NTSPP 785 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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NTSPP 785

by StephenL  

A Puzzle by ALP

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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.

A huge welcome to ALP who makes his debut in the NTSPP spot with an impressive puzzle full of inventive clueing, amusing surface reads and clever wordplay.

Across

1a Middle Eastern town suppresses queer behaviour (12)
ECCENTRICITY: Took me a while to see this. The abbreviation for Eastern and a large town go around an adjective meaning “related to the centre”.

9a Rolling about in a frenzy after taking bite of red-hot curry (5)
KORMA: Reversal (rolling about) of a word meaning “in a frenzy” around the first letter of Red-hot. Clever use of the hyphen.

10a Former Top Gear star bothered by batting fan (9)
INSTIGATE: The usual preposition meaning batting, a guy who used to appear on Top Gear disguised in a helmet and a synonym of bothered. Nicely disguised definition

11a Homeless person marches to Limehouse to get flat (7)
TRAMPLE: A homeless person and the outside letters of LimehousE

12a International sportsman J Kenny's rival leaves for Beijing (3,4)
BOK CHOY: A SA rugby international and a cyclist and rival to Jason Kenny written in the same way as in the clue. Very smart

13a Sex scandal royal who had 10,000 men (4,2,4)
DUKE OF YORK: Double/cryptic definition. Definitely no picture with this one.

15a Namely, a new way of looking at things (4)
SCAN: A Latin abbreviated namely, A from the clue and the abbreviation for New

18a Two parties that never took off (4)
DODO: Two instances of crosswordland's favourite (non-political) parties

19a Rod Stewart's hairdo these days is a little fishy! (4,6)
GREY MULLET: An amusing cryptic/double definition based upon the style and colour of the singer's hair.

22a Crowds close to Westminster not confined by restraints (7)
LEGIONS: Remove the closing letter of Westminster from some restraints for a limb.

24a Compound made from dope and speed (7)
NITRATE: A dope or fool and a synonym of speed in its more commonly used sense

25a Trash can stuffed full of pig's belly is revolting (9)
ANARCHIST: Anagram (stuffed) of TRASH CAN placed around the central letter of pig.

26a Who's blogging the intro to this "escaped Toughie"? (5)
POSER: A blogger or someone who places something online without the opening letter of "this" Probably my favourite.

27a Gels could be the solution for this persistent problem (8,4)
RESTLESS LEGS: Reverse anagram and a smart extended definition. Excellent.

 

Down

1d Reserved Spike Milligan's opening bow caught on Sullivan? (9)
EARMARKED: A seed bearing head of a plant, the initial letter of Milligan, a homophone (caught) of a bow and the abbreviated given name of the American presenter.

2d Winner director has captured hearts (8)
CHAMPION: A Kiwi female director of The Piano placed around the abbreviation for Hearts

3d Raw oyster with no Tabasco to start (5)
NAIVE: A type of oyster without the first letter of Tabasco.

4d Chuck singer with seconds to go in hip-hop jam? (9)
RASPBERRY: A type of music and genre of hip-hop around the abbreviation for seconds then the surname of the singer Chuck.. Well constructed surface read

5d Cryptic Sue admits defeat and snaps! (6)
CLICKS: Our esteemed blogger's initials placed around a synonym of defeat. Lol.

6d School committed to collegiate achievement (5)
TEACH: Hidden

7d Ray Davies's No.1 appeared in Dancing on Ice? (6)
SKATED: A flat fish/ray and the initial letter of Davies. Excellent

8d Trust wingers to rescue French football team (4,2)
RELY ON: The outside (wingers) letters of RescuE and a French football team

14d Rory Stewart's first hike round God's own country (9)
YORKSHIRE: Anagram of RORY S(tewart's) HIKE.

16d Keels over swallowing the last of nine dodgy scallops (9)
COLLAPSES: Anagram (dodgy) of SCALLOPS around ninE.

17d Briefly weigh up having just one quiet drink, or several (8)
MULTIPLE: Weigh up or consider without its last letter with a synonym of an alcoholic drink with just one abbreviation for quiet. Excellent

18d Toy guns raised money (6)
DOLLAR: A child's toy and some abbreviated guns reversed

20d Thinking man punches Boris? (6)
THEORY: A third person pronoun inside (punches) the party which Boris led.

21d Plunging Dow? (3-3)
LOW-CUT: Nothing to do with the American stock market, ignore the false capitalisation The solution, a synonym of plunging, effectively describes “dow”

23d Polish gangster cleared out a minor triad ... (5)
GRACE: The outside letters (cleared out) of GangsteR and a musical triad.

24d ... back in Poznan before turning to drugs for cash (5)
NOTES: The final letter of PoznaN a reversal of TO and the abbreviation for Ecstasy as a plural.

 

 

 

22 comments on “NTSPP 785”

  1. Quite a tricky crossword in places – I have non-crossword plans for this afternoon so will admit that I revealed a letter or two so that I could complete the grid. I did smile at 5d as there was a moment when I was indeed going to admit defeat. There is still one clue I can’t parse. I did like 19a, 26a and 27a

    Thanks ALP and, in advance, to Stephen

    1. Many thanks Sue. This is quite tricky in places, yes. One tester said it was my trickiest yet, so I will be keeping my tin hat on! Enjoy your non-crossword plans. Boy, do you deserve them.

