NTSPP – 219
Happy Holidays! by Windsurfer
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
A review of this puzzle by Prolixic follows.
A not too difficult seasonal crossword from Windsurfer today. A very happy 3d to our setters, solvers and test solvers. Hope that you get plenty of 26 on 6d brought to you by the 3d 14d.
Across
8 A jackass, not pet, went back to cat (4)
{PUMA} – The A from the clue and another word for a jackass or stupid person with PET at the end removed all reversed (went back).
9 Sauce made from bonsai olive (5)
{AIOLI} – Hidden in BONSAI OLIVE.
10 Koufo’s not authorised to reject strange vessels (4)
{UFOS} – Remove the two letter word (reversed – to reject) for authorised from the first word of the clue.
11 Priest with primarily threadbare jumper (6)
{RABBIT} – A Jewish priest with the first letter (primarily) of threadbare.
12 Groomed Englishman helped to read aloud (7)
{POMADED} – Another word used in Australia for an English person followed by a homophone (to read alone) of a word meaning helped.
13 Confused old boys relieved (8)
{OBSCURED} – The abbreviation for Old Boys with the S at the end retained followed by a word meaning relieved or healed.
15 Capital dry hair lacks resistance curiously (6)
{RIYADH} – An anagram (curiously) of DRY HAIR without one of the Rs (lack resistance).
17 Free the French Parisian one before Wednesday maybe (7)
{UNLEASH} – The French masculine form of the preceded by (before) the French masculine for one all followed by the name of the Wednesday at the beginning of Lent.
19 A school chum outside 3 (7)
{PASCHAL} – Another word for the answer to 3d. The A from the clue and the abbreviation for school go inside another word for a chum or friend.
22 Steady look at Tower of Babel? (6)
{EYEFUL} – A homophone (of Babel?) of a famous tower in France.
24 Past law in reverse (8)
{OVERRULE} – Another word for past followed by another word for a law.
26 Impression of leaderless rebellion (7)
{EDITION} – Remove the first letter (leaderless) of a word meaning rebellion.
27 3 this is territory in the Pacific Ocean (6)
{ISLAND} – The IS from the clue and another word for territory that gives a place in the Pacific Ocean that is preceded by the answer to 3d.
29 A stateless thousand in iconic place with mausoleum (4)
{AGRA} – The A from the clue followed by a word for a thousand with the abbreviation for North Dakota removed (stateless).
30 Goes round and round both ways (5)
{ROTOR} – A palindrome (round both way) of something that goes both ways.
31 Reclined without a letter that was given temporarily to me (4)
{LENT} – Another word for reclined without the letter A.
Down
1 Fish returns ahead (4)
{TUNA} – The ahead is split A head. Replace the second word with an informal word for head and reverse (returns) the resulting letters.
2 Pub sign outside live outdoor party (8)
{BARBECUE} – Another word for a pub followed by a word for a sign or prompt to do something and put these words around (outside) a word meaning live.
3 One who eats a lot but not at the beginning of celebration (6)
{EASTER} – Another word for someone who eats a lot without the initial F.
4 Ray‘s plastic pet door (7)
{TORPEDO} – An anagram (plastic) of PET DOOR.
5 Note mother reflects on song and drink (3,5)
{TIA MARIA} – One of musical notes followed by a reversal (reflects) of a two letter word mother followed by word for a song.
6 Divers associate for relaxation primarily at the weekend (6)
{SUNDAY} – Another word for divers or miscellaneous with the R (relaxation primarily) replaced by the abbreviation for associate.
7 23 partner found briefly in the middle of fight? (4)
{GOOD} –A word that can precede the answer to 23d in its abbreviated form is the letter in the middle of fight.
14 11‘s waitress perhaps? (5)
{BUNNY} – A playboy waitress.
16 One from Texas maybe might pull to the left (5)
{DRAWL} – Another word for pull or tug followed by the abbreviation for left.
18 Group of men stick together about current extreme difficulty (8)
{SOLDIERY} – Another word for stick together (as you might in an electronic circuit to join components together) around the abbreviation for current and followed by the final letter (extreme) of difficulty.
20 South African plant feebly catching first light (4,4)
{CORN LILY} – Another word for feebly (as in a poor joke) around the first letter of light.
21 Hoods or hats (7)
{BONNETS} – Double definition, the first being what Americans call the front part of the car that opens up.
23 Man 2 before 6? (6)
{FRIDAY} – Two days before the answer to 6d gives us the name of a manservant in Robinson Crusoe.
25 Stratagem I gregariously showed to outgoer (6)
{EMIGRE} – The answer is hidden in STRATAGEM I GREGARIOUSLY.
26 Urges on, for example Gilbert & Sullivan openings (4)
{EGGS} – The abbreviated form of “for example” followed by the first letter (openings) of Gilbert & Sullivan.
28 A number reject opening extract (4)
{NINE} – The answer is hidden (extract) and reversed (reject) in OPENING.
A very nice themed puzzle which didn’t take me long to solve but an enjoyable time was had while doing so. Thanks to Windsurfer and in advance to Prolixic.
A good fun puzzle that did not take too long on Easter Sunday morning, despite the distraction of grandson Sam doing a very excited egg hunt. Next problem will getting him to share some with Gramps. The four letter words in the corners probably the trickiest bits. Liked 12a.
Thanks Windsurfer and Prolixic.
I fell short in the SE corner. No excuse for not getting 24A but 20D and 19A were both new to me. I do not understand the “briefly in the middle of fight” part of the hint for 7D. Lots of smiles along the way, though. I particularly liked 12A and 22A. Thanks to windsurfer and Prolixic.
“G” the middle letter of fight is the abbreviation for ‘good’.
Ah…like G’day!
Or on old school reports. Ex, VG, G, etc.
A very Happy Easter to all.
I enjoyed this puzzle. My fave clue is 1a. I liked plenty of other clues as well, such as 11a, 12a, 17a, 19a, 16d, 20d and 25d.
I am red-faced because I struggled with 28d and did not see it was hidden!
I needed explanations of my answers to 6d and 23d. These apart, all was well.
Many thanks to Windsurfer for a lovely puzzle which has gone a long way towards refreshing a mind boggled by too much work! (From this
to this 
)
And many thanks to Prolixic for an excellent and much appreciated review.
I did this one yesterday afternoon but was then overtaken by other stuff and life in general so didn’t have time to comment.
I enjoyed it very much – found it quite tricky.
I guessed 20d but then couldn’t find it in BRB so thought I must be wrong.
Completely failed with 7d and needed the hints to explain quite a few of my answers. I still don’t really see 22a – why is Babel a homophone indicator?
I liked 12a and 2 and 16d.
With thanks to Windsurfer and Prolixic.
Re Babel as a homophone indicator. Don’t know if this helps. It comes from the Biblical Tower of Babel, of course. Brewer’s Phrase & Fable says of Babel: ‘A perfect Babel. A thorough confusion. “A Babel of sounds”, a confused uproar and hubbub.The allusion is to the confusion of tongues at Babel’ . This is how I interpreted it, anyway.
Thanks – you’re probably right – I just couldn’t quite see it – don’t know why.
Thanks to Big Dave for helpful comments, Prolixic for a super blog and all the posters for your kind comments.
I tried to make this puzzle reasonably straightforward for a holiday weekend – thanks to Catnap & KiwiColin for their explanations. I’m glad that many found it enjoyable.