Once again it falls to me to blog the first of a new century of puzzles (our third!) and this one is by Tracy, our longest serving setter (but only by a day) having started with puzzle #002. The very first offering was set by Des who contributed only the one before retiring, that is unless he subsequently changed his moniker. This puzzle is well up to standard though I would guess it’s at the easier end of the spectrum. Rather unusually it has only two anagrams and none at all in the Across clues. Continuing my run of quick solves, this one took me 9 minutes.
Definitions {deletions} [indicators]
|
Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Keenly interested, prima donna? The reverse (4) |
| AVID – DIVA (prima donna) reversed | |
| 4 | Stop advocate getting bribe (8) |
| KICKBACK – KICK (stop -as in ‘kick a habit’ for example), BACK (advocate) | |
| 8 | Left bishop inside, yet to lose (8) |
| UNBEATEN – B (bishop) inside UNEATEN (left) | |
| 9 | Endless filth is ghastly (4) |
| GRIM – GRIM{e} (filth) [endless] | |
| 10 | Goddess losing credit in moment of truth (4) |
| ISIS – {cr}ISIS (moment of truth) with ‘cr’ (credit) removed | |
| 11 | Dogs, mine, leading bovine animals (3,5) |
| PIT BULLS – PIT (mine), BULLS (bovine animals) | |
| 12 | Declare invalid must have blood type checked yearly (16) |
| ANNUAL – ANNUL (declare invalid) with A (blood type) inside [checked] | |
| 14 | Home team’s content (6) |
| INSIDE – IN (home), SIDE (team) | |
| 16 | Cricket’s appeal? (4,4) |
| HOW’S THAT – Cryptic definition. An appeal to the umpire in cricket to give the batsman out e.g. Leg Before Wicket. I think it’s more usually spelt ‘howzat’ or ‘owzat’ in this context. | |
| 18 | Lost, by the sound of it, in a thin fog (4) |
| MIST – sounds like “missed” (lost) | |
| 19 | Travel document is required to enter Virginia (4) |
| VISA – IS inside VA (Virginia) | |
| 20 | Just terrible losing face (8) |
| RIGHTFUL – {f}RIGHTFUL (terrible) minus its first letter [losing face] | |
| 22 | Sappers let out (8) |
| RELEASED – RE (sappers – Royal Engineers), LEASED (let) | |
| 23 | Eat nothing when wrapped in newspaper (4) |
| FAST – AS (when) inside FT (newspaper – Financial Times) | |
|
Down |
|
| 2 | Meat cooked in ovens (7) |
| VENISON – Anagram [cooked] of IN OVENS | |
| 3 | Clean frock (5) |
| DRESS – Double definition | |
| 4 | Clothing used by ski team (3) |
| KIT – Hidden inside sKI Team | |
| 5 | Working with firm after start of credit squeeze (9) |
| CONSTRICT – C{redit}, ON (working), STRICT (firm) | |
| 6 | Powerful people in ordnance? (3,4) |
| BIG GUNS – Double definition, the first figurative | |
| 7 | Small child unwell – this may be the cause (5) |
| CHILL – CH (small child), ILL (unwell) | |
| 11 | Some fish and chips fried with lard (9) |
| PILCHARDS – Anagram [fried] of CHIPS LARD. “Some” could be part of the definition or padding, but in either case it seems superfluous. Maybe it’s intended to misdirect and make us look for a hidden word. | |
| 13 | Outdo, winning leg (7) |
| UPSTAGE – UP (winning), STAGE (leg) | |
| 15 | Go into throwing event, last of disciplines (7) |
| DISCUSS – DISCUS (throwing event), {discipline}S | |
| 17 | Postponed round? Fine (2,3) |
| ON ICE – O (round), NICE (fine) | |
| 18 | Design symbol, second on short row (5) |
| MOTIF – MO (second), TIF{f} (row) [short] | |
| 21 | Extremely influential man shot by duke (3) |
| GOD – GO (shot), D (duke) | |
Other than that, relatively plain sailing with some nice clues (particularly liked 17d and 12ac).
Thanks to Jack for very neat blog and our setter Tracy.
By the way, fellow bloggers, I’m back in UK time now so, whilst every effort will be made to post early, I may be posting later than the last few weeks. (But obviously before the deadline of 10ish).
Edited at 2014-12-15 11:07 am (UTC)
Agree about plural fish, quite helpful that ‘some’.
But thank you for the clarification.
COD was 11a pit bulls.
Helpful blog , as ever!
Mostly straightforward for me, except in trying to make big wigs and big boys fit as ordnance. A rather liked the definition for GOD. Thanks for the blog, Jackkt.
Sorry, but did not enjoy GOD. Put it in because it “had to be” but really, really (is that enough emphasis) disliked the definition.
Thank you so much for the blog, it’s incredibly helpful to me!
It’s short for moment as in “wait a mo” / “wait a second”.
I’m glad you find the blog useful. It would be nice if you could put a name (made up or otherwise) to your messages, or better still sign up for a free Live Journal account using the button at the very top of the page.