A rare puzzle from Noel, who also uses the name Alfie. It is his first of the year, and indeed he has only given us a dozen or so in the last 3-4 years combined. I find them usually quite challenging, and this one was no exception, taking me 15:47. Definitely a puzzle that was both 13A and 15A!
Puzzles from Noel often have some sort of twist or theme, but other than the numerical qualities of three of the four long edge clues, I have not spotted anything. But then I very seldom do, and no doubt if there is something here, someone will enlighten us all in the comments.
So thank you Noel for what I thought was a most enjoyable puzzle. How did you find it?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Revised intention’s to get hold of English ciphers (11) |
| NONENTITIES – (Intentions)*, with “revised” being one of the less convoluted anagram indicators, and then with E (for English) inserted into it. Nothing to do with codes, as I first thought, and quite a tricky anagram to start us off – I needed all the checkers. | |
| 8 | Housing developments in European countries (7) |
| ESTATES – E (European) + STATES (countries). Housing developments as in Housing estates, and unusual perhaps to have the letter E clued as a separate letter in the first two clues. | |
| 9 | A female with dilemma getting stick (5) |
| AFFIX –A + F (female) + FIX (dilemma), giving us stick as in glue or fix something to something else. | |
| 10 | Kinky sex in pool is a blast (9) |
| EXPLOSION – (sex in pool)*, with the anagram indicator being “Kinky”. A very nice surface, and I am sure it is indeed a blast, though I don’t speak from experience! | |
| 12 | Match official concerned with foul, primarily (3) |
| REF – RE (concerned with) + F (initial letter of foul). This was my FOI, partly because I often try to get the short words first, and a nice loosener to get me going. | |
| 13 | Cards won by Yankee displaying cunning (6) |
| TRICKY – TRICK (cards won, eg in a game like Bridge) + Y (the letter Y is called Yankee in the NATO alphabet). I so wanted this to be Tricksy, but we are one letter short. | |
| 15 | Suggest visiting quiet flat (6) |
| SMOOTH – MOOT (to moot = to suggest something) inserted into SH (quiet). | |
| 17 | Worry when leader of race goes missing (3) |
| EAT – Our race is a HEAT, from which the H (leader) is deleted, giving EAT. The connection with Worry is the twin phrases “What’s worrying you?” / “What’s eating you?” – for anyone who has not seen this pairing before it is worth remembering as it is regularly used in Crosswordland. | |
| 18 | Some record I sent ombudsman to unearth (9) |
| DISENTOMB – A nice and relatively straightforward hidden, in recorD I SENT OMBudsman. Hiddens that go across four words are quite rare. | |
| 20 | Low-down American type (5) |
| GENUS – GEN (info, low-down) + US (American). | |
| 22 | Food supply in desert is sustaining one, mostly (7) |
| RATIONS – A bit of work required to construct this; the components are RAT (desert) + IS containing (“sustaining”) ON (one, mostly). | |
| 23 | This clue initially tough? They weren’t troubled! (6-5) |
| TWENTY-THREE – T (initial letter of Tough) + (they weren’t)*, the anagram indicator being “troubled”. And it is indeed clue 23. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Umpire’s call assumed to be reversed (3,2) |
| NOT UP – An assumed air could be said to be PUT ON, which when reversed gives our answer NOT UP – something a tennis umpire might call when the player has not hit the ball before it has bounced a second time. | |
| 2 | Formed contacts: goal was successful (9) |
| NETWORKED – NET (goal – think “the ball is in the net”) + WORKED (was successful). It’s not what you know, it’s who you know … | |
| 3 | Monster’s head, that is (6) |
| NESSIE – NESS (head, as in headland or cape) + IE (that is), giving us the mythical Loch Ness Monster affectionately known as Nessie by the Scottish Tourist Board, for whom it must have earnt a small fortune over the years. | |
| 4 | A princess recalled another in opera (3) |
| IDA – A + DI (Diana, Princess of Wales), all reversed (“recalled”). Princess Ida is one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas, though I think it is more usually considered an operetta by music buffs. | |
| 5 | Facts about old king with new blazer (7) |
| INFERNO – INFO (facts) with ER (old king, choose any Edward from I to VIII) + N (new) inserted into it. I spent far too long thinking of blazer as jacket and looking for an article of clothing. | |
