Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle May 2022

 Mayhem Parva by Vagans

PDF version

 Villainy is afoot once again in an English village. Extra letters given by the wordplay of down clues (not to be entered) spell out a hint which can help identify the serial protagonist (and avoid two red herrings linked to the location). Solvers should highlight the name of the village (12) and the person responsible for the events (6) (17 cells in all). Chambers is recommended.

Across

    1    Good pop group's music with strong rhythm (5)

    5    Spanish Christian rabble surrounds royal horsewoman (7)

    10    Alastair's odd roar is out of order (4)

    11    Publishers receive a wooden bowl in Holyrood (4)

    13    Not at all game, not I (6)

    14    Stylish in neckwear concealing worn facial feature (6)

    15    Blue blood flowing - Bob's not mingled with it - in old-fashioned single combat (6)

    17    Feel sad about decapitated bird (5)

    18    Thorny wood, sharp, put back round head of Bethlehemite (5)

    20    Environmentally concerned nation has no support in upper chamber (8)

    21    Expert holds letter for Medusa? (8)

    27    Queen in drive to broadcast again (5)

    29    Dreamy piece of music when virtual reality's elements added to this (5)

    30    Fool in church returning for bottoms of pies? (6)

    31    Saloon outraged as soon as Edmund said it (6)

    32    Put limits on entertaining traditional game in Texas (6, 2 words)

    35    Murphy likes pudding's filling (4)

    36    In Georgia he clarified buffalo butter (4)

    37    Salesman plans repeat events (7)

    38    Tea, bishop? We hear it's toast and salmon (5)

Down

    1    Clot of sticky stuff on highland river (6)

    2    Bow he's stolen from Ambridge inhabitant? (3)

    3    Black raider in disguise shoots north of Border (6)

    4    Alien has head covered with sheepskin for helmet (6)

    5    Sort of acid bloke with microphone (6)

    6    Old herald's wavy leap unknown (5)

    7    State rules on new beard (3)

    8    Tags eaglets circling heart of shire (7)

    9    Piece about bridge by eastern war poet (6)

    11    Punish youths (they can hold knives in their drawers) (8)

    12    Military Cross on Napoleon's island leads to some sort of toast (5)

    16    Fish in disturbed eastern sound made bird look again (8)

    19    Sprang up after spiked club revealing needle points (7)

    21    Tell for instance one who is keeping in step (6)

    22    Seed covers the Italian surrounded by ears (5)

    23    Suggestion about a Yankee opening (6)

    24    Tired moan from GI back in southern hospital in bed (6)

    25    African-American man re-organised Arbroath when Rector away (6)

    26    Swan tore up old quill-case (6)

    28    Theatrical in a frosty way about part of sound system? (5)

    33    Tropical pea has no superior in land in north (3)

    34    Girl's long-legged bird (3)

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

Crossword News April 2022

 

Crossword News April 2022

The March Prize Puzzle was Endless Shame by Chalicea. Unclued entries gave Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. Both claimed to be Richard, The Duke of York (the younger of the Princes in the Tower). Both were ultimately recognised to be pretenders. The word PRETENDER had to be highlighted.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Thanks go to Chalicea for a relatively easy puzzle, as we have come to expect from this setter, but with two or three more obscure answers to have you checking the dictionary - PIOYES, AUMIL, PHEAZAR. I did initially search for IMPOSTOR in the grid, before alighting on PRETENDER.  I'm sure many of us will remember the blue pre-printed aerogram letter forms - a quick check online shows they were only withdrawn in 2012 - though I don't remember them being called BLUEYS.

Thank you Chalicea for some new words (to me) all of them very fairly clued.  Consequently, the grid was not too difficult to complete.  In this I was aided by immediately spotting the subject matter through a combination of the title and the instructions.  Although it was over 50 years ago, I remember Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel from a school history lesson. (So you see, Sir, I was paying attention!  Well at least on that day.)  I suppose the unusual sound if the names help them to stay in one's mind.  I seem to remember that the authors of 1066 And All That had some fun with them too.

