Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 124
A Puzzle by eXternal
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Another fine puzzle from eXternal.
The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
A review of this puzzle is below.
External entertains us once again with a crossword that was on the easier side but enjoyable to solve.
Across
1 Meekly assure desperate refugee (6,6)
{ASYLUM SEEKER} – A phrase for a refugee comes from an anagram (desperate) of MEEKLY ASSURE.
10 Ex left outside forever (7)
{ETERNAL} – Remove an X (ex left) from a word meaning outside to find a word meaning forever.
11 Scottish potato recipe’s even more pitiful (7)
{TATTIER} – A word sum of the Scottish word for potato with an R for recipe give a word meaning even more pitiful.
12 Colourful trainers provide hiding place for extremist (5)
{ULTRA} – A word for an extremist is hidden inside (provide hiding place for) the words COLOURFUL TRAINERS.
13 Money, two notes for material (8)
{CASHMERE} – Add together words meaning money and two notes from the do-re-me scale to find a warm woollen material.
15 Rabbit in yard heading off noisy ox (7-3)
{YACKETY-YAK} – A word meaning rabbit (as in talk incessantly) comes from the abbreviation for Yard, a word meaning noisy with the first letter removed (heading off) and another word for a type of ox.
16 Restriction of movement from extremes of arthritis setting old boy back (4)
{ASBO} – This court remedy preventing people entering certain areas comes from the outside letters (extremes of) arthritis and the abbreviation for old boy reversed (back).
18 The old inAustraliacry for attention (4)
{OYEZ} – The old word for the inside the two letter word forAustraliagives a word for a cry for attention used by town criers.
20 Artist’s note found by group of very famous people (10)
{MINIMALIST} – This type of artist comes from the name of a musical note followed by a generic term (1-4) for a group of very famous people.
22 Accompany some people of thePhilippinesaroundNorway(3,5)
{TAG ALONG} – A phrase meaning accompany comes from the name of a Filipino tribe around the abbreviation forNorway.
24 Embankment’s raised railway rejected, a sign of victory (5)
{LEVEE} – A word for a raised embankment used mainly in the United States comes from reversing (rejected) a word letter word for a railway (short for elevated) followed by phonetic spelling of a sign for victory (V).
26 Pipe ends and expels fluid over drive (7)
{SPIGOTS} – These taps found at the end of pipes comes from a word meaning expels fluid (forcibly from the mouth) around a two letter word for drive.
27 Big sellers, blasted poem and flipping song (7)
{EMPORIA} – An anagram (blasted) of POEM followed by a word for a song reversed (flipping) give a word meaning big sellers.
28 Hard skin here disturbs healthcare professional (4-8)
{HEAD-SHRINKER} – An anagram (disturbs) of HARD SKIN HERE gives the name of a healthcare professional. A minor point but as the anagram indicator follows the letters to be rearranged, it should be disturbed rather than disturbs.
Down
2 Doubtful person’s infected with cold internally (7)
{SCEPTIC} – A word for a doubtful person comes from a word meaning infected with the abbreviation for cold inserted.
3 Nothing’s up with storage unit, takes forever to find connecting pieces (8)
{LINKAGES} – A word for connecting pieces from reversing (up) a word for nothing and following this with the abbreviation for a storage unit used to describe computer memory or disks and a word meaning forever.
4 Not great beer (4)
{MILD} – A double definition for a word meaning not great and a type of beer.
5 The UN struggles to accept a group of countries making mercy killing (10)
{EUTHANASIA} – An anagram (struggles) of THE UN with an A inserted (to accept A) followed by the name of one of the continents (group of countries) gives a word for mercy killing.
6 King to make impression in boat (5)
{KETCH} – This word for a type of boat comes from the abbreviation for King followed by a word meaning make impression in.
7 People on horseback trap ace thieves (7)
{RAIDERS} – A word for people on horseback includes (trap) the abbreviation for ace to give a word for thieves.
8 A competition of sorts? (6,7)
{BEAUTY CONTEST} – A cryptic definition of a competition such as Miss World.
9 The prevailing custom is to dry forehead after running (5,2,3,3)
{ORDER OF THE DAY} – A phrase for the prevailing custom comes from an anagram (after running) of IS TO DRY
14 He is stingy tipping cleaners (10)
{HYGIENISTS} – These cleaners who butcher your teeth come from an anagram (tipping) of HE IS STINGY.
17 A split in flaps causing aircraft trouble (8)
{TAILSPIN} – An anagram (flaps) of A SPLIT IN gives a form of aircraft trouble where it goes into a steep twisting dive.
19 New piercing mangled Leigh’s tongue (7)
{ENGLISH} – This language or tongue comes from putting an N inside (piercing) an anagram (mangled) of LEIGH.
21 One finds new part of Bible upside down (7)
{INVERSE} – Take an I (one) and N (new) followed by a word for part of the Bible (a smaller division than a chapter) gives a word meaning upside down.
23 Sponge down pants here, footballers (5)
{LOOFA} – A word for a sponge comes from a place where you might take your pants down followed by a collective term for footballers.
25 Mock comedian heartlessly (4)
{JEER} – A word meaning mock comes from a type of court comedian from ancient times with the middle two letters removed (heartlessly).
Good stuff – thanks to eXternal. I liked the self-referencing 10a but my favourite clue was 8d which made me laugh (I laughed at 23d too).
Thanks eXternal with your trademark.
I particularly liked 23, although I would normally spell it with an extra letter. I got a bit stuck on 20, thinking about VIPs. 17 was nicely misleading.
I didn’t know the ‘people of the Philippines’ in 22.
Great stuff thank you eXternal. I liked 10a too. Can’t remember which other ones I liked as I was forced to solve on line as every time I tried to print the pdf I got an error message and my internet connection was closed down :(
Best puzzle of the week for me, no electric help, and obviously no hints.
But still waiting for review to clarify a few clues.
Great fun thanks eXternal, liked 10a.
Really enjoyed this so thanks eXternal. 10a made me smile as did 23d!
Can’t wait for your next effort :grin:
I loved it! I couldn’t do 24a so needed the hint for that one. 20 and 26a were my last ones – don’t know why, just being slow I think.
My two favourites were 15a and 23d – they both made me laugh. I also liked 19d.
Thanks to eXternal and Prolixic.
Solved but not fully understood some of the answers until Prolixic’s review. Very enjoyable so more of the same please. Thanks to eXternal & to Prolixic.
Now does anybody know where BD & his hints for today are? It’s a tough little bugger and harder than is usual from the maestro.
It is on its way… and I only found it slightly harder than usual…!
Thanks for the kind comments. Plenty of laughs and enjoyment, that is all I could ask for. Thanks to host, reviewer and commenters.
Nice one eXternal. Witty and very fair. Loved 8d in particular.
Just as a quick Sunday evening PS. Clearing up all the horizontal heaps of stuff on the kitchen table and found this one again. It reminded me of another of eXternal’s NTSPP crosswords – may have been his last one or not, can’t remember – what I can remember is that I was totally defeated by ONE clue and it was in almost exactly the same place in the crossword as the ONE clue that I couldn’t do this time. Will watch out next time!! :smile: