A Puzzle by duncanjwitham
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
DJW brings us this week's alternative exercise in lateral thinking with clever, inventive and succinct clueing throughout. Thanks to him.
Across
1a Instruction to make US race making spacecraft (6,6)
FLYING SAUCER: Reverse anagram, where the fodder and indicator form the solution. Maybe a question mark would be appropriate here.
10a Watched kids club going around ravine, backing off (7)
BABYSAT: A synonym of club around a ravine/deep hole minus its last letter
11a Learner driver's support to tackle wet weather (7)
TRAINEE: The driver here is a golf club and its support “tackles” some wet weather
12a Steel fibre to transmit signals (5)
NERVE: Double definition
13a Job with zero oversight (8)
OMISSION: The letter representing zero and a job or assignment
15a Get rid of well read old book first (10)
OBLITERATE: The abbreviations for Old and Book and a synonym of well-read (which should be hyphenated)
16a Everyone else is delayed coming back (2,2)
ET AL: A reversal of delayed/overdue
18a Nausea symptoms not entirely manageable (4)
EASY: Hidden (not entirely)
20a Proclaimers number penned by co-writers in Dire Straits (4,6)
TOWN CRIERS: The abbreviation for Numbers “penned” by CO-WRITERS* (in Dire Straits). Very nice indeed.
22a Family in shock face treatment? (8)
SKINCARE: A synonym of family inside shock/frighten
24a Pale ale to start, he tucked into tin (5)
ASHEN: Initial letter of Ale and an insertion of He from the clue into the chemical symbol of tin.
26a State where William and Harry grew up? (7)
INDIANA: Split the solution 2.5 and whimsically we have where the brothers “grew up”
27a Cuts locks or bolts from doors (7)
HAIRDOS: Locks (on your head) and DOorS (or bolts). Very smart
28a Northerner works years for wife - employ servant? (12)
YORKSHIREMAN: Works from the clue with the abbreviation for Wife changed to that for Years plus employ/take on and the usual servant
Down
2d Bill adjusted, claiming time for free (7)
LIBERAL: BILL* (adjusted) around a period of time
3d Surveys people initially, maybe ticks boxes (8)
INSPECTS: The first letter of people with something of which ticks are an example around (boxes). Very neat
4d When caught, walk to find exit? (4)
GATE: Homophone (when caught) of a walk/stride
5d Trying case of assault then appealing (10)
ATTEMPTING: AssuaulT plus appealing/enticing
6d As an afterthought, Charlie had almost put on trousers (5)
CHAPS: The two letters signalling “as an afterthought” follow the abbreviation for Charlie and HAd.
7d Flee carnival location that's beginning to go wild (3,4)
RUN RIOT: Flee/dash plus the usual (Brazilian) carnival location plus That's (beginning)
8d Left with a sinking feeling? (9,4)
ABANDONED SHIP: Cryptic definition. Amusing but I think the question mark is doing a fair bit of lifting here.
9d Marker on river's southern point, leading to ruin (13)
PENNILESSNESS: A charade of a marker/writer an African river, (with the possessive S) the abbreviation for Southern and a geographical point
14d Checks piano lid, dares to play (10)
PROOFREADS: The abbreviation for Piano, a lid/top plus DARES* (to play)
17d Make four cuts in novel (8)
CREATIVE: Make/found into which is inserted (cuts) the Roman numeral for four
19d Skinny dip's only topless swimming (7)
SPINDLY: DIPS oNLY* (topless, swimming)
21d Clone, mostly one with genetic material for mammal (7)
ECHIDNA: Clone/ copy without its last letter, the letter representing one and some genetic material
23d Discovered friar upset under church pew (5)
CHAIR: fRIAr* (upset) below CHurch
25d Truss to speak foreign language (4)
THAI: Homophone (to speak ) of truss/fasten
A really enjoyable puzzle – thanks to duncanjwitham for the entertainment.
I finished in the SE corner which put up more resistance than the rest.
