A themed puzzle for this week’s Prize.
The theme was savoury snacks, mostly defined as “cousins” to the (potato) crisp (16 ac). A few were to be found in the clues, where they were capitalised. Timon and I found this challenging, especially as we had never heard of Nik Naks. I have a couple of minor quibbles (is that a brand of a savoury snack as well, I wonder?) but nothing major. The puzzle displays all the ingenuity we have come to expect. Many thanks to Paul.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | IMAMATE |
Your tormentor is a crony in religious office (7)
|
| A charade of I’M A MATE. | ||
| 5 | THROATY |
Gruff personnel fitted in perfectly, surly ultimately (7)
|
| HR (personnel) in TO A T (perfectly) (surel)Y. | ||
| 10 | IN ON |
Aware of chain, one’s shackled (2,2)
|
| Hidden in “chain one’s”. | ||
| 11 | MARY PETERS |
Old Olympian back on sherry, safe inside bar (4,6)
|
| (sherr)Y PETER (old term for a safe), all inside MARS (as in Mars Bar). Mary Peters won gold in the 1972 Olympics. | ||
| 12 | ETCHER |
Scorer, one recovering having missed header? (6)
|
| (f)ETCHER. We were looking for a composer, not an artist. | ||
| 13 | TREFOILS |
Whistler paintings observed after artist finally leaves (8)
|
| (artis)T REF (whistler) OILS (paintings). Note the placement of Whistler at the beginning of the clue: the capitalisation is perfectly justifiable and wholly misleading. | ||
| 14 | ORCHESTRA |
Design of short race that’s divided into sections (9)
|
| *(SHORT RACE). Could of course have equally well been CARTHORSE, but that wouldn’t have worked (and isn’t normally divisible into sections). It’s a pretty vague definition, but the anagram is so well-known, that I think we can forgive it. | ||
| 16 | CRISP |
Saint has dropped in, sharp! (5)
|
| (St) CRISP(in). The thematic key to the puzzle. | ||
| 17 | SWELL |
Terrific increase (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 19 | MAY QUEENS |
Borough after female leader, young ladies on parade (3,6)
|
| QUEENS (New York borough) after MAY (female). I’m not sure about “leader” – it doesn’t seem to be wholly necessary, but perhaps I’m missing something. | ||
| 23 | ITCHIEST |
Blithering ethicist, most irritating (8)
|
| *ETHICIST. | ||
| 24 | EUREKA |
English flower and Egyptian spirit discovering expression? (6)
|
| E URE (river) KA (Egyptian spirit). | ||
| 26 | MISOGAMIST |
Given hindsight, adults in haze, one hating marriage (10)
|
| IMAGOS (adults – it refers to insect development) (rev) inside MIST. | ||
| 27 | FEAT |
Great coup from Walkers, did you say? (4)
|
| Sounds like “feet”; here the capitalisation is a nod to the theme. | ||
| 28 | AS USUAL |
Chance initially blown, America stepping in, typically (2,5)
|
| US in (c)ASUAL. “Chance” can be an adjective, so it’s reasonable to use it as a synonym for “casual”. | ||
| 29 | INVERSE |
Opposite written by poet? (7)
|
| IN VERSE. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2,3 | MONSTER MUNCH |
Tremendous artist, 16’s cousin (7,5)
|
| A simple charade, with MUNCH referring to Edvard Munch, the Norwegian artist famous for “The Scream”. “Cousin” in this clue and others is used somewhat loosely to refer to brands of savoury snacks. | ||
| 4 | TIMBRES |
Qualities we hear in Frazzles poked by doctor (7)
|
| MB (doctor) in TIRES (frazzles, or wears out). | ||
| 6 | HOPPER |
Frog artist? (6)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 7 | OUTSOURCE |
Courteous cooks give work to others (9)
|
| *COURTEOUS. | ||
| 8 | THRILLS |
Excitement when Quavers passed round hotel (7)
|
| H(otel) in TRILLS (quavers). | ||
| 9 | FRATERNAL TWIN |
Vermin that’s infernal, heart of Satan, get — different child? (9,4)
|
| RAT (vermin) inside FERNAL (in fernal) (sa)T(an) WIN (get). | ||
| 15 | HULA HOOPS |
16’s cousin in dance bands (4,5)
|
| A charade of HULA and HOOPS. | ||
| 18 | WOTSITS |
Which models for 16’s cousin? (7)
|
| Sounds like “what sits”! | ||
| 20 | QUENTIN |
16, one of 5 divided by 10, possibly? (7)
|
| *TEN inside QUIN (one of five). This is the artist’s model and wit. | ||
| 21 | NIK NAKS |
Dancin’ to reggae for flippin’ 16’s cousin! (3,4)
|
| SKA (reggae) ‘N’ KIN (all reversed). I’m not sure how “kin” equates to dancin’ but no doubt someone will explain. The snack was formerly known as Curly Wotsits. | ||
| 22 | NEVADA |
State of Virginia invading Middle Eastern port from the south (6)
|
| VA (Virginia) inside ADEN (rev). | ||
| 25 | RIFLE |
Common to bandage left arm (5)
|
| L in RIFE (common). |
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