Happy New Year to all solvers and setters. This is the Christmas puzzle that appeared 20th December and from the unclued letters, the message is:
HAVE A GOOD ONE
Sentiments that I’m sure we would all like to reciprocate to our three Mephisto setters.
I thought this was thankfully a little harder than of late in any case but with the missing letters adding perhaps another degree of difficulty, although I didn’t really feel that it was necessary to tell us that the missing letters were symmetrically placed. Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle with no quibbles and no queries.
Have a good new year and lets look forward to some challenging solving in 2010
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 2 | SHIN-BARKER – S(naps)-I-N(oisily)-BARKER; H unclued ; reference Sue Barker; what Holmes did not hear; |
| 11 | HORROR – HO-RR-OR; stop=HO; before=OR-3; car=RR=Rolls Royce (a common abbreviation not supported by C); |
| 12 | ACED – (a)CED(e); A unclued ; how to get into the Ivy League perhaps; |
| 13 | ARVO – (ORA reversed); V unclued ; Oz for afternoon; |
| 14 | NOT – (s)NOT; contemptible person=snot then polled=cut; NOT-2=polled; |
| 15 | CRUDE – CRU(D)E; Dutch=D; drilling=insertion indicator; CRUE=old word for crew; speculator’s gravy train; |
| 17 | WHEESON – WHEE(SO)N; a few in Aberdeen=WHEEN; well!=SO!; Waggledagger’s Whitsun; nice clue; |
| 19 | MARE’S-NEST – (T-SENSE-RM all reversed); A unclued ; tense=T; jolly=Royal Marine=RM; teenager’s bedroom; |
| 20 | SERRE – S-ERR-(correspondenc)E; to close ranks (see serried in C); |
| 21 | NONAGE – NO-NAE; G unclued ; minority=legal infancy=NONAGE; |
| 24 | DOOSRA – (Broads minus B=Bravo)*; O unclued ; Mushtaq’s magic; |
| 27 | MIGHT – M-(r)IGHT; mobile=M; run=r; |
| 30 | WAGENBOOM – WAGE-NB-OM; O unclued ;millions=M; of=O; the wood used to make wagon wheels; |
| 32 | KHOISAN – K(HO)ISAN; hullo=HO; indian peasant=KISAN; a family of languages; |
| 34 | TAMIN – TAMIN(g); a fabric; |
| 36 | DUB – DU(m)B; money=M; |
| 37 | IOUS – I-US; O unclued ; indeed=aye=I-3; |
| 38 | ANON – ANO; N unclued ; (b)O(s)N(i)A(n) reversed; |
| 39 | SUCKLE – S-(b)UCKLE; has=S; |
| 40 | TIM-WHISKEY – TIM-WHISKY; E unclued ; me=TIM (Moorey); Scotch=WHISKY; gig is the definition; |
| Down | |
| 1 | SHAWMS – SHAW-MS; writing=manuscript=MS; an old oboe; |
| 2 | SORE – SO-R; E unclued ;as=SO; recipe=R; |
| 3 | IRONERS – (risen or)*; |
| 4 | NONUSER – N-ON-US-ER; name=N; deck=slang for heroin; |
| 5 | BROWNS – BR-OWNS; bedroom=BR; |
| 6 | AS,THEN – capital=ATHENS and relocate the S; once is definition; |
| 7 | RACES – R-ACE’S; run=R; one’s=ACE’S; nice clue; |
| 8 | ECU – hidden (sp)ECU(lators); |
| 9 | REDOX – RED-OX; tidy=RED; neat=OX; reduction and oxidation as seen in electro-chemical cells; |
| 10 | ODENSE – O-DENS-E; duck=zero=O(cricket); home on the island of Funen to Hans Christian Andersen; |
| 16 | ARROYO – (OY-ORRA all reversed); grandchild=OY; Jock’s casual=ORRA; a dry Spanish ravine; |
| 18 | SEA,GOD – S(ubmarin)E-AGO-D; department=D; |
| 22 | OMNIBUS – (SUB-IN-MO all reversed); money order=MO; a waiter’s assistant; |
| 23 | NIBLICK – NIB-LICK; toff=NIB; flourish=LICK; one of the original golf clubs equivalent to a modern 9 iron (also look out for mashie=modern 5 iron, mashie-niblick modern 7 iron and a spoon=modern 3 wood); nice clue; |
| 24 | DIKTAT – DIK-TAT; sounds like dick; tap=TAT; no substitute for dialogue at Copenhagen?; |
| 25 | AGADAH – (HAD-A-GA(g) all reversed); the Jewish Passover ritual – see Haggadah in C; |
| 26 | SENUSI – (n=new + issue)*; African Muslim sect; |
| 28 | TMESES – T(i)MES-ES; (thou) art in Paris is (tu) es; AZED’s Christmas-bloody-Parcels competition, perhaps; |
| 29 | CHANT – Chanc=Chancellor then substitute T=time for C=Conservative=Tory; |
| 31 | AS,NOW – A-SNOW; associate=A; |
| 33 | DULY – (unr)ULY; D unclued ; |
| 35 | MOI – French for word=mot then replace T=term by I=one; French for me; nice clue; |
Perhaps I should have got a new Chambers for Christmas as my old edition does not have doosra and, not being a cricket fan, I had to rely on Google for that one.
There were an unusually high number of clues where I could not untangle the wordplay. Thanks to Jimbo for the explanations, particularly for Sue Barker.
I liked the way Tim Moorey expected us to distinguish between Scotch Whisky and Irish Whiskey for the unclued E in Tim-Whiskey.
‘Have a Good One’ Mephisto was especially good for me as I won 1st prize!
Also a short while ago won the beautiful Cross Townsend
first prize for the ordinary Sunday Times cryptic.
They say good luck comes in threes…???