Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle January 2021

 Best Mates by Chalicea

Best Mates PDF

Two characters and three films they star in circle the perimeter of the grid in a clockwise direction. An extra letter in addition to those required for the solution is produced by the wordplay of every clue. These, in clue order, give an instruction to solvers. Unchecked letters in the perimeter would jumble to MY! WE SAW VANGUARD CO-STARS Chambers 2016 is recommended.

Across

    9    Drop of ale in beer mug for native of ancient Ionia (5)

    11    He's on gym exercises and muscle proteins (7)

    12    Be woman undone, and, according to bard, conceive child (6)

    13    Painstaking eccentric fellow with 'self-build', ignoring odds (7)

    14    Old private detectives call for attention (4)

    15    In difficulties, to windward at submerged ridge of rock (7, three words)

    16    Ancient prostitute almost sincere with everybody (5)

    18    Adult in vehicles for transporting miscellanies (4)

    19    Following a sound of disapproval I finally wrecked drainage channel tide gate (8)

    21    Feel humiliation once when hoax takes in a European (6)

    23    Performing group is sadly scattered with alto and soprano missing (6)

    24    Hindu philosopher welcoming hospital letter long ago (4)

    28    Was introduced to a Dutch alcoholic drink (4)

    29    In the past to extend the distance swum, for example (6)

    31    New fracas damaged US motor sport (6)

    32    Ponder about a truncated hollow chamber on a major blood vessel (8)

    33    A tree trunk having enough strength (4)

    37    Heartless cold associate in common prison (5)

    39    Observe husband fuss long ago over Chinese trees (7)

    40    To free from trouble, partly made safe going west (4)

    41    Miserable farthing for guardian of Sikhs' holy book (7)

    42    Company in France set up English altar candle (6)

    43    "Encore" mostly amid endless absolute expressions of praise (7)

    44    Tenor involved in short revolutionary engagement (5)

Down

    1    Large commercial ship's left unable to move (5)

    2    Seizes unwrapped gun, it's for proceedings in courts (8)

    3    Highly skilled to engage in contest involving left hand (8)

    4    Stop essentially evil-tempered, spirited horse wheeling (5)

    5    Too bright in Glasgow to propel boat between river and railway (5)

    6    Ordinary violent rage is hard, cruel and ugly (7)

    7    Cinema half abandoned; fine one in Cannes - not seriously! (5, two words)

    8    Mighty wave must finally astound friend from Guadeloupe (7)

    10    No longer refused crude rubber found in lump (6)

    17    Jug's grim, upset on top of head of queue (4)

    20    Tipped over bags containing old tuberous plants (4)

    22    A venomous lizard turning up an aquatic organism (4)

    24    Extremely silly to mostly dispense with pages in limp book binding (4)

    25    Aging celt, in confusion, coating things with sugar (8)

    26    Men's icier terror losing all restraints in Spanish event (8)

    27    Drummer's retro beat taken up, not keeping time once (7)

    28    Mysterious mountain spirit (7)

    30    Way of trapping slippery characters in Spain and the Spanish dissenting clique (6)

    34    Whopper! An eastern climbing plant (5)

    35    Clumsy locksmith dropping scattered kit is a klutz (5)

    36    Shakespeare's chief witch, malignant hag ripping out heart (5)

    38    Catch gold antelope (5)

 To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format including the result of the instruction to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8th February 2021. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers. 

Crossword News December 2020

 

Crossword News December 2020

This will be the last newsletter for members of the Yahoo group mailing list. Yahoo is closing all its groups on the 15^th December. I started the group in June 2001and it has served us well with a membership of 840 and members are also eligible for the Clue-writing competition. We will be continuing to send newsletters to the new Crossword Centre group on Google. You can join this group at https://groups.google.com/g/crosswordcentre
***

The November Prize Puzzle was Hoping for a Hat-trick by Yimin. Initial letters of extra words in clue order spell SERTURNER, NIXDORF and LIBORIUS. The first two are famous sons of Paderborn in Germany.   The third is buried in Paderborn Cathedral, a notable feature of which is the Window of Three Hares – each animal has two ears, even though only three ears in total are shown. The word PADERBORN had to be highlighted diagonally on the grid.

The title is a reference to Yimin’s previous puzzles on the Crossword Centre - both of them were won by Ros and Brian Rougvie, sending their entry from their address in Paderborn! Their names were in clue 24 and the top line of the grid is a reference to them winning Yimin’s puzzle Farce. Yimin surmised that they might be hoping for a hat-trick of wins. Sadly, Brian died in 2017 but Ros continues to solve and I am pleased that she was delighted to spot the link.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

An enjoyable solve with an interesting theme. The preamble 'Some clues have an extra word' increased the trickiness - identification of clues with superfluous words wasn't always easy, particularly with the unusual words their initial letters spell out! I read more about the theme beyond Paderborn Cathedral - very interesting. Thanks to Yimin!  As for the title, study of archived Crossword Centre blogs - gosh there are a lot! - proved unfruitful, even concentraing on those around the time of Yimin's first two puzzles for the Crossword Centre. My attempts to look at the Themes of 2009 puzzles on the Listener Crossword site were thwarted in that the clickable 'Theme' button wouldn't work for me, I'm afraid, so I abandoned the quest which is a bit disappointing! I look forward to hearing the rationale for the title.  In the meantime - good wishes for the coming (muted) festive season. I have enjoyed the puzzles offered over the year - just the thing for Lockdown, Tier 1 and now Tier 2 and goodness knows what's to come............ Thanks to you and the Crossword Centre.

This is the first Yimin puzzle that I've attempted, and always a pleasure to tackle such an interesting one (bit sad that his last one was way back in 2017).  Very nice clues requiring answers to be teased out gradually, a rewarding process of discovery in terms of both new words/meanings and nuggets of general knowledge.  Many thanks to the setter and best wishes to the hat-trick aspirants.

(And from Roslyn Rougvie)

So that notorious pair Brian and Ros from Paderborn  have at last been celebrated in a crossword. Two times winners of the Listener ( the last time in 2009) and the lucky winners of  Top Shoe and Farce both by Yimin and Crossword Centre puzzles.  Have to say it was a surreal experience to solve a puzzle with the slow realisation that the theme was indeed all about us. I'm sorry to say that Brian died in October 2017 so Farce was one of the last puzzles he completed. He would have had enormous fun tackling "Hoping for a Hat-trick". It would have appealed to his sense of humour but I'm afraid that it's not going to happen.  I see Yimin has also made it into The Magpie.  Congratulations!

