Inquisitor 1673 - Jacks by Radler

Published in the i newspaper on 14 November 2020.

 

It's fair to say that I didn't enjoy this one too much.  I needed rather more hints than usual, and I found the endgame rather underwhelming, based as it was on a Latin phrase I'd never heard of.  I did, however, learn a bit of etymology.

The theme was nothing - or, rather, the theme was "nothing".  The main phrase to be discovered was NULLAM REM NATAM, literally meaning "no thing born", from which the French word RIEN and the Spanish word NADA are said to derive.  The Latin phrase was drawn in a rough circle shape in the top half of the grid, and the words RIEN and NADA were in a smaller circle in the bottom half - both presumably representing the digit 0.  "Jacks", the title, seems to be a reference to the American slang phrase "jack shit" for "nothing at all", which is often euphemistically abbreviated to "jack", as in "you don't know jack".  (Not sure about the pluralization though.)

These are the positions of the letters in each row:

Main phrase - 

Row 2: 4,5,6.  Row 3: 3,7.  Row 4: 2,8.  Row 5: 2,8.  Row 6: 3,7.  Row 7: 4,5,6.

Derived words - 

Row 8: 9,10.  Row 9: 8,11.  Row 10: 8,11.  Row 11: 9,10.

In what follows, the letters omitted from wordplay are underlined.  (Sometimes a letter will appear in both an Across and a Down answer, so some letters appear twice.)  Wordplay in 21dn is unclear.

Across

2.  MISMEASURE -= "judge incorrectly"; M + anag. of (EMAILS - L) + SURE

11. CORNU = "horn"; anag. of ORC

12. CRAVE = "beg"; CRAVEN - N

13. ARMADILLO = "mailed digger"; A + L in anag. of RADIO

14.  RAKSHASA = "demon"; (IRKS + HAS) - I

16.  DONE = "had" (as in "you've been had"); D ONE

17.  SOMEHOW = "one way or another"; O[n]E in SHOW

18.  STAINERS = "they mark"; anag. of IN SETS

21.  AUK = "diver"; change middle letter in AOK

22.  CON; triple (or even quadruple?) definition

23.  METCASTS = "elemental estimates"; first letters of T[oo] C[rude] A[nd], followed by second letters of [a]S[sumed] [s]T[andard] [i]S[sue]

26.  ROQUETS = "drives on lawn"; QUE in ROTS

29.  ET AL = "with others"; ETA + L

Note: Shouldn't this be "former nationalists"?  ETA was dissolved in 2018.

30.  CHIAUSES = "cheats"; anag. of I USE CASH

33.  AMENDMENT = "editing"; A.M. END (="noon") + homophone of MEANT

34.  LEASH = "threesome"; LEAS[t] + H

35.  LANCE = "pink"; N in LACE

36.  DRESS SENSE = "[in]vestment-savvy"; DR + rev. of (NESS in ESSE)

Note: I presume this is a cheeky use of the syllable "in" as a link word.

Down

1.  SCARES = "causes alarm"; cycle of CARESS

2.  MORAT = "honey product" (a type of mead); rev. of ROM

3.  SNASH = "impudent language of Glaswegian"; SASH (="band")

4.  MUD HEN = "marsh dweller"; MD + (WHEN - W)

5.  ELIA = (pen-name of Charles) "Lamb"; hidden in [tagin]E I A[vidly]

6.  ALLSORTS = "variety"; anag. of AT LOSS

7.  URODELA = "animals"; rev. of (DO + RU) + rev. of ALE

8.  RAM = "beak"; rev. of MAR[e]

9.  EVEN OUT = "balance"; EVE + NOUT

10.  RENEW = "regenerate"; random letters from [ca]R[el]E[ssly] N[o] [ey]E[bro]W[s]

Note: I originally thought it might be every fourth letter, but it isn't.  Is this type of clue really permissible?

15.  KOAN = "irrational question"; rev. of ([questio]N + OK)

17. SEETHERS = "boilers"; SET + HERS

19.  TOOTHED = "engaged"; O in (TO + THE + D)

20.  INULASE = "carb converter"; anag. of (LIES + A + U)

21.  AS IS = "unaltered"; ?

Note: At first I thought the wordplay might be half of ASSETS, with the I omitted because it's in RIEN; but none of the other letters of RIEN/NADA are omitted from wordplay, so that can't be it.

24.  CRADLE = "support for early retirement"; C + RADLE[r] (=name of setter)

25.  SYSTEM = "network"; S[ubwa]Y + STEM

26.  REALM = "orbit"; REAL + M

27.  RUMAN = "European"; R for first letter of HUMAN

28.  FENCE = "barrier"; NC in FEE

31.  INKS = "prepares to print"; LINKS - L

32.  JAR = "clash"; rev. of RAJ