  2. A cracking puzzle with loads of laughs – many thanks to ALP for the entertainment.
    I have masses of ticks including 12a, 19a, 22a, 27a and 8d with my favourite being 21d for the penny-drop moment when I twigged how it worked.

  3. ALP you nearly made it into the same category that I use for Radler – NTSPPs to be avoided. Caffeine most definitely required with some e-help and checking almost every answer as it was entered into the grid needed for completion!

    I was at the point of ‘surrendering’ several times but then another clue gave up its secret and encouraged me to continue.

    Smiles for 24a, 27a, 8d, and 16d.

    There are some parsings that elude me so I will await Stephen L’s review with interest. Thanks ALP.

    1. Ha! Well, I’m honoured (I think!) to be “nearly” in Radler’s category. A pal of mine said (clearly channelling Guy Ritchie) that this was “naughty but not double naughty”. Though it sounds like you’re more in the double camp. Sorry about that!

  4. Well, I finished eventually but it was an almighty struggle. Although there were some very clever clues, overall I can’t say that I really enjoyed it.

    If I am parsing 12a correctly, the “international sportsman” is a real obscurity. It’s almost certainly me, but my parsing of 4d leads to “berryrasp” rather than the required answer. I also think that the definition for 23d is a bit of a stretch.

    21d was my favourite and 22a & 8d join it on my podium.

    Thanks ALP. Please dial back the difficulty level next time.

      1. Thanks, Gazza, I am a fanatical rugby follower but none the wiser. The only sportsman called Bok I found was Martijn of that ilk, an obscure long-retired Dutch tennis player.

          1. ?! Thanks, Gazza, but I’m amazed. Having followed rugby avidly for over 60 years, I’ve never heard of it being used in the singular form, only referring to the team in the plural.

  5. Crikey, that was tough and, unlike Gazza, I didn’t find that it contained ‘loads of laughs’. My ticks went to 19a plus 7,8&17d.
    Thanks, ALP, but could you go easier on us next time?

  6. That was a struggle, Alp, and we ended up having to reveal letters! Please go easier on us next time. We need to check in with Stephen L tomorrow to clarify a few answers. We look forward to your next one with trepidation! Thanks in advance to Stephen L – and to Alp for this challenge.

  7. Had a brief peek at the comments before starting & feared the worst having seen Radler mentioned. In the event battled through to 5 shy of completion (all in the SW) before revealing 3 letter checkers to finish though short on a couple of whys. Certainly a toughie time solve & a bit above my pay grade really. The ones I liked best were mostly up north – 12,13&19a plus 1&2d but my clear fav was down south at 17d.
    Thanks for puzzle ALP – maybe a tad gentler next time.

  8. A bit harder than the average NTSPP, but well worth a seasoned solver’s attention for its ingenious wordplay, contemporary references, humour and BigDave in-jokes.
    Rabbit Dave, 4 Down seems fine to me. Sorry if I’m misreading you, but ‘with’ has always been a linkword that can mean B then A as well as A then B.
    Thanks to ALP.

    1. Thanks, Michael. You are right, of course. It’s something I often have a mental block about as it seems counter-intuitive to me.

  9. Definitely an “escaped toughie” but I did eventually get it all, only needing to hunt down the alternative name for Chinese cabbage (I only knew it as ‘pak ****’) and find the right synonym for ‘defeat’ in 4dn. I did think that some of the definitions were a bit stretched, e.g, 25ac and 23dn; on the other hand 13ac seemed hardly cryptic.
    Thanks, though to ALP and Stephen.

  10. HUGE thanks to Stephen for his generous review and (of course) spot-on parsing. I didn’t expect to get owt past him, and I didn’t. Which is a massive relief. Many thanks/apologies, too, to all those who gave it a crack. With the exception of the admittedly (as exit says) very light 13a, I may have indulged a rather heavy right foot here. Also, special thanks to the crack duo of Gazza and Michael R whose outrageously lovely comments made me smile. Still, I’ll try (ish) to be a little gentler next time!

  11. Many thanks for the review, Stephen, albeit somewhat partisan in tone! A couple that I remain unconvinced by but I’ll be interested to see what ALP has in store for us on his next outing in the NTSPP slot.

  12. Thanks ALP for providing this highly challenging brain mangler! It certainly proved to be beyond my solving skills. I was beaten by the GK in 2d and 23d and now thankful to SL for the help needed to parse a few more. It’s only 22a that I’m still puzzled by which looks to have word play defined by solution? Or perhaps I’m missing something!
    Lots to like though. My podium’s made up of 6d for the unusual hidden indicator, 7d for the the excellent surface read and 21d which I thought was a succinctly smart and tickled me.

    Thanks ALP for a providing really clever crossword. I look forward to seeing many more of yours. Thanks too to Stephen L for the excellent blog much needed help.

    1. Many thanks Jeemz. And yes, it was a tad chewy, I can’t disagree. And few would/have! Re 22a, it may well be me that’s missing summat but it’s just LEGI[R]ONS = crowds. Doesn’t seem too Yoda-ish to me but I may, of course, be wrong!

  13. Hi ALP, You’re right of course it was me looking at it the wrong way round! My apologies and thanks again for an excellent crossword even if it did test my solving skills.

  14. Thanks for the review Stephen & for explaining the minor triad & the plunging Dow.
    Reading back through the puzzle think I was mean to omit 27a from my likes – sour 🍇s maybe cos it needed a letter reveal to twig the first bit.

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