Monthly Prize Puzzle – 061
June 2017
The Birthday Blog Puzzle by Omnia
At the blog’s birthday bash, Tilsit asked the attendees to provide clues for a puzzle he had specially created. It took a while, with further requests for clue writing sent out, but eventually the crossword was published as the June 2017 MPP.
The instructions told us that ‘a number of answers are regularly featured in 1 across. These clues have no definitions. Solvers should submit the name of a missing member’. 1a’s FAQ No 28 would have been of help to those who didn’t know the ‘real’ names of some of our regular setters, the ‘members’ featured in this Jumbo crossword.
The missing names as correct answers and so entered into the draw were Shamus, proXimal (although his NTSPP alter ego does appear in the solution to 27d), Messinae and Petitjean. Many congratulations to Jean-Luc who wins a “Crossword Solver’s” book kindly donated by Tilsit. He can choose either to have a real book when he next comes to the UK, or the Kindle version to use on his electronic device, whatever that may be
Across
1a Grows bald, discovers solution in bathroom here? (3,5,9,4)
BIG DAVES CROSSWORD BLOG – An anagram (solution) of GROWS BALD DISCOVERS inserted into BOG (bathroom)
14a Poet commanding Queen to exhaust her Civil List? (7)
SPENDER – Split your solution 5,2 to get the command to Her Majesty
15a Head where cat sat, rat’s head inside shredded chair (9)
MATRIARCH – MAT (where the cat sat) followed by R (the ‘head’ of Rat) inserted into an anagram (shredded) of CHAIR
16a Delia prepared something perfect (5)
IDEAL – An anagram (prepared) of DELIA
17a In addition, time to replace soprano voice (4)
ALTO – T for Time replaces S for Soprano in ALSO (in addition)
18a Before dent beaten out, it might present differently (7)
FIREFLY – If you beat out the letters DENT from DIFFERENTLY, an anagram of the remaining letters produces a Toughie setter
19a Such as Bullingdon: one hundred and fifty upper-class boys initially (4)
CLUB – C L (one hundred and fifty in Roman numerals) U (upper class) B (boys initially)
20a She’s nearly sane! (5)
NORMA is almost NORMAL (sane)
23a Annual report from a liberal lunatic I rejected (7)
ALMANAC – A (from the clue) L (liberal) MANIAC (lunatic with the I ‘rejected’)
25a Endless charm of seasonal visitors (4)
MAGIC – ‘Endless’ MAGIC or charm
26d Return again? (2,5)
RE-ELECT – As if we hadn’t had enough election talk for one month!
31a Last bit of chicken dinner? (3)
END – Lurking in chicken Dinner
33a Texan adult’s contribution to No 1 from 1980? (6)
XANADU – An earworm opportunity lurking in (contribution to) TeXAN ADUlt
34a Merit of French to wait on (7)
DESERVE – DE (of in French) SERVE (wait on)
35a Number two from quartet here or artiste there? (5)
ETHER – A double lurker worthy of our Sunday setter – was it he who hid an anaesthetic (number) in both quartET HERe and/or artistE THERe?
39a Injury one might pick up in Billingsgate market? (4)
ACHE – Is a persistent dull pain an injury? It sounds like (one might pick up) how a Cockney Billingsgate fishmonger might say [H]AKE
40a Possibly McLeans by name? (8)
CLANSMEN – An anagram (possibly) of MCLEANS
42a Bananarama were this man’s sexual fantasy perhaps (9)
THREESOME – The dictionary only refers to a group of three people, so I’m assuming that it isn’t a double definition, the second part being probably the setter’s fantasy!