There were 47 entries, of which 4 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner was Todd Konkel of Vienna. (So no hat-trick, Ros) Todd will soon be receiving a prize of a copy of Chambers Crossword Dictionary which was donated by Chambers.

Eleven solvers spotted the link to the title, Geoff Lee, Tony Harker, Rod Bell, Gerry Murtagh, Ros Rougvie (of course!), Roland Rance, Jon Ballard, Rod Beards, Philip Wood, Craig Fothergill and Ronan Cullinane. The winner picked from the electronic hat was Geoff Lee.

A full solution is available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/12/solution-to-hoping-for-hat-trick-by.html

There is still lots of time to solve our Christmas treat, Seasons Greetings XII by Eclogue. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/11/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-december.html

The January challenge will be Best Mates by popular setter, Chalicea.
***
The Times Crossword Championship had to be cancelled when a failure in its server meant that the on-line competition was unavailable. Puzzles editor David Parfitt, published this apology.

 It is with the bitterest disappointment that we have cancelled this year's online championship. I am sure you all also extremely disappointed and upset too. It seems that the database changes made on Saturday were not effective. We desperately wanted to do something special for you this year in particular - and to bridge the gap while we were unable to put on the championship in the usual format. I'm afraid that despite our best efforts, we have failed to deliver this.
All I can do is offer my sincerest apologies for disrupting both days of your weekends. I hope that by this time next year we will be in a position to run the championship as normal, when we can attempt to make it up to you all.
***
I decided to miss the Listener Setters Dinner in March and I could not give a full report on it. The report on the dinner is now on the Listener Crossword site.
http://www.listenercrossword.com/PDF/Dinners/dinner20.pdf

Roger Phillips has also updated some missing items from the Listener site. You can now download the quizzes from the 2019 and 2020 dinners.
http://www.listenercrossword.com/List_Dinners.html
***
Last month I mentioned the 3D Calendar Puzzles and it s nice to see a review by Alan Connor in the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2020/nov/23/crossword-blog-the-next-dimension
Remember that you can order the calendar from this link.
https://3dcalendarpuzzles.co.uk/
***
I recently mentioned that, following the success of their Cracking the Cryptic YouTube channel, Mark Goodliffe and Simon Anthony were planning to publish a book of sudoku puzzles. They set up a crowd-funding scheme which closed last week with an incredible number of subscribers. There were 7,447 investors who put $191,302 into the scheme!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peterchayward/cracking-the-cryptics-greatest-hits
***
We hear of yet another stand-up comedian setting crosswords as Dave Gorman published in the Telegraph. You can watch Simon Anthony solving one of Dave’s puzzles on You Tube https://youtu.be/9S2SwJnoBYU

John Henderson picked this clue from the Telegraph Toughie by Django, also Dave Gorman.
No Deal act, Boris and I worked up – it helped Johnson win once (8,7)

A full review of this Toughie is on Big Dave’s site http://bigdave44.com/category/crosswords/toughie-crosswords/django/
***
In her latest article on the psychology of cryptic crosswords, Kathryn Friedlander tackles the subject of anagrams.
https://createpsy.com/2020/12/09/cracking-psychology-understanding-the-appeal-of-cryptic-crosswords-3-anagrams/

***
The results are out for the Clue-writing competition for GLORIA. The winning clue was written by Jeff Robinson.

Fashionable cut from original woven fabric (6)

The December challenge is to write a gift list for John and Robert using the letters of ROBERT AND JOHN'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING PREZZIE LIST (42 letters).

http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php
***
Do remember that al the newsletters and competition puzzles and solutions are posted on our blog at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/
***
As another year on the Crossword Centre comes to an end, I would like to thank all the people who have supported us, the solvers, the setters, the CCCWC managers, Robert Teuton and John Tozer and our dependable tester John Nicholson.
Best wishes

Derek

Solution to the Django clue ANABOLIC STEROID anagram: ref. athlete Ben Johnson.

Solution to Hoping for a Hat-trick? by Yimin

 Hoping for a Hat-trick? by Yimin SOLUTION

Initial letters of extra words in clue order spell SERTURNER, NIXDORF and LIBORIUS. The first two are famous sons of Paderborn in Germany.   The third is buried in Paderborn Cathedral, a notable feature of which is the Window of Three Hares – each animal has two ears, even though only three ears in total are shown.   

Across
1. [STEROID] FA R(educe) C(ompetitors’) E(valuations)
5. [EMMANUEL] (RENEW with NI for E)<
10. [REMAIN] PE A + C(atc)H
11. Y(ogur)T in RHA
12. [TREATMENT] T RASH
14. Unclued
15. [UNVEILS] (oss)E(tia) in GE
16. (C)ALM before E
19. [READY] SPA(N) HEE(L)
20. [NEBUCHADNEZZAR] PAIR + ROYAL
23. [EMERALD] AY in (GOLD)*
26. [RULES] (in)S(tr)U(ct)F(at)I(ma)
28. SMARM - SM
29. [NIGHT-TIME] HEM (POI)> I C(ricket)
32.  Unclued
33.  Unclued
34. [INTENDED] REN (= run, formerly) round JO
35. [X-RAY] AD on NAT + (spin)E
36. Double definition

Down
1. [DAYS] FAT over HAW<
2. [ONCE] AP R I L(audanum)
3. [ROMEO] R + EAN
4. (CLOTHEAREDTEEN – (TALENTED)*)*
5. [FROCKS] W + HEWS
6. [LEVITE] KRI<
7. LYN(X)< GHAUT - T
8. [INITIALLY] hidden
9. [BOND] NE for R in RARE
13. [ORDER] SO< round FAY
17. [ROMANCE] M AY “MOURN” / [ROMANTIC] M A Y MORN
18. FREIGHT – FR(y)
21. [INDEED] (O TIBER)* (and touch of &lit, OBITER being Latin)
22. [USES] (ICE in NT) Y
23. D A CHA (another touch of &lit)
24. [SOLUTION’S] (r)O(s)A(n)D(b)R(i)A(n)*
25. (H)OMBRE
27. FIE ND (North Dakota)
30. PR (n)O(w) W
31. Double definition

 

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle December 2020

 Seasons Greetings XII by Eclogue

Seasons Greetings PDF

The solutions to 21 normal clues will initially leave empty cells.  The wordplay in the remaining 32 clues renders an extra letter; in the given order, these provide key words from a line to a song along with the composer.  Solvers must complete the empty cells using the song, leaving real words or proper nouns (including an abbreviation) which, in turn, define the 13 cells in two straight lines which must be highlighted. Enumerations show space available in the grid.

