A Puzzle by Wilman
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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.
Bingo. Very little on which to comment and some great precise and concise cluing. The commentometer reads 2.5/36 or 6.9%.
Across
1a A girl’s wrong (5)
AMISS: The A from the clue followed by a four-letter word for a girl.
4a Get chat back (3)
BAG: Reverse (back) a three-letter word meaning chap.
6a Least organised record (5)
SLATE: An anagram (organised) of LEAST.
9a Country, not Albania, another country (7)
AUSTRIA: A nine-letter country without the IVR code for Albania.
10a Insist progress is normal (7)
AVERAGE: A four-letter word meaning insist followed by a three-letter word meaning progress.
11a Sweetheart cutting cord free style (5)
DECOR: The middle letter (heart) of sweet inside (cutting) an anagram (free) of CORD. As freestyle is the word required for the surface reading, splitting it to free style does not quite work. Some editors would not allow sweetheart to indicate the middle letter of sweet.
12a Declaration of nation heartlessly expressed (9)
STATEMENT: A five-letter word for a nation followed by a five-letter word meaning expressed without the middle letter (heartlessly). This clue involves the repetition of heart to indicate a middle letter, particularly unfortunate as sweetheart was used in the previous clue.
13a Subordinate jackass is tantalising to an extent (9)
ASSISTANT: The answer is hidden (to an extent) in the third to fifth words of the clue.
15a Expose saint’s gravestone inscription (5)
STRIP: The abbreviation for saint followed by the abbreviation for rest in peace.
17a Model requests jobs (5)
TASKS: A type of model Ford car followed by a four-letter word meaning requests.
19a Fairest queen imprisoned by most small-minded (9)
PRETTIEST: The single-letter abbreviation for queen (regina) inside (imprisoned by) an eight-letter word meaning most small-minded.
21a Support knight to check in gambit’s opening forking (9)
BRANCHING: A three-letter supporting garment followed by the chess notation for knight, the abbreviation for check, the IN from the clue and the first letter (opening) of gambit.
24a Subdue press losing head (5)
QUASH: A six-letter word meaning press without the initial letter (losing head). Perhaps the definition and the wordplay are too closely related.
26a Rogue network close to that lodge (7)
IMPLANT: A three-letter word for a rogue followed by a three-letter abbreviation for a computer network and the last letter (close to) of that.
27a Ordinary part of speech (7)
ORATION: The abbreviation for ordinary followed a six-letter word for a part. Try to avoid the construction wordplay of definition.
28a Loud ranks reportedly became still (5)
FROZE: The musical abbreviation for loud followed by a homophone (reportedly) of rows (ranks).
29a River delta? (3)
DEE: The name of a river that is the same as the pronunciation of the letter represented by delta in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
30a Adversary of Yemen bewildered (5)
ENEMY: An anagram (bewildered) of YEMEN.
Down
1d Conflict involved in commercial grant (5)
AWARD: A three-letter word for a conflict inside (involved in) a two-letter word for a commercial.
2d Perhaps flies in groups (7)
INSECTS: The IN from the clue followed by a five-letter word for groups.
3d Ambushes USSR spies in disguise (9)
SURPRISES: An anagram (in disguise) of USSR SPIES.
4d British American idiot the exemplification of boldness (5)
BRASS: The two-letter abbreviation for British followed by a three-letter American term for an idiot.
5d Assure recipient surrounding return of gold (9)
GUARANTEE: A seven-letter for a recipient around (surrounding) a reversal (return) of the chemical symbol for gold.
6d Picked up rolled material for blue shoes (5)
SUEDE: A homophone (picked up) of swayed (rolled).
7d Army at the Ruhr oddly inexperienced (7)
AMATEUR: The odd letters (oddly) in the first four words of the clue.
8d Expel outcast right away (5)
EJECT: A six-letter word for an outcast without the initial letter R (right away).
13d Do nude paintings? (3)
ART: A five-letter word for a do or social occasion without the first and last letters (nude).
