A Puzzle by Jaffa
+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +
The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Jaffa's turn to provide our Saturday lunchtime entertainment
Across
1a Extra cuts following number crunching (10)
AFTERMATHS: A synonym for following and an abbreviated school subject which requires number crunching
6a Even Brian Blessed's shouting initially fades away (4)
EBBS: The initial letters of the first four words in the clue
10a Accepted capital loss is a cardinal sin (5)
GREED: A synonym for accepted without its first letter (capital loss)
11a Precocious adolescent delivers short message addressing anger management (9)
TWEENAGER: A message without its last letter (short) and an anagram (management) of ANGER
12a Fences no longer present for wethers? (8)
RAMPARTS: A wether is a castrated male sheep so if you split these fences 3,4 the clue will make sense
14a This Roman trophy is a setback (6)
HICCUP: The Latin (Roman) word for this and a trophy
16a Instruction given by man of note who's comprehended atom's nucleus (8)
TUTORING: The surname of the man found on a £50 note which is inserted (comprehended) the inside letters (nucleus) of aTOm
17a Exercise can produce one bodily function or another (6)
BURPEE: Two bodily functions sharing the letter P
20a Pitiful Scottish fare of oatmeal with special ingredient (6)
MEASLY: Porridge made with ground oatmeal into which is inserted (with … ingredient) the abbreviation for Special
22a Measure of lithium or iron or 35 years? (4-4)
HALF-LIFE: A measure of alcohol, and the chemical symbols for lithium and iron.
24a German threesome attend church in Scotland when gloomy (6)
DREICH: The German word for three and an abbreviation for church
25a Antediluvian boarding procedure for quartet (3,2,3)
TWO BY TWO: How the animals boarded the Ark – antediluvian meaning happening before Noah’s Flood
27a Old circus performer, said to be an unrepentant cannibal (9)
GLADIATOR: An unrepentant cannibal might be pleased he ate her
29a That's for Julius Caesar maybe, when the tides turned around (2,3)
ID EST: Hidden in tIDES Turned
31a Artificial intelligence of French governor's PA (4)
AIDE: Abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence and the French word meaning of
32a Lecturer following all points of view for one to broadcast (10)
NEWSREADER: A university lecturer follows all points of the compass
Down
1d Former limited VP needs time we hear for logical instruction (9)
ALGORITHM: A former US Vice-President without the last letter of his surname (limited) and a homophone (we hear) of a synonym for time
2d & 28/5. Limits of podiatrist's skill when driving fast (3)
TOE AND HEEL: The limits of the foot or a method of fast driving
3d Harried Harry has embarrassed shock (3,4)
RED HAIR: An anagram (harry) of HARRIED gives the colour associated with embarrassment and a covering for the head (shock)
4d At random, in a state (8)
ASTATINE: At being a chemical symbol of the substance found in an anagram (random) of IN A STATE
5d See 2d
7d & 30. Engine part left behind when damaged road is unadopted by South Wales town (3)
BIG END: Remove (unadopted) an abbreviated road (damaged telling the letters aren’t next to each other) from a South Wales town
8d Sweet topping for covering on East End loaf? (5)
SYRUP: A sweet topping or Cockney Rhyming Slang for the covering on the part of the body a Cockney might call his loaf
9d SI unit applied in its designated position (2-4)
IN-SITU: An anagram (applied) of SI UNIT
13d Young Macbeth's personal introduction is a gas (7)
METHANE: A young Macbeth might have introduced himself as xx xxxxx
15d Crypto I moved to person offshore (7)
CYPRIOT: An anagram (moved) of CRYPTO I
18d We hear online consultant maybe prepared to examine different viewpoints (3,6)
EYE DOCTOR: A homophone (we hear) of an informal abbreviation for online (perhaps tothe Information Superhighway) and a medical professional such as a consultant
19d Annoying repetitive strains from organ on old German Diet (8)
EARWORMS: An organ of the body and the place in Germany where a Diet or assembly was held to denounce and ban the writings of Martin Luther
21d Unblocking, by removal of fancy bung, gives security for late drinkers (4,2)
LOCK IN: Remove the letters BUNG (fancy telling you they aren’t in that order) from the first word of the clue
23d Hot and bothered by half a month on French island (7)
FEBRILE: Half of our current month and a French island
24d Code for litter producer (5)
DOGMA: Split 3,2 this might describe the producer of a litter of puppies
26d Bores reportedly developing here at estuary's mouth - 18d may be interested (4)
STYE: The home of some male pigs (bores reportedly) followed by the mouth of Estuary
28d See 2d
30d See 7d
Thanks to Jaffa for an entertaining puzzle with lots of laughs.
I’m not sure that ‘damaged’ works in 7/30 and I can’t see the ‘online’ bit of 18d.
My ticks went to 1a, 25a, 4d, 8d, 19d and 26d.
Gazza, I took i = internet to mean online in 18d.