Across

1 Grief once spread around (6)

5 The enemy in utter retreat (7)

11 Fashion designer, one chap taken in by preposterous knight (6)

13 In Scotland, poor queen is more modest (5)

14 Bells can upset Auntie’s former petrolhead (7)

15 Parrots group together on rocky height (6)

17 In Ibrox, expressions of weariness he applied to most of game (5)

18 Sudden influx for Jock to run and plant (6)

21 Dodged team blocking one initially vigorous force (7)

24 Shakespearean lieutenant endlessly threw IOUs away (6)

25 Unhappy crises for grasses (5)

27 Murphy, say, an ingredient of vindaloos? (5)

28 Part of nerve cell Jonathan’s cut in advance (5)

32 Italian suit adorned African (5)

34 Beaver class before, once (6)

36 Moving endless francs, getting skinned? (7)

37 Swordfish settled in stormy sea (6)

38 Titch locally, perhaps, will provide old Italian coin (5)

44 Can Tory play big-nosed character, say? (6)

45 Puzzles coaches covering old record company (7)

46 Curved blade ruining rink outside this country (5)

47 I see vagrant cuddling small dog worn-out in Paris (6)

48 Petty quarrel leads to sharp policeman arresting thief (7)

49 Register engineers on active duty (6)

Down

1 Hypocrisy to follow assurance and independence as in the French Church (8)

2 Warning signals in rooms without compliance (6)

3 Noise Abatement Society was not old-fashioned (4)

4 Gathers harvest for poet’s lodging-houses (4)

5 Will’s to augment one chapter (4)

6 Glaswegian’s one that’s meanest at heart (4)

7 Endlessly jerk muscle casually (4)

8 American behind greeting in exotic suite (6)

9 Some reformed and married as Rex called? (6)

10 Slipped ferret down couches (5)

12 Registration number entirely within in terms of ruling (6)

16 Source of inspiration having nothing for pop fan, say? (4)

19 Saint lives over models (5)

20 That lot having no time to wash (5)

21 Like desert air moving by day? (5)

22 An old screw in place of depravity (5)

23 Scots drive into large South American plants (5)

26 Grain used is shaken, not stirred (8)

29 Old trembling trees in whatever degree retaining vital juice (4)

30 Poles taking in the French in abundance (6)

31 Refined woman to block conceited youth and behave unco-operatively (6, two words)

33 Sister about right to remove from vehicle (6)

35 Wee cup of brew is served up in the south-east (6)

36 Fellow no longer cares for old Scottish tenors (5)

39 Learning establishment situated within municipal environs (4)

40 Spurious God? (4)

41 Tanker initially seen on blue ocean (4)

42 Letter featured in spelling group? (4)

43 Match official briefly holding stumps?  Vice versa (4)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format including the highlighted entries to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8th January 2021. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.

Crossword News November 2020

 

Crossword News November 2020

The October Prize Crossword was Riddles by Gnomie. The riddles came from Puccini’s opera Turandot. Extra letters in the wordplay spelled SHADE FIVE LETTERS THAT CORRECTLY SOLVE THE FINAL RIDDLE. The final solution was the name of the unknown prince, which was CALAF. The first and last lines of Nessun Dorma could be discerned in the grid.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

I have been attempting crosswords for over fifty years but my love of opera has only developed since my retirement.  Turandot with its famous "Nessum Dorma" is known even to me and I felt thoroughly at home with this puzzle.  That is not to say it was easy.  It was not and some clues were quite challenging but the cluing was always fair.  Thank you Gnomie, this was very enjoyable.

A lovely grid with the thematic clues neatly and relatively easily found, and some nice clueing. I’ve had a bit of a break this year so it is nice to come back to an accessible grid!  Best wishes and thanks as always for a great set of quality and entertaining puzzles

This puzzle let no-one sleep while it was being solved. An interesting theme, well-executed and supported by a well-constructed set of clues. Thanks to Gnomie.

There were 53 entries, of which 5 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner picked from the electronic hat was Gron Roberts from Neath, who will soon be receiving a copy of Chambers Crossword Dictionary which was donated by Chambers.

A full solution is available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/11/solution-to-riddles-by-gnomie.html

Our November challenge is Hoping for a Hat-trick by Yimin, and you have until 8 December to submit your solution.

The Prize Puzzle for December will be our traditional Christmas treat from Eclogue, Seasons Greetings XII.
***
Regarding the plans for future Listener Crossword dinners, John Henderson and Jane Teather have announced their decisions after comments from those invited.

1. The date for the dinner stays in March, to align with awarding of trophies. So fingers crossed for a dinner in March 2022, probably in Scotland.

2. We will hold an online event in March 2021 for the awards, preferably with winners displaying their trophies on screen (or maybe not — would it spoil the surprise?) and saying a  few words should they choose to do so. Platform to be determined — I (Jane) have been conducting a lot of interviews via Zoom, for example; there’s plenty of technical expertise among our number to suggest alternatives, and we can work out the exact format that will work best. We should be able to sort out the necessary engraving of trophies etc.

3. The online event will focus first on the awards, because some people prefer that and would prefer not to have other distractions. However, others (especially those who don’t live in the UK) would like to make an evening of it (though it may not be evening where they live) and have a quiz etc, maybe with the option of forming virtual teams. We can do that too, if there’s enough support for the idea. We have some experience now of online quizzing.

4. Of course, all this effectively excludes those who prefer not to participate online. So we suggest that this is all reported in something like newsletter format — something with photos of winners, as well as the usual report that is delivered about trends, successful submissions and (…all the bits I normally miss because I’m marking the quiz). No problem with doing that here; it will be circulated to you as a PDF, and mailed to the people who don’t participate online. We’ll welcome contributions, and encourage you to be involved.

5. There will be no formal event in autumn 2021. However, there are local options — we hope that our York Sloggers & Betters 2021 event will take place in October as ‘normal’; and the regular quarterly London Listener get-together continues when possible. We’ll publicise those to this list, as well as any other local events anyone chooses to organise.

