Wednesday 28 September 2022

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle October 2022

 Nemesis by Chalicea


A rather cocky little fellow who appears in the first row of the grid speaks the words that circle the remainder of the perimeter. He tempts a number of characters who appear as entries in the grid. Solvers must highlight his nemesis.

Across
9 Will's equally conforming to law with Latin dropped at the start (6)
10 Drink beer regularly - excellent! (5)
11 Turned over germ cell, beginning of meal for bee-eater genus (6)
12 In Reunion, white ordinary soldier primarily treats military uniform (7)
13 Draught animal to weed round edges of rows (5)
14 Ingredient of varnish that is put back around spacecraft (5)
15 King accepted wine essentially: tribute in the past (4)
17 Conclusion of hostilities' constant peace following rage (9)
19 In Holyrood push Ethiopia's money (4)
22 Registers US resorts (not Cuba) (6)
24 Is my halo slipping ignoring start of your jokey way of describing addiction? (7)
25 Dilapidated almond shrub of wormwood genus (6, two words)
27 Subdue spirit of Perth's rather objectionable person (3)
28 Talk of queen, say, going round hospital (4)
29 Pale greenish part of shrubbery leaves (5)
30 Provide with equipment, also almost completely draw back (6, two words)
33 Nice friends to be objected to endlessly (4)
34 Some cynic advertised a rechargeable battery (5)
36 In Perth strips from time to time at library - ultimately shameless! (5)
37 Maybe sow potatoes in garden for starters (3)
38 Persistently follow mean scoundrel (3)
39 Wellington's soup of shellfish, cooked hare too (7)
Down
1 Brand of clingfilm used up wrapping Rand fruit (6)
2 Superficial appearance of German defeat (5)
3 Records elevated church tower losing time (6)
4 Binomial ABC I sorted out for book-lover (12)
5 Sovereign found in child's schoolbag? (5)
6 Critical study of former associate workers (6)
7 Briefly submerge amphibious vehicle (4)
8 Deities arise in tumult (5)
10 Curiously listen absorbing essentially merry snicker in Glamis (7)
16 Get discussion going about elevated river valley (3)
18 Angle to strengthen with an iron plate (4)
20 Shoe, we're told, fashionable sure-winner in Kentucky Derby (6))
21 Wife, might be one who swallowed a fly (7, two words)
22 Wrong pursuing former partner to obtain by coercion (6)
23 Salt coating in good, oddly edible Chinese tuber (7)
26 Covers spread around (6)
29 In Glasgow we polish up local job centre (5)
31 Japanese food you'd only sample (4)
32 Pale when hot and extremely dry (4)
35 Not completely acceptable to speak fondly (3)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format giving the shaded nemesis,  to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8th November 2022. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.



Sunday 18 September 2022

Crossword News September 2022

Crossword News September 2022

The August Prize Puzzle was Side by Side by eXternal. This was published at the time that the last episode of the Australian soap, Neighbours, was aired.

Letters omitted in wordplay give KYLIE MINOGUE (leftmost letters) and JASON DONOVAN (rightmost letters) reading down the grid; letter pairs deleted from clues give ESPECIALLY FOR YOU, a song by the pair; AUSTRALIAN is changed to NEIGHBOURS, the programme in which the pair starred.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Being a regular Listener Crossword solver, I’ve learned not to panic when faced with a somewhat impenetrable preamble. Indeed, the theme unexpectedly fell after just ten clues solved in the top left of the grid, as the names were recognisable from the first few letters. After this disappointment, however, there was so much more to winkle out of this puzzle. I guessed the first title from a single pair, then was able to weed this out of the down clues to accelerate the finish.  I’m left with awe at the quality of eXternal’s clues. Despite all the complex treatments, every one was not only scrupulously fair, but had an excellent surface reading. A great achievement - many thanks!

Another illusion bites the dust.  I have always thought crossword setters to be a little on the high-brow side and certainly not watchers of Australian soap operas.  This was a good puzzle with some unusual words and at first, I had little idea of the theme.  However, AUSTRALIAN, in the only row without letters missing from the wordplay, was a generous and welcome hint.  It was very clever how the substitution of NEIGHBOURS made new words. It was most enjoyable, as the offerings from eXternal always are.  Thank you.

