NTSPP – 047 (Review)

Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 047

A Puzzle by Tilsit

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

I solved this on New Year’s Day in dribs and drabs whilst lying in bed suffering from man flu feeling as though I had the collective hangover of the nation – which was very unfair as I had not had a drop to drink the night before! As result, I think that I found this harder than usual. Revisiting the crossword today for the review, it all seems a lot simpler.

As usual Tilsit has produced an excellent crossword with lots to savour. My favourite clues were 23/24a, 10a and 3d.

Across

5/7a Name personal ad that turned out to feature her! (6,8)
{PAMELA ANDERSON} – An anagram (that turned out) of “name personal ad” gives the name (her) of a pneumatic star of Baywatch and other TV and film programs.

9a Die while enjoying most of a smart infusion. (8)
{INTAGLIO} – The definition here is “die” as in a template or pattern. The wordplay involves taking a word (2,2) for enjoying and putting inside this (infusion) the letter A and all but the last letter (most of) a word meaning smart.

10a Test for botulism revealed once stench has gone. (6)
{LITMUS} – A test for the acidity or alkalinity of something comes from an anagram (revealed) of “botulism” after the abbreviation for body odour has been removed (once stench has gone).

11a No odd fixture turned out to feature them? (6,6)
{OXFORD UNITED} – A football team (once owned by Robert Maxwell) comes from an anagram (turned out) of “no odd fixture”.

13a Test for gold by hand (6)
{ORDEAL} – A word or a test (as in a trial or tribulation) comes from a simple word sum of an abbreviation for gold (not Au, the other one) and a word meaning hand (as a verb, not as a noun).

15a Reported Queen’s pigeons found in kitchen? (6)
{RICERS} – A piece of kitchen equipment that appears more in crossword puzzles than in real life kitchens comes from a homophone (reportedly) of how the Queen may refer to racing pigeons (in the same way that a crèche is a collision between two perambulators in Kensington).

18a Surfers’ paradise? (8,4)
{INTERNET CAFE} – A cryptic definition of a place that someone who spends a lot of time on-line surfing the world wide web may be found.

21a Suppress correspondence return to the French (6)
{STIFLE} – A word meaning stifle comes from a word meaning correspondence (as in writing, not as in matching) returned before the French masculine word for “the”.

22a Leave shadow right after shock (4,4)
{TURN TAIL} – A word meaning leave comes from a simple word sum of another word for shock followed by (right after) a word meaning shadow).

23/24a American joiner feted Beckham cross (8,6)
{BROOKLYN BRIDGE} – Take one of the feted Beckham children followed by a word meaning to cross to get the name of a structure that joins two parts of America.

Down

1d Worm that turned flat in bud (8)
{NEMATODE} – A kind of worm comes from a word meaning bud inside which (in) is a word meaning flat that has been reversed (turned).

2d Legendary journalist replaced end of sticky-backed plastic. (6)
{FABLED} – Replace the last two letters of a proprietary name for stick-backed plastic (remember your days watching Blue Peter) with an abbreviation for a journalist to get a word meaning Legendary. Is it fair to use proprietary names for a product? Unless they are very well known, it makes for a difficult solving experience. A quick search on the net show that this product is relatively well know but I had not heard of it and had to reverse engineer the solution to find the wordplay!

3d Devotee’s denial of action here and now? (8)
{IDOLATER} – A devotee (of graven images perhaps) could also be a description if parsed (1,2,5) of someone who procrastinates (denial of action here and now).

4d Blustered about brief cover with Miliband? (6)
{PRATED} – A word meaning blustered comes from a short (brief) name for tarpaulin reversed (about) followed by the first name of one of the Miliband brothers of political fame.

6d Supplement former Biblical place held by Queen (8)
{ANNEXURE} – A word meaning supplement comes from the name of one Great Britain’s Queens inside which (held by) is included a word meaning former and crosswordland’s favourite biblical city.

7d Natural producer of decaffeinated coffee? (6)
{ACORNS} – A cryptic definition of a natural product that can be used to make a form of coffee that is caffeine free. A quibble with this clue! Strictly speaking decaffeinated means that the product once contained caffeine that has subsequently been removed rather than never having contained caffeine in the first place!

8d Music? Take food of love back! (4)
{OPUS} – A word that may describe a work of music comes from a reversal of a word for food followed by an single letter meaning love (as in a tennis score).

12d What flirting around involves? (8)
{TRIFLING} – An anagram (around) of “flirting” gives a description of what you may be doing if flirting.

14d Recently had coffee before finish of dinner party in Luxembourg. (8)
{LATTERLY} – A word meaning recently comes from a type of coffee with the final letters of dinneR partY inside which is included the IVR for Luxembourg.

16d Literally K for Kir! (8)
{COCKTAIL} – Kir is an example of this answer (a mixed drink). The letter K appears in the answer as the answer literally explains (in the same what that M is literally found in Maidenhead).

17d Soak in container from off the Greek mainland, perhaps (6)
{CRETAN} – Someone who lives on an island off the Greek mainland comes from a word meaning soak (which is usually only ever used in crosswords) inside a three letter word for a container.

18d Entrance one currently in Florida (6)
{INFLOW} – Take an I for one and a word meaning currently (as in time, not electricity) and include within it the abbreviation for the state of Florida to make a word meaning entrance.

19d Measure bottom half of bedroom furniture cover (6)
{ENROBE} – A word meaning cover (as a verb) comes from a printers measure followed by the bottom half (final four letters) of a piece of bedroom furniture (which may contain a entrance to the land of Narnia).

20d Stella crafted using pasta recipe (4)
{STAR} – A word meaning stella is hidden inside “pasta remedy”.