This blog refers to one the puzzles submitted for the Sloggers & Betters event in York yesterday, 25th October. If you wish to solve the puzzle before reading the blog, the clues and grid can be accessed as a pdf file HERE
Jigsaw crosswords often present the clues in alphabetical order of their answers but Eborgum has gone a step further by listing the clues for this puzzle in a fairly random order, so there are no hints to the first letter of the next answer.
On puzzles of this nature, I usually have a go at solving the longest entries first, as there are fewer of them and they are likely to intersect. That policy worked when I had VIDEOCASSETTES, ESTUARY ENGLISH, PERIWINKLE, REST EASY and TORYISM fairly early on. The K in PERIWINKLE and KESTREL (also crossing ESTUARY ENGLISH) gave me the toehold in the grid.
Many pieces of the jigsaw went in smoothly, but I has held up for a while because I had GANGES and ZANIER in the wrong positions. I was trying to fit BLAGGARD [blackguard] into the top row,but it just didn’t fit the parsing properly. It was SMIDGEON that cleared up my confusion. By swooping GANGES and ZANIER, BLIZZARD became obvious in the top row and everything fell into place.
I like wordplay with many constituent parts, so the clue for JAMES JOYCE was high on my list of favourite clues. I’m not usually so keen on cryptic definitions, but I thought the one for JEFFERSON was good. The cluing device used for HILLSIDE was interesting in its use of four words losing their outer letters.
I got a bit tied up with biting, bites and bit in the clue for SMIDGEON, but I got there in the end.
Thanks to Eborgum for the challenge.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | One’s bound to feature in my kitchen cabinet (7,4)
COOKERY BOOK (a COOKERY BOOK is a bound volume) COOKERY BOOK (the clue is a cryptic definition of an object that might be bound and found in a kitchen cabinet) COOKERY BOOK |
| 2 | Pressure poor Lineker to eat West Indies shellfish (10)
PERIWINKLE (an edible gastropod with a spiral shell; a shellfish) P (pressure) + an anagram of (poor) LINEKER containing (to eat) WI (West Indies) P ERI (WI) NKLE* |
| 3 | Mobs kidnapping Eastern banker (6)
GANGES (Indian river; a geographical feature with banks; banker) GANGS (mobs) containing (kidnapping) E (Eastern) GANG (E) S |
| 4 | Right wing doctrine I introduced to Stormy when tipsy (7)
TORYISM (rightwing political doctrine) I contained in (introduced to) an anagram of (when tipsy) STORMY TORY (I) SM* |
| 5 | Biting fly bites boy a bit (8)
SMIDGEON (a very small amount; a bit) MIDGE (a small biting fly) contained in (bites) SON (boy) S(MIDGE) ON |
| 6 | Legendary Welsh striker avoiding a sudden flood (6)
INRUSH (sudden flood) IaN RUSH (Ian Rush [born 1961] is a former Welsh professional footballer, who played as a forward, primarily for Liverpool. He also played for other clubs in the UK and Italy. He is regarded as one of the best strikers of all time) excluding (avoiding) A IN RUSH |
| 7 | Newspaper article that’s reflective (6)
MIRROR (British newspaper) MIRROR (a reflective item) double definition MIRROR |
| 8 | A dialect having a sort of ugly earthiness? (7,7)
ESTUARY ENGLISH (a form of English influenced by Cockney, spoken in the Thames Estuary and surrounding areas; dialect) Anagram of (sort of) UGLY EARTHINESS ESTUARY ENGLISH* |
| 9 | Spring – time occasionally to take off gumboot (6)
WELLIE (Wellington boot; gumboot) WELL (spring) + IE (letters 2 and 4 [occasionally] of tImE WELL IE |
| 10 | Kemi? Nope, shocking attempt at cheap comedy (4-4)
OPEN-MIKE (an event, e.g. at a comedy club with a low entry fee, at which members of the public are encouraged to perform; attempt at cheap comedy) Anagram of (shocking) KEMI and NOPE OPEN-MIKE* |
| 11 | Member of rock group seen getting high in S Dakota (9)
JEFFERSON (reference the third United States President, Thomas Jefferson [1743 – 1826]. Jefferson is one of he four Presidents [group] immortalised by the rock carvings at Mount Rushmore. South Dakota) JEFFERSON (the clue seems to be simply a cryptic definition based on the fact that you have to look high on the rock face to see his csculpture) JEFFERSON |
