A super puzzle, and not as hard as it looks. Thank you Julius.
Please ignore the numbers in the grid, I can’t figure out how to get rid of them.
“no tat – ed” is the message from the editor to the journalist
anagram (drunk) of INEbRIATe (endless) and missing B (bishop)
QUIET (still) contains (guarding) NT (sacred books)
anagram (sneakily) of CASHED IN A – “number of” indicates plural
V (five) AMP fusE (final letter of) contains (hampering) I (current) R (resistance)
UN (peacekeepers) and Embrace (first letter) contains (defending) A WAR (conflict)
found inside (…is catching) tasTE ALE AFter – Cockney rhyming slang (Hackney is an area of London)
anagram (corrupt) of US IRAQ LAWYER
BR (British) EWERS (jugs)
found inside snoWY CHELMsford
TED (Ted Cruz, US politician?) follows (to support) EL (the, Spanish) E (base, natural log) C (Conservative)
YEARNED (longed for)with NE (Geordie, North-East, as adjective) reversed (to go into retirement)
first letters (starts) to Move Up Domestic Interest Rates
anagram (wild) of PRESLEY GOES containing (about) Y (yankee, phonetic alphabet)
TOM (jerry’ partner) inside (introducing…to…) PO (post office) AC (account) – a river, something with banks
a Spoonerism of “Basie loans” (Count Basie finances)
X (X-ray, phonetic alphabet) follows D (daughter) and anagram (breaking) of TOE
anagram (conflict) of HAS RECTIFIED
CESS (luck, Anglo-Irish) and POOLS (football betting)
AZ (Arizona) reversed (upset) CHARY (suspicious)
anagram (is about) of HARK SATAN
the outer letters only (dis-contented) of KieR (Kier Starmer) – a K (king) and R (regina, queen)
X (a kiss) F (female) ACTOR (performer)
KA (ford mini, car) then IS ER’S (belongs to ER, the Queen)
DJ (disc jockey) reversed (is spinning) containing (outside) I’VE (I have)
JE (I in French, from Paris) then LEFT (departed) reversed (northbound, upwards) containing U (Uranium)
NOTE: northbound (upwards) is an indication that this solution must fit in a down light. The reversal would not work in an across light.
every other letter (using…regularly) of gReAt SpEeD
O (old) CU (copper) L (left) IN A
The lovely Julius knows exactly how I feel about alphabetical jigsaw crosswords but I promised him I’d give this one a go as ‘its Christmas’.
I’d agree with PeeDee – a lovely puzzle and definitely not as hard as many of such crosswords tend to be
Thanks and Season’s Greetings to both
As you said, PeeDee, not as daunting as expected. If memory serves, this same grid layout appeared in another such puzzle set by Julius. Then as now, I tackled the outside first, starting with SQUIRREL AWAY. This time, however, I managed to place the perimeter answers right first time which made filling in so much easier.
And luckily,the ones which required more thought were derived from hidden answers, first letters or fine anagrams.
TEA LEAF and GYPSY ROSE LEE showed characteristic Julius wit among others. My favourites, though, were LAZYBONES and POTOMAC.
Probably only the second alphabetical I’ve tackled and today, hunting down each letter added a very enjoyable dimension.
Thanks Julius for a worthy festive challenge and to PeeDee as always.
Solve and confidently entered the four round the perimeter one after the other, which made filling in the rest of the grid fairly easy.
Not complaining, by the way, just commenting that it didn’t last long.
One new word for me, OCULINA, and Chambers on-line didn’t know it either.
I thought I didn’t have time today to tackle a jigsaw but couldn’t resist having a look and, like others, managed to put in the perimeter answers fairly rapidly – and then couldn’t stop, of course.
I held myself up right at the end, being unable to find a word to fit the B clue – until I realised that I had foolishly entered YEARNED, instead of YEAR END.
A super puzzle indeed, with some lovely clues. The long anagrams, especially GYPSY ROSE LEE, were excellent and I was really taken with WYCH ELM in snowy Chelmsford. Not a Spoonerism fan but I liked this one (actually I usually like Julius ones). I spent some time looking for a clue with ‘Scott’ in it, because I didn’t know the Byzantine Pope.
Many thanks, Julius, for the fun and PeeDee for a great blog. (I’m sure that, in UNAWARE, you meant to write ‘defending’, not ‘to embrace’.)
Thank you Eileen for spotting that, fixed now. I especially appreciate corrections as they not only make the blog better but also reassure me that people actually read all the details.
I feel the same, PeeDee!
dear PeeDee thanks for your blog – sorry the format gummed up your works a bit – and thanks to those who have commented. This is my last puzzle of the year I think so I wish everyone in crosswordland (for the most part, a much happier place than the real world) a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy & vaccinated new year. I haven’t been back to the UK at all this year but I hope that maybe some of us can share a cold one at some point during 2021.
warmest regards to all, Rob/Julius
Once I entered SQUIRREL AWAY and QUINTET on the left, this one was quite easy, I have now got the hang of Julius alphabeticals.
Many thanks for the fun Julius. Thoroughly enjoyable. I started wth FIRESIDE CHAT across the top and found it only crossed with DETOX so the drawing board came out again. I groaned at finding a spoonerism and left it to last Thanks for the explanations PeeDee and have a safe Christmas all, from the other side of the world.
Agreed, this was easier that it first appeared though I failed to see two hidden answers, WYCH-ELM and TEA LEAF. Being unfamiliar with both the WYCH-ELM and Cockney rhyming slang, I would usually excuse myself for missing such answers, but when they’re in plain sight I have no excuse. As always Julius presents with smooth surfaces and impeccable cluing and I hope to see more of his work in what I hope will be a happier new year for everyone. Thanks to all.
Thanks Julius and PeeDee
Am afraid that I needed to solve about 20 clues before starting to fill the grid. Did have a suspicion that FIRESIDE CHAT went down the right hand side but cautiously waited until the crossing J’s gave me the go ahead. It was all pretty straightforward after that, although the last three – the cleverly hidden TEA LEAF, VAMPIRE and KAISERS still held out for a little while longer.
OCULINA, Pope ZACHARY, WYCH ELM, MUDIR, Ted Cruz and Keir Starmer were all new to me. Although confident that KING AND QUEEN was correct, needed the blog to confirm the why – had used ER for QUEEN.
All of the best over this most unusual Christmas / New Year and keep well.
Enjoyed this a lot. My fave was Brewers (Do they fill British jugs?) which prompted some head-scratching but laughed out loud when I got it.
Yes , a very entertaining puzzle of this type. I do have one not to pick: Basie has an unvoiced “S”, while Lazy has a voiced”Z”, so BASIE LOANS is almost a Spoonerism of LAZYBONES, but not quite.
Still, I enjoyed the puzzle. Once I entered SQUIRREL AWAY and QUINTET, things came together fairly well. I did have to look up WYCH ELM and OCULINA, to make sure they were real words.
Caught up with this one this morning and enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to Julius and PeeDee and Happy Christmas to all setters, bloggers, commenters and lurkers.
Loved it. A couple of sittings to finish, punctuated by Christmas Day festivities. Really enjoy these type of puzzles.