A Puzzle by Buddy
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Buddy brings a typically clever and entertaining puzzle to the NTSPP spot so thanks to him
Across
1a US city, fashionable in the past (7)
CHICAGO: A synonym of fashionable/ trendy plus an adverb meaning before the present
5a Hereditary bores incite negativity all around (7)
GENETIC: Hidden & rev. (bores, all around)
9a Whistle, perhaps in a jolly style? (5)
ALARM: A phrase (1,2) meaning in the style of plus an abbreviated jolly as a noun. Very nice
10a Bad dream, buried in work: you can run fast here, but never get anywhere (9)
TREADMILL: DREAM* inserted into work (the land)
11a Shower on third of February? Good idea (10)
BRAINSTORM: The third letter of February plus a shower in the sense of the weather. The definition and solution are synonyms on the other side of the pond, not so sure about here.
12a One week in Kiribati on vacation for New Zealander (4)
KIWI: Abbreviations for one and week inserted into the outer letters of Kiribati
14a Grant, Oscar and Phil, struggling, welcoming quiet (11)
SCHOLARSHIP: OSCAR and PHIL* (struggling) to “welcome” an interjection meaning be quiet
18a Envisage scorn when start of tennis is delayed (11)
CONTEMPLATE: A synonym of scorn with the first letter of tennis replaced by a synonym of delayed. That's smart
21a Number one constituent stifled by bureaucracy (4)
UREA: Hidden. The number one refers to a bodily function.
22a Winning cap inspires one hard worker (10)
TRIUMPHANT: A synonym of cap as a verb into which is inserted an abbreviation for one (my repetition radar is bleeping) followed the abbreviation for Hard & one of crosswordland’s workers
25a This bird appears after terrified mariners initially escape a raging "storm-blast" (9)
ALBATROSS: A from the clue plus STORmBLASt* (less the initial letters of terrified mariners)
26a Assistant captures black bear (5)
ABIDE: A (political) assistant “captures” the abbreviation for black
27a Mark transfixed by high-pitched quaver (7)
TREMBLE: An abbreviated Mark? inserted into (transfixed by) a high-pitched singing voice
28a People in authority hold back standard treatment (7)
THERAPY: How one could refer generally to “people in authority” around a reversal of a synonym of standard. We need “holding” not “hold” for the cryptic grammar to work.
Down
1d Irritable, exhausted carer with squirming baby (6)
CRABBY: Outer letters of carer plus BABY* (squirming)
2d Home and not home, so to speak (2,1,3)
IN A WAY: Split the wordplay 2,4 to see the (clever) wordplay
3d Run small car, limited by shoddy treads (10)
ADMINISTER: The usual (not so) small car inserted into (limited by) TREADS* (shoddy)
4d Musical group at the heart of rock festival (5)
OCTET: The inner letters of rock plus a Vietnamese festival
5d Partisan thug escaping from trap (9)
GUERRILLA: Homophone (escaping from trap) of an animal or heavily built, perhaps aggressive man.
6d Bump seconds out of noon duel (4)
NODE: Alternate letters of NoOn DuEl
7d Dim fool almost amusing (8)
TWILIGHT: A fool or idiot minus its last letter plus a synonym of amusing in the sense of not serious perhaps
8d Muse to summon before I work on beginning of epic (8)
CALLIOPE: A synonym of summon plus I from the clue, the usual abbreviated work and the beginning of epic
13d New progress conserving energy for environmentalists (10)
GREENPEACE: New or naive plus a synonym of progress around the abbreviation for Energy
15d Exaggeration here by pol gone off the rails (9)
HYPERBOLE: HERE BY POL* (gone off the rails)
16d Resident of college with prize: a set of books (8)
OCCUPANT: O plus C plus a prize or trophy plus some biblical books
17d Costume sewn, as seams bulge regularly (8)
ENSEMBLE: sEwN aS sEaMs BuLgE. Quite a feat!
19d Itinerant lama in Asian capital (6)
MANILA: LAMA IN* (itinerant)
20d Resolute support secured in secret (6)
STEELY: The usual (golf) support in a synonym of secret or cunning
23d Topple leading faction (5)
UPSET: Synonyms of leading/ahead plus faction/group
24d Try cutting just a bit (4)
STAB: Another hidden (cutting)
A very enjoyable puzzle with smooth surfaces throughout – many thanks to Buddy.
I don’t think that 6d quite works.
I ticked loads of clues including 9a, 18a, 21a, 22a, 2d and 5d.
This was truly excellent, Buddy. Many thanks for a fun lunchtime diversion.
From a plethora of ticked clues, 18a was my favourite, closely followed by 22a.