I consider myself to be a big fan of low-brow themes, and they don't get much lower than this! I'm sure Kylie and Jason would be delighted by the puzzle, and how thoughtful of them to have names of the same length.  Solving was a pleasure - nothing was absurdly difficult, and all the surfaces made good sense, which is always a big plus (I enjoyed 'Tory place above joint oddly overlooked by tax officer' and 'Rancid ragged undies not completely destroyed' in particular, both cleverly hiding their double letters). Thanks eXternal.

There were 49 entries, of which only 2 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Geoff Telfer from Shipley. Geoff will soon receive his prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary donated by the publishers.

There is a solution and notes available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2022/09/solution-to-side-by-side-by-external.html 

There is still time to solve our September challenge, Postcard from Hedge-sparrow.

The October Prize Puzzle will be Nemesis by Chalicea.

***
I was saddened to learn of the death of Peter Cargill. He was a long-standing crossword solver, a regular in our monthly puzzles and a clue-writer in the Azed competitions. He was my friend on FaceBook and I always enjoyed his photos of family gatherings, his latest on the recent Father’s Day. Peter passed away after a short bout of pneumonia at the age of 86. He will be sadly missed.

***
Five years ago, Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe started making an occasional sudoku video on Cracking The Cryptic.  At the end of August, they ticked over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. This is a remarkable success. You can view the amazing statistics here - https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/crackingthecryptic

***
The Azed Slip continues to be published on the Crossword Centre. The latest one is for the clues to HECATOMB. Tim Moorey won with this lovely clue.

Bach motet endlessly remixed is what pleased the gods but emptied the stalls? (anag. less t).

You can also see the Annual Honours list for 2021 – 22. Don Manley is the winner, closely followed by Richard Heald. http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azedslip.html

***
On FaceBook, Roger Phillips explained why the publication of Mira’s Listener crossword, Bleak Expectations, was delayed.

“The Listener crossword scheduled for the week when Sean Connery died ,was based on Connery's Goldfinger laser scene and included the line "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die". I had to edit a replacement puzzle very quickly.

I decided to reschedule the Goldfinger one to coincide with the release of No Time to Die, which turned out to be difficult because they kept changing the date (because of Covid).”

***
In the Times Puzzles newsletter, Mick Hodgkin considered the relationship between jokes and puzzles, rewriting five of the top ten jokes of the Fringe as cryptic clues:

1. Italian nosh got by that woman, some might say (5)

2. Amazon's promise of an imminent end to child labour? (4-3, 8)

3. Effect of nitrous oxide with Oxo cubes the object of mockery (8,5)

7. Courier brought meal for former partner (3-2)

8. Parlous lifestyle of those lacking cutlery? (4-2-5)

I thought these were brilliant clues. If you didn’t see the top ten jokes from Edinburgh, you can check them here. https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/edinburgh-festivals/the-top-ten-funniest-jokes-of-the-edinburgh-fringe-2022-3814340

***
Paul Pridmore has written to tell me about these early crossword books.

“This summer the world's first three Simon & Schuster crossword books from 1924 have silently appeared on Project Gutenberg.

My usual search for "crossword", always fruitless, now shows:
The cross word puzzle book
The cross word puzzle book: Second series
The cross word puzzle book: Third series

The third includes a summary of sales figures by the happy publishers for their publications of the series - all in 1924:
Total Third Series To-date     65,000 copies
Total Second Series To-date  135,000 copies
Total First Series To-date       148,200 copies
TOTAL TO-DATE     348,200 copies”

***
Anyone looking for a useful list of abbreviations to use in writing clues or solving them could take a look at this section of the Unscramblerer site.

https://www.unscramblerer.com/crossword-abbreviations/

***
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth, crossword editors are checking to make sure that ER referring to the Queen does not appear in the clues. Setters who have a puzzle in our pipe-line should also check.

