Monthly Prize Puzzle No 10 (March 2013) by Zaphod
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A review by Prolixic
Welcome to the review of March’s Prize Puzzle set by Zaphod (the combined heads of Tilsit and Hieroglyph.
Congratulations to Tony Poultney who was the winner of this and commiserations to the runners-up.
Solvers had to identify the famous playgoer whose name was revealed by the first and last columns of the grid. The answer was ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Apologies for the brief review but domestic life is up in the air following my mother-in-law’s fall and hip operation this morning.
Across
1 Needles speakers that don’t start (6)
ANNOYS – … as in irritates. Take the initial letter from TANNOYS (speakers don’t start).
5 Where to find scholar, one just starting is irregular (8)
INFORMAL – A scholar may be IN FORM. Follow this with an A L (a learner – one just starting).
9 Fawlty perhaps managing a Roman ruin? (8)
BASILICA – BASIL (the first name of the fictional hotelier) followed by IC (in charge – managing) and the A from the clue.
10 One chases ragamuffin for seafood (6)
SCAMPI – SCAMP (ragamuffin) followed by a I (one).
11 Stencil in the production of “Whaam!” was his doing (12)
LICHTENSTIEN – … the surname of the artist who created the word “Whaam”. An anagram (production) of STENCIL IN THE.
13 Wander where all roads should lead, by the sound of it? (4)
ROAM – A homophone (by the sound of it) of ROME (where all roads proverbially lead).
14 UKIP’s bête noire: this subject has right to face The Sun’s position (8)
EUTROPIC – EU (UKIP’s bête noir) followed by TOPIC (this subject) with an R (right) inside.
17 Bond? He’s caught in a seedy nightspot (8)
ADHESIVE – Put the HES from the clue inside A DIVE (seedy nightspot).
18 Shelf in Oddbins may hold this? (4)
FINO – The answer is hidden inside SHELF IN ODDBINS.
20 Twickenham to some, top news, maybe? (12)
HEADQUARTERS – … the home of Rugby for example. HEAD (top) followed by QUARTERS (N E W S maybe).
23 Safety device that protects the lung, maybe? (3,3)
AIR BAG – A double definition of a car’s safety device and a loose definition
of a lung.
24 Sauce comprising cooked lamb and cheese, mostly (8)
BECHAMEL – An anagram of LAMB CHEE (cheese mostly – ie remove the final two letters).
25 Routine illness, terrible having obsessive compulsion (8)
MEDIOCRE – ME (illness) followed by DIRE (terrible) with OC (obsessive compulsion) inside.
26 Twice-yearly award goes to little chap who ruled in play (6)
OBERON – … king of the Fairies in A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. OBE (an award made twice yearly) followed by RON (little chap).
Down
2 Sodium and nitrogen primarily in bread (4)
NAAN – NA (Chemical symbol for sodium) followed by AN (the initial letters (primarily) of And Nitrogen.
3 Standard memorial, fluttering, borne by French leader (9)
ORIFLAMME – An F (French leader) inside and anagram (fluttering) of MEMORIAL.
4 Scrap runner’s complaint (6)
STITCH – Double definition of a small piece of material (scrap) and a pain experienced by a runner.
5 Haven’t I clued him? (4,3,8)
IVAN THE TERRIBLE – An anagram TERRIBLE of HAVEN’T I would lead to the clue and the answer.
6 Finest hose, evenly cut? Outrageously, yes! (4-4)
FISH NETS – An anagram (outrageously) of FINEST + H S (HOSE with the even letters removed). The yes points back to the finest hose.
7 Recipe requiring kiln to cook over fire (5)
ROAST – R (for recipe) followed by OAST (kiln).
8 A politician I banish in disgrace – pond-life? (10)
AMPHIBIANS – The A from the clue followed by MP (politician) followed and anagram (in disgrace) of I BANISH.
12 Crossword belies censorship! (10)
BOWDLERISE – An anagram (cross) of WORD BELIES. You need to mentally split crossword in to two words.
15 Muddle: unlikely cause of extremes of bewilderment (9)
OBFUSCATE – An anagram (unlikely) of CAUSE OF and BT (the first and last letters (extremes) of BewildermenT).
16 Ritualistic bed in Paris? Old city geisha initially in charge (8)
LITURGIC – LIT (French for a bed) followed by UR (old city) and G (first letter of Geisha) and IC (in charge).
19 Novel crossword featuring loopy material (6)
VELCRO – The answer is hidden inside (featuring) NOVEL CROSSWORD.
21 City crossed in return passage from Chennai-Abu Dhabi (5)
DUBAI – The answer is hidden and reversed in CHENNAI-ABU DHABI
22 Emperor’s end – one fiddling outside (4)
NERO – The last letter (end) of Emperor with an anagram (fiddling) of ONE about it.
Congratulations to Tony.
Many thanks to Prolixc for the review (under difficult circumstances).
Please offer my best wishes to Mom-in-law, I know personally that hip operations can be very painful.
Thanks for the sterling review Prolixic and best wishes to your mother-in-law. And indeed well done to Tony. Hope to be back before long
signed Zap (or perhaps Hod, as it were…)
The other half of Zaphod wishes to thank everyone for the nice feedback as well. Hopefully I can persuade my co-conspirator to work with me again!
Thanks to both of you, belated , apologies for my tardiness.
Congratulations Tony.
We hope that we see more of this setter collaboration as it produced a very pleasing puzzle in our opinion.
Thanks all concerned.