***
The 2021 3D Crossword Calendar is available to order now at https://3dcalendarpuzzles.co.uk/shop/ It contains puzzles by many Guardian setters: Arachne, Enigmatist, Imogen, Nutmeg, Pasquale, Puck, Qaos, Tramp, Vlad and is an excellent way of donating to charity. Quizmaster Frank Paul has added his illustrations to the calendar with his unique picture clues.
***
Alan Connor, who writes the weekly crossword blog for the Guardian, has recently published a puzzle book which might be a great gift for Christmas. “The Shipping Forecast Puzzle Book tests your general knowledge and lateral thinking through a series of fiendish puzzles, in which all the answers can be found on the maps as place names on the coasts or in the seas. As you trace out the shape of each journey, you will reveal the shapes of letters, which you use in an endgame that's a whole other level of puzzling.”
https://amzn.to/3mJnqZ6
***
When Torquemada published his literary puzzle, Cain’s Jawbone, there were only two readers who solved it correctly. A novel of 100 pages was published with the pages in haphazard order and readers were asked to put them in the correct order to win a prize. A new edition was published last year and again there was a competition. Popular radio comedian, John Finnemore, was the only one to get it right. He is of course, also a crossword setter and has had two Listener crosswords published under the name Emu. The correct solution will not be made public so that others can continue the quest.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/10/literary-puzzle-solved-for-just-third-time-in-almost-100-years-cains-jawbone

In the London Review of Books, Gill Partington, who submitted a solution, also writes about Cain’s Jawbone.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2020/november/all-the-nice-gulls-love-a-sailor.-ugh

I have updated an article on Torquemada, Edward Powys Mathers, on the blog. You can read it here. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/p/powys-mathers-from-strange-world-of.html
***
A reminder that on Saturday, November 21, three additional Times Crossword puzzles will go live on the Crossword Club at 10.30am GMT. Solvers will have 90 minutes to complete all three puzzles and will need to submit each puzzle upon completion, as if entering one of the weekend prize puzzles. The solver who completes all three puzzles most accurately and in the quickest time will become the inaugural Times Online Crossword Champion.
***
After a petition by equality campaigners the Oxford Union Press has edited its dictionary definitions to make them gender neutral and underlining offensive or dated terms.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/07/oxford-university-press-updates-definitions-word-woman

In other dictionary news, Collins has announced that, unsurprisingly, the 2020 word of the year is “lockdown”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54878910
***
Kathryn Friedlander has published the second part of her research into how psychology can explain the appeal of cryptic crosswords. You can read it here https://bit.ly/3eyPyeP and at the end of the article there is a link to take part in her survey.
***
On the Clue-writing Competition the winner of the Printer’s Devilry clue to SEVEN was Andy Smith.

Large chests attract many in the mating game.

(ches/seven/ts)

This month’s challenge is to compose a clue to SUBMARINE by the closing date of 29 November.
http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php

Best wishes
Derek

Solution to Riddles by Gnomie

 Riddles by Gnomie - Solution

Extra letters in the wordplay spelled SHADE FIVE LETTERS THAT CORRECTLY SOLVE THE FINAL RIDDLE. The final solution was the name of the unknown prince in Puccini's opera TURANDOT, which was CALAF.

Clue explanations

 

Across: 

1 PRONUNCIAMENTO S: {RUIN[S]ACOMPONENT}*

11 SOLERA H: SOLE + RA[H]

12 AUGURERS A: {ARE[A] GURUS}*

15 MOES D: MO[D]ES

17 ABASED E: A BASE [E]D

18 IN SECRET F: INSECT round RE[F]

19 LARUS I: LA[I]R US

21 OCEAN V: {NA[V]E CO}<

23 POORI E: POOR I[E]

24 OLLIE L: (a)[L](o)O(f)L(y) + LIE

25 CLADIST E: CLAD I S[E]T

28 STAY T: S Y around TA[T]

31 EN EFFET T: [T]ENET around EFF

33 AGORA E: AGORA[E] 2 defs

39 LUCAN R: LUCA[R]N(e)

40 ROVER S: R + OVER[S]

44 SONERI T: SON + [T]IRE<

46 FLY-TOWER H: FLYER around T(echnicians) in [H]OW

47 ETTLES      A: TE[A]< (lef)T + LES

48 ASBESTOS CEMENT T: {BASEMENTS ETC [T]O S(eal)}*

Down: 

2 ROO BAR C: ROO(f) + [C]RAB<

3 OLEARIA O: (t)O[O]L(s) (r)EA(r) (t)RI(m) A

4 URGES R: {SURE[R] + G}*

5 NARDOO R: RAN< DOO[R]

6 CALICO E: CO around ALIC[E]

7 AGAS C: A + S[C]AG<

8 MURE T: MU[T]E around R(oles)

9 ERICA L: [L]AC< + IRE<

10 TREE LINE Y: {ENTIRE LE[Y]}*

11 SMALL CRAFTS S: S MALL[S] (pres)CR(ibed) AFT S(hip)

13 UNNERVE O: UN NE R[O]VE

14 EERILY L: [L]EERY around IL

16 STREET CRIES V: {SE[V]EREST CRIT}  

20 UNDO E: (t)UN[E] DO(wn)

22 NOTED T: (K)NOT[T]ED

23 PIPAL H: P[H]IAL around P(ilgrims)

26 LEG-PULLS E: LEG + S[E]LL UP<

27 TALCOSE F: {O[F] CASTLE}*

29 AFRO I: A F R[I]O

30 HOURLY N: O[N] in HURLY

32 FOVEOLE A: FOOLE(d) around [A]VE

35 OATERS L: OS around [L]ATER

36 ON SPEC R: ON(e) SP [R]EC

37 VERVEN I: VERVE [I]N

38 MATTE D: MATTE[D]

40 ROUTE D: [D]ETOUR*

42 NAOS L: SO[L]AN<

43 DOWT E: DO W[E]T

 

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle November 2020

 Hoping for a Hat-trick? by Yimin

Hoping for a Hat-trick? PDF

Some clues have an extra word.  The initial letters of those words in clue order spell three names associated with a place.  A prominent feature of the place appears in the unclued 14, 32 and 33 (four words).  Solvers should highlight the name of the place in the completed grid.

