Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle September 2023

 Farewell by Hedge-sparrow

PDF version

A 1 describes a 19 defined by 28.  Extra letters removed from thirteen clues prior to solving give the name of the 1, while clashes produced by crossing entries in eleven cells indicate 28 which the 1 refers to: the 28 should be indicated in the grid by their first and final letters.  In the filled grid, solvers must show the approximate 19 by drawing a line passing through cells containing the 28.  One of the 28 omits an article, and another incorporates an abbreviation.  Enumerations refer to entry lengths. Chambers 2016 is the primary reference.

Across

1 Unclued (9, two words)

8 Italian sport’s pitch rejected by Tito Gobbi? (4)

11 Clergyman discarding what’s reportedly sea salt (5)

12 According to Gnostics, power of God exorcising daemon’s Lord and Master (4)

13 Come round at intervals in preference to encountering dog (5)

14 Outlaws baiting some  Gujarati traders (7)

15 Endures frost and blazing sun at the outset (6, two words)

16 Believer endlessly casing Troy is Achilles’ man (6)

17 Brief flood overwhelming northern hill initially swamps weasel cats (7)

19 Unclued (5)

22 Girls test the revamped illuminations in Mayfair, say (8)

25 Numskull’s ancient prayer taking an hour (4)

27 Malt liquor consumed by reserve firemen? (6)

29 Learner twice ejected from avant-garde health club amenity on seafront (4, two words)

31 Classical French architect – artsman extraordinaire! (3)

33 Ed’s fixed member in rowing-boat (4)

35 Posited missing sailor’s deserted (4)

36 Tableau incorporating Titian’s original Daughter with Bouquet (6)

37 Displays velocity and volume of respirable gas (8)

40 Advocates independent politician’s swearing involving extremes of behaviour (7)

41 Hop about with workmate retreating about a foot (5)

42 American range incorporating hot receptacle for charred remains (6)

43 Growing out, having eaten extravagantly (5)

44 In brief outburst, she is highly sentimental (4)

45 What stops citizens ignoring standard? (6)

46 In review, sum up English mythical prose (4)

Down

1 Hitch lifts in vehicle heading north for dormitory town (6)

2 Klee’s last love imbued with abstract art’s divine inspiration (5)

3 Swelling you once found after recurrent case of tetanus (4)

4 US picture-house not showing Top Gun to older folks there (6)

5 Lens distorting crown of subject’s head (4)

6 In the Highlands, slay creature skirting a traditional paddock there (4)

7 Callous diplomat abandons innocent (7)

8 Miscreant buys teapot in Land’s End, maybe (10, two words)

9 Regrets being seen outside haunt of vice and – ultimately - amorous vulgarity (4)

10 Country hotel trashed by hardline criminal (3)

12 Cordial Australian is in demand (7)

15 Fortune-teller’s reading for one supporting lad (4)

18 Cutting grass, spot a little fluttering Australasian bird (8)

20 Like restless spirits, mostly in subjection before the day (3)

21 Notice dandy turning up where dudes may board streetcars (7)

23 Feel discontent on Tiree (6)

24 Blonde US agent arresting idiot (7)

26 Honour Byzantine saint, showing reverence (6)

28 Birds and animals essentially block signposts (6)

30 Billy, cycling in scruffy Aussie’s aboriginal sack (5, two words)

32 Upright tablets of stone recalled the Bard’s evil? (5)

34 Squeeze queen into van (5)

38 Stable having no supply of food possibly woke pair of horses (4)

39 Perhaps Saudi Lord and King? (4)

Crossword News August 2023

 Crossword News August 2023

The July Prize Puzzle was Gravest by Stick Insect. First and last letters of clues give IN TITLE REPLACE ONE CLUE ANSWER WITH ITS NUMBER TO SHOW ADDRESS and CHANGE A LETTER IN EACH OF TEN ANSWERS. HIGHLIGHT PAST RESIDENTS.  Inserting Ten Down for “rave” in the title indicates TEN DOWN IN G ST.  The final grid shows ten prime ministers, past residents of 10 Downing St.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

This was an excellent puzzle with a lot going on. Identifying the two letters to omit was tough initially but, as I got accustomed to the clueing 'style', it got a bit easier and the instructions emerged. The use of the title to identify the theme was inspired and the inclusion of 10 PMs impressive.  Thanks to the Crossword Centre and Stick Insect.

Stick Insect's offerings are always interesting and this was equally true to form.  A nice device to reveal the theme, and both the theme and requirements became clear only very late in the process, so well concealed to maintain the X factor.  Lovely clues too, in all, a nicely rounded package.  Many thanks.

