A Puzzle by Maitresse
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Maitresse graces the NTSPP spot with a clever and entertaining puzzle. However an over reliance on final letter indicators and deletions took the shine off it a little
Across
1a Ridiculous run becoming very noticeable (7)
VISIBLE: Ridiculous/absurd with abbreviation for Run changed to that of Very
5a Pig Latin for fish? It contains certain letters (3-4)
OUT-TRAY: Using Pig Latin a fish closely related to a salmon could become a container for papers to go.
9a Rodent not biting mate (5)
CHINA: Remove a synonym of biting in the sense of cold from a rodent native to South America
10a Rejection of vote set mostly amid uproar from the East (9)
EXCLUSION: The letter that you put on a ballot paper plus set/group without its final letter inserted into uproar/commotion rev. There is a synonym of set as a verb that would also work here.
11a Frodo shivering with fear, he crosses wild terrain (3-6)
OFF-ROADER: FRODO FEAR* (shivering). Maybe "one" instead of "he" would work better here as it's more neutral and can refer to person or object
12a Cut of the average haul (5)
HEAVE: Hidden (cut of)
13a Kylie Jenner's boring beauty, lifestyle and hair tips (4)
BLAH: The tips or initial letters of the four words following the definition. I presume the solution is an expression used by Kylie Jenner, whoever she is.
15a Way to charge a fee for estates etc? (4,4)
TOLL ROAD: Cryptic definition
18a Harmful salts in frozen range I put back (8)
CYANIDES: A synonym of frozen plus a mountain range in South America with the I moved “back” in the clue. Very nice
19a Record over start of football game (4)
GOLF: Record/register rev. plus initial letter of football
22a Moore cast as romantic lead (5)
ROMEO: MOORE* (cast)
24a Keen to stop endless fight with gym teacher (9)
PEDAGOGUE: The usual two letters for gym/exercise plus keen/eager inserted into a fight (with swords perhaps) without its last letter
26a Not cold sporting such a cloth cap (6,3)
SLOUCH HAT: SUCH A cLOTH* (sporting)
27a Country home Cameron for one never closes (5)
INDIA: The usual home plus the actress Cameron without the last letter. Be careful, this is the third clue where we need to delete the final letter
28a East London artist's colourful display? (7)
RAINBOW: Split the solution 2,2,3 to see the wordplay. Very nice
29a Back to polish a lucky coin periodically - it's golden (7)
HALCYON: The last letter of polisH plus A from the clue plus LuCkY cOiN.
Down
1d Winner of a Hugo (6)
VICTOR: Double definition. I think this is a tad weak
2d Well up initially for round of silly folk dancing (9)
SKILFULLY: SILLY FOLK* (dancing) with the round letter replaced by the first of up.
3d Heavy hail (5)
BRAVO: Double definition
4d Boyfriends following advice finally improved (9)
EMENDATED: The final letter of advice plus a phrase (3,5) that could mean boyfriends
5d Small statue among Michelangelo's carvings (5)
OSCAR: Hidden (among)
6d Babe maybe wearing tweed jacket and wig that makes an honest man of one? (5,4)
TRUTH DRUG: The surname of the legendary baseball player Babe “wearing” the outside letters of TweeD plus an amusing name for a wig. Can "tweed jacket" clue TD rather than "jacket of tweed"?
7d Spiced yoghurt and organic tea occasionally (5)
RAITA: oRgAnIc TeA
8d American Beauty ultimately exposed failed marriage's ending (6)
YANKEE: Final letter of beauty plus the inner letters of failed badly/sunk plus the final letter of marriage. Personally I wouldn't use two final letter indicators in one clue especially as we have "finally" in both 4&25d plus another one in 17d making five in the Down clues alone!
