Unfortunately we missed blogging the burger puzzle last week. What is in store for us today?
The grid indicated that there may be a NINA. We soon had DON”T GO across the top and thought about HUNGRY along the bottom – it would have been a great NINA for the Wellington burgers last week! We struggled with the parsing of 21d but as we started compiling the blog, the penny dropped.
We saw DON”T GO and CASTLE but a quick google search didn’t reveal anything. Again, at the last moment , Bert spotted NEAR THE across the middle. It comes from one of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. The castle is the ancestral home of the de Magpyr family and is named Don’tgonearthecastle as locals try and keep travellers away.
Thanks Phi. Our son was very keen on Terry Pratchett and we still have a number of his books ready to pass onto our grandchildren. Perhaps we ought to have a go at reading one.
sTRESS (emphasise) without the initial letter or ‘cutting first’
U (university) N (new) HELL (commotion) around P F (first letters or ‘sources’ of Private Finance)
An anagram (‘disrupting’) of AVERAGE and IT
OT (Old Testament – ‘set of books’) inside or ‘contributing to’ TALe (story) without the last letter or ‘endless’
A reversal (‘returning’) of PUN (joke) UR (you are in text-speak)
An anagram (‘working’) of NEVER STOP
PORT (wine) LikelY (first and last letters only or ’emptied’)
An anagram (‘possibly’) of OR CYAN
A reversal (‘rebuffed’) of Y (variable) and LL (lines) in BEACH (sand) E (European)
OKED (agreed) around or ‘retaining’ K (King) reversed for ‘after revolution’
AILEd (felt bad) missing last letter or ‘mostly’ about S (second)
RT (right) around or ‘retaining’ ACE (excellent) + RACK (framework)
DOWN (feeling unhappy) after DRILL (exercises)
LOLL (relax) with Y (last letter of robbery)
DEbAR (ban) without B (British) or ‘keeping British out’
An anagram (‘manipulated’) of HE’S TO PAY
An anagram (‘after review’) of YOU GRANT
IE (that is) V (against) inside or ‘pinched by’ THE (article) – ‘on the contrary’ is needed as the rest of the word play indicates that THE is being ‘pinched’
TUG (yank) reversed or ‘returned’ around or ‘receiving’ L (liberal)
Double definition
TN (Tennessee) around or ‘having internally’ AVER (state)
A play on the fact that if a recording release date had not met the deadline the LP would be LATE
An anagram (‘rearranged’) of SONIC SCALE
STANDS (display areas) TILL (work)
C (Conservative) RESENT (begrudge) around or ‘accommodating’ C (another Conservative)
A BARD (poet) around or ‘welcoming’ O (love)
C (Corps) inside or ‘cornered by’ JOKEY (amusing)
CURIa (Religious court) missing last letter or ‘ditching latest’ + OS (computer programs)
Hidden (‘some’) and reversed or ‘recalled’ in poeticAL LEssons
AXE (reduction in expenditure) around or ‘importing L (large)
Completely missed NEAR THE so came on here to have a look for an explanation, thanks, makes much more sense now!
I don’t really remember many Terry Pratchett books from my childhood, but your eldest grandson and I have enjoyed the Bromeliad trilogy recently (Truckers, Diggers and Wings), would recommend!
Technically speaking the vampires live in a castle in the village of Dontgonearthe.
I note that my list of possible themes continues to contain the words ‘Pratchett Atlas’, so be warned…
Thanks Phi for dropping by. We were sorry not to be blogging your burger one ……. perhaps next year!
Good fun as usual from Phi. For 8a I think you need U[sually] as another “source” for the second U, and just “troublesome” as the definition.
Found this a much quicker solve compared with his Guardian crossword. However, I failed to get JOCKEY (maybe would have if I’d known C = ‘corps’) and didn’t parse CURIOS (didn’t know ‘curia’).