Nice job to include so much thematic material and leave real words in the final grid. Took me far too long to realize what "10 down in g street" meant, duh.

There were 49 entries, of which 8 were marked incorrect, mainly for shading errors. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Philip Wood, who will be receiving a book donated by Chambers.

There is a solution here https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2023/08/solution-to-gravest-by-stick-insect.html

You still have time to tackle the August puzzle, Right is Wrong by Flowerman.
https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2023/07/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-august.html

The September Prize Puzzle will be Farewell by Hedge-sparrow.

We are still short of puzzles and our pipe-line is looking quite bare. Chalicea has sent me another puzzle which I can publish in October and the Eclogue duo have taken the December spot with another Seasons Greetings. However, we do not have anything for November. Any submissions would be welcomed.

***
Mick Hodgkin has announced that after a four-year gap, the Times Crossword Championship is back.

The 2023 Championship will be held on Saturday October 21st at Times HQ, the News Building, right by London Bridge station. We are returning to an in-person event, largely following the format of the 2019 contest - two qualifying sessions, a semi-final session for the highest finishers in each qualifier, and a grand final in which the top three semi-finalists tackle one puzzle.

The winner will receive £1000 and will get to take home the coveted Times Crossword Championship trophy, and there will be further runner-up prizes, details to come.

There are no qualifying puzzles, and tickets will go on sale at the start of September, priced at £40 (£32 for Times subscribers), including refreshments. The 50 high-ranking 2019 semi-finalists who were offered a guarantee of a place for 2020 will be contacted early to ensure they get a chance to book.

Further details, including a link to the competition website and information on how to book, will be given here on the Crossword Club, in the puzzles newsletter and in the paper over the next few weeks.

If you want to sign up for Mick’s crossword newsletters you do so here - https://home.thetimes.co.uk/myNews Although I am not sure if you have to be a Times subscriber.

In his latest newsletter, Mick, Puzzles Editor at The Times, published a nice summary of my book The Apex Letters. Here it is.

The online world is increasingly dominated by a few big tech companies, but in the early days of the Internet part of the driving force behind the explosion of content and the social connections it threw up was the enthusiasm of amateurs. It was like that in the case of crosswords anyway. For me, the catalyst behind cryptic crosswords becoming a shared interest was the discovery in the mid-Noughties of The Crossword Centre website run by Derek Harrison.

 

It was great to find a forum where enthusiasts would discuss clues and exchange news and views, and reading other solvers' weekly comments on the Listener crossword prompted me to have a go at solving that puzzle myself. I went on to meet many other solvers and setters as a result.

 

Sadly, one person I never met was Eric Chalkley, the crossword compiler Apex, who died in 2006. His warmth and enthusiasm come out clearly in correspondence Derek has collected in The Apex Letters. The two men wrote to each other over several decades mainly, but not exclusively, about crosswords, with Derek providing illustrations for various Christmas special puzzles that Eric would circulate. 

 

Eric loved to create special puzzles on various themes and post them to people he admired, which led to a long correspondence with the crossword-loving US composers Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein.  In 2002 Eric was awarded the MBE, the first crossword compiler thus honoured for his contribution to puzzles. 

 

In 1997, after being given a modem (remember them?) by his children, Derek set up a website to showcase Apex's crosswords. "This Internet becomes more and more intriguing," Eric wrote to him after first viewing the site. "I've no idea how it works but it seems that everyone will soon be doing it."

 

They were indeed, and by 2000 Derek's website had become The Crossword Centre, with the url www.crossword.org.uk. This was the moment when  crossword solvers moved from communicating by long-distance postal correspondence to debating clues online on a daily basis, a shift reflected in the account Derek gives through the letters he has gathered here. 

 
***
John Henderson has announced details of the York S & B on the weekend of the 27/28 October. I intend to be there on the Saturday and John has asked me to bring some copies of the Apex Letters in case anyone wants to buy one. You can get more details here. https://www.fifteensquared.net/2023/08/02/sb-york-2023-friday-27th-saturday-28th-october-2023/
***
You can still read the Azed Slip on the Crossword Centre http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azedslip.html

The results of the SONDAGE competition are out now. Richard Heald won with this beauty.

Use of lead perhaps means dog ignoring master needs training

(anag. less M; lead2 = plummet for sounding).
***
An article in The Atlantic discusses what clues would be acceptable in an American definition-only crossword. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/08/writing-crossword-puzzle-clues-rules-grammar-compositionality/674938/
***
Finally some personal news. As my friends know, I have suffered from spinal stenosis for the past 10 years which has made it painful for me to walk or stand. Five weeks I went into the Wansbeck Hospital for a lumbar decompression operation. The result is amazing! I can now walk without pain and have gradually increased the distance I can walk. Now that the scar tissue has healed, I am hoping to start cycling again soon.

