A Puzzle by Shabbo
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Across
1a Pinot crisis? (8,5)
BREAKING POINT: An anagram indicator that tells you what happens to PINOT to get a crisis
9a Plays with chestnuts to release pressure (9)
LATITUDES: Some commonplace remarks (chestnuts) without (to release) the symbol used in physics for pressure
10a Beginners in Class One must talk English but count in French (5)
COMTE: The ‘beginners’ in Class One Must Talk English
11a Arab returning shortly (5)
OMANI: A reversal (returning) of a very informal way (2,1,2) of saying shortly
12a Retreating police succeeded in making arrest (4)
STEM: A reversal (retreating) of the abbreviated way we refer to the police force in London and the abbreviation for Succeeded
13a German exposed backside (4)
OTTO: The inside (exposed) letters of a backside
15a Claims poison apple was cooked inside (7)
APPEALS: The chemical symbol for a type of poison with an anagram (cooked) of APPEAL inside - thanks to Gazza with his help with this one; I had too much to do on Saturday afternoon to wait for the penny to drop
17a Spurs' turnaround without Kane finally showing endurance (7)
STAMINA: A reversal (turnaround) of a verb meaning spurs or enlivens without the final letter of kanE
18a Prisoner thrilled to get go-ahead (7)
CONSENT: An informal prisoner and a verb meaning thrilled
20a C-word used in story after tea (7)
CHARLIE: A story or falsehood goes after an informal name for tea to give the code word for C in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
21a Fantastic last season (4)
SALT: An anagram (fantastic) of LAST
22a Fruit sounds spot-on (4)
PLUM: A homophone (sounds) of precisely (spot-on)
23a Problem with thumb (5)
HITCH: A problem or get a lift in a vehicle (often obtained after a signal from a thumb)
26a Prone to dishonesty (5)
LYING: Another double definition
27a Balkan bachelor becomes very unrefined person (9)
VULGARIAN: Change the abbreviation for Bachelor in a native of a Balkan country to the abbreviation for Very
28a Youth served as cook for Mardi Gras (6,7)
SHROVE TUESDAY: An anagram (cook) of YOUTH SERVED AS
Down
1d Play marbles at local Scottish retreat (8,6)
BALMORAL CASTLE: An anagram (play) of MARBLES AT LOCAL
2d Walk-on bye? (5)
EXTRA: A walk-on part in a play or film or a ball that passes a batsman which is not struck or touched by him
3d Pot reportedly stimulates flyers (10)
KITTIWAKES: A homophone (reportedly) of a pot of money and a synonym for stimulates
4d People discovered ordering non-British dustbins (7)
NUDISTS: An anagram (ordering) of DUSTbINS without the B for British
5d Publish former queen's proclamations (7)
POSTERS: Publish or announce and the regnal cipher of our late Queen
6d Move slowly in church (4)
INCH: IN (from the clue) and an abbreviation for church
7d Beat pilot in race against the clock (4,5)
TIME TRIAL: The beat in music and a verb meaning to pilot
8d Article in French newspaper's covering useful low-alcohol drink (8,6)
LEMONADE SHANDY: An indefinite article inserted into the name of a French newspaper – don’t forget to retain the S – followed by a synonym for useful
14d Reword Geronimo? (10)
PARAPHRASE: Split 4,6 this would describe a phrase such as Geronimo, often used when someone jumps from an aircraft
16d How to resolve harsh draws? (9)
PENALTIES: Harsh or punishing and some draws
19d Old car allowed up in city (3,4)
TEL AVIV: A reversal (up) of an old Vauxhall car and a synonym for allowed
20d Brown books wedding at Arthur's Seat (7)
CAMELOT: A brown colour and the abbreviated books in the first part of the Bible ‘wedded’ or put together to give the place where King Arthur sat on the throne
24d Attempted to be heard (5)
TRIED: Attempted or heard in a court
25d Acacia garden includes seaweed product (4)
AGAR: Hidden in the first two words of the clue
Many thanks to Shabbo for a cracking puzzle with lots of penny-drop moments and smooth surfaces throughout.
I have masses of ticks including 1a, 11a, 15a, 20a, 4d and 20d but my favourite, for the big laugh, was 14d.
Thanks Shabbo. When I started solving I thought that my first caffeine of the day was going to be a pleasant accompaniment but in order to finish it turned into a requirement. But, it was still very enjoyable with, as Gazza says, plenty of PDMs.
Smiles for 1a, 12a, 23a, 3d, and 19d.
Thanks again and thanks in advance to CS(?).
Another excellent puzzle from you, Shabbo, with plenty of tick-worthy clues. Tops for me were 1&23a plus 1,3&14d.
