Fifteensquared

Never knowingly undersolved.

Independent 6771/Nestor (28-06-08)

Posted by neildubya on July 4th, 2008

neildubya.

I found this very easy but very enjoyable, as always from Nestor.

Across
1 (BANAL MINUTIAE N)* - UNMAINTAINABLE. Had to UNsomethingABLE really.
11 RE,CU in SQUAT
12 A RANT in TELL,A
17 (MINOR YET)* - ENORMITY
19 IS,TA(N)BU,L - good clue, with a convincing surface reading.
22 alternate letters of “tElEpLaY” - the definition is, I think, a reference to the other meaning of the word: a devious or evasive person.
26 OV(ERR)A,TED - this had to be right but I didn’t understand why TED would seem to be “spread”. Just looked it up and it’s a verb meaning “to spread out (newly-mown grass) for drying”.
 
Down
3 A,NERD(going up),A LINE
4 (N for K)OSHER
5 QUI in A LINE - the slightly wacky surface reading made the definition quite easy to spot (for me anyway).
6 hidden in “doNER Kebab” - a new word to me. A cross between a nerd and a jerk perhaps?
8 (EARTHINESS UGLY)* - ESTUARY ENGLISH.
9 LET THE SIDE DOWN - don’t understand some of this: “forgetfulness” is LETHE, and “teen’s initial” is T so that explains LET THE. So where does SIDE DOWN come from?
14 (CUP MERRIER)* - PREMIER CRU.
21 H[end for AR]Y - very cleverly done this: ARE (unit of land measurement) is A, first of “readers” is R. Both are replaced by “end” in “Harry” to give (Stephen) HENDRY, the snooker player.
24 CAR,ON - had to guess this as I’d never heard of Leslie CARON.

2 Responses to “Independent 6771/Nestor (28-06-08)”

  1. nmsindy Says:

    I think its SIDE’D OWN insolence would have

  2. ilancaron Says:

    I’m glad that the CARONs are getting the cryptic recognition we deserve.

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>