I found this quite hard work, relying on checkers for many and quite a few unparsed until afterwards. There are an awful lot of first names in the grid which suggests some sort of Nina, but I have no idea how to link them. Dean Martin might be a clue.
| Across |
| 7 |
One can’t fly after Heathrow checks (4) |
|
RHEA – hidden word, flightless bird |
| 8 |
Constituency with small majority / in the Borders? (8) |
|
MARGINAL – Double definition, which completely flummoxed me for ages. |
| 9 |
Bully about to run after man (6) |
|
HECTOR -C (about) + TO + R after HE |
| 10 |
Fighting almost tore apart densely populated area (6) |
|
WARREN – WAR + REN[T]. Densely populated with rabbits, obviously. |
| 11 |
Beginnings of days always witnessed now? (4) |
|
DAWN – acronym, and an &lit |
| 12 |
Play-acting up to age nine starts to create empathy (8) |
|
PRETENCE – PRE TEN (up to age nine) + C[REATE] E[MPATHY] |
| 15 |
Wrong-headed way to read poetry? (8) |
|
PERVERSE – Per verse, i.e. one verse at a time. |
| 17 |
Spot check (4) |
|
MARK – double definition |
| 18 |
60 per cent of algorithms altered text praising God (6) |
|
GLORIA – 60% of ALGORITHMS is ALGORI. Anagram it (‘altered’) |
| 21 |
Military Intelligence officer in contact with poet (6) |
|
MILTON – MI (military intelligence) + LT (officer) + ON |
| 22 |
I chortle about tailor (8) |
|
CLOTHIER – Anagram (‘about’) of I CHORTLE |
| 23 |
Head of faculty’s area included in study (4) |
|
DEAN – A inside DEN |
| Down |
| 1 |
Tie required in Oxford but not Wellington? (8) |
|
SHOELACE – ‘Oxford’ in crosswords always means shoe. |
| 2 |
Singer and old lady right at home (6) |
|
MARTIN – MA + RT + IN |
| 3 |
Ripe romp could be seen as this (8) |
|
IMPROPER – Anagram (‘could be seen as’) of RIPE ROMP |
| 4 |
Charted road going north, east and west (4) |
|
DREW – RD backwards + E + W |
| 5 |
Transfix reader originally entertained by article? (6) |
|
PIERCE – PIECE (article) with R for Reader inserted |
| 6 |
English boy raised in valley (4) |
|
DALE – E + LAD backwards |
| 13 |
Remove broadcast about all time to come (8) |
|
EVERMORE – Anagram (‘about’) of REMOVE, plus RE |
| 14 |
Type of punishment for petty officer (8) |
|
CORPORAL – double definition |
| 16 |
Truth is really breached by information technology (6) |
|
VERITY – VERY with IT inserted |
| 17 |
Tune millions yodel badly (6) |
|
MELODY – M + Anagram (‘badly’) of YODEL |
| 19 |
Flower I planted in lines close to rockery (4) |
|
LILY – I inside LL + [ROCKER]Y |
| 20 |
Land mass is receding within America’s borders (4) |
|
ASIA – IS backwards inside A[MERIC]A |
Approximately 9.33. Did not look for a Nina, but I never do.
I can’t say I really enjoyed this. As soon as I saw Asp’s name, I braced myself for the onslaught 😂 I average around 10 minutes these days, but anticipated that I’d need rather longer today. Usually, if I go beyond twice my average, I abandon ship, unless there is only one to go. Today there were MARGINAL, WARREN and PIERCE left, and I couldn’t see what was going on with any of them, so a DNF at about 30 minutes, including a break to see if that helped. It didn’t! I couldn’t parse PERVERSE, but the PDM when HECTOR showed up was colossal 😅
However – and it’s a big however – now the list of names has been pointed out, I think it’s a very good nina. But as editor, surely Asp saw what he’d left down the middle column – was it an accident? Of course, it made me giggle when it was pointed out – I really need to grow up!
FOI Dawn COD Improper
Thanks Asp and Curarist
Ma for old lady is pushing it i think.
We didn’t manage to complete this – 8 clues not solved when we reached our cut-off time of 30 minutes. Similar problems to others raised above. Not very enjoyable for us. Looking back at the 5 QCs from Asp that we have tackled this year, we have only managed to complete 1 and that one we found tricky.
Thanks very much ,Curarist, for the blog -really needed today.
It’s Saturday already so this might go unread Quite cuffed that I managed 12 given some of the comments. It did take me about an hour.
CoD for me was Gloria, first time I’ve seen percentage used in that way.
And I did spot study=den (at last).
Healthwise back on an even keel hopefully. Brain seems to have kicked into key on a couple of other pet projects as well.
Best wishes all, have a great weekend.