Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle February 2021

 Changing Places by Rebus

_________________________________

PDF version

Perimeter answers are clued by wordplay only, and are linked thematically. They are given in order and are to be entered clockwise starting from a point to be determined. All other clues are normal.

A nine-cell thematic area is to be highlighted in the finished grid. This includes the barred cell whose letter will help identify the location of two missing or damaged parts of the key perimeter answer. These should be written below the grid. (4 words)

Chambers 2016 edition is the main reference but does not give a place name, a common phrase, or a common variation (in Collins).

Across

7 Patrick finally backed a form of gambling (4)

8 Oddly, Nero keeps poor Romeo just above zero (9, 3 words)

11 Respect on the street has to have made champion (7)

12.Music coming from Sierra, and another Ford (3)

13 Lack of power and heartless indignation (6)

15 Start support then switch position (6)

16 Banks told of those avoiding company (6)

17 Make home in wild without closing a window (8)

19 Regularly Sartre yelled out “I'm a writer!”(5)

21 Dancer's driver missing society column (4)

22 Raise female to supply with weapons (4)

25 Share out every part of the bible (5)

27 Sword Lily was pleased to plant topless (8)

30 Handle local bird in Kent (6)

31 Article in place for spiders (6)

32 Oversupply of East Indian muscles (6)

33 Seafood take away for Noddy (3)

34 Neapolitan slaughtered after losing in a terrible battle (7)

36 Dress up English maiden like Big Ben perhaps! (9)

37 Nice thought? (4)

Down

1 Iron laws, they're used to inflict corporal punishment (7)

2 Make the Illawarra sound vulgar (3)

3 Going furthest with legs not moving (7)

4 Old tales of Hesse de rigeur in hindsight (5)

5 Made weary taxmen fly (5)

6 Sadly Tokyo's losing yen for its music makers (5)

9 Experts who might compose Artemis Foul? (7)

10 Disprove ancient feller upset when left out (5)

12 Wherein Zeno gave lectures to Athenians? (4)

14 Eton always nurtures sound quality (5)

18 To proclaim a pound without a fencing parry (7)

20 Ed blended thymol distillation without using heroin (5)

23 London theatre to help aid organisation (7)

24 Came down wet and cold. Small dry protected shelter provides solution (7)

26 Painting over ancient siren (5)

27 Attract attention by swapping ends in game (4)

28 Stop all music before anyone starts to dance! (5)

29 Leave off old-fashioned disguise (5)

30 Well built with smelly section in front (5)

35 Radio Londonderry for example (3)

Perimeter :

Free style! (4)

Express surprise at legal principle underlying decision (7)

Headless toy (4)

Wind up taking home designated driver (6)

Could be the white knight of the Quebecois (7)

Flash back going South (4)

Mr Spooner's aircraft Fitzgerald (11)

Mistake unknown (5)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format including the central letter to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8th March 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 January 2021

 Crossword News January 2021

The December Prize Puzzle was Seasons Greetings XII by Eclogue. The theme of this crossword was the song All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth. In the grid the word INCISOR had to be highlighted twice, crossing diagonally.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Lovely puzzle, and indeed all anyone could want for Christmas.  Excellent craft in developing the concept, and grid construction.  Quite liked the way the Incisors were depicted in the completed grid.  Many clever clues too - could have been a whole lot tougher if 'Sister Susie' hadn't revealed itself early on, and knowing there must be a Christmas connection made it possible to identify the theme.  A most enjoyable solve.

Thanks to all the setters and the CC team for regularly providing high quality, stimulating puzzles. 

This was a fun puzzle from Eclogue. I was chomping at the bit to tackle this and eagerly sank my teeth into it. I soon worked out that the composer was GARDNER, but that almost caused me to bite off more than I could chew, as I initially settled on *John* Gardner and tried to find a connection to "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day" or "The Holly and the Ivy." Fortunately, I gritted my teeth and worked out the tougher clues, which allowed me to fill in the gaps. I was able to whistle a happy tune when the puzzle was completed! 

An entertaining solve with a novel twist on the Christmas theme.  The missing items were neatly handled in the grid to allow all real words and finding the ones to be highlighted was surprisingly hard – don’t think I’d expected them to be crossed!  Thanks to Eclogue for this puzzle and for keeping the tradition going.

There were 46 entries, of which 5 were marked incorrect. Solvers who highlighted 15 cells were marked correct, as long as the two incisors were included. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat was Rod Bell, who will be receiving a prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary which was donated by Chambers.

There is a full solution with notes at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2021/01/solution-to-crossword-centre-prize.html

There is still plenty time left to solve this month’s challenge, Best Mates by Chalicea.
https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/12/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-january.html

The February Prize Puzzle will be Changing Places by Rebus, our Aussie setters.
***
We now have the results of our annual competition. 11 competitors managed a 100% record for the year of 2019; they were:
Matthew Auger
Brian Betker
Andie Johnson
Keith Williams
John Reardon
Dale Johannesen
Dave Howell
Ronan Cullinane
RJ Green
Rod Beards
Philip Wood
As is our own tradition now, previous winners politely step aside, and then of course a winner
had to be calculated by countback to previous errors...
...and the winner is...

John Reardon. John will be presented with the prestigious Crowther Cup. Congratulations!
***
Crossword setter, Richard Palmer, died in hospital on Christmas Day after losing his battle with leukaemia.

