Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 093
A Puzzle by Alchemi
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
A welcome back to Alchemi with his second puzzle on these pages. As an added treat, his debut crossword on Alberich’s crossword site is also available here:
http://www.alberichcrosswords.com/pages/alchemi.html
Today’s crossword was enjoyable. I have highlighted my favourite clues in blue. There were perhaps too many anagrams in the wordplay, but for those who like them in abundance, this crossword will be right up your street.
Across
1a Writer to copy in Kent and Surrey (6)
{SCRIBE} – A word for a writer comes from including a word meaning copy inside the geographic area of Kent and Surrey.
4a Breaking toe in collapsed scrum, one will want attention (8)
{CUSTOMER} – This person who will want attention (and serving) comes from an anagram (collapsed) of SCRUM inside which is put TOE in a broken form (ie not all the letters appearing together).
9a Bucolic West Country mother metres away (9)
{MUMMERSET} – A bucolic description of a West Country accent comes from a three letter for mother followed by an anagram (away) of METRES.
11a Curvy perch eats tuna guts (5)
{ROUND} – A word meaning curvy comes from a word for a perch inside which (eats) is included the central letters (guts) of tUNa.
12a Tear up heavy paper then fret about the optimum result (5,4,5)
{HAPPY EVER AFTER} – A phrase for the optimum result, only really found in fairy stories, comes from an anagram (tear up) of HEAVY PAPER followed by an anagram (about) of FRET.
14a Several sopranos slink on stage, holding back great Princess Turandot (7)
{NILSSON} – The surname of a famous soprano who played Princess Turandot is hidden and reversed inside sopraNOS SLINk.
16a Rooney’s complicated choice (3,2,2)
{YES OR NO} – A choice comes from an anagram (complicated) of ROONEYS.
17a Quiet one has pointless answer quickly (7)
{SHARPLY} – A word meaning quickly comes from a two letter word meaning quiet followed by an A (one) and a word meaning answer from which the letter E has been removed (pointless).
19a Public transport for each walker (7)
{TRAMPER} – A word for a walker comes from a form of public transport which is once again in vogue followed by a word meaning for each.
21a Tell all about mischievous naked chimp and make the man go away (4,3,7)
{SEND HIM PACKING} – A phrase meaning make the man go away comes from an anagram (mischievous) of NAKED CHIMP inside a word meaning tell all about.
24a Trail a line after opponent’s last dice-throw (5)
{TROLL} – A word meaning trail a line after comes from the last letter of opponent followed by a word describing a dice-throw.
25a Taking on fluid in a hot dry waste (9)
{HYDRATING} – A word meaning taking on fluid comes from an anagram (waste) of IN A HOT DRY.
26a Stupidest touts get embroiled with Seb (8)
{OBTUSEST} – A word meaning stupidest comes from an anagram (get embroiled) of TOUTS SEB.
27a Vow of silence may even form betrothal (6)
{OMERTA} – The word for the Mafia vow of silence comes from the even letter of fOrM bEtRoThAl.
Down
1d Rewriting top hymns is not for this composer (10)
{SYMPHONIST} – A word for a composer comes from an anagram (rewriting) of TOP HYMNS IS.
2d Gather around mountain peak for second draft of chart (5)
{REMAP} – A word describing the process of producing the second draft of a chart comes from a word meaning gather (or harvest) around the first letter (peak) of mountain.
3d Extra! Extra! Superman begins to sleep! (3-4)
{BYE-BYES} – A word meaning to sleep comes from a cricketing word for an extra repeated and then the first letter (begins) of Superman.
5d Extremely foolish to say lip study is wrong (7,6)
{UTTERLY STUPID} – A phrase meaning extremely foolish comes from a word meaning say (or speak) followed by an anagram (is wrong) of LIP STUDY.
6d S4C traffic disrupted by import duties (7)
{TARIFFS} – A word for import duties comes from taking the word traffic, replacing the C with an S (S4C) and making an anagram (disrupted) of the resulting letters.
7d Cheese possibly first made at river mouth (9)
{MOUSETRAP} – A possible word for cheese comes from the first letter of made followed by the name of a river and then a word meaning mouth.
8d Naughty old Penny in a Marseille street (4)
{RUDE} – A word for naughty comes from putting the abbreviation for old pence (old Penny) inside the French word for street.
10d 560 old records (7- 6)
{SEVENTY-EIGHTS} – A description of old records comes from the sum of two numbers that multiplied together make 560.
13d A recording to be edited (10)
{CORRIGENDA} – An anagram (to be edited) of A RECORDING gives the resulting amendments.
15d Omits what trees have in summer (6,3)
{LEAVES OUT} – A phrase meaning omits also describes what tree have in the summer that they lose in the autumn.
18d Fences restrain pair of monkeys needed for canoe trip (7)
{PADDLES} – Something needed for a canoe trip comes from a word for fences around a repeated Roman numeral for 500 (a monkey being £500).
20d Publicly praise a top cop going to US city to meet heads of international mafia (7)
{ACCLAIM} – A word meaning publicly praise comes from the A in the clue, the abbreviation for Chief Constable (top cop), the abbreviation for a city on the West Coast of the USA and the first letters (heads of) international mafia.
22 Freezing up, what ‘Oratio Nelson didn’t say about a ship on the horizon (5)
{ICIER} – A cockney Nelson (had he not been blind in one eye) might have said on noticing a ship I SEE ‘ER. Put this together as homophone to make a word meaning freezing up.
23 Contained in carrot tops and roses (4)
{OTTO} – An essential oil in roses is hidden inside (contained in carrOT TOps).
Yeah, too many anagrams,.I agree. (And if that’s your idea of a scathing comment as you promised at Liverpool St, I feel suitably chastised). Anyway, it’s a persistent problem which I’m working harder to avoid now. There was a charade clue at 9A, but Dave quite rightly said it was rubbish, and the only way I could think of to clue it differently ended up as another freakin’ anagram. Thanks also for posting the link to my puzzle at Alberich’s site, which, if you ask me, is a rather better one than this.
Very enjoyable but I could not finish it without Prolixic’s review. Some answers had me quietly smiling eg 16a while others completely flummoxed me eg 13d.
Looking forward to more of the same in the not too distant future hopefully