A Puzzle by Prolixic
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Prolixic set us a double pangram for our Saturday lunchtime entertainment
Across
6a Fix a fan and wrap up in waterproof coating (8,3)
PARAFFIN WAX: An anagram (up) of FIX A FAN and WRAP
9a Growth of Dutch royal ancestry? (6,4)
ORANGE TREE: A diagram of the ancestry of the name of the Dutch royal family
10a Briefly question about left's choice (4)
PLUM: Truncate a synonym for question persistently and insert the abbreviation for Left
11a Queen and groom touring a subterranean room (8)
CATACOMB: A female animal known as a queen and a verb meaning to groom ‘touring’ A (from the clue)
13a Death of old detective by railway (6)
EXPIRY: The usual old or former, an abbreviated detective and an abbreviated railway
14a Curtail urge to reform rural business (11)
AGRICULTURE: An anagram (to reform) of CURTAIL URGE
19a State probes fair-minded law student (6)
JURIST: The abbreviation for the State of Rhode Island ‘probes’ a synonym for fair-minded
20a Compact type of biscuit (8)
FLAPJACK: A flat-faced powder compact or a type of biscuit
23a Grill Zulu collaborator without support at first (4)
QUIZ: A person who aids the enemy without that part of the word that is a support goes first before the letter represented by Zulu in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
24a Red Deer regularly dents rickety car (4,6)
RUST BUCKET: A red colour, a male deer and the regular letters of dEnTs
26a Michael axed dilapidated form of counting (11)
HEXADECIMAL: An anagram (dilapidated) of MICHAEL AXED
Down
1d Mountain range shelters elevated land that's fabulous (6)
NARNIA: Hidden in reverse (shelters … elevated) in the first two words of the clue
2d Watch over bishop entering garden building (6)
GAZEBO: A verb meaning to watch, the cricket abbreviation for Over and the chess abbreviation for Bishop
3d Long distance American pilots return (4)
AFAR: The abbreviation for American and a reversal of the abbreviation for that part of the armed forces where pilots serve
4d The inner wrestling is essential (8)
INHERENT: An anagram (wrestling) of THE INNEr
5d Mariner's father has a sealant (3,5)
TAR PAPER: A sailor, an informal name for a father and the word meaning a or for each
7d Ancient sage against interrupting test (5)
ORVAL: A plant of the sage genus also known as clary – the abbreviation for versus (against) inserted into (interrupting) a test
8d Challenge Yankee supporting Queens (5)
QUERY: The letter represented by Yankee in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet ‘supporting’ or going after the abbreviation for queen and the regnal cipher of our late Queen
12d Deceive Cliff and Frank (5)
BLUFF: Triple definition
15d Grey haired editor sat on by tailless bear (8)
GRIZZLED: An abbreviated editor goes after (is sat on by) a type of bear without its last letter (tailless)
16d Break in travel arranged (8)
INTERVAL: An anagram (arranged) of IN TRAVEL
17d Originally Faure used Grieg's upbeat ethnic musical composition (5)
FUGUE: The original letters of words 2 – 6 in the clue
18d Turn of cycling teams (5)
SCREW: Cycle the last letter of some teams to the front of the word
21d Even so, vestment has lace backing (6)
ALBEIT: A clerical vestment and a reversed (backing) verb meaning to lace
22d Member of the Secret Seven has a large wild dog (6)
JACKAL: One of the boys in Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven with A (from the clue) and the abbreviation for Large
25d Some loose women embracing male flier (4)
SMEW: Part of looSE Women ‘embracing the abbreviation for Male
A very entertaining double pangram from Prolixic – many thanks to him.
Top clues for me were 9a, 11a, 23a, 1d, 8d and 21d.
Caffeine required! First look at the grid suggested that it was ideal for a Nina but not taken up by Prolixic instead he has given us a very enjoyable Double Pangram which required a small amount of e-help to get across the finishing line.
Smiles for 6a (I never remember the doubling of the third consonant in the first word), 9a, 13a, 24a, 8d, and 25d.
Thanks to Prolixic and in advance to crypticsue.
At school, I always used to misspell the first word in 6a until our chemistry teacher said, “You clearly have an affinity for this subject. Just remember that when you need to write that word”! I’ve never got it wrong since.
I rarely have time during a Saturday to tackle the NTSPP, but today is one such occasion. Learning that Prolixic was the setter did provide a further incentive!
I was expecting some GK challenges and they duly arrived with the ‘Compact’ and ‘Ancient sage’. However, I did discover the ‘vestment’ in a long-dormant brain cell. My podium places went to the tourists in 11a, the cycling teams in 18d and the nicely-disguised 1d. 5d provided my PDM for the day – I’m always slow to twig the final bit of parsing used in that clue. Despite having 2 of the 4 letters, my LOI was 23a – the wordplay did take a bit of pondering before it became clear. Seeing some of the lesser-used letters early on in the solve put me on pangram alert, but it didn’t provide any help.
Many thanks to Prolixic for designing an elegant and entertaining puzzle, and to our reviewer in due course.
A tour de force from our setter. Anyone who can set a cryptic crossword has my admiration and respect. To add to the difficulty by making it a pangram is amazing, but a double pangram! That is something really special.
We’ve even got an indicator that the answer to 7d is obsolete and there is a triple definition to enjoy.
Many thanks to Prolixic for the fun.
RD, not for the first time, has said it all for me. Found it quite tricky in places but a rewarding solve.
Thanks Prolixic
Really good fun and the obscurities for us 7d and 25d we were able to work out successfully from the wordplay.
A pleasure indeed and so clever to make a double pangram.
Thanks Prolixic.
That was lots of fun! A very fine crossword, thanks Prolixic.
An enjoyable solve for a Saturday evening; I guessed it was going to be a pangram but the second H to complete the double eluded me for ages. I needed to check in the BRB for the answer to 7dn – I only knew it as the name of a Belgian Trappist beer (which takes its name from the abbey where it’s brewed; what that has to do with sage I have no idea). Favourites were 9ac and 24ac.
Thanks, Prolixic and CS.
Thanks to all for the comments and to Crypticsue for the usual impeccable analysis of the clues. My next one is a bit of a stinker, one of my occasional “mixed doubles” crosswords where each pair of across and down clues have bene combined into one clue to be teased into its component parts. You have been warned
Apologies for lateness. Thank you for this crossword Prolixic, very enjoyable. The next one sounds beyond us even before we see it – but we shall have a go. Thanks also to CS.