Best wishes
Derek Harrison

Solution to Gravest by Stick Insect

 Solution to Gravest by Stick Insect

Initial grid

Final grid

First and last letters of clues give IN TITLE REPLACE ONE CLUE ANSWER WITH ITS NUMBER TO SHOW ADDRESS and CHANGE A LETTER IN EACH OF TEN ANSWERS. HIGHLIGHT PAST RESIDENTS.  Inserting Ten Down for “rave” in the title indicates TEN DOWN IN G ST.  The final grid shows ten prime ministers, past residents of 10 Downing St.

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle August 2023

 Right is Wrong by Flowerman

PDF version

Twenty across clues contain an extra word which must be removed before solving. Ten of these extra words contain a particular pattern of letters, with a different example in each. Several more examples of the pattern occur in clue answers. Solvers must introduce eight more examples (ie, different to those in extra words and answers) of the pattern into the perimeter by changing letters in some cells. All resulting new entries are real words, including a comparative form and an abbreviation.

Across

1 Cafe right out of pickled mushroom spread (7)

6 Duke leaving country after one took vulgar picture (6)

10 Spooner's capital gains affected policy transfer (6)

11 Dismal old tenor beginning to snore during ceremony (6)

14 Excitement in Wiesbaden for Ocker on vacation (5)

15 Some spectacular bijoux in Asian tin (4)

16 Base probing sailors' careers (5)

18 Wolfgang’s subtle about rejecting the local oils (5)

19 Extremely slack Welsh alumni are lost causes (6)

21 Types near Rajkot wearing American suits (6)

23 Are folk endlessly fanatical about coffee? (7)

24 Jack irritated after losing case to churchgoing jerk (6)

25 Dashing European men fashion top-quality swimmers (11, 2 words)

29 In retreat, US president getting abstainer in for a good meaningful talk (6)

31 Devious crones had disdained Macbeth (7)

33 Pressure sexy racing driver to return fabrics (6)

35 Birds migrating west regularly into lowveld (6)

37 Sound articles in Spanish and English about lockjaw (5)

41 Bones strewn across area not including coccyx bone (5)

43 Fools’ anecdotes disheartened geniuses (4)

44 Subordinate to heave Aussie out of church (5)

45 Change side in hunt for animal in Moray Firth (6)

46 Vehicle with revolutionary hubcaps in English town (6)

47 Deliver QR-code signal with reservation (6)

48 Releases by byzantine Greek character backing workers (7)

Down

1 Draw up chart's second key (4)

2 Tree with pliant branches on rocky rise (5)

3 City in Iran upset about 60 Minutes showing part of mosque (6)

4 Commission dismissing Britain's obligation (4)

5 Stalk in cross-section's trigonal (5)

6 Seaweed turning up in stern (4)

7 Laird ignoring a ground tremor in the Highlands (4)

8 A petition going around cheers Turkish ruler (6)

9 After estimates retain contractor (5)

12 Sire frolicking with dams gets the wrong idea (8)

13 Spectacle shortened with no grand song of triumph (5)

15 Disease of bats irregular but not unusually rare (5)

17 Top layer of coat shed by Arctic inhabitant (4)

19 Amid conflict in grammar school, new threats (8)

20 Total panic when Australian out for duck (5)

22 Release first of carp into English stream (5)

26 Retiring soldiers are sent faulty heaters (5)

27 Opponents of uprising are French (4)

28 Cut tin’s sharp without question (5)

30 Abel’s brother mostly brooded over experiences (6)

32 Country women visiting golf club (6)

33 Commendation after Rex left bread in Nepal (5)

34 Wretched Hindu shunning Indian holy man (5)

36 Philatelist finally studied stamp (5)

38 Hopeful ultimately showing up who’s outstanding (4)

39 Lambert abandoning old joint in the Dales long ago (4)

40 Aquatic bird shot in sound (4)

42 Convenors disregarding children’s voices (4)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format, to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8th September 2023. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.

