A Puzzle by Avid
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
As usual, the setter will be delighted to receive feedback from you, the solvers. We do ask that you remember that for most setters this is a new experience, so please only offer constructive criticism.
A highly commendable debut from Avid. There were a few minor points, mainly polishing, so the commentometer is an impressive 3/26 or 11.5%.
Across
6a Blue like a blueberry? (6)
FRUITY: Double definition, the first being smutty and the second, a description of a blueberry.
7a Thanks HM Revenue (6)
TAKING: A two-letter word meaning thanks followed by the title of His Majesty.
10a Moderated a short, stormy debate (6)
ABATED: The A from the clue followed by an anagram (stormy) of DEBATE after removing the last letter (short). Perhaps stormy short debate would be better as it fully reflects the order of the steps required to get the solution.
11a What goes in ultraliberal circles in New York, after a fashion (8)
ANYTHING: The state code for New York after the A from the clue followed by a five-letter word for fashion, as in it’s the latest …..
12a Has a laugh (2,2)
HA HA: Two times HA (Has).
13a Hearing Tube announcement of Euston Station skipping a syllable (10)
EUSTACHIAN: A homophone of EUSTON STATION after removing the second syllable of Euston.
14a Delivering drink giving life? (7,4)
SENDING DOWN: A seven-letter word meaning delivering followed by four-letter word meaning drink. I am not sure that delivering (the process and culmination of the post office’s job) is the same as the synonym, which is the initiation of the process.
19a Can one beheaded shockingly be only the first of her husband’s victims? (4,6)
ANNE BOLEYN: The first two words of the clue with the first letters removed (beheaded) followed by an anagram (shockingly) of BE ONLY.
22a Bring up what the last one brings up? (4)
REAR: Double definition.
23a Not a bit left? OK (3,5)
ALL RIGHT: If something is not a bit left it would be … …..
24a Act had been made current and transposed (6)
BEHAVE: The present tenses (made current) of had and been with the two synonyms transposed.
25a Place to hide one case of alcohol in prohibition (6)
DENIAL: A three-letter word meaning a place to hide followed by the letter representing one and the outer letters (case) of alcohol.
26a Regularly ignored elders as heart preferred evil? (6)
LESSER: The even letters (regularly ignored) of the third to fifth words of the clue.
Down
1d Odd bobby in the station? (7)
OFFBEAT: If a bobby is not in the station, he is not on patrol.
2d Portmanteau of legal proceedings (8)
SUITCASE: Two four-letter words for types of legal proceedings.
3d Terrible indigestion, not holding in even slightly heavy food (6)
STODGE: An anagram (terribly) of INDIGESTION after removing (not holding) each occurrence (even slightly) of the letters I and N. I think that something more is required to that the letters I and N are to be removed wherever they appear.
4d State symbolically represented by a doctor? (8)
MARYLAND: The state whose code is also the abbreviation for Doctor of Medicine.
5d A fraction of height moving top to bottom (6)
EIGHTH: Move the first letter of height to the end.
8d Before long, gen AI overly friendly (6)
GENIAL: Before the abbreviation for long add the GEN from the clue and a reversal (overly) of AI. I would avoid using abbreviations that are only indicated as American.
9d Is on net in mate’s flat (11)
MAISONNETTE: The first three words of the clue inside the word MATE from the clue.
15d Give up ambition and settle for this instead of having a try? (4,4)
DROP GOAL: A four-letter word meaning give up and a four-letter word for ambition.
16d Fighting cabinet to get defence budget (3,5)
WAR CHEST: A three-letter word for fighting and a five-letter word for a cabinet. Not sure how an HTML code appeared in the wording of the clue.
17d Fished with form of rod and line? (6)
ANGLED: Double definition. Whilst there is a degree of separation between the two parts, the whole clue reads as a straight definition of the solution which somewhat lessens the cryptic wordplay.
18d Very top grade essentially important in tough university (7)
HARVARD: The abbreviation for very, the top exam grade and the middle letter (essentially) of important inside a four-letter word meaning tough.
20d Fish beheaded for offending (6)
ERRING: Remove the first letter (beheaded) of a type of fish.
21d Ate a bit of lunch out and tipped (6)
NIBBED: A seven-letter word meaning ate without (out) the first letter (a bit) of lunch.
Welcome to Rookie Corner, Avid, with an accomplished puzzle which was fun to solve although I can’t parse my answers to 24a and 17d. My feeling is that this is unlikely to have been your first attempt to compile a cryptic crossword.
I made life difficult for myself in the NE corner by originally entering Missouri as my answer for 4d although MO is not really a doctor.
A few comments from me:
7a – I have never come across the answer in the singular form before with this meaning, but I see it is listed in the BRB.
14a – For me, “delivering” and “sending” are not quite synonymous.
19a – one for Prolixic: can “beheaded” apply to two words?
3d – I think “not holding in even slightly” is too much of a stretch to specify the removal of three Is and two Ns from the anagram fodder.
8d – L as an abbreviation for “long” is not in the BRB. (It is in Collins but only as American.)
15d – This is a nice idea but it doesn’t really read convincingly to me.
16d – The PDF version of the clue contains some spurious characters.
My favourite was 23a and I awarded ticks to 6a, 11a, 12a, 22a, 1d, 4d & 18d.
Very well done and thank you, Avid. I look forward to your next offering. Thanks too in advance to Prolixic.
Many thanks to Avid for a very accomplished puzzle with some innovative clueing; I enjoyed it a lot.
I can see that 3d is a subtractive anagram but can’t work out how the unneeded letters are selected.
I particularly liked 11a, 26a, 4d, 15d and 17d.
More puzzles like this would be very welcome.
Some fun definitions – 11a, 26a, etc. 14a’s fun too. Is this really your debut here? If so, welcome aboard. You won’t be here for long, I suspect. Ta lots.
Welcome Avid,
Many thanks for an enjoyable puzzle that was indeed an accomplished debut, as others have said. I thought that, technically, there was little to fault.
I did feel though that 12a and 5d stood out as being particularly weak clues and the intricacies of trying to work out 3d were lost on me too. Like RD, I don’t think I’ve seen “long” for the letter “L” in a cryptic puzzle before.
I hope you’ll return with another submission soon as, whether it be good or less good, I never feel that it’s fair to judge a setter just on a single puzzle.
Many thanks, Avid.
Very nice puzzle. Well done. Love the software.
Thanks all for taking the time to solve and comment. I’ve been cluing in competitions for a while but have only recently started compiling full puzzles. My main aim is to be creative and entertain, so I’m very gratified that people have had fun solving this.
All comments have been fair and I’ll admit that one or two did occur to me in the setting – there’s often a tension between technical correctness and a satisfying surface, and the calls I made seem to be a matter of taste.
There seems to be some appetite for a follow up, so I’ll have to get to work to try and deliver!
Welcome to the blog Avid. We look forward to your next crossword.
I thought this was an excellent Rookie debut with much to enjoy.
I have plenty of ticks on my printout, including 6a, 7a, 13a, 19a and 26a; 1d, 4d and 15d.
14a was my last in as I had trouble establishing the synonym for the first word.
Many thanks to Avid for a very entertaining puzzle. Look forward to seeing you back soon. ‘Creative and entertaining’ — yes, this definitely was!
Much appreciation to Prolixic for the review.