When I saw in the preamble (original version) that two names "claimed to be ...", I immediately thought of my history lessons many decades ago and pencilled in "LAMBERT SIMNEL" and "PERKIN WARBECK" before looking at any clues. So filling the grid was unusually quick! I had much more trouble with the highlighting. I quickly ruled out IMPOSTOR but then spent a while looking at the letters of USURPER in rows 3 to 6, columns 1 to 3. It was a long time before I found PRETENDER!  I did not see the revised preamble until after that. The fact that Simnel purported to be the Earl of Warwick rather than Duke of York bothered me at one stage, but the Wikipedia article says "Simon noticed a striking resemblance between Lambert and the sons of Edward IV, so he initially intended to present Simnel as Richard, Duke of York ...", so I wasn’t too fussed!

There were 67 entries and, although many solvers said the puzzle was easy, there were 17 entries marked incorrect, often for invalid spellings of PEIZE or PHEAZAR. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, is Chris Edwards, who will soon be receiving his prize.

There is a full solution with notes at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2022/04/endless-shame-by-chalicea-solution-and.html

You still have plenty time to send in your entry for the April challenge, Round Robin XIV.

The May puzzle will be Mayhem Parva by Vagans.

David Thomson, who sets under the nom de guerre of ‘Vagans’, is a life-long wordaholic, As a young academic he nearly worked for the Oxford English Dictionary before turning his collar round and being ordained in the C of E, ending up as a bishop. In retirement he has been able to give more time to his continuing ’night job' as a mediaevalist, and to try turning his coat round this time, from poacher to gamekeeper in the world of cryptic crosswords. He has had puzzles published in the Listener, IQ, EV, Church Times and (as half of ‘Ovid’) in the Magpie magazine, and there are more in the pipeline. He is enormously grateful to those more experienced setters who have shown him the ropes and helped him on his way.

After May there is a dearth of puzzles to publish. Once again, we are looking for submissions for the summer months.

***
The first weekend of April saw the return of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, after a virtual event in 2021. In the final it was another win for Tyler Hinman, with Dan Feyer in close contention. You can find more information at https://www.crosswordtournament.com/2022/index.htm

Rachel Fabi gives an excellent description of the tournament in this NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/11/crosswords/crossword-puzzle-tournament-diary.html
***
In March the Listener Crossword Setters’ Dinner was held in Stirling. I watched much of the event on Zoom. You can download a copy of the quiz used at the Listener Crossword Dinner from https://www.jetdoc.co.uk/crossword-and-quiz-links
Shirley Curran  has put her photos from the Listener Dinner weekend at https://www.flickr.com/photos/194321761@N03/sets/72177720297740321/

***
Congratulations to Mick Hodgkin, who will be taking over the post of puzzles editor at The Times.
***
Congrats are also due to the Sunday Times who published puzzle No. 5000 at the end of March. Editor, Peter Biddlecombe wrote this fascinating article https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/wordle-crossword-craze-sunday-times-puzzles-kdwc03g67
***
Exciting news! From today, the #SquareRoutes puzzle in #TheTimes can be played interactively in the latest versions of "The Times & The Sunday Times" phone and tablet apps, and on the Times website. Head straight to the Puzzles section for a great new solving experience. Enjoy!
***
In the male-dominated world of crossword setters it is always pleasant to read about a young woman who is having some success. Read more about Anna Shechtman here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-60902128
***
It was very nice to have Robert Teuton dropping in for lunch. Now that he has a granddaughter nearby, I expect to see more of him. He brought the prestigious Crowther Cup with him, fresh from the engraver with Philip Wood’s name added. I hope to have a photo of Philip with the cup soon.

 

 

Best wishes    

Derek Harrison

Endless Shame by Chalicea Solution and Explanations

 Endless Shame by Chalicea Solution and Explanations

Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck both claimed to be Richard, The Duke of York (the younger of the Princes in the Tower). Both were ultimately recognised to be pretenders.

 

Across: 2 Blueys, 7 Grovet, 12 Naan, 13 Bemoiled, 14 Sumacs, 16 Cadee, 17 Unblamed, 18 Hound, 19 Peize, 20 Smalti, 21 Perkin, 22 Warbeck, 23 Ante, 24 Spend, 26 Sese, 29 Sesotho, 32 Down to, 33 Pioyes, 35 Areca, 36 Aumil, 37 Animally, 38 Bindi, 39 Dorado, 40 Seizable, 41 Ever, 42 Yelper, 43 See red.

