NTSPP – 005 Review

NTSPP – 005 Review

A Puzzle by Prolixic

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Prolixic proves that his first puzzle was no fluke with this excellent second one. While there are still a few rough edges to be polished, I thought this was well up to the standard of many of the regular daily cryptics.

Sorry it’s a bit late, but I am steadily catching up on my backlog!

Across

1a    Body of accountant and Catholic found by a ship? (7)
{CARCASS} – a body that is a charade of a Chartered Accountant, a Roman Catholic and A Steam Ship

5a    Such trouble arises from boisterous rule breaking (7)
{SERIOUS} – this is a very clever way of saying that the answer is an anagram , indicated by breaking, of (BO)IS(TER)OUS R(UL)E after the letters of TROUBLE are removed

9a    Play electronic dance music embracing ELO comeback (9)
{TOLERANCE} – play, in the sense of an allowance for movement, is found by putting a type of electronic dance music around ELO reversed (comeback)

10a     Cleaner fellow quit, put off (5)
{DETER} – start with a word that loosely means cleaner, in the sense of neater or more skilful, and remove the F(ellow) to get a synonym for to put off – fortunately the definition is tight enough to compensate for the stretch required to resolve the wordplay I made a right mess of that! start with DETERGENT (cleaner) and remove the GENT (fellow quit) to get a word meaning to put off

11a     What’s due when getting b-behind (7)
{ARREARS} – the amount that is due to be paid is created by putting a word meaning when around one meaning behind, with its initial letter repeated

12a     Antiseptic medical soap’s in fashion we hear (7)
{STERILE} – antiseptic here is an adjective – put an American medical soap inside a word that sounds like (we hear ) a synonym of fashion

13a     Health resort’s church is out of this world (5)
{SPACE} – a charade of a health resort and the Church of England gives where you are travelling when out of this world

15a     Former pupil’s hearing “Compulsion” (9)
{OBSESSION} – a charade of Old Boy (former pupil) and a hearing in court gives a compulsion

17a     Ben argues excitedly, “It’s between a genus and a species” (9)
{SUBGENERA} – a bit of licence (too much you say!) here as the answer is plural but the definition is singular – it’s an anagram, indicated by excitedly, of BEN ARGUES

19a     Credit letter for salad ingredient (5)
{CRESS} – a combination of CR(edit) and the full name for the letter S gives this salad ingredient

21a     In Blackburn outsider’s suffering from stress (4,3)
{BURN OUT} – it’s always a good idea to clue a tricky phrase with an easy wordplay – this one is hidden inside the second and third words

23a     Dealers unusually arrested without a hint of ecstasy (7)
{TRADERS} – the dealers are an anagram (unusually) of ARREST(E)D without one of the Es (a hint of ecstasy)

25a     Oriental men back unknown opponent (5)
{ENEMY} – a deceptively simple charade of E (Oriental) with MEN reversed and Y (unknown) gives this opponent

26a     Throw dice with utter scrupulousness (9)
{RECTITUDE} – an anagram, indicated by throw, of DICE and UTTER give a synonym for scrupulousness

27a     Briefly see after rest perhaps (7)
{TERSELY} – a word meaning briefly is generated by putting the Diocese, or See, of ELY after an anagram (perhaps) of REST

28a     Whisper Edward’s been seen (7)
{SIGHTED} – a charade of SIGH (whisper) and the three-letter abbreviation for Edward gives a word meaning seen

Down

1d    Short pretty girl’s sword (7)
{CUTLASS} – a simple charade of CUT (short) and a pretty girl gives a pirate’s sword

2d    Stock-taker throws a stone as a means of measuring … (5)
{RULER} – The stock was taken by a cattle thief in the wild west – remove ST (a stone in weight) and you get a means of measuring length

3d    … the extent of fields a native American buried silver in (7)
{ACREAGE} – a measure of the extent of fields is generated from A CREE (a native American) with AG (silver) buried inside

4d    Ann tossed broken rock (9)
{SANDSTONE} – an anagram (broken) of ANN TOSSED gives this rock

5d    Sweats over missing one and frets (5)
{STEWS} – reverse SWE(A)TS after removing the A (one) to get a word meaning frets

6d    Get changed to compensate (7)
{REDRESS} – reasonably straightforward double definition

7d    A risky situation – working to find what’s across the pond following a short cold snap? (2,4,3)
{ON THIN ICE} – this risky situation is created by combining ON (working) and what you will find on a pod after a short spell of cold weather

8d    Old Baptist preacher quietly goes to see a specialist (7)
{SURGEON} – the old Baptist preacher was Charles SPURGEON – remove the P (quietly goes) to get a medical specialist

14d     Chamber Pearl kept old preserve in (5,4)
{AMBER PEAR} – once again an easy wordplay for a difficult answer – hidden inside the first two words is an old preserve

16d     Film society gets roles allocated around a couple of cuties (9)
{SPARTACUS) – this film is built up from S(ociety) and roles allocated in a film or play placed around CU (the first two letters of / a couple of CUties) – this latter construct is novel, but perhaps that’s because it is not strictly correct!

17d     U-boat message’s hidden meaning? (7)
{SUBTEXT} – the U-boat is a SUB(marine) – just add an SMS message to get a hidden meaning

18d     Green sort’s adapted to its environment (7)
{ECOTYPE} – combine ECO (green) and a sort to get a group of organisms which have adapted to a particular environment and so have become different from other groups within the species – strictly speaking eco- is a combining form denoting ecology or concern for the environment, but it works for me!

19d     Brazilian aardvark’s no good for fur, for example (7)
{COATING} – the Brazilian aardvark is a COATI – add NG (no good) to get a covering of fur, for example

20d     Stop backing American budget (7)
{SUSPEND} – to stop payments, for example, comes from US reversed (backing) followed by a budget, the sum of money available

22d     Wait for sailor by railway (5)
{TARRY} – a word meaning to wait is a simple charade of a sailor and the abbreviation of railway

24d     Bridge player’s game exercises boil over (5)
{ERUPT} – the bridge player is E(ast), not West, North or South – add Rugby Union (game) and Physical Training (exercises) and the volcano will boil over