A Puzzle by Widdersbel
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
A review by Prolixic follows:
Across
1a Printing technique takes out text at regular intervals (6)
OFFSET: A five-letter Americanism meaning takes out or kills followed by the even letters (at regular intervals) of text.
5a Royal family forbidding supermarket (8)
GRIMALDI: A four-letter word meaning forbidding followed by a four-letter name of a new(ish) budget supermarket.
9a I will lead detectives cracking domestic crime (8)
HOMICIDE: The I from the clue before (will lead) a three-letter abbreviation for detectives all inside (cracking) a four-letter word meaning domestic.
10a Twisted arm to grasp something small but valuable (6)
NUGGET: Reverse (twisted) a three-letter word for a type of weapon (arm) and follow with a three-letter word meaning to grasp or understand.
11a Meet the abbot here - he is among us to preach excitedly (12)
CHAPTERHOUSE: An anagram (excitedly) of HE US TO PREACH.
13a Elevated position for viewing Mars and Venus? (4)
GODS: Double definition of higher up seats in a theatre and the ancient deities Mars and Venus.
14a Give extra weight to easy-to-use contraceptive, they say (8)
HANDICAP: A homophone (they say) of HANDY (easy to use) CAP (contraceptive).
17a Bird wants eg tomato and cherry pie (8)
REDSTART: The colour (in the plural) of which tomato and cherry are examples followed by a four-letter word for a pie.
18a Turn sensitive erogenous zones off (4)
VEER: The answer is hidden (zones off) in the second and third words of the clue.
20a Protagonist of candid, intense novel? (12)
FRANKENSTEIN: A five-letter word meaning candid followed by an anagram (novel) of intense.
23a Less attractive alternative to carrots for bears (6)
STICKS: Double definition, the first part cryptic.
24a Hang out with sultanate's pilot (8)
AIRWOMAN: A three-letter word meaning to hang out to dry followed by the abbreviation for with and a four-letter name of a sultanate.
25a Query assuming origin of tenth dwarf planet is star (8)
ASTERISK: A three-letter word meaning to query includes (assumes) the first letter (origin) of tenth and the four-letter name of a dwarf planet beyond the orbit of Pluto.
26a Native American's modest reward for hitting target (6)
COYOTE: A three-letter word meaning modest followed by the abbreviation for on target earnings (reward for hitting target).
Down
2d Upset pig-botherer's rhythm (4)
FLOW: Reverse (upset) the name of the animal who threatened to blow down the houses of the three-little pigs.
3d What holidaymakers need to look attractive on occasions (9)
SUITCASES: A four-letter word meaning to look attractive followed by a five-letter word for occasions.
4d Family from Belgium entertained by contest (6)
TRIBAL: The IVR code for Belgium inside (entertained by) a five-letter word for a contest or ordeal.
5d Look after first-class cricket kit for golfer Norman? (5,5,5)
GREAT WHITE SHARK: A five-letter word meaning first-class followed by a six-letter word describing the colour of a cricket kit and a four-letter word meaning look or behold.
6d Gran into knitting in the dark (8)
IGNORANT: An anagram (knitting) of GRAN INTO.
7d Unrest in the past involving old king (5)
AGGRO: A three-letter word meaning in the past includes (involving) the regnal cypher of King George.
8d Confirmed location of Titanic prior to online lecture (4-6)
DEEP-SEATED: A phrase (4,3) describing the location of the Titanic followed by a three-letter name for a series of on-line lectures.
12d Mother shut out what she didn't want to hear? (4,6)
HOME TRUTHS: An anagram (out) of MOTHER SHUT.
15d Somewhat like Ford's stock list? (9)
INVENTORY: Double-definition, the first part whimsical.
16d Sports equipment breaking as I twerk (5,3)
WATER SKI: An anagram (breaking) of AS I TWERK.
19d What describes poet's feet but not physicist's? (6)
METRIC: Double definition, the physicist’s feet being imperial.
21d Hollow ingredient of macaroni cheese (5)
NICHE: The answer is hidden (ingredient of) in the final two words of the clue.
22d Fleet Street supporting football's top brass (4)
FAST: The abbreviation for street after (supporting) the abbreviation for football’s organizational group.
Very enjoyable lunchtime entertainment – many thanks to Widdersbel.
I made a mess of the SW corner by writing in ‘wears kit’ for 16d (well the anagram worked and I thought it corresponded to ‘sports equipment’). That led to some hasty scribbling out when I got 20a.
Luckily I remembered the old nickname for golfer Norman but I did need to verify the 25a dwarf planet.
I ticked lots of clues including 9a, 13a, 14a and 15d. I vary rarely pick anagrams as my favourite clue but I thought that 12d was excellent so that gets the nod.