Down: 1 Unsurpassably, 3 Lambert, 4 Unalike, 5 Yes-men, 6 Smees, 7 Goodman, 8 Richard, 9 Vedute, 10 Edenic, 11 The Duke of York, 15 Unpen, 24 Stylize, 25 Pheazar, 26 Swearer, 27 Enclave, 28 Stal'd, 30 Épuisé, 31 Simnel, 32 Daidle, 34 Snibs.

 

Across: 2 BLUE + Y + (receive)S, 7 G + R + (apr)O(pos), 12 NAN around A, 13 B(r)E(a)M + OILED, 14 {SCAM US}<, 16 CAD + E E, 17 UN + B + LAMED, 18 Hidden, 19 (sus)PE + I + Z + E, 20 DISMALTIME - DIME, 23 ETNA<, 24 S + P + END, 26 SE SE, 29 Hidden, 32 DOWNTO(n), 33 P + I + (p)O(l)Y(m)E(r)S, 35 AREA around C, 36 A + U + MIL, 37 {MAIN ALLY}*, 38 BIN + DI, 39 DO + RA(y) + DO, 40 SIZABLE around (wh)(el)E, 41 (s)EVER(e), 42 REPLY< around E, 43 DECREES< less C.

Down: 1 {LABS SAY RUN UPS}*, 4 Hidden, 5 REPAYMENTS* less PART*, 6 SEEMS<, 7 {NO DOGMA}*, 9 V + ETUDE<, 10 EDEN + IC, 15 UN + PEN, 24 STYLE around (pr)IZ(es), 25 "PHEAZE" heard + AR(e), 26 S + WEARER, 27 EVE round CLAN*, 28 ST + (m)A(u)L(e)D, 30 (h)E(l)P(b)U(s)I(e)S(t) + (servic)E, 32 LADDIE*, 34 S BINS<. 

 RR XIV - Second Capital

PDF version

Across clues are normal. The wordplay in all but one down clue leads to an extra letter not entered in the grid. The number of the plain down clue needs inserting at some point into the message given by the extra down letters. The message should then lead solvers to a location represented in the grid.

One row must be changed to show the location and highlighted, along with six separate features, one of them unusual. (40 cells highlighted in total.)

All entries in the final grid are real words. The Chambers 13th edition is the primary reference.

