A Puzzle by Jeemz
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Jeemz provides this week's alternative exercise in lateral thinking so thanks to him. There's a lot of clever and imaginative clueing in here and a pangram to boot
Acrossi
1a Became cold following former queen about round Australia (5)
FROZE: The abbreviation for Following plus the insignia for our former queen rev. into which is inserted an informal Australia
4a Emigrants from island St Mark's is sheltering (9)
COLONISTS: The abbreviations for Island and SainT sit between a grammatical mark (plus the ‘s).
9a Unlikely to be taken in - until put out (2,2,5)
UP TO SNUFF: Two words that can mean until plus a synonym of put out or extinguish. Very nice
10a Riddle: who's the first lady from the East? (5)
SIEVE: If we reverse the solution (split 3,2) it gives the answer to the question.
11a During time off jogged around Tower (7)
MINARET: TIME* (off) into which is inserted a reversal of a synonym of jogged
12a Bows were most advanced in Olympic event (7)
BOBSLED: Split the solution (a Winter Olympics even) 4,3 to see the wordplay
13a Cross, elaborate and gold-plated, indicates place of opulence (6)
XANADU: The letter represented by a cross and the chemical symbol of gold around AND* (elaborate). Again, very nice
15a Be surprised by marathon Olympic event… (4,4)
LONG JUMP: A possible reaction to a surprise follows a synonym of marathon
18a …an alpine race that's plain sailing? (8)
DOWNHILL: Cryptic definition
20a Sheep dog? I don't think so in hindsight... (6)
MUTTON: An informal name for a dog, and expression of refusal reversed lol
23a ...it drops down the list for training (7)
THISTLE: THE LIST* (for training). A reference to the fluffy material released by the solution. Very clever
24a Shabby politician infiltrates late-starting shindig (7)
UNKEMPT: An appropriate shindig without its first letter “infiltrated” by our usual politician
26a Couple of Europeans entertaining merry Olympians amongst others (5)
ELITE: Two abbreviations for Europeans around a word meaning merry or under the influence
27a Maybe rednecks apply oil twice and hope pretty much (3,6)
HOI POLLOI: OIL OIL HOPe* (apply)
28a It's rumoured one like Arthur's shot supplying clip-joint? (9)
NIGHTSPOT: Arthur here is King Arthur. A homophone (it's rumoured) of “one like Arthur's” and a type of shot.
29a Bottle opener? Verger's hiding it! (5)
NERVE: As it says in the wordplay…hidden!
Down
1d Bewildered fox Mum led out (9)
FLUMMOXED: FOX MUM LED* (out)
2d Some members of Cabinet fought back time and again (5)
OFTEN: Hidden and reversed (some members of). Very nice
3d Saw to it Republican going in, came out afterwards (7)
ENSURED: The abbreviation for Republican inserted into a word meaning “came out afterwards”
4d Riding area? (6)
COUNTY: Cryptic definition. Think Yorkshire
5d In the main one saves time by carrying euros regularly (4,4)
LIFE BUOY: A (long) time plus BY around (carrying) eUrOs. Very nice definition
6d Feed container European lad upset over short trousers (4,3)
NOSE BAG: The abbreviation for European (the same as in 26a alas) and a boy reversed plus some (Oxford) trousers minus the last letter. I can't make much sense of the surface read here?
7d Madam will put on such as diamonds for leisurewear? (5,4)
SHELL SUIT: An abbreviated way of saying “madam (or any female) will” plus something of which diamonds could be an example. Very nice
8d Athletes may not get caught using this drug (5)
SPEED: Cryptic definition
14d Utter lack of preference for self-service? (2,7)
NO WAITING: Homophone (utter) (although only the second word is involved?) of indicating a lack of preference or order.
16d Positive presentation? "Hogwash" claimed by Spooner in a suit? (9)
PINSTRIPE: How Spooner might put a positive slant on something rubbish. Not sure this quite works
17d Prestigious mismanaged public house cleared out (4-4)
BLUE-CHIP: PUBLIC HousE* (mismanaged/cleared out)
19d Embarrassing situation evidenced by flaming cheeks? (3,4)
HOT SEAT: Flaming cheeks could be evidence of the solution. Hmm, I'm not sure the solution quite matches the definition here. I would have thought precarious or difficult/responsible rather than embarrassing
21d E.g. Virgin or X (7)
UNKNOWN: Double/ cryptic definition
22d Charmingly old-fashioned shady accommodation discovered in Thailand (6)
QUAINT: A “shady” or illegal accommodation without its outer letters plus IN from the clue plus IVR code for Thailand
23d Tips from television inspiring Statesman's whiz 11+ candidate? (5)
'TWEEN: TelevisioN around a more formal synonym (Statesman's) of whiz or pee? Not heard of this word before but it's a long time since I was that age!
