An Atrica puzzle concludes my Independent blogs for 2025.
It’s Tuesday, so there should be a theme in the grid. Atrica’s puzzles frequently have themes. There are 34 entries in the grid, so the basis for a theme seems to be there, but I just can’t find one. I bet there is one though, that I am not clever enough to spot.
I enjoyed this crossword, but, for me, it was a puzzle of two halves. I made good progress in the top half of the grid but slowed down considerably in the lower half.
I’m not sure about the parsing of the clue for TURKEY at 29 across, especially the link to Pete Hesgeth, currently US Secretary of War. The best I could come up with, was a reference I found on the internet to an episode of South Park where Hesgeth featured as a satirical character trying to interfere with [bomb?] a TURKEY trot at Thanksgiving. That sounds a bit far-fetched or, obscure for a wordplay though.
There was a good mix of clue devices, including a couple which referred to letters following a first letter in words in the clue. These were at 32 across, taking the NTER of eNTER, and 25 down, taking the MATEUR of aMATEUR.
This is my last scheduled blog of 2025, so I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and l look forward to another good year of crosswords in 2026.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 7 | Capital city the writer’s visiting (4)
LIMA (capital of Peru) I’M (I am; the writer is) contained in (visiting) LA (Los Angeles; a city) L (IM) A |
| 8 | Corporation‘s software abandoned half written (5)
APPLE (reference the international tech company APPLE Inc; a business corporation) APP (piece of software) + LEft(abandoned) excluding the second two of four (half) letters FT, leaving only the other half written APP LE |
| 10 | Rosemary sometimes writing “Her Former Majesty” in pencil (4)
HERB (in some contexts [sometimes], rosemary is an example of a HERB, in other contexts it is a female forename) ER (Elizabeth Regina [Queen Elizabeth I or II, former monarch) contained in (in) HB (hard black lead pencil) H (ER) B |
| 11 | Cycling with back pulled in likewise revealing gear (6)
BIKINI (brief two-piece swimming costume [gear]; revealing gear) BIKINg (cycling) excluding (pulled) the last letter (back) G + In also (likewise) excluding the final letter (pulled) N BIKIN I |
| 12 | “There once was a woman from Tipperary”? Doesn’t work in this Irish city (8)
LIMERICK (Irish city) LIMERICK (a LIMERICK is a form of humorous verse with a particular pattern of syllables in each line. ‘There once was a woman from Tipperary [11 syllables] doesn’t fit the pattern required for the first line, so this doesn’t work for Tipperary [another Irish city]) – this clue ould be classified as double definition LIMERICK |
| 13 | Vacuous criminal makes mad blunders (8)
CLANGERS (blunders) CL (letters remaining in CriminaL when the central letters rimina are removed [vacous]) + ANGERS (makes mad) CL ANGERS |
| 15 | Succeeded picking up inconveniently positioned plant root (5)
SWEDE (root [vegetable]; root can be defined as ‘a plant with its root’) S (succeeded) + WEDE (sounds like [picking up] WEED (‘inconveniently positioned plant’ seems like a polite description of a WEED) S WEDE |
| 17 | Underwear maybe porters put lower for an earl (6)
BOXERS (male underwear) BeERS (porter is a type of beer) with OX (an animal that lows; lower) replacing (for) the first of two (an) Es (earl) to form BOXER B OX ERS |
| 19 | Parade participant heading off someone with a bow (6)
ARCHER (someone with a bow) mARCHER (parade participant) excluding (off) the first letter (header) M ARCHER |
| 22 | Oddly identified no address to return automobile (5)
SEDAN (a large automobile) SEDAN (letters 9, 7, 5, 3 and 1 [oddly identified] of NoAdDrEsS) reversed (S E D A N), |
| 24 | Unfortunately omit name for fossil (8)
AMMONITE (a fossil cephalopod) Anagram of (unfortunately) OMIT NAME AMMONITE* |
| 26 | Born in a home sadly ignoring social conventions (8)
BOHEMIAN (anyone who sets social conventions aside) B (born) + an anagram of (sadly) IN A HOME B OHEMIAN* |
| 29 | As Hegseth would say, bomb West Asian country (6)
TURKEY (a West Asian country) I am not sure of the wordplay here. Pete Hesgeth is the US Secretary of War. The only reference I can find to his wishing to attack TURKEY is in an online description of a recent South Park cartoon episode where Hesgeth is portrayed as being unhappy with a TURKEY [bird] party or festival and chooses to attack te event) TURKEY |
| 31 | Point following better point (4)
CAPE (head or point of land jutting into the sea or a lake) CAP (outdo; better) + E (East, point of the compass) CAP E |
| 32 | Place in the ground I access after Everton’s opener (5)
INTER (bury; place in the ground) I + eNTER (access) using only the letters NTER after the E (first letter of [opener] Everton) I NTER |
| 33 | Old tax man from Glasgow? (4)
SCOT (an old tax) SCOT (descriptive of a man from Glasgow, the largest city in SCOTland) double definition SCOT |
| Down | |
| 1 | Medium-sized milk dish leading couples selected (4)
MIDI (medium sized) MI (first two letters [couple] of MIlk) + DI (first two letters [couple] of DIsh) – leading couples selected MI DI |
| 2 | Job needed this report of doctor’s clients (8)
PATIENCE (reference the Biblical character, Job, who showed great PATIENCE) PATIENCE (sounds like [report of] PATIENTS [doctor’s clients]) PATIENCE |
