A Puzzle by Coot
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Coot's turn to provide our Saturday lunchtime entertainment
Across
1a Lively autodidact teaching Norwegian earns tips for positive approach (3-2,8)
CAN-DO ATTITUDE: An anagram (lively) of AUTODIDACT and the 'tips' of Teaching Norwegian Earns
8a Overpaid boss has, crudely, zero sensitivity on reflection (3,3)
FAT CAT: A slang abbreviation (crudely) meaning nothing at all (zero) and a reversal (on reflection) of some sensitivity
9a Tearful scout leader's agitated denials (8)
REFUTALS: An anagram (agitated) of TEARFUL and the 'leader' of Scout
10a Quiet woman's bed heads off timid admirers ... it's wobbly! (5,5)
PANNA COTTA: The musical abbreviation meaning quiet, a woman's name, a small bed and the 'heads' of Timid Admirers
11a Truss's work on borders (4)
ROPE: The usual 'on the subject of' "borders' or goes round some abbreviated work
12a Grease coating? (4)
FILM: A movie such as Grease or a coating
13a Section of record is 'poetry' (7)
EPISODE: A type of record, IS (from the clue) and some poetry
16a Carbohydrate? Counter it with samba dancing (7)
BASMATI: A reversal (counter) of IT from the clue follows an anagram (dancing) of SAMBA
17a Set aside various average bottles (4)
SAVE: Hidden in (bottled by) the third and fourth words of the clue
20a Endless sweethearts consigned to history (4)
OVER: The inside letters (endless) of some sweethearts
22a Carrying no love for college near Essex town (10)
SCHLEPPING: An educational establishment (college) without any Os (carrying no love) and an Essex town
23a Writing on the wall: tennis star has nothing to absorb attack (8)
GRAFFITO: A former German tennis star and the letter representing nothing into which is inserted (to absorb) an attack of illness
24a Emotionless girl's cuddled by disheartened guy... (6)
GLASSY: A girl 'cuddled' by the outside (disheartened) letters of GuY
25a ...somehow in need of a clothing style (5,1,7)
AFTER A FASHION: In need of, A (from the clue) and some clothing style
Down
1d Flatbread with bloke when it's lunchtime? (7)
CHAPATI: An informal man (bloke) and a phrase meaning when it is lunch time
2d Prison terms for Gazza & Psycho? (9)
NICKNAMES: An informal prison and some terms
3d Science subjects going back through time? Quite the opposite (6)
OPTICS: Move the T in some subjects further down the word (ie moving the opposite of back)
4d Maybe find darkness in ruins of frightful tenth over (4,3,5,3)
TURN THE LIGHT OFF: An anagram (ruins) of FRIGHTFUL TENTH O (the latter being the cricket abbreviation for Over)
5d Improper to organise fundraising without sun blazing (5,3)
INFRA DIG: An anagram (to organise) of FunDRAIsING (blazing telling you that the letters SUN aren't in that order)
6d Rank drain not good (5)
UTTER: A type of drain without the abbreviation for Good
7d A lot of ale spilled around Oval (7)
ELLIPSE: Hidden in reverse (around) in alE SPILLEd
14d Old Greek storyteller acting out Silver in welcome passages (9)
OESOPHAGI: The abbreviation for Old, a Greek storyteller without the abbreviation for Acting and an informal greeting inserted into the chemical symbol for silver
15d More boggy ruins here in Germany... (8)
MARSHIER: Part of a verb meaning ruins or spoils followed by the German word for here
16d ... in one state, farmyard noise envelops very windy air (7)
BAVARIA: A farmyard noise 'envelops' the abbreviation for Very and an anagram (windy) of AIR
18d Deer burst small vein running (7)
VENISON: An anagram (burst) of S (small) and VEIN, followed by the usual two-letter 'running'
19d Contemplates approaches out loud (6)
WEIGHS: A homophone (out loud) of some approaches
21d Judge this facelift (5)
REFIT: An abbreviated judge and 'this' or a thing
A very enjoyable puzzle just right for the NTSPP slot – thanks to Coot.