As Gazza says, great lunch time entertainment
Many thanks to Widdersbel – more like that please – and in advance to Prolixic
Very smoothly assembled puzzle but then I’d expect nothing less from this setter. Amazing how long the ‘pig-botherer’ held out before the pdm. 15d was one of the other two tricky ones – very cheeky. I shall await the blog for 18a: if it is as I parsed it then it’s a device I’m slightly less fond of. I shared Gazza’s initial garden-path with 16d but could not convince myself so left it empty on first pass which meant I had the vital final letter in place when I revisited it.
Favourites in this include 5a, 11a, 17a, 24a, 2d, 6d, 8d, 12d and 22d. Thanks Widders and blogger in advance
I thought the pig botherer was very clever
Took quite a while to get to grips with this one and there are still a couple of bits of parsing that I’ll need the review to set me straight on.
Ticks here went to 5,14&23a plus 22d.
Thanks, Widdersbel, that’s another afternoon I haven’t devoted to writing Christmas cards!
After my first pass, I had precisely one entry. Following a break, my second pass got me up to four answers in. However I had the feeling I was getting on the right wavelength, and as I was very impressed with those four entries, I took another break and persisted. I finally ended with a filled grid, which was both satisfying and most enjoyable – apart from the hideous Americanism that appears in 1a (and is confirmed as such in the BRB).
I originally entered “metres” for 19d but I wasn’t very satisfied with it. Solving 26a resolved that one for me, although I can say that, even with over 40 years in industry for many of which my responsibilities included managing sales teams, I have never heard of the abbreviation OTE. Perhaps my sales force never met their targets? No, in that case, I would have been fired!
I assume 15a refers to Henry Ford who was an inventor and could be described as inventive, surely not a stock list.
My page was littered with ticks, far too many to try even to pick a short list.
Many thanks to Widdersbel for the rewarding challenge, and in advance to Prolixic.
OTE is confirmed by Chambers, RD, as ‘on target earnings’ and a glance at a page of job advertisements in the paper or online will probably see you encounter it. Not sure whether you are leg-pulling with your comment on Ford being inventive but I think the QM is excusing the cheek-y ‘-y’ adjectival form? I suspected you might be perturbed by the American version of ‘off’ in 1a but could not Chambers’ second transitive verbal definition, ‘to take off’, do the job?
That had us working hard but we did eventually manage to get everything sorted. Last to fall was 23a with a big pdm so we’ll call that our favourite.
Thanks Widdersbel.
Many thanks, Widdersbel. We enjoyed the challenge – it took us a while to complete! Favourites were 12d, 5a and 9a. We look forward to your next one. Thanks in advance to Prolixic.
Tough and most enjoyable, with my lack of familiarity with this setter’s style adding to the satisfaction. Many great surface reads. As with RD I disliked the Americanism in 1a, and while Ford did have a patent to his name, I’d suggest he’s hardly known for being 15d. Parsing 25a threw me, and I wondered whether there was a planet called Er…
Lots to like, and my podium features 26a, 2d & 12d.
Many thanks to Widdersbel, and in advance to Prolixic.
Thanks for the tough workout Widdersbel. I solved the right hand side yesterday and returned to it to day. It all fell into place when I twigged pig- botherer (hmm!).
Last to be entered was 23 across as I wasn’t sure of bears being a synonym of my answer but can’t see how it can be anything else. Needed google help for the online lecture and the dwarf planet. All-in-all quite a battle but very satisfying to complete. Favourite clues were 13a, 3, 12 and 21 down – kept trying to enter nacho until the checkers evidenced the lurker!
Thanks again and in advance to Prolixic
Many thanks to Prolixic for the nicely illustrated blog and to everyone who has commented. And to Mr K for the work behind the scenes. Very glad you all seem to have enjoyed it. Interesting comments on the difficulty – I never deliberately set out to be difficult! But if it people enjoyed it enough to think it was worth persevering with, that’s as a good sign.
Gazza – wish I’d spotted that myself, could have made for a nice clue, eg: “Wears kit” could be rewritten as “sports equipment” (5,3)
Mustafa – I ummed and ahhed about Ford but he does rank highly on internet searches for inventors. With hindsight, Tesla might have been a better option that still fits nicely with the surface.
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic, and the YouTube clips – I’d forgotten all about the ladies knitting Shreddies! Didn’t know anything about On Target Earnings – fortunately they played no part in my working life!
Thanks again to Widdersbel for a challenging but rewarding solve.
I’d forgotten that too! I think that is actually how Shreddies are made 😁 My favourite adverts of all time are the Lurpak ones with the little trumpeter
Various activities over the weekend and beyond have made this a late entry, but better late than never, perhaps? It took me a while to get on Widdersbel’s wavelength but once attuned it was a most enjoyable solve. I was not familiar with the ‘dwarf planet’ or sales ‘target’ but both were in the “Well, it must be…” category backed up by a quick check in the dictionary. I needed Prolixic’s explanation to justify my answer to 15d, which was perhaps a bit too ‘whimsical’ for my liking. What I did like best, though, were 10a, 13a and 23a.
My thanks to both Widdersbel and Prolixic.