A nice NTSSP puzzle. Fine clues of mostly mildish difficulty provided an enjoyable solve. I got 5d OK from the definition and checkers but can’t quite get the parsing sorted. Just to nitpick, I think the event in the 11a answer is much bigger than a mere shower. Hard to pick a favourite but I’ll go for 11a; a great lurker well hidden across 4 words. If a back-pager: 2*/3.5*.
For 5d you need to think of trap as used in ‘Shut your trap’.
Ah, got you! A homophone (escaping from trap/mouth). Great clue! Thank you.
Jose – you’ve got me, 11a a lurker?
Maybe not a conventional lurker, but the answer is lurking in plain sight in a “regular” sequence within the clue. So, a lurker of sorts I think.
As Buddy says below, you probably mean 17d and I have often wondered if selecting alternate letters from a ‘string’ of words counts as a ‘lurker.’ Perhaps, one of our gurus can enlighten us. Although, in his book, CL includes alternate letters in the chapter on ‘Start, Middle, and End’ rather than the chapter on ‘Hidden Clues.’
Maybe there should be two categories: Consecutive Lurker and Split Lurker?
I meant 17d, not 11a!
Thanks Buddy for another enjoyable NTSPP, caffeine not required.
Smiles for 1a, 9a, 21a, 4d, 8d, and 20d.
Thanks for the comments so far.
I suspect Jose means 17d?
Solvers will not be helped in any way by knowing that I was born in 1a, and Mrs. Buddy’s birthday is mentioned in 11a (which might, however, make the surface more sensible).
Yes, 17d I meant.
Thanks, Buddy. A very enjoyable NTSPP … even though I struggled to finish.
The podium (in no particular order):
21 … “Number one constituent …”
18 “… when start of tennis is delayed”
5d for the innovative homophone indicator.
As others have said, very nice surfaces … except for “pol” in 15d. (I must be missing something?)
Jepi, Chambers gives pol as “a politician or political activist”. It’s not marked as North American so I assumed it was fine. I now see that Collins marks it as “American English.” I think it’s mostly used by headline writers who are running out of space. It usually carries connotations of a glad-handing deal maker, smoke-filled back rooms, etc. (something those of us from 1a are familiar with).
Also, since I do not wish to become subject to a deportation order, I must say that 15d does not necessarily refer to any current “pols” over here.
I enjoyed that although, unlike Senf, I did need a caffeine boost to cross the finishing line. Biggest ticks here went to 1,22&28a plus 1&24a.
I did wonder about 11a – thought the answer was what one did to arrive at a good idea, not the good idea in itself?
Thanks, Buddy, look forward to your next one.
Having retired hurt from my failure to complete the prize puzzle this was a real delight. Clues I liked, in no particular order: 9,10,21and 22a, 17 and 20d. Thanks Buddy for the entertainment.
Excellent fun and greatly appreciated. Our favourite of course was 12a. A slight error there though as when we visited in late 1980s we stayed for a month. We’ll forgive the setter for that in the circumstances.
Many thanks Buddy.
Thanks for the enjoyable puzzle, Buddy. We did need some caffeine to complete but most answers went in comfortably. We look forward to your next one.
Had it not been a pre lights out solve caffeine may well have been needed. Slowed down in the south but a brisk(ish) solve. Very enjoyable indeed. 18a my pick from a host of ticks.
Thanks Buddy
Many thanks for the review, CS. I did think that 16d perhaps needed a ‘first letters’ indicator for the first two letters but nobody else has remarked on it so I suppose it must be me reading the clue incorrectly. Thanks again to Buddy.
Stephen reviewed this one
Apologies Stephen, I just realised my mistake.
The Saturday prize puzzle kept me occupied until very late last night, so this rather elegant NTSPP by Buddy was put on hold until this morning. I was impressed by the number of well-crafted surfaces, especially 9a, 11a, 21a, 1d, 2d & 23d. A couple of other favourites were the artful 18a and the 5d homophone, both providing very satisfying PDMs. I was surprised to learn that ‘pol’ was a word, but I duly discovered it in Collins. Like Jane, I still have a question mark beside the ‘OC’ in 16d and wonder if this may be an abbreviated college name in the US, especially as Buddy has owned up to being from other the pond!
My thanks to Buddy, and also to StephenL.
O is short for ‘of’ (as in O’Driscoll) and C is the abbreviation for college.
Thanks, Gazza. I perhaps should have thought of e.g. “cat o’ nine tails”. I’ll try to remember that for next time!
Many thanks, Gazza, I’ll try to remember for next time.
An enjoyable solve which didn’t cause any problems. Nice to see a Muse other than Erato featured.
Thanks, Buddy and StephenL.