A Puzzle by Chalicea
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
One of Chalicea's least "ghostly" themed crosswords
Across
1a Closely interwoven mass gathering for dancing (4)
BALL Double definition
3a `Stress involving legwear from time to time and dress principally for airline attendant (10)
STEWARDESS STRESS (from the clue) 'involving' the even (from time to time) letters of lEgWeAr and the principal letter of Dress
10da Practical joke's period of calm about, say, beginning of prank (3-4)
LEG-PULL A period of calm goes 'about' the abbreviation meaning say, for example, and the beginning of Prank
11a Refuse to go along with and treat with contempt old Turkish governor (7)
DISOBEY A slang verb meaning to treat with contempt, the abbreviation for old and a Turkish governor
12a Doctor returns holding essentially stoutish can for depositing (7)
PUTTING A reversal (returns) of an abbreviated doctor 'holding' the essential letters of stoUTish and a can
13a Some poverty-stricken co-religionists call for more (6)
ENCORE Hidden in strickEN CO-REligionists
15a Border of a projection cut short (5)
APRON A (from the clue) and a truncated (cut short) projection
16a Sadly balsa rots; oppressive and inescapable fact (9)
ALBATROSS An anagram (sadly) of BALSA ROTS
18a Every one different; what couples have (4,5)
EACH OTHER Every one separately considered and an adjective meaning different
21a Urge along river in steep descent (5)
DRIVE The abbreviation for River inserted into a steep descent
23a Bride troubled about one little flier (6)
BIRDIE An anagram (troubled) of BRIDE into which is inserted I (one)
25a Common cornfield weed's infesting insect and destruction (7)
BUGLOSS An infesting insect and some destruction
27a Drunkenly reeling, giving a sly look (7)
LEERING An anagram (drunkenly) of REELING
28a Stunning article we to such an extent note (7)
AWESOME A (indefinite article) WE (from the clue), an adverb meaning to such an extent and a musical note
29a Many labels muddled, of course (2,3,5)
BY ALL MEANS An anagram (muddled) of MANY LABELS
30a Heroic deed of inferior members, we're told. (4)
FEAT A homophone of some 'inferior' members of the body
Down
1d Dance musician? He takes the field (10)
BALLPLAYER A dance and a musician
2d Less heavy flat-bottomed barge (7)
LIGHTER Double definition
4d Newspaper's system for distance communication (9)
TELEGRAPH Double definition
5d Wide border of type of shoe heel (5)
WEDGE The abbreviation for Wide and a border
6d Somewhat prosecutable configuration of gemstones (4-3)
ROSECUT Hidden in the second word of the clue
7d Ban insane mob rage (7)
EMBARGO An anagram (insane) of MOB RAGE
8d Oddly spot unknown article, a bean (4)
SOYA The odd letters of SpOt, a mathematical unknown and an indefinite article
9d Trouble for member of British students' club (6)
BUNION The abbreviation for British and a club for students
14d Evaluation of men's assets reshuffled (10)
ASSESSMENT An anagram (reshuffled) of MENS ASSETS
17d Porridge with grain I included for nitwit (9)
BIRDBRAIN An informal term for a prison sentence (porridge) with a type of grain into which is inserted I (from the clue)
19d Idle fancy of harmony with artist (7)
CHIMERA To sound in harmony and the usual abbreviation for artist
20d Out of date invoice for the men in blue (3,4)
OLD BILL The nickname for the police force – out of date plus a bill
21d Canine limb's sharp bend (6)
DOGLEG A canine and a limb
22d Atomic variant of an element is nothing to emptily propose (7)
ISOTOPE IS (from the clue) the letter representing nothing, TO (from the clue) and the outside (emptily) letters of ProposE
24d Hound, losing head for majestic flier (5)
EAGLE A type of hound with (losing) its first letter
26d Set clue not completely second rate (4)
CLUB Almost all of CLUe and the letter representing something second rate
I reported that today’s SPP was light and fun. This NTSPP was even lighter but equally good fun.
A couple of the anagrams involved a very minimal change of the fodder, and my repetition radar made a very tiny squeak with “some” and “somewhat” both being used as lurker indicators.
I didn’t know 25a but it was easily derivable from the clue.
I think I found 11 theme items.
Many thanks to Chalicea and in advance to CS.
Enjoyably completed accompanied by the first caffeine of the day. It was needed to sort out the, previously unknown to me, 25a which caused a ‘slowing down’ in the SE. I was a little surprised that 1d started with 1a.
Smiles for 10a, 12a, 21d, and 22d.
A word of caution – if you refer to an airline attendant as a 3a these days you might end up needing some medical treatment!
Thanks to Chalicea and in advance to CS.
The penny has finally dropped on the theme and my count is eleven!
Not my day today. Put picker in at 1d (seemed to fit the theme – I drive one on the range) which threw a spanner into the works & couldn’t get 15a as a result. Pressed check then saw my error. I’ve 10 themed one with 11 if you include 1d. Very enjoyable.
Thanks to Chalicea & in advance to CS
Think I’ve found 12 themers but it wouldn’t surprise me if Chalicea’s personal thesaurus has come up with more!
Nice wordplay in 10a and 22d but I wondered whether 1d needed the addition of ‘to’ in the second part of the clue?
Many thanks to Chalicea for a light and bright NTSPP.
Really enjoyable, thank you Chalicea. Mr T says, like Senf, he was surprised that 1d started the same as 1a. We found 11 items. We look forward, as always, to Chalicea’s next offering. Thank you also to CS.
I have found 11 but wonder if Justin Rose made the cut in 6d?
Thanks to Chalicea.
Nice spot!
Thanks Chalicea, good fun g relatively straightforward – 25a LOI & new to me, nicely clued. 9d favourite. The theme’s not my bag but I think I’ve spotted 11. Thanks again :-)
I am glad it is proving to be enjoyable. Thanks to all.
Late getting on to this but well worth the wait.
Spotted the theme early on which helped.
All good fun.
Thanks Chalicea.
As usual I completely missed the theme but that did not spoil my enjoyment of a really good puzzle. Thanks Chalicea and more of the same soon please.
I am usually poor at spotting themes, but there were enough links here to set me on course :wink:
I don’t know if it was intentional by Chalicea, but perhaps 6d added an additional 2 to a list of more conventional theme members? Overall, I thought this was a very enjoyable puzzle. I particularly liked 16a and 18a, and I required only one reference – for 25a. I often find that Chalicea’s thematic puzzles require many more references to check out some obscure alternate meanings!
My thanks to Chalicea for the pleasant entertainment, and also to CS for her review.
The image of the solved grid was sent by Chalicea to Mr K when she sent him the crossword for publication, so I’d say 6d was just a coincidence
Many thanks for the review, CS. Looks as though I invented a couple of ‘themers’ but that makes a change from missing some out!
Thanks again to Chalicea for the puzzle.
Thanks, as always cs. I don’t know how you manage to fit in all the crossword work.