| 12 | Somewhat large island Clement endlessly tours (1,6)
A LITTLE (somewhat) ATTLEe (reference Clement Attlee [1883 – 1967], former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom [1945 – 1951]) excluding the final letter E (endlessly) containing (tours) (L [large] + I [island]) A (L I) TTLE |
| 13 | British Liberal, famous transvestite, absolute shower! (8)
BLIZZARD (blinding storm of wind and snow; absolute shower) B (British) + L (Liberal) + IZZARD (reference [Suzy] Eddie IZZARD [born 1962], gender fluid British comedian; famous transvestite) B L IZZARD |
| 14 | I’m told Ronnie O’Sullivan uses this lughole cleaner (1-3)
Q-TIP (small paper stick with a piece of cotton wool on each end, designed for cleaning small bodily orifices such as ears; lughole cleaner) Q-TIP (sounds like [I’m told] CUE TIP [something that Ronnie O’Sullivan {born 1975} has on his snooker cue]) Q-TIP |
| 15 | Dark room where no-one can hear you scream? (4,5)
DEEP SPACE (The movie Alien [1979] has the tag line ‘In space no one can hear you scream’) DEEP (very secret; dark) + SPACE (room) DEEP SPACE |
| 16 | Element of extraordinary maturity, though not adult (7)
YTTRIUM (metallic element) Anagram of (extraordinary) MaTURITY excluding (though not) A (adult) YTTRIUM* |
| 17 | The silly ass rides totally naked – and fell! (8)
HILLSIDE (fell [hill; upland tract]) H (letter left in tHe when the outer letters T and E are removed [naked]) + ILL (letters left in sILLy when the outer letters S and Y are removed [naked]) + S (letters left in aSs when the outer letters A and S are removed [naked]) + IDE (letters left in rIDEs when the outer letters R and S are removed [naked]) – ‘totally’ tells us that all four words are naked H ILL S IDE |
| 18 | When retired seek a semantic, engaging person with a similar title (8)
NAMESAKE (person bearing the same name as another; person with a similar title) NAMESAKE (reversed [when retired] hidden word in [engaging] seEK A SEMANtic) NAMESAKE |
| 19 | Desire to unwrap a Big Mac? (4)
URGE (desire) bURGEr (a Big Mac is an example of a burger) excluding the outer letters (to unwrap) B and R URGE |
| 20 | “Preserve energy, singular happiness, constant ecstasy” – writer (5,5)
JAMES JOYCE (reference the Irish writer JAMES JOYCE [1882 – 1941]) JAM (an example of a preserve) + E (energy) + S (singular) + JOY (happiness) + C (constant for the speed of light) + E (ecstasy [tablet]) JAM E S JOY C E |
| 21 | Amex backing Seagulls? (4)
XEMA (a genus or subgenus of gulls) AMEX reversed [backing] – additionally, for information, the Seagulls (Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club) play at American Express Community Stadium (Amex Stadium) XEMA< |
| 22 | Gulf citizen last seen in Iraq a giant of 80s video games (6)
QATARI (citizen of a state bordering the Persian / Arabian Gulf [the correct title is disputed]) Q (final letter of [last seen] IraQ) + ATARI (video gaming company at the forefront of game development in the 1980s) Q ATARI |
| 23 | They’re for recording SOS as detective gets shot (14)
VIDEOCASSETTES (an object used for recording and displaying videos) Anagram of (gets shot) SOS AS DETECTIVE VIDEOCASSETTES* |
| 24 | Relax; only the first few are hard (4,4)
REST EASY (relax) REST EASY (the remainder [those after the first few] are not difficult) REST EASY |
| 25 | Control Arizona from the south? That’s even more crazy! (6)
ZANIER (even more crazy) (REIN [control] + AZ [Arizona]) all reversed (from the south [down entry]) (ZA NIER)< |
| 26 | One making nest in Mike’s trellis? (7)
KESTREL (a bird; one that can make a nest) KESTREL (hidden word in [in] miKE’S TRELlis) KESTREL |
| 27 | Reportedly unsettle fairies (4)
FAYS (fairies) FAYS (sounds like [reportedly] FAZE or PHASE [worry; unsettle]) FAYS |
| 28 |
A way to lose a few pounds going out by Tube? (11) LIPOSUCTION (a surgical process for the removal of excess, unwanted fat from the body by inserting a thin tube called a cannula into small incisions to break up and remove fat cells from specific areas using suction, altering body shape) LIPOSUCTION – the whole clue is a slightly cryptic reference to the fact that the fat is taken out by a tube (without a capital letter) LIPOSUCTION |