This puzzle was submitted for the Sloggers & Betters get together in York on 24th and 25th October 2025. The setter Egbert is Bert of the fifteensquared blogging duo Bertandjoyce. The blank puzzle can be downloaded HERE
For me, this was a puzzle of two halves. The top half of the grid went in fairly quickly, but the bottom half took some time.
I could see a potential theme appearing in the left half of the puzzle where we had many religious references – clerics of various faiths, a follower of one faith and a King. I could also see another potential theme on the right side of the grid where we had dwellings and communities of various sizes. Of course, neither represented the correct theme.
It wasn’t until the very end that I realised the central column and central row alluded to the location for the crossword event on the Saturday, namely the MARCIA Inn (TAVERN) in BISHOPTHORPE.
MARCIA at 7 down was a new Queen for me. SHOJI (14 down) was also an unknown, but the wordplay was very clear and it was just a question checking that SHOJI defined a screen of some kind.
There were some good clue surfaces. I particularly liked the clues for FARMSTEAD, HIGH PRIEST, MEADOW and ENLARGER.
The clue I found hardest to parse was the one for TERRA as I took a while to relate patio to terrace.
The title, Destination X, was no doubt taken from the recent reality TV series of the same name where contestants were challenged to know where they were.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 6 | Boy heading west, upset with mother taking in a Spiritual leader (5,4)
DALAI LAMA (head of the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy; Spiritual leader) LAD (boy) reversed (heading west) + [AIL {iafflict; trouble; upset} + MA {mother}] containing [taking in] A) DAL< AI L (A) MA |
| 8 | Metal recovered from waste electronics (5)
STEEL (metal) STEEL (hidden word in [recovered from] waSTE ELectronics) STEEL |
| 9 | Maybe Charles is bonkers, missing the pub (4)
KING (the current KING of the United Kingdom is Charles III) barKING (bonkers, as in barking mad) excluding (missing) BAR (pub) KING |
| 10 | Leading film star made changes to country house (9)
FARMSTEAD (a house in the country; country house) F (first letter of [leading] Film) + an anagram of (changes) STAR MADE F ARMSTEAD* |
| 12 | One with faith in awfully rich saint (9)
CHRISTIAN (one with faith) Anagram of (awfully) RICH SAINT CHRISTIAN* |
| 15 | Community spirit finally won out (4)
TOWN (community) T (last letter of [finally] spiriT) + an anagram of (out) WON T OWN* |
| 16 | Mistake found with workpiece (6)
BISHOP (chess piece) BISH (blunder; mistake) + OP (opus; work) BISH OP |
| 17 | Hooker turns up in the village (6)
THORPE (hamlet or village) PRO (prostitute; hooker) reversed (turns up) contained in (in) THE TH (ORP<) E |
| 20 | Prime number (8)
CARDINAL (of fundamental importance; prime) CARDINAL (cardinal number [a number expressing quantity {1, 2, 3, etc} as distinct from an ordinal {first, second, third, etc}]) double definition CARDINAL |
| 22 | Smart to follow Conservative’s lead (5)
CABLE (a bundle of insulated wires encased in a sheath for transmitting electricity or electrical signals; lead) C (Conservative) + ABLE (smart) C ABLE |
| 24 | Senior minister’s turned on by exotic striptease, missing afternoon drinks (4,6)
HIGH PRIEST (chief or senior minister) HIGH (over-excited; turned on) + an anagram of (exotic) STRIPteasE excluding (missing) TEAS (afternoon drinks) HIGH PRIEST* |
| 27 | Dig returns to historic fortress (4)
BURG (historic fortress) GRUB (dig) reversed (returns) BURG< |
| 28 | Tea taken with unsophisticated clergyman (8)
CHAPLAIN (Christian clergyman attached to an institution, establishment, organisation or family) CHA (tea) + PLAIN (unsophisticated) CHA PLAIN |
| 29 | Tragedy tolerated by amateur (6)
