A Puzzle by Chalicea
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Chalicea returns with another friendly NTSPP, as usual with a theme you may or may not either spot or know! The grie at the end of the review should help
Sorry no pictures this time – I spent quite a chunk of my Saturday morning trying to sort out what I thought was an email problem, but turned out to be a Wi-Fi problem so I now have a lot to do on Saturday afternoon
Across
1a Supporter in a newspaper? (6)
COLUMN: A support or a section of a page in a newspaper
5a Money head needed for sweet, fried cake (8)
DOUGHNUT: Slang for money and an informal name for the head
9a Early fruit locally where 1066 battle was fought (8)
HASTINGS: A dialect (local) word for early fruit and vegetables; the site of the 1066 Battle needs no further clarification!
10a Establish in a favourable light pass belonging to us (6)
COLOUR: A mountain pass and ‘belonging to us’
11a Factory I set fire to essentially bestrewing tiny amount of liquid (10)
MILLILITRE: A factory, I (from the clue), set fire to and the essential letters of bestREwing
12a Foul play mostly in pursuit of old gemstone (4)
OPAL: An anagram (foul) of most of PLAy goes after (in pursuit of) the abbreviation for Old
13a Lie about dad introducing one toffee on a stick (8)
LOLLIPOP: Lie about and an informal name for a dad ‘introducing’ the Roman numeral for one
16a I turn a fantastic fur (6)
NUTRIA: An anagram (fantastic) of I TURN A
17a The French woman finally upset after romp: local's cross! (6)
FUNNEL: The French masculine definite article and the final letter of womaN upset or reversed go after a romp. Just like in 9a’s locally, local here refers to a dialect word, this time for the offspring of a stallion crossed with a she-ass
19a Reconstructed pier gets standing in one's mind (8)
PRESTIGE: An anagram (reconstructed) of PIER GETS
21a Wise men's incomplete enchantment (4)
MAGI: An incomplete synonym of enchantment
22a Cried now and then concerning funeral vehicle, repeat practice again (2-8)
RE-REHEARSE: The even letters (now and then) of cRiEd, the usual two-letter concerning or on the subject of and a funeral vehicle
25a Wrongly issued, leading to neglect (6)
DISUSE: An anagram (wrongly) of ISSUED
26a Dozily dream about a vehicle that's sweet (8)
MACAROON: Gaze vacantly (dozily dream) goes about A (from the clue) and a vehicle
27a Caused pollution: could be fined etc. (8)
INFECTED: An anagram (could be) of FINED ETC
28a Owl circling low island, undramatic (3-3)
LOW-KEY: Circle the last letter of OWL to the front and then add a low island
Down
2d Ordinary fellow, current Gulf inhabitant (5)
OMANI: The abbreviation for Ordinary, a fellow and the symbol for electrical current
3d Up to the time that colourful bird leaves jauntily (5)
UNTIL: Remove a colourful bird from jaUNTILy
4d "No" in Paris, before lager is served up; this may be designed to avoid spills (7)
NONSLIP: The French word for no goes before a reversal (served up) of a lager beer
5d Heartlessly sat and poked around where icons might be found (7)
DESKTOP: An anagram (around) of the outside (heartlessly) letters of SaT and POKED
6d An uncle sadly filthy (7)
UNCLEAN: An anagram (sadly) of AN UNCLE
7d Solar reflecting device at hotel is remodelled (9)
HELIOSTAT: An anagram (remodelled) of AT HOTEL IS
8d Outstandingly impressive person turned up; a tin god primarily wailing (9)
ULULATING: A reversal (turned up) of a slang name for an outstandingly impressive person followed by A (from the clue) and the primary letters of Tin and God
14d Enthusiastic reception involving university student's production of eggs (9)
OVULATION: An enthusiastic reception ‘involving’ the abbreviation for University and the ‘usual’ abbreviated student
15d With constant of gravitation, intricately outlined distance between point and Greenwich meridian (9)
LONGITUDE: An anagram (intricately) of fhe first letter (constant) of Gravitation and OUTLINED
18d Most generous part of spectacular gesture (7)
LARGEST: Hidden in the last two words of the clue
19d Endless funeral fire in the middle of Egyptian wonder (7)
PYRAMID: A funeral fire without its last letter and a preposition meaning in the middle of
20d Section of Macbeth I call honourable (7)
ETHICAL: A section of macbETH I CALl
23d In the past any sharp, pointed missile (5)
ARROW: I presume the first part of the clue refers to something historical but I have no idea what
24d Rearrange poles and decamp (5)
SLOPE: An anagram (rearranged) of POLES gives us an informal word meaning to decamp
As we have come to expect from Chalicea, this was light and great fun whilst requiring a few visits to the BRB to check on some new words/meanings. New to me today were the early fruit in 9a, the fur in 16a, the cross in 17a, and the archaic word for “any” in 23d.