Crossword News July 2023

 Crossword News July 2023

The June Prize Puzzle was Full of Beans by Road Gamer. This was cleverly themed on the books of P G Wodehouse. Stories by P.G. Wodehouse about various members (referred to generically as Eggs, Beans and Crumpets) of the Drones Club see the appearance of (among others) BERTIE Wooster, BOKO Fittleworth, CATSMEAT Potter-Pirbright, TUPPY Glossop,  BARMY Fotheringay-Phipps, BINGO Little, PONGO Twistleton and STILTON Cheesewright (who thinks that Bertie is his rival for the affections of a certain young lady . Solvers had to help JEEVES take BERTIE's place in order to rescue him and  all other Drones bar STILTON (who remains unchanged), replacing them with JURA, DERMS, SORBO, JEEVES, CASEMENT, NISSE and DSOBO, all of which produce new real words in crossing entries.

Having re-populated the grid, solvers needed to highlight DOLLS (being a female synonym of crumpets) and OOLOGY (the study of eggs).

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

This was quite an interesting puzzle with a theme that will no doubt be familiar to many.  I wasn't entirely sure about the instructions initially (since theme entry clues also threw up seemingly extra words) so just decided to keep slotting them in the grid and see how the mismatches pan out.  The initial grid filling went quite fast, helped to a great extent by the generous checking and fair sprinkling of fully checked entries.  The theme also became obvious early in the process when Stilton and Catsmeat fell.  The second part took longer than expected even knowing which entries would need to undergo change, but there was a fairly obvious starting point - it was somewhat intuitive that Jeeves would come in, and only Bertie could make way for that.  Many thanks for the entertainment.  As an aside, I must say I was somewhat surprised that 'climbing' and 'up' figured as reversal indicators in across clues. 

This was fun, also a real challenge. I have always loved PG Wodehouse, and had never come across this volume (but managed to locate a pdf on the internet). I was about halfway through before the theme became apparent.  Some very tough clues and I found properly identifying the extras rather difficult, in fact although I managed to re-pair a couple of definitions and wordplay, other pairs still elude me, even though I'm pretty sure I got all the replacements correctly.  I'd never heard of Sorbo, took me ages to get it! Well done, Road Gamer!

This was a tough one - I had no idea what was going on for a long time. I think it was getting ‘Bertie’ that put me on the right track and then the internet came to the rescue. I thought reconstructing the clues would be very challenging but noting ‘valet’ in this context had to lead to 'Jeeves’ and then it was a process of elimination to complete the grid. I guess that I’m highlighting the ‘crumpets’ and the ‘eggs’ at the end.  I thought the clues were all good and it was a really enjoyable challenge.

It proved to be a tough puzzle. There were 34 entries, of which 9 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner was Tim Coates from Beecroft, Australia, who will be receiving a prize book.

There is a full solution and notes at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2023/07/solution-to-full-of-beans-by-road-gamer.html

The current Prize Puzzle is Gravest by Stick Insect and you have until the 8^th of August to email your entry.

The August Prize Puzzle will be Right is Wrong by Flowerman.

***
More sad news. We heard of the death of Margaret Irvine at the end of June. As the setter Nutmeg, she had her very first puzzle published on the Crossword Centre in 2005 to be followed by more until 2017.  We became good friends. Her clue-writing was precise and often enigmatic.

On Twitter, Haydon Bambury wrote this tribute.

She made her debut in the Guardian with a Quiptic on 8th May 2006 and would go on to provide 80 puzzles in that series. It wasn't until well over 6 years later on 20th September 2013 that she would make her daily debut, and right from the word go it was clear that she was something special. She reached the landmark of 100 daily puzzles on 13th July 2019 with her first Saturday Prize puzzle.
Her final tally of 182 puts her 23rd on the all-time list, right between two greats: Quantum and Hendra.

Adjectives that appeared in the comments underneath pretty much all of her puzzles: sparkling; immaculate. RIP.

Hugh Stephenson wrote her obituary in the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2023/jul/06/nutmeg-margaret-irvine-obituary
***
My book, The Apex Letters, has been well received by the first few readers. One of them wrote, “It has certainly stirred memories of Eric Chalkley, such a generous and thoughtful man, and the way in which he encouraged the kindred spirit among crossworders.”

You can find out more and how to order a copy at this link. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/p/the-apex-letters.html
***
I always wondered what Stephen Sondheim’s Manhattan apartment looked like. Now that it is for sale you can get a glimpse inside.

Located at 246 East 49th Street, the late composer's townhouse "sits among the 20 historic homes that comprise Turtle Bay Gardens, the coveted enclave situated on 48th and 49th Streets between Second and Third Avenues. Created in 1920 from a collection of 1860’s townhouses, the homes share a private communal garden accessible only from one of these storied homes. Previous owners of these homes have included Katharine Hepburn, Garson Kanin, Robert Gottlieb and Maxwell Perkins, to name a few," according to the listing.