| 6 | Punishment of old thief busted with boxsets (3,2,3,4) |
| SIX OF THE BEST – An anagram of THIEF and BOXSETS, with the anagram indicator being “busted”. I have included the “of old” in the definition part of the surface because this standard schoolboy punishment of my youth is now frowned upon; and otherwise “old” is not contributing to the clue (said with some feeling as I tried initially to include an extra O in the anagrist!) | |
| 7 | Old record from event you kept within view (7-5) |
| SEVENTY-EIGHT – EVENT + YE (you) inserted into (“kept within”) SIGHT (view). Vinyl records are having a bit of a moment just now – my son has discovered them and spends much time in old record shops – but they are usually the post-WW2 versions which played at 33 rpm or 45 rpm. 78 rpm records were old even in my youth. | |
| 11 | List with name I’m on put up — by this person? (9) |
| NOMINATOR – A complex clue; we start with ROTA (list) and add N (name) + I’M ON, and then reverse (“put up”) the lot, and this gives the person who might put our name on a list. Put up works as the reversal indicator because this is a down clue. | |
| 14 | Powerful hint ensemble has taken on board (7) |
| INTENSE – Our second hidden of the puzzle, in hINT ENSEmble. | |
| 16 | Lively wit of corrupt priest (6) |
| ESPRIT – Straightforward anagram (“corrupt”) of (priest)*. | |
| 19 | Bracing air round region (5) |
| OZONE – O (round) + ZONE (region), giving us a hint of sea air (“bracing air”). Ozone, a gas made up of molecules of 3 oxygen atoms, is usually described as more “pungent” than bracing, but its smell has been likened to chlorine, or sometimes seaweed, and this gives the connection with sea air and so bracing. | |
| 21 | Was a poser part of the weekend? (3) |
| SAT – A DD to finish with. Someone who was a poser might have sat (eg for a photograph), and part of the weekend is Saturday, shortened to Sat. | |
Very slow start but picked off odd clues around the grid and did eventually finish. Didn’t know NOTUP but it worked from parsing. Stuck on 7d for sometime because having seen ‘view’ I wrote in ‘sight’ for second part of answer. Thanks Noel and Cedric.
DNF – 4 clues wrong. Bit too hard for a QC.
15:57 here, slightly over target, but an enjoyable puzzle for a Saturday morning. COD to TWENTY-THREE. I think I remember “not up” being used by volleyball umpires.
Thanks to Cedric and Noel.
I played and coached National League for many years and did my share of officiating. I have a Level I qualification for it which I took under the eye of Jeff Brehaut – who refereed two Olympic Beach Volleyball finals as well as many international matches.
The officials are “referees” who just blow their whistle and make a hand signal. There is no verbal communication unless the captain wants to talk to them about something specifically. I don’t recall there being a “not up” signal, the rally simply ends the moment the ball is deemed to have touched the court.
That said, it may well have been played how you say in lower leagues or friendly matches. But they’re still not umpires!!
My first Saturday comments here as I normally stick to the 15×15 which takes me a long time normally. An easier than average 15×15 and not much sport today, so I gave this a go.
Done in 15:04 with a slow start and fast finish. LOI ESTATES.
A good challenge.
COD to NETWORKED.
David
All green in 27 minutes while having dinner so only semi-concentrating. NESSIE my LOI. Definitely harder than a normal quickie.
Had to squint at bit at some of these clues, as well as write a few out, before I could see the solutions. This gave it a very different flavour but it was all fair enough. A nice change!
FOI 1a nonentities
LOI 17a Eat
COD 10a Explosion
Still holding Sawbill for Sunday!
Interesting that you chaps, who are so well informed about e.g. cricket, haven’t heard of NOT UP. I seldom played the kind of tennis that required umpires, but one would just admit to Not Up if the ball bounced twice.
Dare I say us chaps tend to be quick enough round the court that the ball rarely bounces twice … 😜
Will send one of my sons to challenge you on court🎾
17.06 Away yesterday so late to this. I’d NHO NOT UP, but the wordplay was clear. NOMINATOR was the trickiest to parse so I left it until I’d finished. EAT was LOI. Good fun. Thanks Cedric and Noel.