A Puzzle by Zebedee
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid
Zebedee is in the NTSPP spot and he's given us an entertaining puzzle so thanks to him
1a Draw in good player for audience to follow (7)
SUCCEED: Homophones of synonyms of draw in (breath) and a good (tennis) player.
5a At all events he and I linger outside (7)
HOWEVER: A third person plural pronoun with linger/hang around containing it
9a Overwhelm with wonder as naked dame dazzles regularly (5)
AMAZE: dAMe (naked) plus dAzZlE.
10a Of course evict odd characters from city central complex (9)
CERTAINLY: [c]I[t]Y+CENTRAL* (complex)
11a Personalities engineering tie-in with diets (10)
IDENTITIES: TIE-IN plus DIETS* (engineering)
12a Semi-annual? Indeed (3)
YEA: YEArly
14a Created football team and broke first rule, getting sacked (12)
MANUFACTURED: An abbreviated Manchester football team plus a synonym of broke with the first abbreviation of Rule being “sacked”
18a Utter triumphalism at outset then drops HS2? (7,5)
EXPRESS TRAIN: Utter/say plus first letter of triumphalism and some drops (from the sky). Very good
21a Cremate without opening appropriate receptacle (3)
URN: Cremate/set alight minus its first letter. Very nice
22a Amoebic dysentery infecting lotus-eaters initially, treated using health science (10)
BIOMEDICAL:AMOEBIC+D[ysentery]+I[nfects]+L[otus-eaters]* (treated)
25a Cleared turbulent outlying district in the end (3,6)
NOT GUILTY: OUTLYING plus final letter of districT* (turbulent)
26a Muse on the apparently rational explanation originally rejected (5)
ERATO: Initial letters of the five words following the definition rev.
27a Surprisingly angered (7)
ENRAGED: ANGERED* (surprisingly) A nice &lit if we take surprisingly to mean to a great extent
28a English boy terminally drinking lager when cycling with enthusiasm (7)
EAGERLY: Abbreviation for English plus boY around lager with the L cycled to the rear.
Down
1d Drug offence injecting low-quality stuff (6)
STATIN: An offense/misdemeanor into which is inserted an informal low-quality
2d Credit rate entering deep depression (6)
CRATER: Abbreviated CRedit with rate from the clue inserted. A tad weak.
3d Tight in study the night before uprising happened (10)
EVENTUATED: Tight (as rope etc) in one of the usual studies plus an abbreviated “night before” rev.
4d American boarding Tube gets change once (5)
DUCAT: An abbreviation for American inserted into a type of tube. The change refers to money
5d Rough fabric aggravated rash in nameless hero (9)
HORSEHAIR: RASH I(n) HERO* (aggravated). Abbreviating a two-letter word isn't ideal
6d Come again with Panama, possibly (4)
WHAT: Abbreviation for With plus something of which a panama is an example
7d Envy arid ground in wine-producing area (8)
VINEYARD: ENVY ARID* (ground)
8d Unknown number enter behind exhausted dogs chasing foxes (8)
REYNARDS: An abbreviated unknown plus an abbreviated “number” inserted into behind/stern plus DogS. I'm not sure the cryptic grammar works here. I would use “entering”. Also N acts as an abbreviation for “indefinite number” rather than “number” alone.
13d August writer's series receiving honour in front of king (10)
STRINDBERG: Series/chain with an abbreviated Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and R inserted.
15d Inept actress finally destroyed following Truffaut’s article (9)
UNSKILLED: Final letter of actress plus (fatally) destroyed both follow a French article
16d Queen's puzzled by principles of compound exponential progression (8)
SEQUENCE: QUEEN’S* (puzzled) plus initial letters of Compound Exponential. We have initial letters clues in 22&26a so my repetition radar bleeped again here
17d Never groomed woman finding crisp in stereotypical clothing (8)
SPINSTER: Hidden. Amusing surface read. I think the clue would be better without"finding" and using "crisp" as an adjective
19d Retreat bearing first two pieces of Eccles cake (6)
ECLAIR: Retreat/hideaway after (bearing) ECcles
20d Dismal German can fancy that (6)
GLOOMY: An abbreviation for Germany plus can/toilet plus an exclamation meaning fancy that
23d Short girl swallowing last drop of whisky perhaps (5)
MAYBE: A female given name minus its last letter “swallowing” final letter of whisky
24d Psychoanalyst put narcissistic leader in prison (4)
JUNG: The initial letter of narcissistic placed into an informal prison. Strictly speaking we need narcissistic's leader but it's probably ok
The ‘dreaded 404’ instead of the puzzle.
Link updated and should now work.
Thanks very much Prolixic. Yes it does work. Have successfully printed off a hard copy.
Tricky in places but an enjoyable post-lunch solve. Some nice bits of sneaky misdirection too
Thanks to Zebedee and, in advance, to Stephen
This was certainly a challenge, but one very well worth the effort. I have ticks all over my page and just the one hmm for the vague girl in 23d. To be fair, it’s not the easiest girl’s name to try to qualify, and I can’t think of a single famous one of that ilk.
18a was brilliant and my outstanding favourite of many excellent clues.
Many thanks to Zebedee. Please keep them coming.
Thanks to Prolixic for updating the link. Caffeine and some e-help required on my Saturday morning to overcome the trickiness and misdirection mentioned by CS. I know 3d is in dictionaries but that does not stop me considering that it is a dreadful word!
Smiles for 12a, 14a, 18a, 2d, 17d, and 24d.
Thanks Zebedee and thanks in advance to Stephen.
A very enjoyable pangram with the bottom trickier than the top for me – many thanks to Zebedee.
I ticked 1a, 14a, 18a, 13d, 17d (Never groomed woman – brilliant) and 20d.
A laboured grid completion with a couple of the whys still to resolve. I found this pretty challenging but thoroughly enjoyed the tussle. Lots to like but I’ll plump for the august writer & the never groomed woman as my picks from a fine bunch with 1,14,18&25a + 3,5&16d other particular likes.
Thanks Zebedee & in advance to Stephen
Quite a challenge but all satisfactorily solved, even 18a where HS2 was totally new for us. Many ticks on our page with top honours for 17d.
Thanks Zebedee.
A lot trickier than the previous Zebedee puzzle imho, or maybe I just wasn’t firing on all cylinders. I got about half finished and the had to resort to a lot of help – and thought afterwards how obvious some of the answers were, such as 14ac, 18ac and 25ac.
Thanks, Zebedee and StephenL.
Challenging but very enjoyable with lots of misdirection. Favourites were 14a, 25a, 17d and 20d. Thank you Zebedee and we look forward to your next one. Thanks also to StephenL.
I found this very enjoyable, Zebedee. I must have been on the right wavelength and found it just nicely challenging without being too tricky.
I have lots of ticks on my printout, including:
5a, 12a, 14a, 18a, 22a and 27a; 3d, 4d, 6d, 13d, 20d, and 23d. My favourite is 17d, ‘the never groomed woman’.
Many appreciative thanks Zebedee and I also look forward to your next one. Many appreciative thanks to Stephen for the excellent review.
Thanks to all who commented, and I’m glad most found it to their liking. I’ll try and keep the next one a bit less elliptical!