NTSPP – 071 (Review) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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NTSPP – 071 (Review)

Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle –  071

A Puzzle by Boaz

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Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

A warm welcome to Boaz with his debut puzzle on NTSPP.  Boaz is an old  hand on the DIY Clue of the Week contest and has had two puzzles published on  Alberich’s crossword site and, I think, another on Anax’s site (I cannot  immediately locate those crosswords.  They may have been lost to posterity when the site moved to a new  server).  If he has other puzzles published,  I have not come across them, which, given the quality of this crossword, is my loss.

This was not a fiendish puzzle.  It probably took me about the same amount of time as today’s Telegraph prize crossword.  The cluing was precise and fair and there were some smiles on the way.  I am still blushing at 10a.  I am not sure my web filters will allow me to research the imagery required to explain it.

I have highlighted my favourite clues below in blue.  Please give your own words of encouragement and comments below.

Across

1a Solitary pastime on the computer is blocked (6)
{TETRIS} – A cryptic definition of a computer game involving the manoeuvring of falling blocks.

4a Liquid nitrogen alert (8)
{RINGTONE} – The alert is heard on your mobile phone.  It is an anagram (liquid) of nitrogen.

9a Fine point and good effort – but not right (6)
{NICETY} – A word for a fine point comes from a phrase (4,3) meaning good effort from which the R as been removed.

10a Did Labour put Bush before Balls? (8)
{BEAVERED} – A word meaning did labour (as in worked hard) comes from a slang expression for a part of a ladies anatomy followed by the first name of the Labour politician whose surname is Balls.

12a It may be under the counter, but it’s honestly ordered (2,3,3)
{ON THE SLY} – A word meaning that something is under the counter is an anagram (ordered) of honestly.

13a Leader of Socialist Party heading off for a rest (6)
{SIESTA} – A word for a rest comes from the first letter (leader) of Socialist followed by a Latin-American word for a party from which the first letter (heading off) has been removed.

15a Blue collar is on order (7,5)
{WORKING CLASS} – Another name for those who are blue collar comes from taking synonyms for on (as in functioning) and order (as in genus).

18a Queen hit by foaming acid at sea – King is imprisoned (1,4,2,5)
{A KIND OF MAGIC} – A great piece of music performed by the rock group Queen comes from an anagram (as sea) of foaming acid put around (imprisoned) an abbreviation for King.

ARVE Error: need id and provider

21a Agree to spy, if it’s the Fourth of July (6)
{RATIFY} – An word meaning agree to comes from a word for a spy followed by the “if” in the clue and the last letter (fourth) of July.  The it’s has to be read as “it has” for the wordplay to work here.

22a Spray with milk before getting a cheap drink (3,5)
{TAP WATER} – This cheap drink, available from any cold faucet comes from a word meaning milk (as in beg or ask for something) before a word meaning spray (as you may do to your roses in a drought).

24a Keeper finally goes in goal then lies around as a reward for travelling (3,5)
{AIR MILES} – This reward for travelling (or spending on your American Express card) comes from putting the final letter of keeper inside a three letter word meaning goal (as in your objective) followed by an anagram (around) of lies.

25a Technique for cooking meat in iron (6)
{FLAMBE} – A form of cooking comes from putting a type of meat (from young sheep) inside the chemical symbol for iron.

26a Incredibly, drinks squash after energy drink (8)
{ESPRESSO} – This coffee drink comes from an abbreviation for energy followed by a two letter word for incredibly inside which (drinks) is put a word meaning squash (as in squeeze together).

27a Extremely classy and popular US island (6)
{CYPRUS} – This Mediterranean island comes from the outside letters (extremely) of classy and popular followed by the US in the clue.

Down

1d Time to get a chauffeuring position? (3,2,3)
{TEN TO TWO} – This time of the day is referred to pictorially by the position your hands are supposed to be on the wheel when driving.

2d Cat turned up with one chance to be cool (8)
{TACITURN} – A word meaning to be cool (as in offhand or rude) comes from reversing the letters of cat and following them by an I (one) and a chance (as in a go or shot in game perhaps).