HAMLET (reference Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, considered to be one of the writer’s most powerful tragedies) HAM (amateur, eg an amateur radio operator) + LET (allowed; tolerated) HAM LET |
| Down | |
| 1 | Loony fellow gets first clue more often than not (6)
MANIAC (madman; loony) MAN (fellow) + I AC (one across, which is the first clue in a crossword puzzle, more often than not. Not in this crossword though) MAN I AC |
| 2 | Party for some vegan gourmets (4)
GANG (squad; party) GANG (hidden word in [some] veGAN Gourmets) GANG |
| 3 | Head cook left for hotel staff character (4)
CLEF (character placed on the stave [staff] by which the absolute pitch of the following notes is fixed; staff character) CHEF (head cook) with L (left) replacing (for) H (hotel) CLEF |
| 4 | Talk about a place of debauchery that could inflame viewers (4)
STYE (small inflamed swelling at the edge of the eyelid; something could inflame the eyes [viewers]) STYE (sounds like [talk about] STY [place of debauchery]) STYE |
| 5 | Grassland cut down all over Spain these days (6)
MEADOW (grassland) MOW (cut grass) containing (all over) (E [International Vehicle Registration of Spain] + AD (Anno Domini; these days) M (E AD) OW |
| 7 | Legendary queen of the Britons hurt foreign spies (6)
MARCIA (Marcia was the legendary third female ruler and a regent of the Britons, as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth) MAR (injure; hurt) + CIA (Central Intelligence Agency [American [foreign] spies]) MAR CIA |
| 11 | Works together with founders according to reports (6)
SYNCHS (synchronises; works together) SYNCHS (sounds like [according to reports] SINKS [goes to the bottom of the sea; founders]) SYNCHS |
| 13 | Pipe up about schoolmaster’s title (5)
RISER (a vertical pipe) (RE [with reference to; about] + SIR [term of address {title} for a schoolmaster]) all reversed (up; down entry) (RIS ER)< |
| 14 | Sliding screen opens to show house of Japanese industrialist (5)
SHOJI (a screen of paper covering a wooden framework, forming a wall or sliding partition in Japanese homes) SHOJI (first letters of [opens to] each of Show, House, Of, Japanese and Industrialist) S H O J I |
| 15 | Earth exposed when last bits of patio are removed (5)
TERRA (Latin and Italian word for earth) TERRAce (raised paved area alongside a house; patio) excluding the final two letters (when last bits are removed) CE TERRA |
| 16 | Dandified designer label, one located in the outback (7)
BUCKISH (dandified) (CK [Calvin Klein; designer label] + I (Roman numeral for one]) contained in (located in) BUSH (informal term for the outback of Australia) BU (CK I) SH |
| 18 | Learner confused about German darkroom apparatus (8)
ENLARGER (a piece of apparatus found in a photographic darkroom) Anagram of (confused) LEARNER containing (about) G (German) ENLAR (G) ER* |
| 19 | Front of former Liverpool club screened in time for conversion to a pub (6)
TAVERN (public house) cAVERN (former Liverpool club where The Beatles played in their early days) with T (time) replacing (screened … for) the first letter (front of) C TAVERN |
| 21 | Go down for a short swim (3)
DIP (lower; go down) DIP (brief swim) double definition DIP |
| 23 | City hospital treated sore (5)
ITCHY (affected by irritating skin sensations; sore) Anagram of (treated) CITY and H (hospital) ITCHY* |
| 25 | Publicise extremely healthy exercises (4)
HYPE (publicise exaggeratedly or extremely) HY (outer letters of [extremely] HealthY) + PE (physical education; exercises) – extremely may be doing double duty in this clue as part of both the definition and the wordplay. HY PE |
| 26 | Sappers backing morning trek (4)
ROAM (trek) OR (other ranks; sappers) reversed (backing) + AM (ante meridiem; before noon; morning) RO< AM |
| 27 | Impact of rubbish parking (4)
BUMP (impact) BUM (rubbish) + P (parking) BUM P |