A typically pleasant crossword from Phi on a Friday. There is no doubt some subtle Nina, but, as usual with me and Phi (actually most other people as well), I can’t see it.
Definitions in italics.
Across
1 Retired investor? (8,7)
SLEEPING PARTNER
CD using the ‘retired’ = ‘gone to bed’ meaning
9 Slight cut applied to half of area of island (7)
INSULAR
insul{t} ar{ea} slight = insult
10 Sanction that hurts, having ruler around dismissing soldiers (7)
EMPOWER
emp(ow)er{or}
11 Vengeance? Love and sex in it, all mixed up (3,8)
LEX TALIONIS
(0 sex in it all)* lex talionis
12 Man not quite reduced by 50% (3)
HAL
hal{f} reduced by 50% is half, then it is truncated
13 Rub out Times puzzle’s completion (5)
ERASE
eras {puzzl}e
15 Bulky clothing causes tip up (9)
SPACESUIT
(causes tip)*, the anagram indicator ‘up’
18 Startled Prince is throttled by certain Duke (9)
SURPRISED
sur(pr is)e d
20 Fine move sacrificing bishop? Nonsense (5)
FUDGE
f {b}udge
21 Tearaway‘s /comment on one passing (3)
RIP
2 defs, strictly speaking one of them for R.I.P.
22,27 The reciprocal value of spin? (3,4,4,8,7)
ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER
I’m never really quite comfortable with this sort of clue: it all seems a bit vague, but its category is CD I think
25 Reduced force used to seize it? That’s prudent (7)
POLITIC
pol(it)ic{e} police force
26 Queen enjoying missing one gloomy German legend? (7)
ERLKING
ER l{i}king the Erlking
Down
1 Lack of activity – unhealthy state – putting stone on (9)
STILLNESS
st illness
2 County taxes set to rise? Only some (5)
ESSEX
Hidden reversed in taXES SEt
3 Have sex after company departs, retaining singular thrill (7)
PULSATE
{co}pul(s)ate
4 Girl upset about awful crisis is missing beautiful youth (9)
NARCISSUS
(cris{is})* in (Susan)rev.
5 Review harshly constrains each expression of praise (5)
PAEAN
pa(ea)n review harshly = pan as a verb
6 Rejoinder‘s about to include one comment on Facebook? (7)
RIPOSTE
r(1 post)e
7 Reporter hot to probe something never heard before? (9)
NEWSHOUND
new s(h)ound something never heard before is a new sound
8 Painting’s top covered by river in the country (5)
RURAL
mural with its top (m) replaced by r
14 Large old building: a place for holding grain erected to hold grain? (9)
ACROPOLIS
a (silo)rev. round crop the Acropolis always reminds me of Les Dawson
16 Pattern of stars, mostly random, made out (9)
ANDROMEDA
(rando{m} made)*
17 Precocious child even engaged in tense bet (9)
TWEENAGER
t w(e’en)ager a portmanteau word of ‘between’ and ‘teenager’ a tweenager is precocious perhaps in the sense that he or she is growing up rapidly
19 8 alarm call – a rousing thing, right for the head (7)
ROOSTER
booster with r instead of b at the head since 8 is rural, a rooster is a rural alarm call
20 Dog biting priest in opera (7)
FIDELIO
Fid(Eli)o
21 Fast assault seizing power (5)
RAPID
ra(p)id
23 One presents chapter penned by this writer in middle of week (5)
EMCEE
c in me in {w}ee{k} one spelling of MC/master of ceremonies
24 University locks up embezzling clerk (5)
URIAH
u (hair)rev. ref Uriah Heep no, not the rock band, the Dickens character
*anagram
I found this mostly very straightforward but I needed aids at the end to get LEX TALIONIS. The anagram fodder left a few options and I didn’t know the expression. If there was a nina or a theme it was way over my head.
The theme is surely 2001, A space odyssey: Hal, the creepy computer, spacesuit, Andromeda, sleeping partner (reference to the suspended animations). I wonder if “one good turn…” may not also be a reference to something in the dialogue. Knowing Phi there may well be other references.
2001 is one of my all time favourite films, and I think finding that in this puzzle is stretching it a bit. π (Don’t think Andromeda is any where mentioned in the film.)
I guessed 11ac started LEX and not being able to get it from the anagram, just looked up lex in Chambers, where it’s listed.
Even though I knew 17dn when I finally got it, I found hard to see. For a while, I thought there might be a current term TEENWAGER meaning a teenager who works or something, and googling it brought up a number of hits, but I couldn’t think of any words -U-W and finally rejected it.
I’ve seen an almost identical clue to INSULAR elsewhere recently, as well as another NARCISSUS and RIP. Still, we should all support recycling!
I remember a similar NARCISSUS cle, not as old as the
He saw himself as winning on the Pools
one from many years back. Great clue at the time.
A nice one from Phi, though I couldn’t parse 8dn or 19dn. I was going to quibble that ERLKING should be hyphenated or even two words but further investigation revealed that the German original is (as one would expect) one word (Erlkφnig) and in English translations it can be one word or hyphenated.
I liked the sauciness of the clue for 3dn. 20dn was neat.
Thanks, Phi and John
Re #5, that clue (not sure if the wording is absolutely 100% the same) was by Aquila in the Indy (the late Bert Danher) if memory serves. As you say, a classic.
Many thanks for blog, John. But disagree with –
12ac. Have you ignored “not quite” in clue? My parsing was 50% of ‘hardly’ (=not quite) is ‘hal’
Would also mention that 22/27 is a favourite clue type for me. Lovely! Still, different strokes…..!
Would add I was disappointed (for a Phi) Unable to find a Nina and completed crossword in under 15mins. Not the usual delight I’d expected.
:’-C
Thanks Phi for an enjoyable crossword and John for the blog.
WilliamFP @8 re 12ac:
“reduced by 50%” gives HALF.
“not quite” is the indicator to remove the F.
True, Phi could have written either “not quite 50%” or “reduced 50%”, but I think “reduced by 50%” would not give HAL under the rules Phi observes (it certainly would not under the rules I prefer, but I acknowledge that I have no right to impose my preferences on others).
Further to my comment @10 re 12ac: I think WilliamFP’s parsing also works, but I think John’s is more direct and therefore more likely to be Phi’s intention.
But ‘not quite’ isn’t ignored, William: it’s the subtraction-ind!
‘Hardly’ means something more like ‘only just’, or ‘barely’.