Oh my goodness I spotted a Nina. Wonders will never cease. I’ll put it at the very end of this introduction in case anyone wants to go back to the puzzle and have a look.
After DNFing yesterday I faced an Asp with some trepidation, but this one turned out to be very approachable and I finished in regulation 07:47. Some brilliant clues in here, with my COD going to 23a.
Definitions underlined in bold.
Nina – look at the unchecked letters running down the left and right edges, combined with AND in the middle. Maybe Asp is in the middle of moving house.
| Across | |
| 4 | Part of girl is so mobile and nimble (6) |
| LISSOM – hidden. I always thought it was “lissome” but I now learn that they are alternatives. | |
| 7 | Gave beer out for something to drink (8) |
| BEVERAGE – anagram [out] of “gave beer”. | |
| 8 | Unusually white individual moving over from England once (6) |
| ALBINO – I could see that this was either albino [unusually white individual] or Albion [England once], in either case with the O shifting [moving over] one place. But since the “moving over” direction was in the middle, I couldn’t tell which one it was until I got the N from ORNAMENT. Both albino and Albion derive from the Latin albus (white), in Albion’s case probably because of the white cliffs. | |
| 9 | Preparation for exam on sight (8) |
| REVISION – RE [on] + VISION [sight]. I over-complicated this, trying to work in “test” or “oral”. | |
| 10 | Key passage in speech (4) |
| ISLE – my LOI because although KEY does of course mean island (think the Florida Keys) that wasn’t the first thing that sprang to mind, or indeed the third. Sounds like [in speech] “aisle” [passage]. | |
| 12 | This employee ran edger around? (8) |
| GARDENER – anagram (around) of “ran edger”. It’s an &Lit, since a GARDENER is the type of employee likely to run an edger around (eg) a flowerbed or lawn. | |
| 15 | Nurse involved in prisoner’s struggles (8) |
| CONTENDS -TEND [nurse] inside [involved in] CONS [prisoner’s, silent apostrophe]. | |
| 18 | Place by tee to play shot (4) |
| PUTT – PUT [place] + T [tee]. | |
| 20 | Personal magnetism is seen in allure and attraction primarily (8) |
| CHARISMA – IS [is] going inside [seen in] CHARM [allure] + A [attraction primarily]. | |
| 22 | Inspire the French by showing consideration (6) |
| KINDLE – LE [the French] on the end of [by] KIND [showing consideration]. | |
| 23 | I’m stopping racist waving around weapon (8) |
| SCIMITAR – IM [I’m] inside an anagram [waving around] of “racist”. Brilliant surface. | |
| 24 | Broadcast outspoken channel (6) |
| STRAIT – sounds like [broadcast] “straight” [outspoken – I looked a bit sideways at this but Collins does have “outspoken” in its list of US meanings so Asp is covered]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Mother Earth embodies this place (4) |
| HERE – hidden [embodies]. | |
| 2 | Citizen stripping head of state’s power (8) |
| RESIDENT – a head of state could be a president; remove the P [stripping power]. | |
| 3 | Sailor’s appraisal (6) |
| RATING – double definition. | |
| 4 | Supported person in possession of fewer pounds (6) |
| LEANER – definition with a cryptic hint (if I was leaning on a wall I would be being supported by it and thus a leaner/a supported person). | |
| 5 | New boss turns on the waterworks (4) |
| SOBS – anagram [new] of “boss”. | |
| 6 | Musical embellishment uplifted man captivated by fantastic tenor (8) |
| ORNAMENT – NAM [uplifted man] inside [captivated by] anagram [fantastic] of “tenor”. | |
| 11 | Perpetrate crime that promotes retail outlet? (8) |
| SHOPLIFT – SHOP = retail outlet, LIFT = promote. | |
| 13 | Joiner starts to assemble new desk (3) |
| AND – first letters [starts to] of “assemble new desk”. AND is of course a conjunction or joining word. What a neat clue, bravo. It reads so naturally. | |
| 14 | Unreserved former partner allowed to keep quiet (8) |
| EXPLICIT – EX [former partner] + LICIT [allowed] with P [quiet] inside [to keep]. | |
| 16 | Most pleasant spot on vacation, south of French city (6) |
| NICEST – ST [spot “on vacation”, i.e. the first and last letters] below [south, in a down clue] of NICE [French city]. | |
| 17 | Two thirds of statistic having zero variation (6) |
| STATIC – could it really be as simple as having 6 of the 9 letters of “statistic”? Reader, it could. | |
| 19 | Liberal abandons perfect scheme (4) |
| IDEA – “ideal” [perfect] without the L [Liberal abandons]. | |
| 21 | Complaint upset first couple in Arab state (4) |
| MOAN – switch over the first two letters [upset first couple] in Oman [Arab state]. | |
A technical DNF because I entered “taring” (present participle and gerund of tare), based on tar (sailor) and assessment of empty weight def instead of the in-hindsight much more obvious “rating” – with no checkers to check me. Oh well! Thanks Asp!