High time your compilations reached a wider audience!
Thank you, Jane. Very kind.
Very enjoyable indeed. The 4 peripheral long ‘uns went pretty much straight in but it wasn’t quite the gentle solve I anticipated. As Jane says plenty of tick-worthy clues. My fav was 20d chiefly for the image of Gordon & Sarah trekking up the Edinburgh peak with the minister to get 23a’ed. I also really liked the surface read at 20a – a C-word slipping into Jackanory perish the thought. Ticks also for 1,10&27a plus 1,3,8&16d though there wasn’t a dud one in there. Think I’ve pegged the why with Geronimo but wouldn’t be prepared to bet my bottom dollar on it.
Thanks Shabbo & in advance to whoever reviews it.
Good fun here, like Huntsman I had to give 14d a good coat of looking at before I split it 4,6
7d was apt to this cycling fan as the Contre-la-montre was just yesterday
Thanks Shabbo and reviewer
Although it took me quite a lot of time to solve the puzzle, it was indeed very enjoyable. A quick perusal of all the clues in the very beginning led to instant fill-up of the spaces of 28a and 1d. There were also many other clues that could be solved by me within a very short span of time. But I got stuck mainly in the top half with seven to eight clues left and that kept me busy for more than an hour. For 15a, I wondered for a while whether to read ‘was’ as ‘as’. For 3d, I guessed correctly but had to check whether it was really the name of a flyer that I wasn’t aware of. For 5d, I went on separating ‘former’ from ‘queen’ in my mind for quite some time. 9a and 7d were the toughest clues for me that I guessed but really couldn’t parse and will have to patiently wait for the review. Incidentally, this is my first attempt at solving an NTSPP. There were many clues that I liked here such as 11a, 12a, 13a, 17a, 20a, 23a, 27a, 2d, 3d, 4d, 6d, 19d and 20d and the best among these was 4d. Many thanks to Shabbo for the entertainment as also many thanks in advance to the reviewer.
Totally agree about the plethora of PDMs. Just loved it.
Last in and favourite was 14d.
Thanks Shabbo.
Hi Kiwis
Thank you for your very kind words.
Well played the All Blacks today. A cracking game.
Hopefully our boys can step up for next week, but I suspect your team will do so as well.
All to play for!
This was a hoot, ta Shabbo. I don’t know if you were referring to Thibaut or (more probably) the grape in 1a but I took it to be the former as it goes v sweetly with 7d. So much to love here: 20d’s brilliant. 14d too. Etc, etc. Dollops of wit to boot. Top stuff.
I found this tricky in places, but got there in the end. There was plenty to like, including 10ac, 20ac and 3dn. The only one I couldn’t parse was 15ac; coincidentally it was only a couple of days ago that I commented on another site that ‘although I was originally a chemist the use of chemical symbols … in clues often takes me a little time to recognise’ – ho hum!
Thanks, Shabbo and CS.
Thanks to CS for the wonderful review. For 15a, my only regret is that why I did not take poison that was just beside apple and that actually went unnoticed and I had to think for some time how to cook APPLE with WAS and how or why to ignore W of it. 9a and 7d are now clear to me, though due to some guess work, all my answers were correct. Thanks once again to Shabbo for his excellent puzzle. After BD, it’s Gazza and Shabbo who have been guiding me in my work and I have been learning a lot from them. I sincerely owe both of them a debt of gratitude.
Thank you Shabbo, very enjoyable. Last to parse was 20d even though we had the answer! Doh moment – eventually! Initially we had the wrong word for 15a (avowals) as we thought ‘was” would be in the answer. That held us up with 10 down until we had more letters and realised our mistake. Loved 11a, 8d – in fact all the long ones plus 3d. More, soon, please. Thank you also to CS.
A delightful puzzle with which to unwind last night after a dramatic evening of football (not to mention the many other sporting events of the day). How did Shabbo manage to predict 16d…!!! Very prescient – perhaps I should use my list of favourite clues from this puzzle as lottery numbers
Having started out with the long clues around the borders I quickly had 4 ticks on my page. Another 4 ticks were to follow: 13a, 4d, 14d (hah!) and 16d; but I did enjoy every clue. 15a lay unparsed overnight but a PDM duly landed along with my morning tea.
Many thanks, Shabbo, and thanks also to CS for posting her customary excellent review.
Thank you all for your very kind comments and thanks to CS for the review.
Many thanks for your review, CS, charmingly illustrated as ever.
Commenting very belatedly, having only started this puzzle at sparrow-fart this morning, but wanted to thank Shabbo for an absolute cracker of a crossword from beginning to end. Honours Board features 1a, 10a & 16d.
Thanks also to CS for the review.