| 3 | Spoil popular reefs in the middle of the sea (6)
MARINE (concerned with, [of] the sea) MAR (spoil) + IN (popular) + E (central letter of [in there middle] reEfs) MAR IN E |
| 4 | Hairstyle for every maiden (4)
PERM (PERManent wave; hairstyle) PER (for every) + M (maiden) PER M |
| 5 | Village footpath or pedestrian shelters (6)
THORPE (a hamlet or village) THORPE (hidden word in [shelters] footpaTH OR PEdestrian) THORPE |
| 6 | Cold-blooded predator caught legendary bird (4)
CROC (CROCodile, an ectothermic [cold-blooded] predator) C (caught) + ROC (a legendary bird) C ROC |
| 9 | Perfect language (6)
POLISH (bring to a finished state; perfect) POLISH (a language) double definition POLISH |
| 14 | Brought up dirt having swallowed nationalist pride (5)
LIONS (the collective noun for a group of LIONS is ‘pride’) SOIL (dirt) reversed (brought up; down entry) containing (having swallowed) N (nationalist) LIO (N) S< |
| 15 | Something additional arising each spring (3)
SPA (spring) PS (postscript; something additional) reversed (arising; down entry) + A ([for] each) SP< A |
| 16 | Turn inside out nevertheless keeping some of the contents (5)
EVERT (turn inside out) EVERT (hidden word in [some of the contents] nEVERTheless) EVERT |
| 18 | Setter starts to seem unnecessarily nuanced (3)
SUN (the SUN sets; setter) SUN (initial letters of [starts to] each of Seem, Unnecessarily and Nuanced) S U N |
| 20 | Act that unites legislative body (8)
CONGRESS (the action of coming together as in sexual CONGRESS) CONGRESS (a national legislative body) double definition CONGRESS |
| 21 | London borough abolishing old hereditary title (6)
BARNET (one of the London boroughs) BARoNET (the lowest British hereditary title) excluding (abolishing) O (old) BARNET |
| 23 | Hamburger perhaps for one trying to lose weight (6)
DIETER (forename for a German male, who may live in Hamburg; Hamburger perhaps) DIETER (someone trying to lose weight by eating less or more healthily) double definition DIETER |
| 25 | Finished after debut in acting, amateur with lower energy (6)
MATURE (full-grown; finished) MATURE (the letters in aMATEUR following [after] the first A [first letter of {debut of} Acting] with the E [energy]moved further down the letters to form MATURE) MATURE |
| 27 | Egg-shaped figure over goal therefore removed (4)
OVAL (egg-shaped figure) OVAL (letters remaining in OVer goAL after ERGO [therefore] is excluded [removed]) OVAL |
| 28 | Limitation of pupil under instruction originally upset teacher (4)
IRIS (the coloured muscular diaphragm that surrounds and controls the size of the pupil in the eye; limitation of pupil) I (first letter of [originally] Instruction) + (under in this down entry) SIR (form of address for a male teacher) reversed (upset) I RIS< |
| 30 | Embodiment of love, painful on the rebound (4)
EROS (the god of love; embodiment of love – may also refer to the group of instincts in Freudian theory that tend towards uninhibited enjoyment of life) SORE (painful) reversed (on the rebound) EROS< |
Re 29a, we took “As Hegseth would say” as indicating an Americanism (with Hesgeth chosen merely for the surface), with BOMB = TURKEY, a bad/unsuccessful movie/film etc
No idea about the theme here either – will be back later!
Thanks to Atrica, and to you duncanshiell for all your blogging this year.
So it was that Job, and I had ‘patients’ until I realised my error. If there is a theme, I can’t see it. Liked CONGRESS. Very smooth DD. Enjoy your Xmas break duncan. Appreciate your blogging. Many thanks to Atrica. PS I think the West Asia country is Türkiye.
Agree with DavidO@1, re the Americanism, although I didn’t know that TURKEY, as a flop, came from the US. It seems it does, and refers to a movie or play, which “doesn’t take off/fly”.
Though wild turkeys do fly….albeit badly.
There must be a theme, but I just can’t find one that is convincing.
I failed with 31(ac) …FACE instead of CAPE, and the parsing of BOXERS , 17ac, defeated me too.
Still, an enjoyable challenge, and ace blog, thanks, Atrica & Duncan
There is a theme – all the entries have something in common. Happy festive season, all!
Every answer includes one of the letters that make up CHRISTMAS.
That’s a really good theme! It’s not the intended one but perhaps better, and I’m very happy to let that be the answer! Thanks Ridgerunner.
Duncan – like me you appear to have assumed that the US SoD (or rather SoW) is called Hesgeth. I was genuinely surprised to see that it’s not.
Infuriating to not have got the (intended) theme yet.
DuncT, he is the Secretary of Defense, no matter what he or Trump might call it; it takes an act of Congress to change the name of the position, and there hasn’t been one.
Just a punt….is the theme “DAY/ DAYS”, in one guise or another? I haven’t ticked ’em all off.
So, e,g, SPA DAY, MONDAY, SUNDAY etc.
It’s a question of capitals…
We think another nudge may be useful!
Thanks Atrica #10
The Water Now Is Even Muddier ….
Not sure whether turkey or bomb is supposed to be the Americanism – I’d have assumed they both are but that one is a noun and the other a verb but we guessed the answer anyway. As for the theme, no idea, Atrica’s comment turned a fun solve into an irritation!
Capitonyms
Nice!
That’s amazing. Wish I’d spotted it.
Brilliant! A new word to me, though I’m surprised no-one here spotted it – I’m generally agog at how alert some solvers are. Thanks, Atrica and duncanshiell and enjoy your Christmas