I liked 8a, 20a and 3d but my favourite, naturally, has to be 2d.
Many thanks to Coot for a very enjoyable NTSPP. It was a tale of two halves for me in terms of difficulty with the top half going in smoothly and the bottom half needing a lot of cogitation. Parsing my answers to 22a & 3d took me quite a time.
As one of my bugbears, I was sorry to have to play “guess a woman” for 10a (although it wasn’t a difficult one to discern), and it was a shame about the spelling mistake in 16d which rendered the surface nonsensical.
I had a lot of ticks on my page, and my top picks were 8a, 25a & 15d.
Thanks RD. Sorry about the spelling mistake – one of those that does get picked up by the spellchecker unfortunately, but hopefully the intent was clear.
I meant “does not” of course!
I also missed it – sorry about that. Typo now corrected.
Invariably struggle to get onto this setter’s wavelength and today was no exception but managed to battle through without using any ‘reveals’ so felt inordinately proud of myself! Have to say that the overpaid boss rather amused me as did the clothing style.
Thanks to Coot for all the hard work.
Thanks Coot. Definitely a notch up in challenge from the puzzles I am used to seeing from you on MyC. I only managed about a quarter to a third of the grid after the first pass through but that gave sufficient crossers for the second to do the job – although 14d and 22d across held me up for a while at the end. The first being a word I have rarely encountered in its plural form and the second being one I have probably misused, given that the definition did not make sense to me!
Plenty of ticks for me. My faves would be 9a, 11a, 17a, 23a, 25a, 3d, 7d and 15d.
That had us working hard but we did eventually get everything sorted and enjoyed the ride. Held up by 22a as we often are when UK geography is involved but did eventually get it with electronic help. Plenty of ticks all across the grid.
Thanks Coot.
Found this pretty demanding so more than a little surprised & quite chuffed to complete without a letter reveal – guess a 1a mindset prevailed. Always seem to have to think is it two Fs & one T or t’other way round for 23a & now there’s singular & plural to remember. Last in was another unfamiliar plural at 14d. 22a my clear fav once the penny eventually dropped.
Thanks Coot – very enjoyable
Many thanks to everybody who has given this one a go. It seems to have been slightly tougher than intended; well done on battling through to complete the grid.
Just the right amount of challenge for a late night solve. Thanks, Coot.
Top stuff, thanks Coot – hard to pick faves, perhaps I’ll go for the overpaid boss and the Essex town, but super throughout. Thanks again!
Many thanks for the review, CS, hadn’t realised that Coot is a published setter – unless Prolixic is having a day off!
He’s had crosswords in the independent
Thanks, Sue, thought that the most likely scenario. By the way – book you might enjoy ‘The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris’ (Daisy Wood).
You commented on both his Indy crosswords when they were reviewed on 15sq!
Doesn’t surprise me – I can never keep track of what I’ve solved where!
After a holiday of 2 weeks our brains seemed rather rusty so we needed a few reveals to help us along to the finishing line – but we did enjoy the challenge. Thank you Coot and thanks also to CS. Now to catch up on the crosswords we missed.
Like Exit, I went for the late night solve and my bedside light stayed on for rather longer than I had intended. However, it was worth the extra effort and I slept well having successfully overcome the challenge set for us by Coot! I rather enjoyed 8a and smiled when the penny finally dropped on 22a. It was nice to see 5d appear as this was a term I hadn’t come across for several years. It took me quite a while to figure out the wordplay on 3d – I wonder if I might have been sharper in the daytime…? My last one in was 19d as putting an ‘H’ as the fifth letter only came to mind after trying out lots of words using ‘E’ and ‘N’.
Thanks, Coot, and thanks to CS for her review. The photo for 12a invoked a bit of nostalgia – incredible to think that ON-J has been lost to us for more than a year now and that the movie was released 45 years ago.