Across
1. Sporting authority starts to reduce competitors’ steroid evaluations – a mockery (5)
5. Invigorate Northern Italy for base, brought back Victor Emmanuel (6)
10. Exercise, remain active, and catch extremely gorgeous girl (5)
11. Regional Health Authority collects empty yogurt cups (5)
12. Refuse up North the hasty treatment (5)
14. Unclued
15. Navigation system unveils centre of Ossetia in Georgia (3)
16. Rod losing head in front of eastern Egyptian dancing girl (4)
19. Cavalryman’s pair of horses almost ready to tilt … almost (6)
20. Three kings? A couple followed by magnificent Nebuchadnezzar (9)
23. Oh! Set in rolled gold, emerald of luminous green (6)
26. “Instruct Fatima regularly,” rules mystic (4)
28. Fawn having lost Sergeant-Major’s weapon (3)
29. Half-unsighted, edge turning ball in start of night-time cricket (8)
32. Unclued
33. Unclued
34. Lance once intended to flee, hiding lover in Gretna Green (5)
35. Notice on X-ray – born with base of spine attached to different organ (6)
36. Lawless uncouth Yankee lost dosh (5)

Down
1. Legal decision overturned 18th century enclosure – profitable days over! (6)
2. Once a month before a meal take one dose of laudanum (5)
3. Ditch Romeo in Glastonbury, run to mother in Stratford-upon-Avon (4)
4. Careless cloth-eared teen, amazingly talented, lacking someone who repeats things (6)
5. Bustles about local women and shapes frocks (5)
6. Reject marginal reading in the bible to annoy Levite (3)
7. Tailless cat ascended mountain pass – it killed antelope (7)
8. Budget we initially estimated covers case (5)
9. Princess born for king in extraordinary bond (5)
13. Order provided about nursing slightly mad white folk (5)
17. Poet’s youthful freshness marks a romantic yen over the first part of the day (7)
18. Crew lose most of young salmon from ship’s load (5)
21. By the way on Tiber? Indeed, curiously (6)
22. Delicate management uses diamonds in no trumps – endplay ultimately (6)
23. Country house where Head of Duma is served afternoon tea? (5)
24. Ros and Brian alternately constructed solution’s principal route (5)
25. Topless bloke in Ibiza’s game! (5)
27. Addict’s doomed state (5)
30. Once valiant prince now essentially weak (4)
31. Programme to raise awareness is French (3)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format including the highlighted name to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8th December 2020. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.

This is Yimin’s 3rd Crossword Centre puzzle.  Yimin will offer an additional prize to the first solver drawn from the electronic bag whose correct solution is accompanied by the correct explanation of the title and theme.  The archive of Crossword News at the old Crossword Centre blog (https://crosswordcentre.wordpress.com/) will help, as will the ‘Themes’ of the 2009 puzzles in the database of Listener Crossword found under Crossword Links of that blog.   

Crossword News October 2020

 

Crossword News October 2020

The September Prize Puzzle was Minor Variations by Phi. Unclued answers are (or have the form of) reduplicative compounds such as LOVEY-DOVEY, with only one letter varying between the halves.  By squeezing both letters into one cell in the crossing word (FRAMPO(LD)), the unclued answers can be entered in half the space apparently necessary.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Phi is one of my favourite setters and I always enjoy his puzzles in the i newspaper on Saturday mornings.  So I quickly settled in to solving some easy clues before hitting a block. I could not see what was going on and it took some repetition of my best tactic (put the puzzle down, do something else and then pick it up again) for gradual progress to be made on one or two less common words. Then, with grid complete (except unchecked in the unclued) my search for anagrams was fruitless.  After what seemed a lot of staring, "rope ripe" suddenly registered - and so the penny dropped. A lovely, clever puzzle that really tested me and gave me enormous satisfaction upon completion. Thank you, Phi.

TERU-TERO was my way into this – there not being many synonyms for lapwing!

I always find Phi puzzles tricky, and this was no exception. The theme remained unrevealed until quite late on and the identification of all the redundant words was not easily resolved because of the very smooth surface reading of Phi's clues, enhanced by the inclusion of an extra word or words, making solution just that bit trickier! All in all, a very neat theme beautifully executed.

Minor Variations proved to be a tough challenge. There were 42 entries of which 3 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Michael Crapper, from Whitchurch, who will soon be receiving his prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary, which was donated by Chambers.

A solution is available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/10/solution-to-minor-variations-by-phi.html

You still have lots of time to solve this month’s challenge, Riddles by Gnomie. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/09/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-october.html

The November Prize Puzzle will be Hat Trick by Yimin.
***
The death was announced of the crossword setter, John Dawson, better known as Chifonie in the Guardian. In the Financial Times he set puzzles under the pseudonym Armonie. The FT published this obituary along with his first FT crossword.

JOHN DAWSON, crossword compiler Armonie in the FT, died on September 24 after a long illness. Born in 1946, a Novocastrian, he worked as a design engineer in the chemical industry. His laboratory colleagues gathered round the crossword in the morning tea break and this led to a lifelong passion, first as solver and 20 years later as compiler. His pseudonyms, Chifonie in the Guardian and Armonie in the FT, early names for the hurdy-gurdy, reflected his love of early music.

Early retirement and a move to Kendal enabled him to indulge his passion for walking and his love of the Lake District, which resulted in the website lakedistrictwalks.com. With retirement supported by setting crosswords and work as a warehouse truck operator, he took up again a teenage enthusiasm for ballroom dancing and with his partner started competing in the National League.

As a compiler at the easier end of the FT cryptic scale, his puzzles were often seen as a template to guide aspirant setters. He filled the Monday prize puzzle slot for many years and only retired a few months ago because of health problems.

https://www.ft.com/content/28b67521-0722-4d9a-bc90-360e257cdd23

Alan Connor published an obituary in a recent Guardian blog. https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2020/oct/12/remembering-the-crossword-setter-john-dawson-aka-chifonie
***
The organisers of the Listener Crossword Dinner, John Henderson and Jane Teather, have announced that, due to the Corona virus, they have cancelled next year’s March event. They are discussing whether to have an on-line event in March, to move the event to October or to miss out on 2020 and organise a dinner for March 2021.
***
The Corona virus has also affected this year’s Times Crossword Championship. Crossword editor David Parfitt announced this week –

It won't surprise you to learn that sadly the Times Crossword Championship will not take place this year, owing to the Covid pandemic. However, we would like to try something new (and rather experimental) in its place. On Saturday, November 21, three additional Times Crossword puzzles will go live on the Crossword Club at 10.30am GMT. Solvers will have 90 minutes to complete all three puzzles and will need to submit each puzzle upon completion, as if entering one of the weekend prize puzzles. The solver who completes all three puzzles most accurately and in the quickest time will become the inaugural Times Online Crossword Champion. As ever, we will produce a full list of rankings, so you can see how you fare even if you don't think you'll be among the fastest few. A few points to mention:

