A Puzzle by Gazza
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Gazza occupies the seat in this week's NTSPP, always an absolute pleasure, many thanks to him.
Across
1a Adjust pipe to alter rear wiper (6,5)
TOILET PAPER: PIPE TO ALTER* (adjust) Lol. A great start
7a Briton occasionally lacking life (3)
BIO: Occasional letters of BrItOn
9a Unnamed female TV cop is tight-lipped (5)
CAGEY: Remove the abbreviation for Name from an 80’s fictional female cop
10a They're fully exposed, misplacing trust in a scam initially (9)
NATURISTS: TRUST IN A S(cam)* (misplacing)
11a Drift apart and in a sense become inadequate (4,5)
LOSE TOUCH: The solution, a synonym of drift apart, taken literally could mean become inadequate in one of your five senses
12a Scottish banker went on termination of contract (5)
TWEED: Went here means used the loo! Place after the final letter of contract. Another smiler.
13a Haggard heroine lived in dodgy bar (7)
SHEBEEN: Haggard here is a proper noun rather than an adjective. Place the requisite heroine before a synonym of lived.
15a Elderly relative's an idiot (4)
NANA: Double definition
18a Predecessor of Don T's first victim (4)
ABEL: Don T here is the current president. Putting one of his predecessors in the same format gives us a biblical victim
20a Gloomy library evacuated urgently (7)
GRAVELY: Gloomy/serious plus LibrarY
23a Elderly classical author's place in Yemen's capital (5)
PLINY: The abbreviation for PLace, IN from the clue plus Y(emen)
24a What's used to burn off waste rubbish round church? (9)
BLOWTORCH: Waste/squander, a reversal of rubbish/tosh and the usual CHurch
26a Quirky writer Blair possesses 100 church books (9)
ECCENTRIC: The Christian name of the writer better known as George Orwell around the Roman numeral 100, an abbreviation for church (a slightly different one from the previous clue) and some abbreviated books
27a I'm in charge inside second team (5)
SCREW: The abbreviation for Second and a team/squad. Very smart indeed.
28a Clean air (3)
DRY: Double definition, one an adjective, one a verb. Nice
29a Top-class script (11)
CALLIGRAPHY: Cryptic definition
Down
1d Insensitive tenor's to perform more sporadically (8)
TACTLESS: Split the solution 1,7 to see the wordplay with T being the abbreviation for Tenor
2d Absorbed editor supports broadcast as a joke (8)
INGESTED: A homophone of a phrase meaning as a joke plus the usual abbreviated EDitor
3d Strategy Ptolemy adopted where he ruled (5)
EGYPT: Hidden
4d Write piece about current emperor? (7)
PENGUIN: Write/compose plus a piece/weapon around the abbreviation for current.
5d Help out pal briefly in the wake of depression (5,2)
PITCH IN: A cockney pal minus the last letter (briefly) follows a depression/hole. Another smart surface read.
6d Queen losing head after game against King in fabulous place (9)
RURITANIA: The usual(ISH) abbreviated code of rugby, an abbreviation for King plus a Shakespearian queen without the first letter
7d Exhausted female hugged by friend in Chicago (6)
BUSHED: A female third person pronoun inside a mainly American term (in Chicago) for a friend. Shame “she” appears in 13a
8d Leg boundary not flagged on the pitch (6)
ONSIDE: The cricket “leg” plus boundary/edge. My instinct here would be to add a question mark or a “perhaps” but Gazza has been doing these far longer than me
14d Atrocious crime by no means elementary (9)
EMBRYONIC: CRIME BY NO* (atrocious). I like the smart linking word here.
16d Speed reduction follows sign of distress ... (8)
TEARDROP: Speed as a verb plus reduction/fall
17d ... incidentally on hard shoulder? (2,3,3)
BY THE WAY: Literally this phrase, a synonym of incidentally in certain circumstances could mean “on hard shoulder”
19d Generous contributors to mounting total are billionaires (7)
LIBERAL: Hidden and reversed (contributors to/mounting
20d Verbally criticise basic food from Italy (7)
GNOCCHI: Homophone of criticise/pan and basic/essential.