25d Mr ordinary liberal adult's put through grinder (5)
MOLAR: Mr from the clue into which is inserted abbreviations Ordinary, Liberal and Adult
Very enjoyable with some cracking clues – thanks Jeemz.
I can’t quite make the 16d Spoonerism work.
I have ticked masses of clues including 10a, 24a, 5d, 19d and 22d.
Gazza, you’re right – it doesn’t work. Mea culpa. Thanks for your approval of the ones that did!
A very enjoyable pangram, thanks Jeemz, completed without caffeine assistance, but a little e-help was required.
Smiles for 10a, 18a, 26a, 4d, 7d (Are they still a thing? I remember seeing couples at airports wearing matching items thinking they looked très chic as they jetted off on their package holiday to the Costa Brava.), and 21d.
Thanks again and thanks in advance to Stephen L.
A distinctly sporting flavour to today’s NTSPP from Jeemz. After the first few clues in the NW I was anticipating a pangram, but by the time I had finished I forgot to look! Thanks to Senf for pointing it out, and well done Jeemz for assembling it. Plenty to like here with lots of clever mis-direction, my favourites being 4, 11, 13, 23 & 24 across and 17 & 19 down. I can see some “Hogwash” in 16d, but can’t see how Spooner has claimed it – hopefully Stephen L will straighten this out for me. And I might have expected Arthur to be at the head of the table with those rumoured in 28a, but be a rank somewhat above!
Great entertainment from Jeemz – many thanks to him, and I look forward to Stephen L’s review.
My afternoon will continue the sporting flavour to the day, but it will be found on rugby pitches, both Union and League
Didn’t exactly sprint through this one despite the sporting theme and didn’t notice the pangram until it was pointed out by a previous commenter. Ah well, at least I worked it all out by myself so that was a bonus!
Podium places went to 10,23&24a with several others jockeying for position.
Thank you, Jeemz, much appreciated.
I do like 10a type clues so that’s my #1 pick
Well done and thank you Jeemz
Good to hear from you, LBR. You’ve turned into something of a ‘lurker’ these days!
Hello Jane, I trust you are well – yes, I’ve just been way too busy doing nothing to comment
Welcome back, LBR. Please keep commenting. 👍
I came to this pangram late. I found it very tough and, with several queries, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I have previous Jeemz puzzles.
13a – “Elaborate” in 13a seems a bit of a dodgy anagram indicator.
28a – Isn’t Arthur a king rather than a knight?
4d – A riding is part of a county not the other way round.
5d – Time = life seems a bit of stretch.
23d – I can’t make any sense out of this clue on any level.
Sorry Jeemz, this one didn’t float my boat but I’m glad others have enjoyed it. Thanks anyway.
RD, sorry if this didn’t hit your wavelength this time. Maybe I can clarify a few things:
13a Elaborate comes directly from Chambers list of anagram indicators,
28a I did check that Arthur was a knight as well as a king. All on-line references say this is so.
4d the clue was written to indicate an area where you can find a riding.
5d “If I could have my time/life again…”
23d Hope Stephen’s review and my comment have cleared things up!
Like Rabbit Dave we found it tough and couldn’t parse several clues, sadly. Thanks, Jeemz, and thanks in advance to Stephen L for clarification.
That had us working very hard but did eventually all fit into place. Lots of head-scratching and lots of ticks. Just what we like to find in a puzzle.
Thanks Jeemz.
Needed some e-help with this one today. A few tricky ones I stumbled over.
Favourites 1a, 9a, 18a, 20a, 1d & 4d — with winner being 4d
Thanks to Jeemz
Thank you Stephen for the excellent review. One comment about 23d, I had originally written the clue without “Statesman” thinking the whiz synonym was ok on it’s own but on checking Chambers was surprise to see it qualified as US slang, so decided to include the US indicator to satisfy RD in particular(!), though it did somewhat spoil the surface. Thanks too to all who have commented. Your observations are much appreciated.
Many thanks for the review, Stephen, and particularly for the parsing of 9a&23d, neither of which I felt that I’d correctly nailed. Turned out that I hadn’t but I’d still got the correct answers so I’m happy with that!