Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 133
A Puzzle by Gazza
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
A review of this puzzle by Prolixic follows.
Across
8 Airline’s completely out of fruit for granny (4)
{NANA} – Take the name of a yellow curved fruit and remove the first two letters (which make up abbreviation for British Airways) to find another name for a granny.
9 French island’s against proposal for missile (10)
{PROJECTILE} – Another word for a missile comes from the French word for an island after another word for a proposal.
10 Republican mutual backing emerging for fall of Obama (6)
{AUTUMN} – Hidden and reversed inside the words REPUBLICAN MUTUAL is a word for the season known as the fall in America.
11 Effects of Christmas spirits mean no more for him? (8)
{EBENEZER} – A cryptic definition for the first name of Scrooge.
12 Someone missing rarely stays close to husband (8)
{MARKSMAN} – This person who rarely missed when shooting comes from a word meaning stays close to (as may be used in football) and a word meaning husband.
14 Pair of males succeeded on challenge number five (6)
{TESTES} – Something of which males have two comes from a word meaning challenge (as in an exam) followed by the fifth letter of the alphabet and the abbreviation for succeeded. Personal preference probably, but I am not a great fan of using a number to indicate the relevant letter of the alphabet.
16 Fret at limited view (4)
{SIGH} – A word meaning to fret at (or the sound make when one does so) comes from a word meaning view with the final letter removed (limited).
17 Half-heartedly secured what circus bird reportedly did for the fjords (5)
{PINED} – In Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the deceased parrot did this for the fjords. The answer comes from a word meaning secured with the double letter in the middle reduced to a single letter (half-heartedly).
18 Well regulated and enlightened broadcast (4)
{TAUT} – A word meaning well regulated sounds like (broadcast) a word meaning enlightened or educated.
19 Besotted with minor bodily expansion (2,4)
{IN LOVE} – Take the inner letters (bodily) of minor and expand them (or at least the final letter) to give a phrase meaning besotted.
21 Virtual fan has no right to fabricate complaint (5,3)
{AVIAN FLU} – An anagram (to fabricate) of VIRTUAL FAN gives the name of a medical complaint.
23 Breathless excitement but not a single winner (4,4)
{DEAD HEAT} – Take alternative words for breathless (as in deceased) and excitement (as in the XXXX of the moment) to give a phrase that indicates that there is not a single winner in a race.
26 Confectionery department came out with waffle (6)
{FUDGED} – A word meaning came out with waffle comes from the name of a type of sweet or confectionary followed by the abbreviation for department.
27 Head psychologist on TV gets bird (10)
{NUTCRAKER} – Take another word for head and follow this with the name of the TV psychologist played by Robbie Coltrane to find the name of a bird.
28 Do not pressure pretentious type (4)
{ARTY} – A word for someone who is pretentious comes from another word for a do or function from which the initial P has been removed (not pressure).
Down
1 Volunteers built on a flawed arrangement (10)
{TABULATION} – The abbreviation for Territorial Army (volunteers) followed by an anagram (flawed) of BUILT ON A give a word meaning arrangement.
2 Ritual challenge from New Zealand overshadows north country horse festival (8)
{HANUKKAH} – The traditional Maori challenge (adopted by the All Blacks) goes around (overshadows) the abbreviation for north and UK (country) with a final H (abbreviation for heroin = horse) added to give the name of a Jewish festival.
3 Setter’s upset about £25 Hoover, say (6)
{EPONYM} – Brand names such asHoover or Biro that have become synonymous with the items that they represent as this word. It comes from reversing MY (setter) around the informal term for £25.
4 Churchwarden admitting love for single poet (4)
{POPE} – Take a word for which Churchwarden is an example and replace the I with an O to get the name of a poet. He was also the author of the phrase that runs around the perimeter of the crossword grid.
5 Dismissed judge on European court had a stash of grass? On the contrary (8)
{REJECTED} – Put the abbreviations for Judge, European and Court inside (stash) a word for grass to find a word meaning dismissed.