Is 22a a real word? It’s not in Chambers or Collins as far as I can see.
Is there a theme? Almost certainly, but all I can spot is about about half-a-dozen or so confectionary items.
My repetition radar bleeped with the use of local(ly) in both 9a & 17a to indicate a dialect word.
My podium comprises 11a, 3d & 14d.
Many thanks to Chalicea for the fun.
RD – without spoiling it for others, the BRB has ‘xx-‘ as a generic prefix denoting again, perhaps ‘repeat’ in the clue is not required.
As with RD above, some answers needed checking especially 9a, 16a and 22a but otherwise a joy to solve as always with a Chalicea puzzle. My podium comprises 11a, 4d and 19d. Thanks to Chalicea.
A bright and breezy start to my Saturday, but what else would one expect from Chalicea, very slightly spoiled by the typo in 3d and the first word of 28a ‘appearing’ in the clue. But, of course, the dialectal 9a and 17a are in the BRB even with the repetition radar mentioned by RD. Like RD, no obvious theme, I don’t think that ‘a sprinkling’ of confectionery items is enough.
Smiles for 10a, 5d, the generic outstandingly impressive person, in the BRB, in 8d, and 24d.
Thanks to Chalicea and, in advance, to CS.
A really lovely puzzle from Chalice but a couple of words needed to be checked. I had not heard of that word for the animal at 16a. I didn’t see a theme, unless as stated above, it was about sweets. My favourite clue is 5d.
Thank you, Chalicea for the fun. Thank you in advance to CeeSoo.
I see Spellchecker is taking on a mind of its own and changed your name, Chalicea. Is there any way it can be unplugged or has it gone rogue as AI seems to be doing if press reports are to be believed?
Very enjoyable, thank you Chalicea. We had to check the fruit in 9a, the answer to 17a and we didn’t know the fur in16a. We couldn’t parse 23d nor could we find a theme. Still a pleasure to solve. Thanks in advance to CS.
So sorry, I hadn’t realized there was a typo or a repeated ‘locally’, I’m so glad you enjoyed the puzzle despite those. Yes, the ghost theme is rather difficult to spot in this one.
Thank you again. Does a Chalicea NTSPP mean a Toughie on Tuesday in the coming week?
Oh, I do hope so! 👍
Ditto to the 1st paragraph of RD’s comment & wouldn’t disagree with his podium selections either. Can’t see the theme other than the 3 things bad for the waistline. Enjoyed the puzzle, as is always the case with a Chalicea production.
Many thanks.
We learned a few new things by doing this, which is one of the pleasures we look forward to when tackling a Chalicea puzzle. We’ll make two of them, 16a and 17a, our joint favourites
Many thanks once again Chalicea
An enjoyable puzzle with no real problems, although I had to check the two dialect words in the BRB. I didn’t spot the theme but wondered if some of the other words had different meanings in dialect; 26ac looked a likely candidate but the BRB didn’t have any other meaning so I gave up on that idea. Favourites were 11ac and 8dn.
Thanks, Chalicea and CS.
Thank you, Cryptic Sue. Yes, types of chart was a pretty obscure ghost theme, I know. The next one will be easier to spot.
I would never have spotted the ‘chart’ theme, but I did spot six types of cake and thought there might be more that I hadn’t been able to find…
The other thing I counted was the occurrence of eleven different words acting as anagrinds – perhaps I should note them down for future reference! I was also educated about the 9a ‘fruit’, 16a ‘fur’ and 17a ‘cross’.
My favourite clues were 1a, 12a & 3d.
Thanks, Chalicea, always a pleasure to unravel the puzzle and, sometimes, the theme. And my thanks to CS for explaining the things I hadn’t managed to find – even though it wasn’t cakes