44a In the middle, glimpse scorecard and belatedly curse (9)
IMPRECATE – The middles of glIMPse scoRECard belATEdly
45a Charlie greeting irrelevant bloke with non-PC delivery? (8)
CHINAMAN – C (represented by Charlie in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet) NA (not applicable, irrelevant) MAN (bloke)
46a One wearing an award from the Queen (4)
BEAM – A (one) ‘wearing’ a BEM (British Empire Medal, award from the Queen)
49a See 10 Down
49a Stretch, fall over and almost spring up (6)
WINTER – A stretch of time between fall (autumn) and spring
52a British bloke touring America (6)
BUSMAN – B (British) MAN (bloke) ‘touring’ US
53a Crop found in E Sussex? (3)
RYE – A cereal crop or a Cinque Port found in East Sussex
55a Pass through on the night before (5)
REEVE – To pass through a hole – RE (on the subject of) EVE (night before)
56a A large part of additional payment is made public (5)
OVERT – A large part of OVERTime (additional payment)
57a Inveterate hied around hideaway (8)
HARDENED – HARED (hied being an archaic word meaning to hasten) ‘around’ DEN (hideaway)
60a Awfully mad in home after personally directed comment (2,7)
AD HOMINEM – Addressed to the feelings or prejudices of the hearer – an anagram (awfully) of MAD IN HOME
63a Man of the sea posted away (6)
ABSENT – AB (Able-Bodied seaman) SENT (posted)
64a Go off beer drinking big supporters (5)
ADDLE – ALE (beer) ‘drinking’ DD (a bra with double D cups could be thought of as ‘big supporters’)
68a The writer’s refusal to start thriller (5)
MYNOT – MY (the writer’s) NO (refusal) T (start of Thriller)
69a Outside hospital department salve is liberally applied on end of blister with such a swelling (9)
VESICULAR – An anagram (liberally) of SALVE goes outside ICU (hospital Intensive Care Unit) the result having the end of blisteR applied
70a I must replace the middle letter in 4 and 9, for instance, (7)
SQUIRES – I must replace the middle letter of SQUARES (four and nine, for instance)
71a Disciple owns mushroom earlier (6)
CEPHAS – CEP (mushroom) goes before (earlier) HAS (owns) gives another name for Saint Peter
72a Provide answer? (7)
SATISFY – To supply fully or meet the requirements of
73a Position car in the same direction twice. (6)
SPARKS – PARK (position car) in S and S (the same direction – South- twice)
Down
2d Is no exercise at first, followed by more silly? (5)
INEPT – The first letters of Is No Exercise followed by PT (some more exercise)
3d Possibly the first word out of baby’s mouth? (4)
DADA – a nice cryptic definition for one of our member’s aliases
4s Liable to spread lies about spirit that’s pure (8)
VIRGINAL – VIRAL (liable to spread) ‘lies about’ GIN (spirit)
5d Rocket propellant lacking force (6)
SAMUEL – SAM (surface-to-air missile, rocket) FUEL (lacking F, force)
6d Get back on Greek island outsiders avoided with boxer, worried (9)
RETALIATE – cRETe (Greek island without its ‘outsiders’) ALI (the boxer) ATE (worried)
7d Kids slide or sledge (4) SKID – An anagram (slide) of KIDS
8d Brawler knocked about (7)
WARBLER – An anagram (knocked about) of BRAWLER
9d Starts to remedy every heroin addict’s behaviour (5)
REHAB – The ‘starts’ to Remedy Every Heroin Addicts Behaviour
10d/49a Cracked rib getting more inflamed after end of wine used in place of iodine (5,5)
BRIAN GREER An anagram (cracked) of RIB with ANGRIER (more inflamed) but with the E at the end of winE used instead of the I for Iodine
11d Make too much of cricket statistic (8)
OVERRATE – Split this verb 4,4 and you’ll have a cricket statistic
12d It covers a huge area, like 1 across (4)
ASIA – AS (like) 1A
13d Always found in hotel gardens (5)
ELGAR – I thought he’d be more likely to be found in pubs and their gardens, but what do I know. Here he’s lurking in hotEL GARdens
21d Which comic could start to deliver with hilarity ultimately? (5)
DANDY – D (the start to Deliver) AND (with) Y (hilarity ultimately)
22d Doughboy and eggs pub served up (8)
GIOVANNI – GI (Doughboy, American soldier) OVA (eggs) and a reversal (served up) of INN (pub)
24d Dance that’s interminable, or ball that’s too short (4,3)
LONG HOP – A short high-pitched high-bouncing cricket ball that is easy to hit sounds like it might be an interminable dance
27d Outside old rental resorts (8)
EXTERNAL – EX (old) goes before an anagram (resorts) of RENTAL
28d Look back and forth for allowance in Oxford, maybe (6)
EYELET – Oxford here being a type of shoe – EYE (this synonym for look is also a palindrome and can be read back and forth) LET (allowance)
29d I relax with cub, funnily enough (9)
EXCALIBUR – An anagram (funnily enough) of I RELAX CUB
30d Dancer maybe does come under control (8)
REINDEER – DEER (does) come under REIN (control)
32d Does the grim sign bend oddly being firm? (10)
DETERMINED – The odd letters of DoEs ThE gRiM sIgN bEnD
36d European leader to Angela Merkel: “I’m sorry” (8)
ELKAMERE – E (European) followed by an anagram (I’m sorry) of A (the leader to Angela) and MERKEL