6 Pesters topless extras (6)
{OTHERS} – A word meaning pesters without the initial B (topless) gives a word for extras.
7 Irritating piles restricted movement on stage (4)
{PLIE} – An anagram (irritating) of PILE[S] with the final letter removed (restricted) gives a word for a ballet movement.
13 Spy tracked down in Japan (5)
{NINJA} – Hidden inside (tracked) DOWN IN JAPAN is a word for a spy.
15 Peer was first to have come to a similar conclusion (8,2)
{EQUALLED TO} – A phrase meaning have come to a similar conclusion comes from a word meaning peer (as in parity), a word meaning was first and the “to” from the clue.
17 Common biplane adapted to conserve energy (8)
{PLEBEIAN} – An anagram (adapted) of BIPLANE around the letter E (energy) gives a word meaning common.
18 One fated to turn out hopeless on pitch (4-4)
{TONE-DEAF} – A person who is hopeless at singing in tune comes from an anagram (to turn out) of ONE FATED.
20 American pack gets working-over (up top in the main) (2,4)
{ON DECK} – If you are up top on a boat at sea, you would be hear. Take a word for working and put this over the American term for a pack of cards.
22 Home venture’s faltering (6)
{INFIRM} – A word for faltering comes from a word meaning at home followed by another word for a business or venture.
24 Old case starts to exhibit the usual imperfections (4)
{ETUI} – The first letters (starts to) of Exhibit The Usual Imperfections gives a word for an old case used to hold needles.
25 What’s necessary in Bangladesh, thanks to Ford? (4)
{TAKA} – The monetary unit (necessary = cash) inBangladesh comes from a word meaning thanks followed by a make of Ford.
If you look around the perimeter of the grid you will see the phrase {THE PROPER STUDY OF MANKIND IS MAN}.
The usual entertaining treat from Gazza Quite a lot of differences from the test version which meant that I solved it again before realising that I had seen it before. Thank you for giving me a second chance to be diverted from what I really ought to be doing.
Excellent to see Gazza back in the setter’s chair this week with an highly enjoyable crossword and a Nina to put the icing on the cake. I will be back later with a review.
Nice one Gazza! Much enjoyed
so many thanks.
Favourites were 14a, for its splendid definition, 18a and 25d.
BTW, nice to see the old case coming out of retirement, not seen it for a long while!
Wow, what a Nina! Respect to Gazza!
Prolixic, your analysis of 2D is excellent but your spelling isn’t, as you can see from the intersecting letters. The final letter is H for horse (as in heroin), and there’s only one N for North, and there are two K’s…
Thanks for a wonderful puzzle Gazza. 14a beat us though. Bollocks!!!
Thanks to gazza for the puzzle & Prolixic for the review. Well and truly beaten by this one.
13d – do not understand how “tracked” indicates a hidden clue.
19a – Despite the explanation from Prolixic – still do not understand.
Amongst others – liked 23a & 27a.
With regard to 14a – using “number five” to indicate “E” – BALLS!
ps. 2d – Nice misdirection – it had to be Gymkhana! But, alas, No! Got the Haka bit! Couldn’t justify the rest of the wordplay – so just lightly pencilled it in!
I may be wrong here, and if I am then apologies to Gazza. I read this clue as the containment inticator being TRACKED DOWN, i.e found, but that means the word down is slightly doing a bit of double duty. Taking a bit of a liberty but I forgive – may also be wrong!
13d – One of many definitions of ‘tracked’ is travelled across, or passed through, or traversed.
19a – The inner letters of minor are INO, which when expanded give IN O (love/nil/zero); iN LOVE
Thanks Gazza for the puzzle, and Prolixic for the review.
The idea is that ‘challenge number five’ is Test E (after previous challenges A, B, etc.) In the same way George Osborne is constantly being urged to adopt Plan B (i.e. plan number two) after his Plan A has bombed.
No probs with that one Gazza!
Thanks, gazza, Jezza & pommers! Crosswords! I think I’ve just plateaued(?) and I am now about to plummet!
Thanks to Prolixic for the write-up and all who commented.