I believe this is my first blog of a Grauniad ‘Pangakupu‘ puzzle, although I have met his alter ego in many a ‘Kcit‘ EV and a few ‘Phi‘ Indy Saturday Prize puzzles…
This certainly seemed ‘prize-worthy’ in terms of difficulty, in that it took a couple of sittings and some polishing off, with several parsings that didn’t yield until I was writing up the blog.
No obvious Nina, theme(ette) or narrative, unless a STURDY LEPRECHAUN took a RAILCAR to HOUSE-SIT for his DUTCH UNCLE, encountering some NASTINESS due to an AMATEURISH ANTEDEATED ACT OF PARLIAMENT, causing him to SPEED WELL away from the situation until a RESCUER chose to STEP IN and save him from the CUSP of disaster.
Not really then, but a tight and challenging set of clues, with some interesting surface reads…an MP having a ‘nasty altercation’ about an ACT OF PARLIAMENT, presumably after spending too long in a subsidised House of Commons bar?!; the ‘fifth bargain’ as SNIP E; the AMATEURISH actor struggling as a ham; getting from SATURDAY to STURDY by ‘deleting the articles’…
I’m sure others below will have their own favourites…and hopefully I have covered it all reasonably clearly below…with the usual thanks to Pangakupu for the challenge…
[I won’t be golfing tomorrow, as there are more pressing matters concerning my Dad’s and my son’s beloved Hull City being involved in the small matter of a footie match at Wemberley to decide who goes up to the Premier League next season…I will be with them, hiding behind a tree and recording proceedings…
As such, please talk amongst yourselves and answer any queries/quibbles as you see fit – I will be monitoring from Row 13 Seat 306 in a block somewhere, and will check back in on my (triumphant or otherwise) return home…]
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 9A | ESOTERICA | Mysterious stuff in complex eco satire (9)
anag, i.e. complex, of ECO SATIRE |
| 10A | IN REM | Fellows I backed to retain right against property (2,3)
ME_N (fellows) + I, around (retaining) R (right) gives MER NI, all backed to give IN REM |
| 11A | RESCUER | Liberator to regret grabbing key troublemaker finally (7)
R_UE (regret) around (grabbing) ESC (‘escape’ key on computer keyboard), plus R (final letter of troublemakeR) |
| 12A | RAILCAR | Feel bad about blocking Bishop’s carriage in America (7)
R_R (Right Reverent, bishop) around (blocked by) AIL (feel bad) + CA (circa, about) |
| 13A | CASED | Assessed possibilities of legal action with daughter (5)
CASE (legal action) + D (daughter) |
| 14A | ANTEDATED | Insectivore swallowing head of dragonfly, not tail – head of drone came before (9)
ANTE_ATE( |
| 16A | ACT OF PARLIAMENT | A nasty altercation with MP about fine piece of legislation (3,2,10)
A + CT_O_PARLIAMENT (anag, i.e. nasty, of ALTERCATION + MP) around (about) F (fine) |
| 19A | NASTINESS | New points accepted by fool in malice (9)
N (new) + AS_S (fool) around (accepting) TINES (points) |
| 21A | SYLPH | Still empty, going to pub, drinking unknown spirit (5)
S_L (StilL, emptied of inner letters) around (drinking in) Y (unknown value, maths), plus PH (public house) |
| 22A | CLEARER | College student erasing note offering greater comprehension (7)
C (college) + LEAR( |
| 23A | NEUTRON | Particle the source of trouble in part of nervous system (7)
NEU_RON (part of the nervous system) around T (source, or first letter, of Trouble) |
| 24A | SNIPE | The fifth bargain gets criticism? (5)
a bargain can be a snip; the first bargain might be ‘snip A’, making the fifth one SNIP E! |
| 25A | SPEEDWELL | Veronica’s son went to source (9)
S (son) + PEED (went, urinated) + WELL (source, of water) [speedwell being a plant of the genus Veronica] |
| Down | ||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 1D | LEPRECHAUN | Tricksy unreal chap concealing a treasure, ultimately? (10)
subtractive anagram, i.e. tricksy, of UNREAL CH( [full &lit? the whole clue is wordplay and definition…with a tricksy leprechaun sitting on the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow] |
| 2D | HOUSE-SIT | Work for overseas employers? It supports Home Office functions (5-3)
HO (Home Office) + USE_S (functions) + IT [the employers being overseas temporarily, hence the house-sitter] |
| 3D | GERUND | Broadcasting, say? Head of BBC upset about end of fine series (6)
G_D (DG, Director General, head of the BBC, upset) around E (end of finE) + RUN (series) |
| 4D | PIER | Support rat-catcher not using a piano (4)
PI( |
| 5D | HAIRSTYLES | Cuts song penned by associate of Z Malik? (10)
I believe Zayn Malik was in a popular beat combo, One Dimension(?), with Harry Styles, m’lud. So H_STYLES around (penning) AIR (song) = HAIRSTYLES, or cuts!… |
| 6D | AIR INDIA | Transport company, excellent in two directions, seen around outside (3,5)
AI_IA (A1, excellent, in two directions) around R_IND (skin, outside) |
| 7D | BRECHT | Church welcoming British and French playwright in Germany (6)
BR (British) + E_T (et, and, French) around (welcoming) CH (church) [Misleading punctuation, ‘church-welcoming’ might be more accurate] |
| 8D | EMIR | Arab leader in revolutionary memoir I’m editing (4)
reversed hidden word, i.e. in and revolutionary, in ‘memoiR IN Editing’ |
| 14D | AMATEURISH | True, a ham is struggling, being this? (10)
anag, i.e. struggling, of TRUE A HAM IS [&lit-ish again?…or is ‘this’ the definition?…] |
| 15D | DUTCH UNCLE | Wife’s confused, not a right nag? (5,5)
DUTCH (Cockney slang for wife, Duchess of Fife!) + UNCLE( [a dutch uncle being someone who criticises and reprimands unsparingly] |
| 17D | FRIARIES | Gets hot without rising draught in convents (8)
F_RIES (gets hot) around (without, or out-with) RIA (rising air, or draught) |
| 18D | ENLARGED | Article about student in University course mostly taken up and expanded (8)
DEGR_E( |
| 20D | STEP IN | Intervene, with second recording in the can (4,2)
S (second) + T_IN (can) around EP (Extended Play, vinyl recording) |
| 21D | STURDY | Robust articles deleted during part of weekend (6)
S( |
| 22D | CUSP | Point succeeded in competition (4)
CU_P (competition) around S (succeeded, genealogy) |
| 23D | NOEL | Christmas: last in cricket team still missing? (4)
the last batter in a cricket team is the No 11, or NO EL( |
Enjoyed this, although it took a couple of sessions. Liked the &lit. LEPRECHAUN.
I learned a little Maori when in NZ earlier this year, but not enough to translate the ninas, for which online help was required. Apparently both PUREIREI and TAUTAU mean cluster. That would seem to be too unlikely to be a coincidence, but I can’t relate it to Pangakupu’s numbering scheme.