- The contest is open to all subscribers with access to the Crossword Club, and there is no entry fee. If you know of any non-subscribers who might like to compete, there is currently a "first month free" deal running on our digital subscription page: thetimes.co.uk/subscribe/digital

- We have made the decision not to offer a prize, other than the pride of winning and the undying respect of crossword solvers everywhere. Given the online format, we felt the best chance of encouraging fair play was to make the competition just for fun.
***
Following the huge success of their Cracking the Cryptic YouTube channel, Mark Goodliffe and Simon Anthony are now planning to publish a book of 25 of the best Sudoku puzzles. They have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds. You can find out more at the link below, as well as watch a 2 minute video and order a book.
http://kck.st/3iR7WA0
***
With news of trouble with the Track and Trace system run by Dido Harding, it was apt, according to Private Eye, for Chambers Dictionary to remind us that “dido” means “a frivolous or mischievous act” and “to act dido” means “to play the fool”
***
On the Clue-writing site your challenge for October is a STANDARD CRYPTIC clue to GLORIA (6) by the closing date of MIDNIGHT GMT WEDNESDAY 28th OCTOBER.
http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php

***
Problems with the host service for the Crossword Centre means that future puzzles will be posted on the blog. Please add the URL to your favourites. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/

Best wishes
Derek

Solution to Minor Variations by Phi

 Minor Variations by Phi - Solution

Unclued answers are (or have the form of) reduplicative compounds such as LOVEY-DOVEY, with only one letter varying between the halves.  By squeezing both letters into one cell in the crossing word (FRAMPO(LD)), the unclued answers can be entered in half the space apparently necessary.

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle October 2020

 Riddles by Gnomie

Four unclued solutions, three of them translated from the original and one which is the work's title, are given as the answers to riddles in a work. The first and last lines of an aria from the work appear in the grid. The wordplay of every clue produces an additional letter that is not needed for the solution. These, read in clue order, give a further instruction.

Riddles by Gnomie PDF

Across

1  Formal proclamation sadly ruins a component (14)

11  Only brief expression of approval for system of sherry production (6)

12  Area gurus adjusted for bard's diviners (8)

15  Fashions for wry faces long ago (4)

17  A reprehensible senior journalist humbled (6)

18  Wretched little person getting round umpire on the quiet (8, 2 words)

19  Beasts' enclosure unserviceable for family of birds (5)

21  Main, central area of church company reviewed (5)

23  Of an inferior quality that's hot, deep-fried Indian bread (5)

24  Aloofly now and then assume horizontal position for skateboard trick (5)

25  Believer in taxonomic theories equipped international coterie (7)

28  Endure tasteless odds and ends in small yard (4)

31 Philosophical belief including obscenity in fact according to Voltaire (7, 2 words)

33  Israeli monetary unit in ancient market places (5)

39  Window to the sky, mostly related to gospel writer (5)

40  Runs and several series of balls for player with no fixed position (5)

44  Descendant to become weary about cloth of gold (6)

46  Leader of technicians going into 'how' in promotional leaflet for stage contraption (8)

47  In Holyrood, purposes of upset drink left finally by the French (6)

48  Building material of constructed basements etc - to seal principally (14, 2 words)

Down

2  Shelter mostly and portable winch set up for Perth's vehicle protection (6, 2 words)

3  With no limits tools rear and endlessly trim a daisy tree (7)

4  Surprisingly surer about grand impulses (5)

5  Aborigine’s food plant spread up to front entry (6)

6  Cotton company clothing Carroll's heroine (6)

7  American heroin casually turning up in cooking ranges (4)

8  Actor with no words to speak welcomes first of roles as Bard's wall (4)

9   Heather's anger over upset resin (5)

10  Entire ley strangely where growth of timber stops (8, 2 words)

11  Little boats' special promenades essentially prescribed on aft and fore of ship (11, 2 words)

13  Disconcert one in Nice born to ramble (7)

14 Openly distrustful, circling Israel in a strange and frightening manner (6)

16  Severest crit, perversely, for slogans of hawkers (11, 2 words)

20  Tune down, somewhat and bring to nothing (4)

22  Closely united but not initially celebrated (5)

23  Small bottle containing bit of pilgrims' bo tree (5)

26  Following stage of journey, returning, sell up for jokes (8)

27  Of castle constructed of mineral found in dolomitic limestone, say (7)

29  A fine South American city hairdo (4)

30  Functioning in commotion at regular intervals (6)

32  Mostly fooled about average small depression (7)

35  At a subsequent time getting into old style westerns (6)

36  As a gamble cutting back one special recipe (6, 2 words)

37  Vigour and spirit in Ed's magical, medicinal plant (6)

38  Produced dull surface on coarse metal (5)

40  Rambling detour's the road to take (5)

42  Old white gannet turning up in inner temple (4)

43  Arrange to pour water on Ian's fag end (4)

Crossword News September 2020

 

Crossword News September 2020

The August Prize Puzzle was In the Chair by Phylax. The theme of the puzzle was the BBC quiz show Mastermind. The eight modified entries must have a word meaning 'pass' removed:  SH(UTTER)ED, S(HAND)EAN, ER(EMIT)IC, SHE(CHIT)A, AR(GO)SY, S(WEAR)ING, S(COL)LOP and T(REACH)OURS. The eight unnumbered entries can all be prefixed to 'point': TRIG, VIEW, NEAR, STAND, POWER, COVER, SORE and NEEDLE. The five-word phrase is therefore EIGHT POINTS AND NO PASSES.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Great puzzle! Cleverly conceived theme and excellent clues, including some very amusing ones. Although I soon figured out how to modify the answers, the common thread "pass" eluded me for quite a while. Same thing with "point" from the narrative (an amazingly plausible narrative, given the words Phylax had to work with!). Then the whole thing fell into place all at once. Thank you, Phylax, for a most enjoyable mental workout.  