14d Nominated news agency’s feature editor (9)
APPOINTED: A abbreviation for Associated Press (news agency) followed by a five letter word for a feature and the abbreviation for editor.
15d Eccentric requests a replacement for ruler (3,6)
SET SQUARE: An anagram (eccentric) of REQUESTS A.
16d Favourite writer denied love (3)
PET: A four-letter word for a writer of verse without the O (denied love).
18d Put on number 2 hair product (7)
SHAMPOO: A four-letter word meaning put on or fake followed by the bodily function described as a number 2.
20d Scrutinise former compound (7)
EXAMINE: A two-letter word meaning former followed by a five-letter chemical compound.
21d Prepare concise summary (5)
BRIEF: Double definition.
22d Bird flew into church… (5)
CRANE: A three-letter word meaning flew inside a two-letter abbreviation for church. Try to avoid repeated uses of in (involved in) / into to indicate containment in clues.
23d …another goes off about nothing (5)
GOOSE: An anagram (off) of GOES around (about) the letter representing nothing.
25d Both sides of highway accessible? (5)
HANDY: The first and last letters (both sides) of highway with a conjunction between them.
A competently put together set of clues that we enjoyed solving. Biggest smile for 6d.
Thanks Wilman.
Very enjoyable entertainment for my Sunday evening. However, I must be missing something as I had to rely on 9a being a ‘bung in.’
Smiles for 4a, 17a, 28a, 4d, 13d, and 22d/23d.
Thanks Wilman and thanks in advance to Prolixic.
For 9a ……..IVR code to be removed.
Thanks C&C – I now recall that we have seen it before and not too long ago.
A nice friendly and enjoyable crossword. My favourite was 6d
Thanks Wilman and, in advance to Prolixic
A very neat and entertaining pangram – thanks to Wilman.
My ticks went to 4d, 6d and 25d.
Welcome back to Rookie Corner, Wilman. All I have written on my page is:
– Excellent
– Light and great fun
– Pangram
– Brief clueing
– Smooth surfaces
Who could ask for more? Many thanks, Wilman. Please keep them coming.
Thank you all so much for taking the time to do my puzzle, and for your kind words. I’m especially pleased to have no niggles raised by RD!
Regards to Jose via Senf a few weeks ago who alerted me to RayT puzzles which I tried to channel here. I’m glad to see this puzzle was on the lighter side, too.
Thanks Wilman. Thoroughly enjoyed the solve & congrats on getting a clean bill of health from RD – no mean achievement 😊
Really enjoyed your puzzle, Wilman. We agree with everything above. Another one soon, please.
Welcome back, Wilman.
Lots to like here in a very solver-friendly, concise puzzle. I had a few quibbles, namely 27a being a “wordplay of definition” construction and “in”/”into” repeated as insertion indicators. In addition, the clue for 11a only really makes grammatical sense if “freestyle” becomes one word, so something like “Sweetheart cutting fancy cord in style” would be better methinks. If Jane were commenting, I’m sure she would have said something uncomplimentary about the clue for 18d.
Many thanks, Wilman. Congratulations on an excellent puzzle overall.
We have just read Prolixic’s review as we were not sure how 3d worked – but still can’t understand as there is only one letter r in USSR spies but 2 in surprises?
You’re right! Good spot… it appears that slipped under everyone’s radars, including mine. Thank you for pointing it out.
Thank you for coming back to me, Wilman. Much appreciated 👍
Thank you to Prolixic for the continued wisdom. As ever it is greatly appreciated. Thank you once again too to all commenters and solvers.
Hi Wilman, thanks for a great puzzle! I was looking closely at 3d (SURPRISES) and noticed the anagram discussion in the comments, which got me thinking about how technical reviews tackle complex validation. I was recently reading an independent compliance audit on an international betting platform operational setup over at https://guiadesportsbetargentina.com and it made me wonder: from a setter’s perspective, do you use any automated software or specific digital validation tools to cross-check your anagram letter counts before submission, or do you rely entirely on manual parsing?
Welcome to the blog, Dan.