3d Barely notice mink thief’s in trouble (2,3,4,2,4)
{IN THE NICK OF TIME} – A word meaning barely (as in almost) comes from an anagram (in trouble) of notice mink thief.

5d I would point at a picture (4)
{IDEA} – A word for a picture (as in a visualisation of something mentally) comes from a contraction of I would followed by one of the points of the compass and a final A (from the clue).

6d Try harder to boot computer? (4,2,4,5)
{GIVE IT SOME WELLY} – A phase meaning try harder may describe what you may do to your tower computer when you kick it because it is slow in starting (boot).

7d Like a monster returning the innards of tough Sir Godfrey (6)
{OGRISH} – A word meaning like a monster is hidden and reversed inside the phrase tough Sir Godfrey.

8d Make beloved listener finish first (6)
{ENDEAR} – A word meaning make beloved comes from the organ you use to listen to something after a word meaning finish.

11d Ensigns hiding on vessels (7)
{FLAGONS} – These vessels from which beer may be quaffed comes from a word for ensigns (as may be flown on a ship) inside which (hiding) is put on.

14d Gore subsequently stood for President? Don’t bet on it (4-3)
{ALSO RAN} – Something you would not want to bet on comes from the first name (diminutive) of Mr Gore followed by a two letter word for subsequently and a word meaning stood for President.

16d Get grime off device needed for minute measurements (3,5)
{EGG TIMER} – A device used to time the minutes for cooking comes from an anagram (off) of get grime.

17d Mark Phillips initially expressed hesitation over son’s runs (8)
{SCARPERS} – A word meaning runs (as in flees) comes from a word describing a mark on the body following the healing of an injury, the first letter of Phillips (initially), a word used when hesitating in speech and a final S for son’s.

19d Fat of the land, say (6)
{GREASE} – This fat is a homophone (say) of a Mediterranean country who economy has slid down the plughole recently.

20d Cause jockey’s supporter to lose heart (4,2)
{STIR UP} – A word meaning cause (as in make something happen) comes from taking the middle letter (loses heart) from one of the pair of things that supports the jockey’s feet when riding.

23d Buzzers or beepers, but only the odd ones (4)
{BEES} – These buzzers are found by taking the odd letters of beepers.

13 comments on “NTSPP – 071 (Review)

  1. Nice one Boaz! Enjoyed this while relaxing over a beer after a hard day so many thanks to you.
    Also thanks to Prolixic for the explanation of 22a. Guessed the answer from the checkers but couldn’t see where it came from. I see you declined to illustrate 10a – probably just as well!
    Off for a game of 1a now if it’s still on my computer, haven’t played it for years!

      1. So it is! Very funny! Must have taken some finding.
        Haven’t got 1a on this machine so I’ll have to wait for pommette to come back with my netbook.

  2. Excellent review of an excellent crossword. Very good illustration for 10a. :D

  3. Thank you to Boaz and Prolixic. I particularly liked the anagrams at 4a and 12a.
    I wonder how many pictures Prolixic had to search through until he found the illustration for 10a!

  4. I jumped on this as soon as I saw who had written it and was not disappointed. Very enjoyable throughout, I loved 10a of course and also 8d, 14d, 16d, 17d. A lot of wit and cheek – well, it wouldn’t be Boaz without that – and best of all I managed to finish it. Keep em coming!

    1. Hello Dram
      Many congrats (and/or commiserations) on winning COW last week, thought your judging was a work of art!
      Completely agree with you as you will see from my comment above but I still can’t find the1a game on this bloody machine!

      1. Spoke to Boaz via PM on COW and he’s told me so but didn’t seem so sure you would use it! hope so as he reckons it’s a bit more amusing than this one so I live in hope!

  5. Boaz, Thanks for a nice puzzle. I enjoyed chugging through though I was late onto it. It was fun working through the wordplay in clues that had some well hidden definitions. I stumbled a bit on a couple of British references (Give it some welly for example – though I had all the crossings, Welly did not occur to me, should have googled for it) basically due to my unfamiliarity, but not a big deal really as the puzzle overall was cool.

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