Across

  1 According to locals, ravine to west of Ghana is main point of interest (6)

  5 Judge of old is officer when in court (6)

10 The man keeping dog well-trained is a rustic (5)

12 COVID-19 often is so fast around centre of Bath (6)

13 More on the rocks, less cordial (5)

14 Colours featured in painting essentials (6)

15 Buffet items regularly ignored are sandwiches (7)

16 Fern from very large embankment with old shed (6)

18 Artificial insemination company given thanks for reversing female sterility (6)

20 Space back on ICU: man finally gets cast off (6)

21 Retired senior warrant officer backs overthrown ruler, ready to fight (6, 2 words)

23 It's a shame war film is about son being lost (6, 2 words)

27 Uncovered circular translating Eurasian group of languages (6)

31 Old man crushed by reduced sex drive hit rock bottom (7)

32 Separate and remove worn-out insole after running (6)

33 As a friend to the French and the Namibians, to some extent (5, 2 words)

34 No fat, no seconds, taking time to reflect, it's good, we say, for his gut (6)

35 In relation to waste filtration unit, learn to recycle (5)

36 Precious stone (for many) is set askew on top of tiara (6)

37 Israel's been in conflict, ignoring Blair, working for this former communist (6)

Down

  1 Gypsy girl's magic ring lost in northern hail (5)

  2 I do relish eating sorrel - its pods provide food (6)

  3 Loathing first hint of Madeira, leaves trifle (5)

  4 Group stopping longer on IOM openly cry when leaving Douglas? (8)

  5 A term of respect assumed by nobleman out East! (5)

  6 Old Spaniard’s ready to be MC in broadcast (7)

  7 Gum arabic crushed in cog (6)

  8 Think old well's empty (5)

  9 Police take guest's silk dress (6)

11 One local getting urge to take up joint (4)

12 Her turned-out feet derived her name, bad ale fermented does the same (5)

17 Returning cleric, imprisoned by peacekeepers with ordained son, issues retraction (8)

19 Give up terrible care and sulk (7, 2 words)

21 Dirty, ignoring carbon footprint? (6)

22 It includes crooked lines around divisions (6)

23 City is endlessly bullish (5)

24 Pilot securing chart in dreadful rain (6)

25 Brief introduces client’s final character witness (5)

26 Legendary king’s followers eliminating inferior knight (5)

28 Monsieur’s elder son dropped off laxative powder (4)

29 Greenlit a network of housing support for Greystoke (5)

30 Land having rough higher places with wild grapes to be picked (5)

Entries

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

Voting

You may vote for your favourite clue with your entry. You can just nominate one clue, which will be awarded 3 points, or your top three which will be awarded 3, 2 and 1 points. The person whose clue accumulates the most points will receive a prize, which also has been donated by the Crossword Centre.

Clues by…

…Anax, Avtaar, Steve Bartlett, David Beamish, Rod Beards, Rod Bell, Peter Finan, Simon Griew, Derek Harrison, Hawk, Hedge-sparrow, Karla, Eddy Looby, Alf Mullins,  Satyen Nabar, Joe Nicholson, John Nicholson, John Nolan, Andrew Macleod, Leon Marzillier, Mark Oshin, Bhalchandra Pasupathy, Phylax, Ed Powles, Sowmya Ram, Ian Simpson, Andy Smith, Peter Smith, William Snow, Andy Stewart, Robert Teuton, David Thompson, Ian Thompson, John Tozer, Vismut, Luciano Ward, Clive Weatherley, David Whyte and Keith Williams. 

Crossword News March 2022

 Crossword News March 2022

Last month, the Prize Puzzle was Missing Letters by Conto. Because of the number of unches, it was quite hard until you realised that the missing letters matched the grid numbers. Here are some of the comments from solvers.

This was a pretty quick solve once the theme was spotted - 26 clues all with unique entry numbers made it quite easy to spot but it was still very enjoyable. I imagine it must have been a bit tricky to construct and get all 26 letters in there but there were no obscure answers even though I’m not a fan of less than half the letters being checked.  I don’t think I have encountered Conto before but I’ll definitely watch out for more of their puzzles.

A simple idea, beautifully implemented by Conto. Clearly this one was all about the clues, of which I admired pretty much all of them, but in particular the amusing surface reading of FRAUD, the delightfully misleading clue for FORECASTS, and the just perfect clue for MY WAY. I'm sure I could go on. Many thanks, Conto.

Many thanks to Conto. I thought this was quite a tricky puzzle, with some well concealed wordplays and some amusing and witty clues. I realised fairly quickly that each clue had a different missing letter of the alphabet but had the grid well filled before the penny dropped that the clue numbers corresponded to position in the alphabet of the missing letter. That would have made filling the grid a lot easier!

There were 59 entries, of which only 2 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Clive Walker from London, who will be receiving a prize donated by Chambers before the end of the month.

There is a full solution at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2022/03/solution-to-missing-letters-by-conto.html

You still have lots of time to finish this month’s prize puzzle, Endless Shame by Chalicea.

The April Prize Puzzle will be our 14^th Round Robin crossword. Once again we were amazed at the number of volunteers who came forward to write clues. When you send your solution you can vote for your favourite clues and the clue that gets the most votes will receive a prize.

Clues were written by Anax, Avtaar, Steve Bartlett, David Beamish, Rod Beards, Rod Bell, Peter Finan, Simon Griew, Derek Harrison, Hawk, Hedge-sparrow, Karla, Eddy Looby, Alf Mullins,  Satyen Nabar, Joe Nicholson, John Nicholson, John Nolan, Andrew Macleod, Leon Marzillier, Mark Oshin, Bhalchandra Pasupathy, Phylax, Ed Powles, Sowmya Ram, Ian Simpson, Andy Smith, Peter Smith, William Snow, Andy Stewart, Robert Teuton, David Thompson, Ian Thompson, John Tozer, Vismut, Luciano Ward, Clive Weatherley, David Whyte and Keith Williams.
***
Fifty years ago, on the 5^th March 1972, the first Azed crossword was published in the Observer. On the death of Ximenes, Jonathan Crowther had sent an ‘in memoriam’ puzzle in the shape of an X to the paper. The crossword editor said they would like to publish that puzzle and offered him the job. Azed has done a fantastic job in those 50 years. You can read more in this Observer article.

