NTSPP – 012 Comments – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
View closed comments 

NTSPP – 012 Comments

Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 012

A Puzzle by Prolixic

+– + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

Welcome to the twelfth in our series of weekly puzzles.

Prolixic reaches his fourth on this site – and don’t forget he has a further puzzle on DIY COW (see the main Crosswords page for a link).


The puzzle by Prolixic is available by clicking here:

NTSPP - 012

Feel free to leave comments about this puzzle.

21 comments on “NTSPP – 012 Comments

  1. Great puzzle, Prolixic. Thanks. Particularly liked 1a, ( a wonderful word) 29a and 9d.

  2. Hi Prolixic. Many thanks for this puzzle. I have just printed it out. I haven’t had a look yet, but I am sure it will keep me busy all afternoon!
    mark

  3. Congratulations and thanks for this one, Prolixic. Bearing in mind that I only ever do three forms of Cryptic crossword (DT Cryptic – try to get to it every day – for best part of 30 years, DT Toughie, but not every day and that’s recent stuff, and the Guardian – certain compilers only and again only since it’s been free online….some of the clue constructions were a bit alien to me. I used the ‘Check letter’ button a few times, but didn’t have to reveal any letters or otherwise cheat. I’ve spent around an hour on this – enjoyed it very much (if I hadn’t, I’d have closed the window and moved on) to the extent that I haven’t glanced at today’s Grauniad.
    Hope more people comment , and have a go at this. I’m sure it’s a hell of a lot of work – but definitely not in vain.
    PS, although 13a was last in and not a difficult guess – I’m light-years away from following the clue…………………

    1. Since Prolixic doesn’t seem to be around to answer, can I suggest that it’s MILLION (large number) + G (last letter, closer) of riotinG with the O (blood type) being removed (spilt).

    2. I am around but heroically refrain from commenting on my own clues! Gazza, as ever, is spot on with his analysis and many thanks to him for explaining the clue.

      I am touched by the Chairman’s comments. Although producing the puzzles is a lot of work, they are tremendous fun to put together and that is its own reward; nonetheless but it is good to get feedback such as this.

      I have missed the Claire and Sarah show this week!

      1. Hi Prolixic – I’m here, but only just got round to looking at it. At first glance it looks tricky but here I go …..

  4. Gentlemen – many thanks. Despite reaching the same destination, I was never going to get there via Karachi, Vanuatu and Skegness. I’d love to see how Rufus might approach such a word, with grindings and fightings and marking the edges of coins to prevent clipping – or much cleverer…
    Looking forward to Monday’s ‘minellium’ offering. ‘Mean old serpent’ is an an anagram of Peter Mandelson which would work better in the DT than the Grauniad – but they’ve had a slight volte-face pro the Cleggies at the moment.
    Always appreciate Gazza’s analysis of such matters – cheers and have a good Bank Hol. This week’s Private Eye suggests that the Guardian is so skint that all free online content may have to disappear a la Murdoch Org., so Gazza I suspect the splendid crossword pages may be on borrowed time. Let’s face it, they are too good to be true sometimes, compared to ScrewedUp’s £30’s-worth.

    1. Chairman, like you I noticed in the Eye that the main supporter of free internet content is leaving the Guardian, but I won’t begrudge 50p a week (or whatever) for regular doses of Araucaria and Paul. Meanwhile, of course, you can get the excellent NTSPP series on this site absolutely free!
      I liked your anagram :D

      1. Dear Chairman, there’s also the FT. Their crossword is available free and they have good setters such as Cinephile, Alberich and some guy called Lorroso ;)
        mark

  5. Hi Prolixic – Have now completed this puzzle. Excellent! Thank you so much.
    I agree with Tilly – 1a is a really excellent clue for a wonderful word!
    I also really enjoyed 5d, 25a and 9d.
    Shot myself in the foot with 12a by putting in another word with the letters for a synonym for “caper” in it that begins with and “l” :(
    Thanks for all you hard work on this puzzle.
    mark

  6. Lovely puzzle, Prolixic.
    Many thanks. To give you an idea of difficulty I completed this in about 30 minutes (40 on and off). Last to go in were 9d/14a as I had the alternative spelling for 9d. I also struggled on ID but that was just me!
    1a, 12a and 18a (which I was looking out for!) were great.
    Not sure on first bit of wordplay for 24d.

        1. Well, it is now! It wasn’t there on Friday.

          I’ve made significant changes to the Musical Terms over the last day, including adding a separate section on abbreviations.

  7. Having tried to find an anagram for dance album to be I finally realised the error of my ways! What a word – it came up at home a while ago with a challenge to use it in conversation, not so easy!! Have now managed to do 13 clues but have ground to a halt…….. :-(

  8. Well – I persevered for a while longer but with about a third of the clues to go resorted to clicking for a few letter clues. Still don’t understand some of the wordplay – will there be a review?
    Thanks Prolixic – much enjoyed!
    Sarah – where are you??

  9. OK – I think I am crossworded out – this is the third one I have done today and guess what – I haven’t done anything else. What a lovely way to spend a miserable bank holiday Monday.

    Got a bit frustrated at times cause I couldn’t get on the wave length but finally got there and enjoyed it in the end.

    I do have one query –
    25a Take in East End trial of a stud (7)
    – why is it what it is. I get the definition part – stud – but don’t understand the rest – help please. I got the right answer cause I checked but….

    Thanks

    1. It’s that old “harder cryptic” chestnut – take = recipe = r inside ‘earing (East End / Cockney) = hearing = trial.

      1. Thanks Dave – just thought of it (when I went for a cup of tea) being hearing without the “h” – makes sense now but didn’t know the take = recipe – another to add to my lists.

Comments are closed.