21d Mushroom pâté (6)
SPREAD: Another very smart double definition, one a verb, the other a noun
22d Spiteful like a female setter? (6)
BITCHY: The setter here is a canine. Need I say more. Double/cryptic definition
25d Tried again to pass over weapon (5)
TASER: A reversal (over) of an attempt to pass (and exam say). Another smart definition to finish with
I found this quite tricky
Thanks Gazza
I often keep NTSPPs for later in the day, but couldn’t resist tackling this puzzle when I saw the setter’s name. As expected, there are some lovely surfaces with astute language observations and synonyms that make you think twice, plus a bit of Gazza-esque fun in 1a and 12a! With so many ticks on my printout it has taken a while to select podium places for each of the Across and Down clues, but they have gone to 10, 18 & 27 and 4, 5 & 21 respectively.
Many thanks to Gazza for the entertaining puzzle and to our reviewer in due course. Now I’m all set for an afternoon of rugby entertainment…
I was delighted to see the identity of today’s NTSPP, and I wasn’t disappointed. This was an absolute joy. 1a went straight in and I was hooked. Lovely surfaces, clever disguises, lots of laughs and (just for me?) a necessary American indicator in 7d!
I had lots of ticks with 10a, 18a, 4d & 7d my top picks.
Many thanks to Gazza for the superb entertainment.
Always a delight to see a puzzle from you Gazza and this was right up there as one your best. Like RD I was hooked by 1a. I’m chuckling all over again as I write this, a clue never to be forgotten! There were several clues that took some teasing out not helped by my bunging in “up” as the second word for 5d. The south east corner was last to fall. The penny finally dropped with a very loud clang for 27a my last one in, to become my second favourite. Ticks also for 9,11,12a and 3,16, and 22d.
Many thanks Gazza for the fun and the chuckles, I look forward to your next one.
Lovely stuff, Gazza: 24a’s misdirect, 27a’s definition, 19d’s surface and 22d’s comedy. 18a’s a corker. Etc. Sheer class – ta lots.
I’m never going to like the device used in 12a even when it’s you using it Gazza but I guess you already knew that – virtual knuckle rap heading your way! That apart, this was a delightful puzzle that demanded several pauses for thought where parsing was concerned. My leader board features 9a along with 4,5,6,20 &22d although I could easily add several more.
Many thanks dear Gazza, hope you’ve given our reviewer some cartoons to add to his blog!
Seeing RD’s recommendation, I decided to give this a go, and I’m really glad I did. Like others, I thought 1a a stroke of genius and I worked slowly, through until I hit the wall in the SE. Revealing a couple of letters showed me where I went wrong and my faulty parsing. So whilst it is a dnf unaided it was an enjoyable solve. Thank you Gazza.
Excellent – just my type of puzzle. Great surfaces, neat wordplay, not too tricky & nothing obscure – well other than the Roman fella who needed a check with Mr G. That said can’t parse (yet) 18a, which I see ALP says is a corker so I’ll hope for a penny drop. Ticks all over the shop too numerous to list.
Shame he’s such an idle so-and-so content with the occasional blog every so often – where’s the work ethic?
More like this & don’t leave it so long please.
Thanks Gazza – dunno where you find the time…..
1a set the scene for a most enjoyable solve. When we had completed everything and sorted through all the clues that had ticks beside them we decided on 23a for top honours.
Many thanks Gazza.
Held up in the SE corner by 16dn, 20ac and 27ac. I eventually saw 27ac but couldn’t decide between two possibilities for 20ac (‘ghastly’ was one of them) which left me floundering for 16dn. Otherwise an enjoyable solve. I liked the ‘elder(ly)’ allusion in 23ac.
Thanks, Gazza and StephenL.
Many thanks to all who commented and special thanks to Stephen for the review.
Many thanks for the review, Stephen. We don’t get puzzles from Gazza as often as many of us would like but when they do come they’re always a pleasure to solve.
1a was a great start and a very amusing clue. Still chuckling now.
A really good puzzle which I tackled on and off whilst watching Scotland contriving to lose to Argentina. Who says men can’t multi-task!
Ticks for 1a, 10a, 18a, 27a, 1d, 4d, 14d and 22d.
I couldn’t see how 18a worked, so thank you, StephenL.
Many thanks, Gazza.
Loved this puzzle, many thanks, Gazza. Favourites were 1a, 12a, 27a 18a and 4d. 21 down took us too long to work out! We needed Google to check out 23a. More like this one, please. Thanks also to StephenL.