It seems a while since we last blogged a Saturday Prize puzzle. We were away last month and mc_rapper67 kindly stepped in for us. Many thanks to him!
We thought this was a tricky solve and we were afraid that we were going to have to seek help for 5ac. Thankfully early on Thursday morning, Joyce suddenly cracked it! Once she did we both wondered why it had taken so long.
Some good surface readings as expected from Nestor, so no complaints from us!
There’s a nina in the first and last columns; Joyce only noticed it when she came to write up the blog. We’re not sure of there is any significance to it or if there is anything else connected to it hidden in the grid!
Thanks Nestor – an amusing and enjoyable workout!
| Across | ||
| 1 | Maybe companions for tea and sympathy at first entering critical ward in pieces | |
| BISCUITS | S (first letter in Sympathy or ‘at first’) inside ICU (Intensive care Unit or ‘critical ward’) all inside BITS (pieces) | |
| 5 | Large mammal reversed its direction pointlessly | |
| ORCA | A reversal of ACRO |
|
| 10 | Barrel parts dropping hard? It was an accident | |
| OOPS | ||
| 11 | Zeal in fourteenth letter. So the writer is receiving shillings | |
| ENTHUSIASM | EN (fourteenth letter) + THUS (so) + I AM (writer is) around S (shillings) | |
| 12 | Slender connection with Grandma: that’s sore resentment | |
| NANOWIRE | NAN (Grandma) + OW (that’s sore!) + IRE (resentment) | |
| 13 | To reduce in size, cut through trifles | |
| TRIVIA | TRI |
|
| 14 | Stunning female felt undressed, covering mound’s vulnerability | |
| ACHILLES HEEL | ACE (stunning) + SHE (female) + fELt (middle part only or ‘undressed’) around HILL (mound) | |
| 18 | One making signs to a cute girl’s crushed | |
| GESTICULATOR | Anagram of TO A CUTE GIRL’S (anagrind is ‘crushed’) | |
| 21 | Miser’s unfortunate failing | |
| REMISS | Anagram of MISER’S (anagrind is ‘unfortunate’) | |
| 23 | Vessel to travel back around Germany’s a water-based activity | |
| CANOEING | CAN (vessel) + GO (travel) reversed or ‘back’ around EIN (German for ‘a’) | |
| 25 | Part of clockwork Orange is epic: it conclusively involves prehumans | |
| ESCAPEMENT | ESCT (last letters of OrangE iS epiC iT) or ‘conclusively’ around or ‘involving’ APE MEN (prehumans) | |
| 26 | State of Virginia rejected monarch | |
| AVER | VA (Virginia) reversed or ‘rejected’ + ER (monarch) | |
| 27 | I change colour, embarrassed about holding company’s closing | |
| DYER | RED (embarrassed) reversed or ‘about’ holding Y (last letter of companY). Thanks to Michelle@1 for pointing out the error which we both missed when checking the blog! | |
| 28 | Dressed fur stocked by merchant mostly being in charge of own business? | |
| SELF RULE | Anagram of FUR (anagrind is ‘dressed’) inside or ‘stocked by’ SELLE |
|
| Down | ||
| 2 | Contour consists of circle with horizontal line | |
| ISOBAR | IS (consists of) + O (circle) + BAR (horizontal line) | |
| 3 | Spaceman as moon shot is limited by budget reduction | |
| COSMONAUT | Anagram of AS MOON (anagrind is ‘shot’) surrounded or ‘limited by’ CUT (budget reduction) | |
| 4 | Some patriotic, enigmatic people rebelling against Rome | |
| ICENI | Hidden within the clue patriotIC ENIgmatic | |
| 5 | Literary Dame to settle in comfortably | |
| SITWELL | If you SIT WELL you would no doubt be settling in comfortably! | |
| 7 | Hands-on treatment to restrict family, forgetting last names | |
| REIKI | REI |
|
| 8 | A bachelor climbing banks, who has an on-line comedown | |
| ABSEILER | A + B (bachelor) + RELIES (banks) reversed or ‘climbing’ | |
| 9 | Repeat words of later books, including current rating? | |
| QUOTIENT | QUOTE (repeat words of) + NT (later books as in New Testament rather than the earlier books, Old Testament!) around or ‘including’ I (current) | |
| 15 | Winding trek with such an aggressive salesman | |
| HUCKSTER | Anagram of TREK + SUCH (anagrind is ‘winding’) | |
| 16 | Perhaps jack rabbit with sore throat’s sound material for stuffing | |
| HORSEHAIR | Sounds like HOARSE (sore throat) + HARE (jack rabbit) | |
| 17 | End of calendar made simple no more | |
| DECEASED | DEC (last month in the year or calendar) + EASED (made more simple) | |
| 19 | Footmen are ill-equipped to open lock, run together? | |
| LACKEYS | A play on the fact that if you LACK KEYS you would be ill-equipped to open a lock. The two words are ‘run together’ so there is only one K | |
| 20 | Reveal university line about case of violence | |
| UNVEIL | UNI (university) + L (line) around or ‘about’ VE (first and last letter or ‘case’ of ViolencE) | |
| 22 | Time, say, that is getting round public perception | |
| IMAGE | MAG (TIME as in the magazine) inside or with IE (that is) ‘getting round’ | |
| 24 | Origins from neighbourhood, and town, and land of birth | |
| NATAL | First letters or ‘origins’ of Neighbourhood And Town And Land | |
Thanks for the blog, bertandjoyce.
I particularly liked 16d, 19d, 18a, 17d, 10a, 13a and my favourites were 5d SITWELL & 8d ABSEILER.
New words for me were ESCAPEMENT & NANOWIRE.
I could not fully parse 25a, 1a, 2d.
In 27a, I think it is a reversal of RED around Y.
Thanks Michelle – blog now correct!
At 12ac I wasn’t happy with ire=resentment as I always associate ire with anger, but after trawling through several online dictionaries I found that some of them show resentment as one of its meanings, so, as the expression goes, you live and learn.
5ac was my LOI. I saw that ORCA would fit fairly early on but discounted it without trying to parse it because I was thinking, even though I should have known better, that an orca was a species of shark rather than a whale.
Thanks for the blog.
I thought I was onto something when a search connected ‘willy-nilly’ to a quote by James Agate, the theatre critic on Osbert Sitwell but it turned out to be an inconsequential report of an evening’s drinking together and seems an unlikely explanation for the nina. I enjoyed the solve and noticed the hidden message but got nowhere near deciphering its meaning.
I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. There were lots of tricky clues but also plenty of “gimmies” to get you started (see JS’s comments on Nimrod’s prize puzzle last week). Very nicely balanced – more please!
Lovely puzzle. Went rather more quickly than I thought it would.
Thinking it might be a tricky one I started in the bottom RHS (a dodge I rarely use) and admittedly rewarded there by a couple of gimmies (as per jmac above) I had, from then on, a steady run of help from crossers and then reasonably guessable defs and lovely crunchy wordplays to follow through with.
Guessed ORCA for 5a but couldn’t twig the wordplay.
Many thanks N – pure enjoyment – and thanks to B&J for the blog.