Thanks, RD, but I can’t find any confirmation that I is a recognised abbreviation for internet and, even if it were, I think getting from online to internet is a step too far.
What an excellent NTSPP! It was inventive, amusing, nicely challenging and fun.
It was also a learning experience. I didn’t know that 1a could mean extra cuts; I’ve never heard of 11a; and my Scottish knowledge has been increased with the addition of the oatmeal in 20a.
In my opinion, 22a would be better with “lithium and iron” rather than “or”, and I think that 26d needs to finish with “in this” in order to have a complete definition. Also, in 24a the German for threesome is “dreier” not “not “drei”.
I had lots of ticks with 12a, 27a, 13d & 24d my top picks.
Many thanks, Jaffa.
Phew! Quite hard work for me but eventually breasted the tape with, I think, all parsing present and correct. I’d doubtless have managed more easily had I paid proper attention in chemistry lessons but our teacher was a ‘witch’ in my teenage eyes!
Top three for me were those which amused the most – 32a which we’ve doubtless seen before – plus 1&19d.
Thanks to Jaffa for an enjoyable exercise.
A somewhat challenging chuckle-producing solve for us. Great fun to unpick it all. Last in and our favourite was 17a.
Thanks Jaffa.
Still unable to parse a couple of answers so need to check tomorrow’s review. Nevertheless enjoyed the challenge, many thanks, Jaffa. Favourites 12a, 14a, 7d, and 19d.
Thanks for that Jaffa, I enjoyed it a lot. Favourites were 12a, 25a and 1d.
Thank you for all the comments so far. I’m glad I’ve managed to produce a few smiles for you.
Gazza, I think you have a point. Everything nowadays seems to have an “i-“ prefix but I must admit I’ve failed to find a formal justification for it. I guess one day Chambers etc might include it. In the 7/30 combination I included “damaged” as I was removing two non-consecutive letters, although they were in the correct order. I really don’t know what, if anything, was necessary here. I await words of wisdom….
RD I apologise for any linguistic inadequacy on my part. Having muddled my way through O-Level French and Latin at school I didn’t encounter German until the last year of my Chemistry degree where I scraped through my German for Chemists course a the second attempt. I consequently relied on Mr Wiki for this crossword but I asked for a translation of three and used the word threesome….d’oh!
I’m sorry Jane to have reawakened bad memories of Chemistry lessons at school. Some of us Chemistry teachers are(were) quite nice really 😂👨🔬😂
Thanks for the clarification, Jaffa. I assumed, incorrectly, that you were using ‘damaged’ to remove the central letters of ‘road’. It didn’t occur to me that you were using the abbreviation of road.
I don’t think there’s a problem with 24a. Three and threesome can be synonyms (as in “The three{some} arrived yesterday”, so drei is a valid translation. Dreier would be used in the sense of “having a threesome” and is also the genitive plural of drei, however, that’s not relevant to the clue.
I struggled with this but eventually got everything ecept 1ac and 17ac. I’d never heard of the latter, and for the former didn’t know the secod definition given in Chambers, so wordfinder help was required for those two. And I’m a bit puzzled by ‘maize’ on the explanation of 20ac; ‘meal’ can be any finely ground cereal but in the Scottish context is surely oatmeal as in the clue. Admittedly Chambers mentions maize but adds ‘chiefly US’.
Thanks, though, Jaffa and CS.
I too am puzzle as to why I typed the word maize – is it a good excuse to claim that it was my third draft blog post of the day while I was in a very cold room? I’ve amended the hint
Many thanks for the review, CS, much appreciated as ever.
Once again, many thanks for all of the comments, they are much appreciated.
More or less half of the clues have been mentioned in dispatches by you as favourites which I find personally pleasing. Some of you should perhaps be worried that you share my sense of “humour”…..
A big thank you of course to Mr K for masterminding the NTSPP slot and CrypticSue for her wonderful review. Your devotion to duty(?) Sue is truly ama(i)zing – sorry 😂
After a disappointing day of sports results on Saturday (for me, at least), Jaffa’s puzzle brought a smile back to my face as the day ended. I particularly enjoyed the ‘Blessed’ 6a, and the ‘Macbeth’ 13d; but my favourite clues were 12a, 14a, 19d, 23d, 24d and (because of my pseudonym, of course) the 27a ‘circus performer’! I hadn’t come across the driving skill before and the 4d ‘At’ was also a novelty, but I managed to work it out correctly at the first attempt.
Thanks for cheering me up Jaffa, and my thanks also to CS.
Glad to be of service. I too was feeling similarly depressed by sports results at the weekend but I was cheered by nice comments from nice people on this wonderful blog 😎
Glad I got round to this. Fell 2 shy of completion before resorting to letter reveals – tough but very entertaining & worth the price of admission alone for the guffaw when the penny dropped for the unrepentant cannibal & for the gorgeous pic of the proud ma with her pups in Sue’s review.
Thanks both.
And Rory won at Pebble Beach😎