Coot often does sporting thematic puzzles but can’t see it today
Who am I kidding? There’s so much Wimbledon / Tennis stuff there’s little point colouring the grid. Thanks Coot
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ALCATRAZ |
Prison time breaks Wimbledon champion (8)
|
| T(ime) inside tennis player ALCARAZ | ||
| 5 | TWEAKS |
Swiatek, losing one unexpectedly, makes minor adjustments (6)
|
| SW(i)ATEK* unexpectedly | ||
| 10 | SERVE |
Engineer leaving sub gets shot (5)
|
| RE – engineer taken from (re)SERVE – the sub(stitute) | ||
| 11 | BADMINTON |
Wicked start to the week absorbing international sport (9)
|
| BAD – wicked & INT(ernational) in MON(day) | ||
| 12 | GOLDEN RULE |
Fighting long duel, Serb discovered key to success (6,4)
|
| [LONG DUEL (s)ER(b)]* fighting | ||
| 14 | CEDE |
Heard a top player give up (4)
|
| Sounds like SEED | ||
| 17 | BALLBOYS |
Bright from the outset, no girls court help? (8)
|
| B(right) & ALL BOYS – no girls | ||
| 20 | COCO |
Gauff clubs ball repeatedly (4)
|
| Coco Gauff is a US tennis player, C(lub) & O – ball repeated | ||
| 21 | RUNE |
Mysterious spell in game leads to Navarro’s exit (4)
|
| R(ugby) U(nion) & starts of N(avarro) E(xit) | ||
| 22 | ENDORSED |
Pole making comeback needs new clothes sponsored (8)
|
| ROD – pole reversed in – clothed by – a new NEEDS* | ||
| 25 | RISK |
Change direction in icy area? That’s dangerous (4)
|
| S(outh) not N(orth) in (ice) RINK | ||
| 26 | CROSSROADS |
Key point made by Charles tackling Diana, maybe over bills (10)
|
| CR (harles) & [O(ver) ADS – posters, bills] inside (diana) ROSS | ||
| 30 | NO OFFENCE |
With respect, that might explain police indifference (2,7)
|
| Well if there’s no offence the police might be less bothered | ||
| 32 | GELID |
Bitterly cold for one retracting cover (5)
|
| EG for one, example reversed & LID – cover | ||
| 34 | RISERS |
They stir the hearts of American masseurs overseas (6)
|
| Middle letters of ameRIcan masSEurs oveRSeas | ||
| 35 | EMERITUS |
I resume training with Hewett, finally, having retained title (8)
|
| [I RESUME (hewet)T]* in training | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ASSIGN |
Turn up clip of Hingis saving set (6)
|
| Hidden reversed in hiNGIS SAving, thematic | ||
| 2 | COR |
It’s amazing to see gigantic bird soaring (3)
|
| The mythological bird ROC reversed | ||
| 3 | THEME |
Write note around margin: ‘It’s Wimbledon today!’ (5)
|
| TE – note around HEM – margin | ||
| 4 | AMBER |
Medic in A&E beginning to read warning sign (5)
|
| MB – medic in A&E & start of R(ead) | ||
| 6 | WHIP |
Early signs of Watson hurting, impeding proper stroke (4)
|
| Initial letter clue | ||
| 7 | ART |
Queen having sunk a couple of pints reveals technique (3)
|
| QU(een) removed – sunk – from (qu)ART – 2 pints, a quarter of a gallon | ||
| 8 | SINNER |
SW19’s top secret criminal? (6)
|
| S(w19) & INNER – secret. SW19 is the postal area for Wimbledon | ||
| 9 | IDOLISED |
Greatly admired this writer/solid broadcast journalist (8)
|
| I – this writer, the setter & SOLID* broadcast & ED(itor) | ||
| 13 | LEAGUES |
Gael’s upset, uneasy now and then in championships (7)
|
| GAEL* is upset & alternate UnEaSy | ||
| 15 | EXCRETA |
Needing games, expert reacts with ace number 2? (7)
|
| Without PT – games [EX(p)ER(t) ACE]* reacting [See Undrell’s correction] | ||
| 16 | SCAR |
Mark Philippoussis’s last coach (4)
|
| End of (philippoussi)S & CAR- coach | ||
| 18 | LIED |
It’s not true director gives number to Kerber (4)
|
| KERBER is German and LIED means song hence “number” – LIE & D(irector) | ||
| 19 | OVERRANK |
Too strong, Novak artfully secures blunder; … (8)
|
| ERR – mistake, blunder – in NOVAK* artfully | ||
| 23 | IRONER |
… he applies pressure, breaking Norrie (6)
|
| NORRIE* broken | ||
| 24 | ASIDES |
Disheartened actress, bored by part, whispers to audience (6)
|
| SIDE – part in A(ctres)S | ||
| 27 | STEAM |
Get hot drink during kinky sex? (5)
|
| TEA inside S&M | ||
| 28 | ROGER |
I understand you need some adventure – go rock climbing (5)
|
| Hidden reversed in adventuRE GO Rock | ||
| 29 | AFAR |
Nadal returning? That’s a long way off (4)
|
| RAFA nadal reversed | ||
| 31 | ONS |
People who understand statistics found so occasionally (3)
|
| Alternate letters of fOuNd So – the Office of National Statistics | ||
| 33 | LET |
Net skimmed by lower part of ball? (3)
|
| &LIT or close anyway – and of (bal)L & a skimmed (n)ET |
There are 3 or 4 clues in which I can’t find a Tennis reference.
(Probably, there is one thematic reference in every clue).
Excellent puzzle. Thanks Coot.
Great blog. Thanks flashling.
