A nice crossword today from Gozo with a good range of clues, some quite easy and some more tricky. Something for everybody I thought. I also learned quite a few interesting facts researching the solutions for the blog, click on the solutions for links to Wikipedia etc to find out more.
All the across solutions are drinks, mostly alcoholic but with a couple of soft drinks included for the driver.
Hold mouse over clue number to see clue, click a solution to see its definition.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ABSINTHE | (I SHAN’T BE)* |
| 5 | GIMLET | Anagram of G T and LIME – a gimlet is a cocktail made with gin and lime juice, shame it doesn’t also contain tonic otherwise this would have made for the perfect &Lit clue. |
| 9 | RIESLING | LIES* inside RING (boxing stage) |
| 10 | STINGO | STING (pungency) and O (love, zero tennis score) |
| 12 | VODKA | DVOrAK* missing r= first letter of Rusalka |
| 13 | LAPHROAIG | A PH (public house) inside GLORIA* |
| 14 | CASSIS | RebecCA‘S SISter |
| 16 | AQUAVIT | Amateur has QUIT (to leave) outside Authorised Version (bible) |
| 19 | RETSINA | cANISTER reversed (without top letter |
| 21 | SHERRY | SHE (female) R (runs, cricket) RY (railway) |
| 23 | COINTREAU | CAUTIONER* |
| 25 | SOAVE | O (zero) inside SAVE (bar, all except) |
| 26 | PERNOD | PER (for each) and DON (Spanish nobleman) reversed |
| 27 | CAMOMILE | Monsieur and LIMO (car) reversed inside CE (Chuch of England) |
| 28 | TISANE | rETSINA* (missing R=right) |
| 29 | NEAR BEER | NEAR (close) and BEER (sounds like ‘bier’, a stand for a coffin) – shame that ‘beer’ is in both the clue and the solution |
| Down | ||
| 1 | ARRIVE | ARRIVistE (upstart missing 1st) |
| 2 | STEADFAST | STEADy (firm, almost) FAST (firm) |
| 3 | NULLA | NULL (void) A |
| 4 | HANDLES | sounds like Handel’s |
| 6 | INTERLUDE | (LIEDER TUNe)* |
| 7 | LINDA | DonegaL IN DAnger |
| 8 | THOUGHTS | THOUGH (admitting, admittedly) ThesiS (without the middle letters) |
| 11 | EPHA | keEP HAlf |
| 15 | SAINT JOHN | (SAT IN)* (agaony=anagram) and JOHN (slang for toilet) – St John is also known as the Beloved Desciple |
| 17 | VERSATILE | RELATIVES* |
| 18 | CRACKPOT | CRACK (drug, crack cocaine) and POT (container) |
| 20 | AMEN | ME (Gozo) inside AN (indefinite article) |
| 21 | SAUSAGE | AUS (Oz=Australia) indise SAGE (herb) |
| 22 | METEOR | METE (limit) and OR (alternative) – the Gloster Meteor jet fighter |
| 24 | IDRIS | I (one, Roman numeral) Daughter and SIR reversed |
| 25 | SCOUR | Double definition |
*anagram
Many thanks PeeDee and Gozo
This was too tough for me and I was not confident about my guesses for NULLA, TISANE, and NEAR BEAR.
Although I sensed the anagram fodder, LAPHROAIG was totally outside my ken.
It’s evident that Gozo is overly fond of alcoholic drinks or otherwise how come that he is so knowledgeable?
I wouldn’t say I had had occasion to consume all the drinks listed in this excellent crossword from Gozo but I got them all quite quickly including spelling 13a correctly. Thanks to PeeDee for the explanations, especially for 29a which I took a guess at.
Thanks PeeDee, for the blog, and Gozo, for a stimulating puzzle – Cheers!
I don’t know what it says about me but I romped through most of the across clues, apart from NEAR BEER, which I’d never hear of, and wouldn’t have guessed, since ‘beer’ is in the clue – unfortunate, as PeeDee says.
I can’t say I’ve tried absolutely all of them, either, and I’m not a whisky person but I did know how to spell [and pronounce!] LAPHROAIG, as it was one of my Scottish husband’s favourites.
19ac is a reversal, rather than an anagram.
Thanks Eileen, I have corrected the blog.
Minor misprint at 6d (lieder)
An enjoyable if not overly difficult crossword from Gozo. I enjoyed the themed clues and managed to drag NEAR BEER from the back of my head. Thanks to GOZO and to PeeDee for the review.
Mmm, peaty. That’s Laphroaig.
Very nice…good