Top clues for me were 10a, 20a, 27a and 17d but I could have listed several more.
I really enjoyed this accomplished NTSPP.
For 1a, I think the surface could have been smoother by using a different word instead of “making”, e.g. “producing”.
It’s a pity that 3d doesn’t work. It would have been a superb clue if ticks had six legs rather than eight.
However, I did have a lot of ticks!
13a, 15a, 16a, 20a, 27a, 5d, 8d, 14d & 25d.
Many thanks to Duncan.
Re 3d, Chambers (online) gives “any of several bloodsucking spider-like *******” for tick (where ******* is the word in question), and likewise for the word in question, it gives “loosely, any other small invertebrate, eg a spider”.
Thanks djw for a very enjoyable NTSPP. Smiles for 16a, 27a, 9d, 21d, and 25d.
Ditto on what RD said about 3d.
Thanks again and thanks in advance to Stephen L.
Smart spot by RD on 3d, but I already had a ‘tick’ beside it so am retaining it in my long list of favourites! As well as 3, I ticked 5, 9 & 23 in the downs; with 1, 11, 20 & 26 in the across clues. SE corner was also my last zone to complete.
My thanks to duncanjwitham for a very enjoyable lunchtime diversion.
What a delightful puzzle for the NTSPP slot, perfect combination of trickery, humour and outright clever clueing. Keep adjusting my list of top scorers so will commit myself to11,20&26a plus 19d before I change my mind yet again!
Many thanks, Duncan.
I had a load of ticks all over the place in this very entertaining puzzle from DJW.
But the Proclaimers @20a made it to Number One!
ps. I will await the parsing of 27a in the review.
27a How strange! Understood it as soon as I posted my comment. Brilliant!
Tricky in a few places but an enjoyable lunchtime diversion
Thanks to Duncan and Stephen
Enjoyed this every bit as much as Donny’s SPP & I thought that a cracking puzzle. Reckon this was the trickier of the two. Ticks all over the shop – 1(though agree with RD’s suggested rewording),10,20,27&28a along with 8,9,14,17&21d particular likes. Tough to pick a number one from that top ten but the forced entry surface misdirection at 27a gets my vote.
Many thanks Duncan – more like this please.
I enjoyed this puzzle as it rains here on the West Coast of BC … finally!
Top clues for me were 1a, 24a, 26a, 27a & 8d with 27a my winner.
Thanks to Duncan & Stephen L.
Plenty of fun to be had here. Top pick was 20a for the great mis-direction.
Thanks Duncan.
Thanks everyone for your lovely comments, and thanks StephenL for the review.
Quite a challenge. I had to leave it half finished yesterday but coming back to it this morning I got most of the rest, only needing help with 27ac and 25dn – and a case of d’oh! when I got them. I didn’t pick up the insect/arachnid distinction in 3dn; my own minor quibble is with 16ac, which actually means ‘and others’, usually encountered in scientific and other papers when quoting references where, for example, ‘Smith, J ** **, [title of paper, date]’ is a handy way of referring to a paper with several joint authors.
A satisfying solve, though. Thanks, djw and StephenL.
There was a lot of very clever clueing in this enjoyable puzzle.
20a was my last in and my fave. I do have many ticks on my printout. To mention some: 10a, 12a, 15a, 16a, 26a and 27a; 3d (because I didn’t notice the difference between the arachnid and an insect), and 14d. I also enjoyed the four perimeters — a ‘spacecraft’, the ‘Northerner’, the ‘sinking feeling’ and the ‘ruin’.
I did notice the lack of a hyphen in 15a, but that didn’t detract from my liking of the clue.
Many appreciative thanks to djw for a very entertaining NTSPP. Many appreciative thanks to Stephen for an excellent review.
Many thanks for the review, Stephen. With the benefit of hindsight, I did think there were a few clues that could have benefitted from a bit of tidying up but that doesn’t detract from a very good effort – well done Duncan.