Best wishes
Derek


Friday 9 September 2022

SOLUTION to Side by Side by eXternal

 Side by Side by eXternal - SOLUTION

Letters omitted in wordplay give KYLIE MINOGUE (leftmost letters) and JASON DONOVAN (rightmost letters) reading down the grid; letter pairs deleted from clues give ESPECIALLY FOR YOU, a song by the pair; AUSTRALIAN is changed to NEIGHBOURS, the programme in which the pair starred and which will have its final episode aired in August.
Letters are highlighted for reference.
Across
1 Female slave is following old boy around (7) O,LAD<,IS with K omitted
6 Pierre’s article on middle of your work unit (5) OU,LE with J omitted
10 Like thread of fiction involving knight (5) LI(N)E with Y omitted
11 Unknown one returned claw of prehistoric times (7) Z,I,NAIL< with A omitted
12 A love for indigo (4) A,NIL
13 Errant first daughter lives aimlessly (6) (FIRST,D)*
14 Once determined when well directed (8) AS,SO,LED with I omitted
16 River swimmer systematically crosses (6) hidden swimMER Systematically with E omitted
18 Express contempt about vacuous EastEnders retrospective (5) RE,ES< with N omitted
19 Islander at urinal’s a drunk (10) ATURINALSA*
21 Peers in Ayrshire pigpens (6) STIES with M omitted
23 That’s foul, rear of obscene yokel’s itched (6) YUCK,E with D omitted
25 Trump and English rogue not related (10) TRUMPANDE* with I omitted
27 Cockney has confidence and begins (5) ‘OPES with N omitted
28 Revolutionary is turning more malicious (6) RED,IS< with N omitted
31 Opposing another player alone, no netballer 
tackles (8) hidden alONE NO NEtballer with O omitted
33 Forming into circle, soldiers stand in wine cellar (6) OR,BIN with G omitted
34 A guide regularly used for Swiss canton (4) AgUiDe with V omitted
35 Strange item on Canadian rider (7) ITEMON* with U omitted
36 No longer adjudge money not British (5) BREAD-B with A omitted
37 Heartless wombat took apart caterpillar (5) WOAT* with E omitted
38 An earl too diminished becomes tougher (7) AN,E,ALS{o} with N omitted

Down
1 Band of light encircling head of most elevated learned man (6) H(M)ALO< with L omitted
2 Deserted, is swallow to move from perch? (7) D,IS,EAT with S omitted
3 Guests in land wash collections of possessions (4) {l}AN{d} {w}AS{h} with ES extra
4 Transparent material covering over fabrics (5) LEN(O)S
5 Tricky to hide large excursion (5) S(L)LY with A omitted
6 Rodent removing wings of feathered beasts (4) {b}IRD{s} with J omitted
7 Month encasing this mixture would make pillar (4) MONTH around OLI would make MONOLITH with O omitted
8 Behold! Thug’s leaped on layer made of wooden strips (6) LA,T,HEN with PE extra
9 Base carer raising son is guaranteed (7) E,NURSE with S raised with D omitted
13 Long-forgotten disorder in Midlands city that’s had fourth upgrade? (5) DERBY with B becoming A
15 Reached highest point looking sickly (6) double def
17 Rancid ragged undies not completely destroyed (6) R,UNDIE{s}* with CI extra
18 Slight luminance on Alsatian coats (4) S(L)UR
20 Lifted special metal sieve (4) S,MET< with AL extra
21 Costly clumsily crossing old mother’s blind spot (7) COST* around O,MA with LY extra
22 Stretch ancient clasp (5) SPAN with G omitted
24 Study dissecting slow climbing of sloths, maybe (7) DEN in LATE<
25 Mature women supporting forum group (6) GROUP*,W with FO extra
26 Studies mountain nymphs (6) READS with O omitted
28 Number of close encounters (5) hidden cloSE ENcounters with V omitted
29 That is interrupted by upcoming race season (5) I(RUN<)E
30 Lubricant’s cool temperature (4) IN,T with O omitted
31 Tory place above joint oddly overlooked by tax officer (4) jOiNt,TO with RY extra
32 Ancient buildings erode, appearing hideous (4) hidden erODE Appearing with OU extra