Was an extremely interesting puzzle and perhaps one of the toughest I've tackled here.  A great find for the catchphrase and theme, and a nicely constructed grid.  Quite a feat to include so many thematic entries, having as many passes as points, and all the more so because there were largely no unfamiliar words.  Not that it made getting the answers any easier, the delightfully tricky wordplay in many a clue required several rounds of reading before yielding.  Even with a fully filled grid (adjustments having been made with 'educated' guesses but with no idea why) I was left staring at it trying to figure out the theme.  Went on a wild goose chase, getting reacquainted with some trigonometry in the process, till fortuitously getting introduced to 'Dadstermind', and then everything clicked.  Excellent stuff, thanks for the entertainment.  Note: 26d had me confused for quite a while, not being sure whether the narrative covered it, since it was a 'numbered' entry.  Finally slotted that as the last one in after disposing of the others, and at the very end saw that it was also part of the thematic set. A 'stand out' puzzle!

When I saw the puzzle title, I immediately thought of Mastermind, but as I filled the grid, it was only on realising that AND NO PASSES would fit on the bottom line, that I saw I had been right, that the eight narrative words could precede POINT and the words removed in modified entries were all synonyms of PASS. I liked the rather whimsical nature of some of the clues, eg for DILATORY, DEICIDAL and HITLIST. Also, some difficult clues, in particular that for SHANDEAN caused me most bother. Many thanks to Phylax.

There were 48 entries, of which 8 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat was Mark Nichols from Rugby, who will soon be receiving a prize from the Chambers range.

A solution and explanation are available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/09/solution-to-in-chair-by-phylax.html

The September Prize Puzzle is Minor Variations by Phi and you still have lots of time to solve it and email your entry. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/08/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-september.html

The October challenge will be Riddles by Gnomie.
***
Steve Bartlett, editor of the Enigmatic Variations puzzles in the Sunday Telegraph has announced this on our message board.

For solvers who are interested in attempting barred puzzles, http://bigdave44.com/ is now providing a weekly hints post for the Enigmatic Variations series in The Sunday Telegraph. Solvers who are inexperienced with barred-grid puzzles can find valuable information about how to tackle these each week with information relevant to the current puzzle. The introduction of these posts runs alongside an offering of accessible puzzles for the first few EVs in September. Please do give it a try and leave a comment about your experience on the blog; it will also be good to see some new names among the entrants for the prize.
***
One of the highlights of my year has been John Henderson’s York S & B meeting. However, with social distancing and the rule of six this has seemed unlikely this year. However, John thinks that there may be a chance of doing something puzzle-oriented related on that weekend and there are still rooms available at Stableside should anyone fancy a weekend in York on the 30/31 October. More details here http://www.fifteensquared.net/2020/09/14/sb-york-2020/#more-144140
***
Scrabble fans who are interested in the statistics of the game might like to look at the Unscrambler site. You will find it at https://www.unscramblerer.com/scrabble-twl-dictionary-statistics/
***
On the Clue-writing Competition the challenge for September is to write a Printers Devilry clue to SEVEN. The competition closes on 30 September. More details at http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php
***
The BBC 2 quiz programme, Only Connect, will start a new season on Monday 21 September. I wonder if they have had to socially distance the teams!
***
Having been in Portugal to see our family, we are now in quarantine. However, as Northumberland is now in special measures, I will have lots of time to solve more crosswords.

Best wishes
Derek

 

 

Solution to In The Chair by Phylax

 Solution to In The Chair by Phylax

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle August 2020

The theme of the puzzle is the BBC quiz show Mastermind. The eight modified entries must have a word meaning 'pass' removed:  SH(UTTER)ED, S(HAND)EAN, ER(EMIT)IC, SHE(CHIT)A, AR(GO)SY, S(WEAR)ING, S(COL)LOP and T(REACH)OURS. The eight unnumbered entries can all be prefixed to 'point': TRIG, VIEW, NEAR, STAND, POWER, COVER, SORE and NEEDLE. The five-word phrase is therefore EIGHT POINTS AND NO PASSES.

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle September 2020

 Minor Variations by Phi

Minor Variations PDF

Eight clues contain a redundant word or words not necessary for solving.  These words define the eight otherwise unclued entries, which exhibit minor variations that enable them to fit in the spaces available and also accommodate answers to eight normal clues which seem not to fit.  Numbers in brackets give the number of cells available for the answer. 

ACROSS

1    Tempt translator into a show of diplomacy (7)

6    Vital link that is fine by church leader (5)

11    Radical lines penned by a lecturer (4)

12    Curious image in lamellae showing no initial shortage of blood (8)

14    Free love in Scotland - very affectionate erotic activity (not kiss) (5)

16    Figure runs from opening (4)

17    Strip Henry, going after muscle (4)

18    Exhaust possibly put after one vehicle (4)

20    Scots pinch sample without using spades (4)

21    Attract fish coming round away from the wind (7)

23    Indication to stop collecting rent was entertaining (7)

24    Hurries to depose first little deity (4)

25    Aged couple can, wife acting internally (4)

27    Sound of impending doom heard for high-ranking mistress ready to be hanged (4)

29    Handel opera composer’s expected to suppress? (5)

32    Competitors about to put away petition (8)

33    Religious period in holy city runs late (4)

34    Old axes and temper implying particular stress (7)

DOWN

1    Lined up any old local twaddle dismissing a rule (4)

2    Ablutions a burden - I suffered internally (7)

3    Put sailor up for accommodating - say - marine gatherings (8)

4    A score falling short in the smallest degree (2,3)

5    Source of call sign identifying Queen (colloquially) (4)

7    Dislike expedition losing heart (4)

8    King occupying central point in court in Middle Ages (4)

9    Loose sodium compound involving oxygen cleared in chimney (7)

10    Small piece accepted by editor showed excessive passion (6)

13    Period of history in Libya revealing African defence system (6)

15    Feature of Solway Firth then spread around a couple of areas by fellow (6)

18    Lapwing experiencing most winds in duplicate rugged site (8)

19    Disorderly woman once accepted by congregation is no longer peevish (7)

21    Picked up sailors stuck in local millrace (6)

22    Statement in response: adopting Liberal, not Conservative (7)

26    Viruses in US city making you anxious (5)

28    Humourless approach to work in reactionary style (4)

29    Quantity of wood filling two channels, nothing less (5)

30    Historic mount beside unknown river (4)

31    Character observed in chatty Scottish gossip, perhaps (4)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8th October 2020. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.

Crossword News August 2020

 Crossword News August 2020

The July Prize Puzzle was What’s Here? by Vismut. Extra letters/words generated by the wordplay in across clues spell out CROSSWORD DOT ORG DOT UK, the location of The Crossword Centre. The circled letters spell out APOSTROPHE; the letter inserted in the middle of the grid is S. All the s’s in the grid are shaded to show an S which can be found at the crossword’s centre.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Very clever puzzle - what a lovely idea for a theme. Thank you, Vismut! Of all the aspects that impressed me, the most impressive was how Vismut managed to have esses only in the places where they mattered!