Richard compiled 229 Telegraph Crosswords, many of which appeared as Saturday prize crosswords; the last of these ran in October this year. He also compiled 82 Toughies under his pseudonym of Messinae, and an EV under his pseudonym of Merlin. He had 15 Listener crosswords, most recently in June 2020 and was a very successful clue-writer in the Azed competitions.
http://www.andlit.org.uk/azed/by_cluer.php?series=B&cluer_id=70

Don Manley has sent me a photo of his last meeting with Richard Palmer and Azed on the day of the cancelled Azed Lunch in September. http://www.crossword.org.uk/DonRichard.jpg
***
John Halpern (Paul) will be teaming up with stand-up comedian (and crossword setter) Dave Gorman for a crossword -creating show on 12 February. You can watch them create a crossword on the theme of Madness, a topic chosen by Dave. To access the show, you have to sign up and you can do so on this link. https://www.johnhalpern.co.uk/dave-gorman

John is holding a number of crossword events with celebrities, including Will Shortz, NY Times crossword editor, Alastair Hignell and Sophie Winkleman in the next month. Events are free but there is an option to give a donation.
***
John Nicholson is devising a new Round Robin puzzle. This will be the thirteenth in a very popular series. This is what he wrote.

It is that time of year again when we ask for volunteer clue writers for what will be the 13th round-robin puzzle. For those not familiar with the process, we put a thematic grid together and ask willing members to write a clue each. Solvers can award points to their favourite clues and the setter whose clue gains the most points will receive a prize. More importantly, it is a bit of fun where we can all join in. If you have taken part before, we hope you will again, and if you haven’t please do give it a try. You can contact me on email gironanick@yahoo.com or leave a message via the messaging system on the message board.

All are plain clues this time. The entries are on a list and simply allocated in that order so it is luck of the draw. In past years we have had a great response but just fallen short of a full house so some volunteers kindly set two clues. We are hoping for a good turnout this year, but just in case we are in the same boat, please indicate in your message if you would happy to write a second and I will allocate them in the order of initial responses should it be necessary in mid-January.

As I write there are still a dozen words left to be clued.
***
A site that might be useful for Scrabble Players is Wordfinder. I would like to hear the experts’ opinion on this website before I add it to the links page.
https://wordfinder.yourdictionary.com/
***
I have updated the link to Independent crosswords which was leading to the wrong page. There are some good cryptics here but you do have to watch an advert first.
https://puzzles.independent.co.uk/
***
Once again it has been pointed out that a solver has been asking for help on, what I can only describe as cheat sites, to solve one of our Prize Puzzles. Am I the only one to be horrified that someone would list a dozen clues and the sit back while others supplied the answers.
***
In the Clue-writing Competition your first challenge for this new year is a STANDARD CRYPTIC clue to DISTAFF (7) by the closing date of MIDNIGHT GMT SATURDAY 30th JANUARY. http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php
***
There are now 206 members on the Google mailing list.

If you want to receive newsletters and clue-writing information in your in-box you should sign up to the new Crossword Centre group on Google. You can join this group at https://groups.google.com/g/crosswordcentre

Crossword News will, as usual, be available on the Crossword Centre http://www.crossword.org.uk/newsletter.html and on the blog https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/

Best wishes
Derek

 

Solution to the Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle December 2020

 Solution to Seasons Greetings XII by Eclogue

The extra letters from wordplay provide “SISTER SUSIE SITTING (on a) THISTLE”, a line from “All I Want for Christmas is MY TWO FRONT TEETH” by Donald Yetter GARDNER.  Two INCISORs were therefore the required highlighting.

Across

1 Gram; MARG<

5 time; EMIT<

S 11 Armani; A + MAN in [S]IR<

I 13 purer: PU[I]R + ER

S 14 Leblanc; (BELL[S] CAN)*

T 15 Nestor; NEST + [T]OR

E 17 hechs; HE +CH[E]S(s)

R 18 inrush; [R]IN + RUSH

S 21 avoided; [S]IDE in A + V + OD

U 24 Cassio; CAS(t) + IO[U]S*

S 25 rices; CRISE[S]*

27 aloo; hidden; vindALOOs

28 axon; AX + ON

I 32 Tutsi; [I]T + (SUIT)*

E 34 castor; CAST[E] + OR

S 36 flensed; (ENDLES[S] + F)*

I 37 espada; PA[I]D in (SEA)*

T 38 scudo; SCU[T] + DO

T 44 Cyrano; (CAN [T]ORY)*; ref. Cyrano de Bergerac

I 45 bemuses; EM[I] in BUSES

N 46 kukri; UK in (RI[N]K)*

G 47 épuisé; PU[G] in (I SEE)*

48 spat; initial letters; S P A T 

49 read; RE + AD

Down

T 1 Gallican; CAN[T] after GALL + I

H 2 ambers; (c)[H]AMBERS

3 nas; N A S

4 ins; two meanings

5 ich; I + CH

6 ane; (me)ANE(st)

7 pec; PEC(k)

I 8 tushie; HI in (SU[I]TE)*

S 9 meowed; ([S]OME)* + WED

T 10 erred; hidden; fERRE[T] Down

L 12 regnal; REG + N + AL[L]

E 16 muso; MUS[E] + O

19 sits; (ST + IS)<

20 hose; (t)HOSE

21 arid; (AIR)* + D

22 vice; three meanings

23 ocas; CA in OS

G 26 unraised; ([G]RAIN USED)*

A 29 asps; S[A]P in AS

R 30 oodles; LE in [R]OODS

D 31 play up; LA[D]Y in PUP

N 33 uncart; [N]UN + CA + RT

E 35 tassie; T[E]A + (IS)< in SE 

R 36 fecks; F + [R]ECKS

39 uni; hidden; mUNIcipal

40 dog; two meanings; &lit.

41 obo; initial letters; O B O

42 bee; two meanings

43 ump; hidden; stUMPs

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.