In the article the group of Azed followers who meet for lunch is wrongly called the Groundings. Tim Moorey has assured me that the group is called the Gruntlings. He says, “The founder members were Colin Clarke and me. We met at an Azed anniversary and lunched at LS Grunts as it was close to where we both worked at the time. Colin in High Holborn and me in Covent Garden.

We lunched together a couple of times and were joined later by John Grimshaw, Paul Henderson, Chris Brougham, Jeff Pearce and Mike Laws. I'm not sure what the order of their joining was.

I do recall the name Gruntlings coming up for the first time was at a suggestion of either John or Paul which we quickly adopted. I think that was in Porters restaurant but I may be mistaken in that.”

***
The Wordle game has become increasingly popular and I enjoy the daily challenge. I have also been trying the game in Spanish and French. You can find a list of available languages here https://rwmpelstilzchen.gitlab.io/wordles/
***
The annual Apex competition has continued now for 50 years since Eric Chalkley started it and twenty years since Phi took over. So, the 2021 puzzle was themed on 50s (L) and 20s (scores). Competitors had to write a double clue to SCORE/FIFTY with a redundant word beginning with L. At the end of the voting, it was John Hood who came top. Congratulations, John!

Winning clues to SCORE/FIFTY (with intervening word beginning with L)

1st       Bitter about calorie count, languid half-ton fatty regularly overlooked eating condition                                                         John Hood

2nd      Fellow in agreement with X’s successor: half a century later the principles of sound clueing only reinforce each result        John Tozer     

3rd       Irritated about Conservative record, look sharp imposing fine for Number 10 several times                                       John Grimshaw

3rd       Stokes and company achieve little, flopping in four Tests, yearning firstly for an innings worth applauding?            Philip Marlow

If you would like to try the puzzle, Phi will be posting it on his website shortly. http://phionline.net.nz/
***
On the 22^nd February it was the 90^th birthday of Roger Squires, the crossword setter known as Rufus. I tweeted a link to Roger's crossword records and his account of the time when the Telegraph was on the brink of sacking all their setters. What surprised me, on a second read, was to learn who was editor of the Telegraph at that time.

Best wishes
Derek

 

 

 

Solution to Missing Letters by Conto

 Solution to Missing by Conto

‘Missing Letters’ by Conto – Solutions/Explanations – Definitions underlined

For each clue, the correlating letter from the alphabet is absent from the wordplay. Such respective letters are indicated below in bold.