14d How Sherlock might have got carried away cooking bacon and mash? (6,3)
HANSOM CAB: BACON and MASH* (cooking). Fun clue
16d Desperate boy with sharp pain when stone moves (4-5)
LAST-DITCH: A boy plus a sharp pain often caused by running with the abbreviation for STone moving
17d Apparently gutted Del Boy's back after lap covered in beer (9)
ALLEGEDLY: DeL plus the final letter of Boy follow lap/stage contained in beer/bitter etc
20d A piece of stationery between two rulers, perhaps? (6)
ERASER: A from the clue plus the initial letter of stationary between two abbreviated cases of our former monarch. Very nice extended definition
21d Recover broken earring missing centrepiece (6)
REGAIN: EARrING* (broken)
23d I brew up root (5)
MOOLI: I brew/ threaten rev.
24d Pooh-pooh spades and hearts in hand (5)
PSHAW: The abbreviations for Spades and Hearts in an informal or animal’s hand
25d Pump quarter pint to accommodate ditherer finally (5)
GRILL: A measurement of a quarter of a pint contains the final letter of ditherer. I can't make much sense of the surface read here,
It looks as if you have really cracked the art of cryptic crossword setting with a splendid second submission to the NTSPP slot. Thankfully for me, you have eased up on the difficulty level and this was a joy to solve,
I’ve never heard of 26a but it was fairly clued. Kylie Jenner is not someone I know anything about, hence I am unsure of the relevance of her appearing in 13a unless the answer is something she is famous for saying. 11a as written doesn’t quite work for me as I think the answer is a vehicle and not a person. Omitting the “he” might be preferable.
My page is littered with ticks and my podium comprises24a, 1d & 6d.
Many thanks, Maitresse and please keep them coming.
An off-roader can be a person who loves riding or driving over rough terrain.
Thanks Maitresse but I will go in the opposite direction to RD – quite a brain mangler even with caffeine assistance and there are some parsings I will have to wait for Stephen to reveal.
Smiles for 15a, 28a, 4d, 14, and 25d.
Thanks again and thanks in advance to Stephen.
I found it a bit of a brain mangler too and will admit to revealing a couple of letters to get finished
Thanks to Maitresse and, in advance, to Stephen
Well that put our Sunday morning schedule somewhat behind. It is a bit wet and wintry out there anyway, so perhaps we’ll forego our usual walk. Eventually we did get everything sorted and appreciated the challenge. A lot of clever wordplay to work through.
Thanks Maitresse.
Well, I got there in the end although some of the wordplay was a bit devious – no actual indirect anagrams but some of it was a bit indirect, for example in 8dn and 23dn (the latter needed checking in Chambers). In 13ac I took it that as Ms Jenner is American the answer was an American expression – although Chambers doesn’t label it as such, merely as slang. No problems, though, with ‘tweed jacket’ in 6dn; that was my favourite after the penny dropped.
Thanks, Maitresse and StephenL.
We also got there in the end – but with help! Grateful to StephenL for some explanations. Thanks also to Maitresse.
This took me ages … but well worth the effort.
Looking forward to seeing Maîtresse again … perhaps in the DT Toughie?
Thanks everyone for the feedback as always. I’d submitted this second puzzle before my first NTSPP puzzle was published, so I wasn’t able to act on previous comments there about difficulty level, but I will certainly try to make the next puzzle a bit less tough! Still trying to figure out the right balance between difficulty and originality…
The last NTSPP in my three week backlog, and a very enjoyable one it was too. I liked exit’s comment that “some of the wordplay was a bit devious”, but it all adds to the fun! For me, the originality has more value than toning down the difficulty – I could name some other NTSPP setters who possibly delight in a deserved reputation for ‘difficulty’ (you know who you are
) but I think that’s a good reason to look forward to their puzzles.
After all, variety is the spice of life!
My favourites in this puzzle were 18a, 28a, 2d, 4d, 14d & 17d. 5a was my LOI from the definition and checkers and hence I came to learn what ‘Pig Latin’ is – another nice clue once comprehended!
Thanks to Maitresse for the puzzle and to StephenL for his reflective review.