37d Great Britain, maybe, irritated mates with Queen. (7)
STEAMER – An anagram (irritated) of MATES with ER (the regnal cipher of our current Queen)
38d Monster picker? (8)
BOGEYMAN – The less said about the ‘picker’ the better
41d Webcam I replaced at art centre (8)
MICAWBER – An anagram (replaced) of WEBCAM I followed by R (the ’centre’ of aRt)
43d There’s no time to check up on horse that’s a fussy eater (6)
VEGGIE – VE[t] (check up on without the T for time) GG (child’s horse) IE (that is)
47d As user finally inspired by hallucinogenic plant, see wall looking like something else (10)
QUADRATURA – A wall with a trample l’oeil effect. QUA (preposition meaning by virtue of being, as), R (user ‘finally’) inserted into (inspired by) DATURA (hallucinogenic plant – interestingly the office copy of Collins doesn’t mention this property, referring to it as ‘any of various chiefly Indian plants and shrubs with large trumpet-shaped flowers’ although the BRBs at home are very clear about the narcotic properties of the plant))
48d When the waltz does not begin, take a seat first perhaps (9)
PERCHANCE – dANCE without its first letter (waltz does not begin) with PERCH (take a seat) going first
51d Drunk libations (9)
NOTABILIS – An anagram (drunk) of LIBATIONS
54d Court exploring motives to expose plants (8)
CACTUSES – CT (court) goes inside (exploring) CAUSES (motives)
56d Treacherous mission’s over after losing one pole (7)
OSMOSIS – An anagram (treacherous) of MISSIONS O (over) losing one instance of the South (pole)
58d Shaking, Akram decided his own fate (5)
KARMA – An anagram (shaking) of AKRAM
59d Gamble on Sunbeam to sell down the river (6)
BETRAY – BET (gamble) on RAY (sunbeam)
61d Tailless dog caught Henry (5)
MUTCH – MUTt (‘tailless’ dog) C (caught) H (Henry)
62d Up and coming French soap stars (5)
NOVAS – A reversal (up and coming) of the French word for soap
65d Man who’s found once in Denmark (5)
DEREK – ERE (once) in DK (the IVR code for Denmark)
66d There’s four from Chelsea besides Alf’s wife (4)
ELSE – four of the letters of ChELSEa give you the name of Alf Garnett’s wife
67d It sucks blood up (4)
KCIT – A reversal (up) of a blood-sucking TICK
Thank you to Tilsit for creating the crossword, and to all the members of Omnia, made up of a mix of setters, crossword editors who are setters, bloggers, and regular blog commenters – I do know who some of you are and for several of the clues can even attribute them to a particular person.
Thank you also to Mrs BD for her sterling work in casting the runes and to BD for doing all the required ‘sorting out’ to get this Jumbo challenge published.
Thank you to Madame for the blog review and to everyone who helped with this. We may do something similar next year.
Congrats to Jean-Luc for the win.
Congratulations all round – to JL for winning the glittering prize, to Tilsit for putting this Omnia puzzle together and for providing said prize, to CS for making sense of all the answers and to BD & Mrs. BD for bringing all the ‘gang’ together.
It would be unfair to pick a favourite although I did have a slight penchant for the fussy horse!
Ditto! Although my slight preference was for 38d.
Thanks to all.
I wonder – did you perchance have a hand in 11& 24d?
Not guilty, m’lud. But I did like them both (and 45a too).
Ah – that one had floated completely over my head! Just asked Mr. Google about it – another odd word to add to my cricket collection.
Thanks again to all – what a mammoth task! – and congratulations to Jean-Luc.
Thank you to all involved, it was much enjoyed with lots of great clues.
I would be interested to know roughly how many (correct) entries there are each month?
Congratulations to Jean-Luc and many thanks to Tilsit for pulling off such a tour de force in putting all this together and to CS, whose review must have taken an age to compile.
I had Shamus as my answer, and 47d was the only answer that eluded me. I had no idea that it would take as long as it did to finish, or that the solving process would prove both addictive and frustrating in equal measure. Bravo to all concerned.
Thanks to Tilsit for putting this together, to Sue for her review, to all those doughty folks who contributed clues (including me surprisingly)and Mrs BD for picking winner. Congratulations to Jean-Luc on winning- great to see a familiar name on the podium.
I got Shamus too, but congratulations to JL and thanks to all who took part and especially the back room team; well done to all.
Thanks to all concerned with this mighty crossword – Tilsit, clue setters, BD and Mrs BD and last, and absolutely not least, CS and I really hope that I haven’t missed anyone out.
Congratulations to JL.
My clue was an anagram. My favourite type of clue. Well done and thanks to all.
mine too at 58d – not particularly challenging.
Thanks to all involved – What a whopper!.
Just a quick note on 56d – You need to remove I for one and the N(orth) pole from MISSIONS O(ver) before making the anagram