! And 10A Fats! A four-letter answer with two crossing letters and it still took me ten minutes of staring to get there!

    I didn’t understand 26A Green Pound or 8D In The Pipeline, so thanks very much, Bertandjoyce. I was a bit doubtful about 14A Belter but it turned out to be corect. 4D Redoubt took me ages of staring. In 11A I had A.T…S… for a long time, and was thinking of AuTimes… and twigged with a big smile. Last in were 7A Nominative and 10A Fats. Great satisfaction to finish!

    Thank you very much, Nestor, splendid stuff indeed.

  2. Hi all – I’m probably being very thick, but what’s the double def in 14a? (Answer- Belter)

    Other than that missed piece of parsing I found this very enjoyable, unravelling with a slow but steady pace.

    Thank you to Nestor and Bertandjoyce.

  4. Compus@ 3 – Whoops, we did notice the pangram but forgot that when it came to the blog. Will add it to the blog this afternoon.

    Will@ 2 – As far as BELTER is concerned – Chambers defines LULU as an outstandingly impressive thing or person and BELTER as something outstandingly good or a singer who belts out songs.

  5. Will, 14A Lulu: Lulu and belter are synonyms in that they both mean something beautiful, or sometimes specifically a beautiful woman. And someone with a strong voice could reasonably be described as a belter, someone who belts it out. So both ‘Lulu’ and someone ‘who has a strong voice’ could reasonably be two definitions of the answer ‘belter’.

  6. This puzzle certainly got the grey matter working, but it was a very satisfying solve.

    FATS was my LOI after the penny finally dropped, but it also took me a while to see JOBS and the REDOUBLE/BELTER crossers. ULTRABASIC went in as the most likely arrangement of the anagram fodder.

    I thought the charade for LHASA APSOS was an absolute belter, so a tip of the hat to Nestor for that one.

    Will@2 – my use of “belter” in the paragraph above means “something very good”, but I could also have used “lulu” to mean the the same thing. For the “strong voice” meaning of “belter” think of “he can certainly belt out a good tune”.

  7. Thanks all – I had never come across Lulu as a ‘good thing’ and for some reason I was so hung up on the name that it never occurred to me that Lulu could have another meaning.

    It wasn’t even laziness, worryingly – more a complete mental block which stopped me typing ‘define Lulu’ into Google. Which I have now, of course, done.

    And don’t I feel silly 😉

  8. Did wonder if there was more than just a pangram with all the rarer letters filling the perimeter. Gosh that was hard as nimrod or the late lamented bannsider could have produced. Well done b&j there were several I put in despite being unable to parse.

  9. In the end, three in the top left defeated me, 1dn and 7&10ac – just couldn’t see them, and I would never have got 15dn without a word search.

  10. Now that’s what I call fun! I’d gladly swap all this week’s Guardians (though I’ve yet to look at today’s Shed) for this lovely Nestor. FATS a favourite (I gather it’s possible to have various processed meats on a pizza, justifying the plural) along with REDOUBLE, TRANSLITERATE,LHASA APSOS and the clutch based around PAWN, itself a fine clue.
    Couple of little difficulties; the paper version has “…time?” in 4dn though I thought that “…times?” would be better – is that why B & J changed it I wonder; and I only entered BETTER faintly – my (1990s) Chambers defines lulu as “a thing or person that is outstandingly bad(!) or impressive….”
    Hearty congratulations and thanks to one and all.

  11. Thanks for the blog and comments.
    Just one thing: flashling is right to wonder, as there is a bit more to it than just a pangram.

  15. Oh! Nestor – Now that’s a Nina Impressionante…..
    (I shall never eat alphabetti soup again without feeling a little unsatisfied…)

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