We are standing in for NealH today. Neal – we hope you are having an enjoyable time away.
Grecian provides our first post-Christmas challenge today.
This was a fun puzzle for Chocolate Boxing Day! Not too serious a challenge, although there were one or two slightly dubious definitions (in our opinion).
10 down provides the theme and Grecian has succeeded in fitting no less than 12 brands of chocolate bar into the answers in the grid – albeit in two cases (9ac and 18ac) not the entire brand name.
When we tumbled to the theme and solved 4ac, we were on the look-out for ‘quality’ elsewhere in the grid, but when it didn’t appear, we remembered that Quality Street is not strictly a chocolate but is a selection of chocolates!
FUDGE (sweet) D (date)
An anagram (‘barking’) of SETTER
TrOPICAL (equatorial) missing the ‘r’ (river)
SNICKERs (chocolate bar) missing the ‘s’ (last or ‘final’ letter of brothers)
BELLES (beauties) round YACHt (boat) with the last letter missing or ‘docked’
I (last letter or ‘finish’ of Messi) in or ‘secured by’ L (left) ON (leg – in cricket)
URGE (desire) after S (first letter or ‘beginning’ of slow)
Hidden (‘some’) in maCHO MP IN Gregg’s
This must be TRIAL (test) round or ‘broken by’ BUN (Big Ears?) – ‘bun’ is a rabbit, which obviously has big ears
FLAK (‘shooting’ Y (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of costly) – we were not convinced that FLAKY = ERRATIC but on checking, Chambers has both of them as synonyms for eccentric.
A reversal (‘coming back’) of TANG (fish – the sea surgeon)
KIT-KAT and CLUB are both chocolates (10 down)
SPY (notice) round H (hard) RIM (border)
A reversal (‘returned’) of CIA (spies) round or ‘capturing’ BORE (tunnel)
A reversal (‘retired’) of PARTNEr (husband perhaps) without the last letter or ‘scratching rear’
An anagram (‘irritated’) of MY RASH
F (foot) + an anagram (‘ground’) of ZERO
AIL (trouble) round or ‘getting to grips with’ M (motorway) in DER (‘the’ in German)
A reversal (‘lifted’) of ALE (beer) + LAME (injured) IN
Double definition – the first referring to Tony Benn the former Labour MP, the second to the American theatre awards
An anagram (‘fantastic’) of PLACE SO
THE (article) BOUNTY (Bounty chocolate bar – 10down) – the definition referring to Fletcher Christian’s ship, on which the mutiny occurred
An anagram (‘tailored’) of CHLOE COAT – the puzzle’s theme word
An anagram (‘styling’) of CHIC NURSE – a scrunchie is a fabric-covered elastic band for holding hair in a ponytail
An anagram (‘criminal’) of FACE FROM + A (America)
BET (speculation) round TWIX (chocolate bar – 10 down)
An anagram (‘around) of OSCAR and H N (first and last letters or ‘edging’ of Hammerstein)
PP (very quietly) in or ‘swallowed by’ KAA (giant snake – from The Jungle Book)
Hidden (‘a bit of’) in fUN IF You
A lovely, fun puzzle and not too taxing – thanks, Grecian. Always good to see the Chuckle Brothers referenced in a clue. FROZE was my favourite.
Thanks for the lovely blog too, B&J – you can add CHOMP to the list.
And TREET. And DAIM.
Good spot, John H. I did also wonder about TONYS – does that count?
Thanks to Widdersbel and John H. We’ve never heard of the chocolates you mention. Bert is intolerant to cow’s milk and Joyce reacts badly to lots of chocolate so we never buy any!
I also spent too much time searching for ‘quality’ somewhere, but that describes the puzzle itself so look no further! Well done John H @2 for spotting DAIM, apparently a chocolate bar of Swedish origin as ‘Dajm’, marketed in the UK at ‘Dime’. Great stuff, so thanks Grecian and B&J.
With all that chocolate, I wondered if BELLYACHES deserved an honourable mention? I spotted this theme about half way through – though, annoyingly, it didn’t help me with THE BOUNTY which held out right until the end. I suspect it might have been used before but ‘tang’ as a fish was unknown to me so GNAT was a bung ‘n’ check.
Very well done to fit so many examples into the grid. FIDGED, SNICKER, SURGE, ENTRAP and BETWIXT being favourites and KIT KAT CLUB a lovely spot to combine two choccies in COTD.
Thanks Grecian and B&J
Great Puzzle
Thanks to G + B
Did not spot AERO or MARS (bars)
Liked BELLYACHES
Thanks to B&J for the great blog, although I’m so sorry that you don’t like chocolate. Thanks for all the nice comments folks and well done for spotting the missing treats/treets. Yes Widders, I do love a bit of Tony’s! Happy Xmas and NY to you all. Hope to see you in 2023.
Thanks Grecian – it’s not the fact that we don’t like chocolate – it doesn’t like us. We did like the puzzle though!
Loved the theme although I’m not a big fan of chocolate. Had a slight problem with the Big Ears analogy and hit a brick wall when it came to 18a & 19d. Favourite was SNICKER.
Thanks to Grecian for the festive fun and to B&J for stepping in to bring us the review – and the couple of answers I’d missed!
Funnily first time I’ve seen Tony’s was today post solve when the grandchildren were scoffing some so didn’t know that one. A very sweet theme thanks Grecian and B&J for standing in. Even if I didn’t read the blogging calendar properly and had prepared one for today before realising my mistake.
Alas, I nearly completed this one without needing hints, but I had ARCHONS for 19d – clearly not as apt as the correct answer, but I still feel it’s close enough to feel like it should have fit.