The home includes a "music studio on the second floor [that] features a music library, wood-burning fireplace and baby grand piano."

A video tour is available. https://youtu.be/ANZ3VCI8lnM and the apartment could be yours for around $7million!
***
Following the news last month that Big Dave had died, Elgar (John Henderson) has produced a tribute puzzle that is well worth trying.
https://crypticcrosswords.net/puzzles/ntspp-puzzles/ntspp-698/
***
Best wishes
Derek

Solution to Full of Beans by Road Gamer

 Full of Beans by Road Gamer - Solution

Initial Grid

Final Grid

Stories by P.G. Wodehouse about various members (referred to generically as Eggs, Beans and Crumpets) of the Drones Club see the appearance of (among others) BERTIE Wooster, BOKO Fittleworth, CATSMEAT Potter-Pirbright, TUPPY Glossop , BARMY Fotheringay-Phipps, BINGO Little, PONGO Twistleton and STILTON Cheesewright (who thinks that Bertie is his rival for the affections of a certain young lady . Solvers had to help JEEVES take BERTIE's place in order to rescue him and  all other Drones bar STILTON (who remains unchanged), replacing them with JURA, DERMS, SORBO, JEEVES, CASEMENT, NISSE and DSOBO, all of which produce new real words in crossing entries. 

Having re-populated the grid, solvers needed to highlight DOLLS (being a female synonym of crumpets) and OOLOGY (the study of eggs). 

Solution notes

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle July 2023

 Gravest by Stick Insect

PDF version

In each clue, two letters (not necessarily consecutive) must be removed from a word before solving, always leaving a real word.  In clue order, one letter contributes to a message showing how to find a cryptic representation of the theme; the other contributes to two instructions which solvers must obey to produce the final grid, which contains all real words or proper nouns.  Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.

Across

1 Pretending to piracy, perhaps not on the level (7)

7 Happen to replace panther’s head for one rousing game (6)

11 Fabric hood recycled by Tati (6)

13 Criminal inmate Mal makes propositions (7)

15 Hair-remover stung in odd application at first (5)

16 Cubicle building in ocean a U-boat periodically supplies (5)

18 Tweet seaports, not with head (4)

19 Drupel covers left shoe (4)

20 Lessee ashamed housing band (4)

21 Advanced heptads of Georgian recitals excited whistles (4)

23 Skier badly lusted for vessels (5)

25 Nine remoulades in very European French department (6)

27 Carer follows stink, finding fabulous bird (4)

29 Church half rueing of a bag in canal (5)

30 Nabobs, baron died in arrests (4)

31 American Norse disturbed about mother’s stinks (6)

34 EOKA pursuing South African piece of armour (5)

36 Lacking energy, recce west in compere’s car (4)

37 Opening by Lehar shows pace (4)

39 Complain in Scotland about obscene musical tenutos (4)

41 Look! Part of castle refound (4)

43 Ian and mate resolved to be as a friend (5, two words)

44 Baronne recruits fresh muscle (5)

45 Native American stung in Perth grasping heather (7)

46 Compounds fade and wane with entropy (6)

47 Listener entry about revolutionary (6)

48 Apparatus for webchat, perhaps, in TV farces before (7)

Down

2 With sails furled, a hand’s starting tug jettisoning pawpaw (5)

3 Singular fillies vote against you for French poems (6)

4 Scan cat, dog, head trout and sheep (8)

5 Blinks at his scent wrongly (8)

6 Expressionless, Faith and Gary less troubled,  strangely after being dumped (6)

7 Bating hot heat for Ed (5)

8 Involves one lasting in sombre novel (8)

9 Upset cleric within tannah’s eating place (7)

10 Curly with enthusiasm undressing Native American warriors (4)

12 American checks thrombi, cycling (4)

14 Bing supports male rug (3)

15 Stress amateur producer of earth in books (7)

17 Alien rent old giant (4)

22 Royal tip: back movie (7)

24 Beware Iona tin goddess hunt (8)

25 One dossing in prophet’s cave did it badly, ignoring God (8)

26 American charmed Edna, chaste for another, keeping diamonds to the end (8)

28 A Mexican polacre is blackish, Sian discovered (7)

32 Were editor’s grass (4)

33 Empty arums in thaw supply heat (6)

35 Striding in Jerusalem, Anselm finds old lovers (6)

37 Egg white dad and girl cooked (5)

38 Relabel island’s sock (4)

40 Little support for neon good for Zambian currency (5)

41 Spinal marrow is source of costal hurt initially (4)

42 Understanding martial art lacking skills (3)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format, with an explanation of the final grid, to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8^th August 2023. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.