I didn't have much trouble solving the clues except for the two across clues with wordplay generating three extra letters, and I only solved those after I realised that the location was a web address. When there are clues of two types, I suppose I shouldn't assume that all clues are of the more common type, especially with clues like 30a where I initially thought that the wordplay was generating too many letters, but I still didn't think that it was one of the clues generating three extra letters. I had guessed the contents of the central cell and what to highlight before I understood what was meant by "insertion to the location's name". Now I wonder if S is supposed to be both the letter at the centre of the word "crossword" and the letter at the centre of this crossword. I liked that every cell containing S needed to be shaded.

An entertaining solve and a nice play on the site name.  I spent far too long trying to find Derek Harrison in the grid before the penny dropped!  Thanks to Vismut for an enjoyable puzzle.

There were 51 entries, of which 5 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner from the electronic hat was Phil Caine from Formby, who will be receiving a copy of Chambers Crossword Dictionary, which was donated by Chambers.

A solution to What's Here? is available here. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/08/solution-to-whats-here-by-vismut.html 

The September Prize Puzzle will be Minor Variations by Phi.

Phi was first paid for a crossword over 40 years ago, and has been setting for The Independent for over thirty years, now in a weekly slot.   He also provided nearly 700 Beelzebub puzzles for The Independent on Sunday.  There are also over 50 Listener puzzles, over 150 Inquisitors, nearly 300 for the BBC Music Magazine, over 100 for the Church Times, and over 60 Enigmatic Variations puzzles in the list, but this is his first one for the Crossword Centre.

You can find out more about Phi and his puzzles on his blog at https://phionline.net.nz/
***
As part of the Edinburgh Book Festival, New York Times digital crossword editor Joel Fagliano will be explaining how a crossword is made, how the team works, and you’ll get to take part in a live mini crossword-making session. Joining him in this event is Adrienne Raphel, author of Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them. This event will take place at 17.30 on Sunday 23 August and, as the festival is entirely on-line, you don’t have to go to Edinburgh. More details at this link - https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/working-with-words-inside-the-new-york-times-crossword
***
I have to recommend a YouTube video from Cracking the Cryptic, where Simon Anthony solves a sudoku with a Fawlty Towers theme. Fascinating to watch his brain working https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE-4k9s9aZc&feature=youtu.be
***
During lockdown I have tried some word games on my iPad. One that is very simple but also a challenge is Word Collect. You have to make words by anagramming letters from a key word. The words fill spaces, so you can see the lengths required and they are listed in alphabetical order. It probably is a US app so there are occasional American spellings, labor for example. This app can be very annoying because of the frequent and tedious adverts. However, there is an easy way to stop them. You just switch off the wi-fi on your iPad.

Best wishes
Derek

Solution to What's Here by Vismut

 The July Prize Puzzle from the Crossword Centre.

What's Here? by Vismut

Extra letters/words generated by the wordplay in across clues spell out CROSSWORD DOT ORG DOT UK, the location of The Crossword Centre. The circled letters spell out APOSTROPHE; the letter inserted in the middle of the grid is S. All the s’s in the grid are shaded to show an S which can be found at the crossword’s centre.

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle August 2020

In The Chair by Phylax

Narrative

Bizarrely, I've won! Watch television set:  empty seat, with first of contestants on screen, approaching. "Name?" Attention required, wanting last round close to ideal. Get hard posers - saving skin, slips to some extent put right? Sound right. Expressionless, wise not showing one's beginning to relax...

In The Chair pdf

Several solutions to numbered clues must be modified prior to entry in the grid; lengths given are for grid entries throughout. The unnumbered entries wholly or partly within the main grid are thematically linked and are individually clued in the narrative; these clues do not overlap or have superfluous words separating them. Solvers must deduce the five-word phrase to be entered on the top and bottom lines, the unchecked letters of which can be rearranged to form SO SAGE DON SAT. All entries are real words.

Across

5 Boss got covering removed from protective footwear (4)

7 Will's stocking small shop - love special finishing touch from Kate (8)

10 'Junior' judge being one thoroughly backward (6)

12 Short cut to the ground protects United fan (4)

13 Favoured man in black when wearing a different colour (9)

14 Sure about embracing unknown older person in Elizabethan theatre? (7)

16 I move rapidly to destroy resistance (8)

17 Defeat for men over radical expansion that isn't wanted (8)

20 Closed up shack in street before start of demolition (4)

23 Quiet fellow penning a note in style of rambling autobiographer (4)

24 Solitary quote about sandwiches couple found following do (4)

25 Abandoned well had a steeply sloping area around the rim (8)

26 Stokes curtailed slog, coming in to milk erratic spinner (8)

28 Prescribed slaughtering of animals that lady collided with in Canada on vacation (4)

30 Pistol taking out odd characters when running through this, possibly? (7, two words)

32 English league delayed by a muppet essentially having power to change decisions (9)

33 In Paris, goes for smoke (6)

34 Related to doing divinity in college, I'd messed around with a lot of ladies outside 8)

35 Notable merchant at sea like notable merchant on UK high streets? (4)

Down

1 In the same place lives long-legged water bird (4)

2 Soft parts male kissed amorously under female domination (9)

3 In Rome, it is so Italian to pinch rounded bottom (6, two words)

4 Tricksters once tormented the RAC over Sierra belonging to us (5)

5 Legendary poisoner regularly served pet curare as dog's breakfast (8)

6 Traditional medicine seldom utilizes nurses (4)

8 Practise taxidermy on duck, returning to check about bits left over (7)

9 Ancestor recalled not enjoying California quakes (5)

11 Sun tolerating use of bad language (4)

12 Tool used for cutting nettles dislodging gnome's head (7)

15 In Perth, noisy row that is holding up introduction of runner (6)

18 Pedant dismissing conclusion of this puzzle (7)

19 Dates with debs unfolded here? (9)

21 Slow about quitting Conservative chatline, perhaps? (8)

22 Convoluted rule presented in full depth (7)

27 With boozer unfinished, opening for nocturnal opportunist theft (6)

28 Mollusc shell she's left amongst haul (4)

29 This country air could make Parisian dizzy (5)

30 From Japan, a huge upright drinking vessel (5)

31 Small change over in South America (4)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format including the 5 word phrase to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8th September 2020. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.