Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 086
A Puzzle by Gazza
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Welcome back to Gazza with another Ray T type crossword with wit and innuedno and smoothly built clues. My favourites are shown in blue below.
Across
1a Ousted skipper has time to curse (6)
{BLIGHT} – A word meaning to curse comes from a ship’s captain famously ousted in an on-board mutiny followed by the usual abbreviation for time.
5a To scratch around for a warning in latin’s no good when engaged in coitus interruptus (8)
{SCAVENGE} – A word meaning to scratch around comes from the Latin word for beware followed by NG for no good. Put this inside a word for coitus with the final X removed (interruptus) to find the answer.
9a Explosive – it may end unstable (8)
{DYNAMITE} – A type of explosive comes from an anagram (unstable) of IT MAY END.
10a Hacked-off Scotsman and German make merry (6)
{JOCUND} – A word for merry comes from an informal word for a Scotsman with the final letter removed (hacked-off) followed by the German word for and.
11a ‘Healthy food party’ unfortunately ends with daughter knocking out son (5,5)
{GREEN SALAD} – This health food comes from the name of an ecologically friendly political party followed by a word meaning unfortunately with the final S changed for a D (daughter knocking out son).
12a Old Welsh striker’s feeling of euphoria (4)
{RUSH} – A word describing a feeling of euphoria is also the surname of an old Welsh international footballer, first name Ian.
13a Fraud claiming authorship of blog? (8)
{IMPOSTER} – A word for someone who is a fraud when split 2, 6 might be a claim made by Big Dave, Gazza, Cryptic Sue, Tilsit or many others on this site when writing a blog entry.
16a Went delirious when caught inside (6)
{EXITED} – A word for went is also a word for delirious or eager if a C is included within it.
17a After informant flipped journalist got stabbed (6)
{KNIFED} – A word meaning got stabbed comes from an old word for an informant reversed (flipped) followed by a two letter word for a journalist.
19a “I agree with Nick” man’s not special assistant, surprisingly (8)
{SATANIST} – A person whose spiritual views are in tune with those of the devil is an anagram (surprisingly) of ASSISTANT after removing one of the S’s (no special).
21a In times past the old hoarded gold (4)
{YORE} – A word for times past comes from putting one of the abbreviations for gold inside an old fashioned word for the.
22a When it’s around the claret’s kept out of sight (10)
{TOURNIQUET} – Claret is another word for blood. The answer to this clue is a ligature that is put around a limb to prevent blood escaping following the severing of an artery.
25/23 Pansy’s ungrammatical seaside appeal? (4-2- 5)
{KISS-ME-QUICK} – A flower in the pansy family is also the phase (ungrammatical though it be) that appears on hats purchased at the seaside.
26a Middle falls out of elegant foreign novel in flimsy cover (8)
{NEGLIGEE} – A word for a flimsy cover (see illustration) comes from an anagram (foreign) of ELEGANT FOREIGN after the inner six letters have been removed (middle falls out).
27a Wrestled with a dodgy old design (8)
{AGONISED} – A word meaning wrestled with comes from an A followed by an anagram (dodgy) of O (for old) plus DESIGN.
28a Jump at sound of second shot on film set (4,2)
{TAKE TO} – A word meaning jump at (as in like or embrace) sounds like the words that would be used on a film set when filming a shot for the second time.
Down
2d Chicken course? (5)
{LAYER} – A double definition to begin the downs. What a chicken is (when producing eggs) is also a word for a course (as in a stratum).
3d Queen has good look round pasture (5)
{GRAZE} – A word for pasture comes from a word meaning good look around the one letter abbreviation for Queen (short for Regina).
4d Ronnie Kray, for one, knitted women’s clothing (7)
{TWINSET} – A word for some women’s clothing comes from the description of Ronnie Kray in relation to his brother Reggie followed by a word meaning knitted (as when bone knit together).
5d Celebrated with lager followed by runs (7)
{STELLAR} – A word for celebrated comes from a proprietary form of lager followed by an R for runs.
6d Determine to be member of panel assessing commercials? (7)
{ADJUDGE} – A word meaning determine (as in decide or settle something) comes from a possible description of someone who might sit on a panel to assess commercials.
7d Tendon injury to leg after old copper’s trip (9)
{EXCURSION} – A word for a trip or outing comes from an abbreviation for old (not O this time) followed by the chemical symbol for copper. Add to this a word for a tendon injury often experienced by typists and one of the legs in cricketing terms.
8d String ’em up brigade start to change, imprisoning street thugs (9)
{GANGSTERS} – A word for thugs comes from a word for those who advocate capital punishment with the first letter changed around an abbreviation for street.
14d Working as a guide begin to make liquid nitrogen (9)
{MENTORING} – A word meaning working as a guide comes from the first letter of Make followed by an anagram (liquid) of NITROGEN.
15d Oceans keep sides apart outside normal playing times (3-6)
{OFF-SEASON} – A phrase for outside normal playing times (which for football these days seems to be the period between 1 June and 2 June) comes from another word for oceans inside two words for sides (used in football to determine whether the ball is legally in play).
18d Faffs about, content to edit her script (7)
{DITHERS} – A word for faffs about is hidden inside (content to) eDIT HER Script.
19d Drove forward with knight rather than trailing rook – got repulsed (7)
{SPURNED} – A word meaning got repulsed comes from a word meaning drove forward (as a horse might be) with the final R (trailing rook) changed to an N (for Knight).
20d Handy for parting shot later on (7)
{TONIGHT} – A word meaning later on (but only if solving this during the day – evening solvers might have a completely different view of the answer!) comes from a word meaning handy or near inside a word for a shot of whiskey.
23d See 25 Across
24d Vote for the future (5)
{ELECT} – A word meaning vote for may also describe someone who will take office in the future, as in the President-?????.
Many thanks to Prolixic for the excellent write-up and to all who commented.
After 25% completion I Had to wave the white flag for this one . Easily worthy of a mid week Toughie IMHO.
Fine puzzle gazza with no doubt an eye on the illustrations (not sure about a fat Eddie Murphy in a slip though!). Thanks to Prolixic for the review – I missed the RSI in 7d.I particularly liked 1a, 22a and 17a – the use of the word FINK is to be encouraged!. I actually managed to spot the pangram!