Loved CROSSROADS, RISK, EMERITUS, EXCRETA and LET.
Can’t ask for more references to an event, altho Thursday’s Indy might be primed for it..? 15a could have demanded removal of PT or PE, but I think it was removal of PE which provides anagram fodder..?
Thanks Coot n flashling
15dn..
Fun themed crossword – I really enjoyed without knowing too much about current crop of tennis professionals
Thanks coot and flashling
@Undrell yes you’re right, I’ll leave it so your comment makes sense
I think there is sense in having a few non-theme clues in a puzzle like this just to give the solver a break from the focus and prevent the whole thing becoming overwrought. And Coot has done it very well it what is, otherwise, a densely themed crossword. As Matthew says @4, detailed tennis knowledge was not really required (although, for some reason, I thought the US tennis player’s surname was spelled Gough rather than Gauff!) And I did smile at the audacity of including the ALCA(t)RAZ clue that just about everybody spotted when the tennis player in question suddenly became a star.
SERVE, BADMINTON, BALLBOYS, RISK, CROSSROADS, THEME, EXCRETA, IRONER and ROGER were my faves.
Thanks Coot and (the very droll) flashling
COCO (one of my favorite (!) players in the circuit)
Her surname is Gauff-all right. COCO is her nickname. CORi is her first name (another themati(c) clue?).
Super stuff, thanks Coot & flashling. All fell into place nicely, even with close to zero tennis knowledge – the only ones causing trouble being 1a (with nho player, sorry PM – though obviously a very big name well-known to followers of the sport! At least I’d heard of Ms Gauff, and most of the ‘older’ names) & 33d where I know the term in that context but didn’t really ‘get’ the definition (felt like wrong part of speech but I’m guessing it’s accurate!) Faves include GOLDEN RULE, RISK, CROSSROADS, ROGER … and EXCRETA (but should “no.2” be pluralised?) Thanks again!
Commiserations on cat.
All names appearing in the clues are current or former tennis players’.
I didn’t know Charles Broom (a Brit) and Diana Shnaider (a Russian).
And in the answers, we have Holger RUNE (a Dane), AMBER Lui (Michael Chang’s wife-both Americans), Jannik SINNER (Current world no.1-The J in his first name is pronounced like Y, an Italian), ROGER Federer (former no.1, one of the all-time greats, a Swiss) and ONS Jabeur (a Tunisian in the top 10). COCO and ALCARAZ mentioned already.
The Serb referred to in 12 a is Novak Djokovic? Current world no.2.
The Pole mentioned in 22 a alludes to Iga Swiatek? Current world no.1.
EXCRETA
Chambers says it’s a plural noun. No singular form is given.
Collins says it’s an uncountable noun.
cranberryfez@8
LET
The blog says: ‘&LIT or close anyway’.
The clue reads like an extended def rather than a def of a LET serve.
Thanks both. Very enjoyable. I’m another with limited knowledge of tennis, as it’s only Wimbledon which engages my interest, but I am aware SINNER is the name of a leading Italian player – I guess you could say ironically he is ‘not bad’ at the game.
Not too much SW19 knowledge required but a little bit certainly helped! Didn’t like 15d at all but no doubt it will be the lads favourite – lavatorial humour invariably is………….
Top answers here were ALCATRAZ, COR, THEME, AMBER & AFAR.
Thanks to Coot and to flashling for the review.
@PaulB@9 thank you, Paul is aware that sadly my cat died yesterday morning aged 15.
Lots of fun, already for the tennis now, Thanks Coot and Flashling
Just settling down in front of the tennis (Wimbledon starts today in case you weren’t aware 😂) so I thought I’d pop in to thank Flashling for a great blog and everyone else for solving and commenting. And Flashling, I’m very sorry to hear about your cat.
PostMark @6 – yes, precisely. It might well have been possible to make every clue thematic but I suspect the puzzle would have suffered as a result. A number of the non-thematic clues have been nominated as favourites.
KVa @10 – I wish I could claim that I had all of those names in mind but I must admit that Charles, Diana and Amber are new to me (and CORi was a coincidence).
cranberryfez @8 – KVa @10 has justified EXCRETA, which saves me from taking you on a scatological tour of Chambers. I did intend LET as an &lit. When the umpire calls “let” he is effectively saying something very similar to the clue.
Thanks Coot for dropping by and sharing your thoughts.
[Charles Broom and Heather Watson swept away in straight sets. At the elementary level!]
Thanks Coot. Another one here with only superficial knowledge of tennis but that did not impede my solving or enjoyment at all. I thought this was an excellent crossword with my top picks being GOLDEN RULE, ENDORSED, RISK, CROSSROADS, THEME, ASIDES, STEAM, and ROGER. I couldn’t parse NO OFFENCE; I had no problem with EXCRETA despite the ambiguity with PE vs. PT. (Indirect anagram territory?) Thanks flashling for the blog; as a former cat companion you have my condolences.
Thanks Tony @17. I must admit the PT possibility in EXCRETA hadn’t occurred to me. I felt that PE sitting in plain sight within EXPERT legitimised the construction. Had that not been the case, I agree it would have been pushing towards/into indirect anagram territory.
Incidentally, ROD (the pole in ENDORSED) was almost LAVER, but I thought that
the idea of him making a comeback at age 85 was too far-fetched.
Thanks Tony, he took the last journey to be cremated well yesterday now. Didn’t want to bury him and have the dog dig him up. Wife, myself and all the grandchildren inconsolable. Have deployed emergency medicinal chocolates and flowers but we’ll see. Night all Phil and Cath and a somewhat out of sorts Jenny the dog.
Coot @18 idea of Laver making a comeback at 85. Haha.