4. A mature saying (5) A + AGE = ADAGE
25. Fruit beer distributed with obscure packaging (9) BLU{(BEER)*distributed}R = BLUEBERRY
12. East of Switzerland, old queen makes trench (7) CH + ANNE = CHANNEL
15. Situation in court – ten playing against ten (7) C{(TEN)*playing+X}T = CONTEXT
9. One committed to assasinate the King in state capital of Eswatini (7) F[r]ANCE + E[swatini] = FIANCEE
6. Fish used to provide these, cryptically – roe upon sea’s surface (9) ORECAST + S = FORECASTS / ORE CAST = (ORE)*cast = roe
1. Father nude…Nude? That’s a crime! (5) FR + [n]UD[e] = FRAUD
11. Come to be cuddling a special seal (6) G{AS}ET = GASKET
5. How mum passes buck to a guy for shark wrestling (2,3,4,6) (TOAGUYFORSHARKWRESTLING)*wrestling = GO ASK YOUR FATHER
7. Attic smell (5) REEK = GREEK
8. Bill and Dorothy’s dog eaten by eagle – filleted or whole? (4-2-3) E[agl]{AD+TOTO}E = HEAD TO TOE
19. That man sung songs (5) HYMN (homophone, ‘sung’, of ‘him’) = HYMNS
22. One key number that is imaginary or unknown (5) I + OR + Y = IVORY
10. Young person (that’s posh) by the banks of Venice river (8) U + V[enic]E + NILE = JUVENILE
24. City leaders in advance talks with Conto’s waste disposal facility! (8) LA + A[dvance] T[alks] + I’VE = LAXATIVE
17. Starts to lay out utensils and to serve oriental fruit (7) L[ay] O[ut] U[tensils] A[nd] T[o] S[erve] = LOQUATS
18. Mother with large boy getting the train? (7) MA + L + LAD = MALLARD
20. Meals regularly dispatched by one very loud dog (7) M[e]A[l]S + I + FF = MASTIFF
13. Standard or dairy-free Galaxy? (2,3) [milk]Y WAY = MY WAY
16. Dog and Duck football team (7) O + INTER = POINTER
14. Broken toy, buckets, bottles and locks one’s gathered (9) P{(TOY)*broken}AILS = PONYTAILS
3. Socialist’s repeatedly taken drugs, thus declines (7) RE{E}D{E}S = RECEDES
2. Misguidedly met up with her online, i.e. exchanged contact (9,6) (METUPHERONL[I>E]NE)*misguidedly = TELEPHONE NUMBER
21. Turnover of three-hundred dairies containing teats (5) Reverse hidden = UDDER
22. Heated with heat (6) ARMED = WARMED
26. ‘Bungle Bear’ is an animal (5) (BEAR)*bungle = ZEBRA

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle March 2022

 Endless Shame by Chalicea

PDF version

   3,31 made a false claim then 21,22 claimed to be 8,11 (7,3,4,2,4) all unclued. Solvers must highlight in the grid what each of them was ultimately recognised to be.

Across

    2    Melancholy Yankee finally receives airmail letters (6)

    7    Good, right and at heart apropos to critically examine wrestling hold (6)

    12    Gran consuming a type of bread (4)

    13    Will's bedraggled bream regularly smeared with cooking fat (8)

    14    Dishonest scheme US backed for trees (6)

    16    One who ran errands once; base eastern Scottish porter (5)

    17    A French bastard made someone hobble and was not censured (8)

    18    Penned in Soho, undisciplined dog (5)

    19    Heartily suspects one variable English weight of long ago (5)

    20    Dismal time lacking ten cents for cubes of glass (6)

    23    Rejected vessel's advance payment (4)

    24    Give money to pay for something - special soft object (5)

    26    Direction repeated; enough said for bard (4)

    29    Dialect phrase so thoughtfully used (7)

    32    The fault of mostly the Crawley family's abbey (6, 2 words)

    33    Phosphorus and iodine polymers occasionally found in Edinburgh's fireworks (6)

    35    Tropical tree in region around cape (5)

    36    A universal old Cypriot coin for a tax collector (5)

    37    Main ally in disarray physically (8)

    38    Casually reject police inspector's mark (5)

    39    Couple of parties consuming most of ray fish (6)

    40    Largish, going round centre of wheel and capable of being grasped (8)

    41    Always endlessly rigorous (4)

    42    Answer returned about European yapper (6)

    43    Be irked by countermanded orders college ignored (6, 2 words)

Down

    1    Labs say run-ups managed in a way that cannot be exceeded (13)

    4    Not the same as tribunal I keenly covered (7)

    5    Disorderly repayments, part dubiously missing for obedient followers (6)

    6    Appears upset for ducks (5)

    7    No dogma by arrangement for Benny, US clarinetist, King of Swing (7)

    9    See revolutionary composition for cityscapes (6)

    10    Old PM in charge - idyllic! (6)

    15    Let loose a rural swan (5)

    24    Conventionally represent with flair securing prizes essentially (7)

    25    Fees, we are told are mostly for the bard's one who settles business (7)

    26    Singular person with body covering - one who curses (7)

    27    Enclosure of disorderly clan welcomed by first lady (7)

    28    Street now and then mauled; brought to a standstill once (5)

    30    Not oddly, help busiest before end of service - worn out in Maxim's (6)

    32    In Glamis, stagger laddie inordinately (6)

    34    Put up special containers for storing small bolts on Clydeside (5)

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