Atrica provides our Tuesday challenge this week.
Atrica appears roughly once a month – there’s usually a theme – and it is Tuesday!
We steadily worked our way through the puzzle looking for potential thematic items and noticed police / crime connections in four of the first six across answers…. but then that line of thinking fizzled out. It was only when we had completed the grid that we noticed BLUE LIGHTS (25/30) and BELFAST at 18d, that we realised that the TV series (which can be described as a Police PROCEDURAL) is the theme, and the thematic answers are connected in different ways.
The series is set in BLACKTHORN police station in BELFAST.
Two of the characters are Gerry and Sandra CLIFF, and GRACE Ellis is one of the probationer constables.
The policemen include an INSPECTOR and PLODS
The targets of the police are CRIMINALs and GANGSTERs, who might use CHLOROFORM or a SMART BOMB
The three series of BLUE LIGHTS were required viewing for us, so thanks to Atrica for bringing back good memories with a typically well-crafted puzzle.
L (left) after an anagram (‘vandalising’) of CAR I’M IN
ACTS (book – in the bible) ON (about)
An anagram (‘unusually’) of COPpER missing one of the middle letters (‘half-heartedly’) and ISN’T
PLOy (stratagem) missing the last letter (‘de-tailed’) with DS (detective sergeant) following
Alternate letters (‘occasionally chosen’) of FoR bAbY
An anagram (‘clumsily’) of DROP A CLUE round (‘including’) R (middle letter or ‘essential element’ of fingerprint) – a hint at the theme!
B (bachelor) LACK (deficiency) – white moves first in chess
INDIA (I in the NATO phonetic alphabet) ahead of NAN (elderly relative)
Double definition
THOR (pagan god) N (northern) – an Old English and Norse letter
An anagram (‘tailored’) of COOL and RH (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of raffish) + FORM (fashion)
A homophone (‘in speech’) of BLEW (spouted air)
FLyING (‘at 30,000 feet maybe’) missing ‘y’ (‘unknown’ – in algebra)
SMART (cause pain) BOMB (mine)
SLIGHT (‘with little impact’) with the first letter moved to the back or ‘cycling’
GAGS (keeps from speaking) round N (new) + T (tenor) ER (hesitant expression) – a reference to the American TV series
CL (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of cheerful) + F (fellow) in (‘sandwiched by’) IF (provided)
When a donkey is doing no work you might find it IN STALL
IDEAl (perfect) missing the last letter (‘a bit too much’)
ARTillERY (battery) missing (‘discharging’) ‘ill’ (poorly)
An anagram (‘distortion’) of lOW-PITCHED missing (‘cutting’) ‘l’ (line)
SPAN (cross) round O (old) RR (Right Reverend – ‘bishop’)
Hidden in cleaNEST LINGerie
PR (public relations – ‘advertising’) ICING (‘sugar coating’)
An anagram (‘arrangement’) of TYPOGRapHIC missing (‘abandoning’) ‘ap’ (Associated Press)
GRACE (‘words said before meal’) FULl (not needing any more) missing the last letter (‘before the end’)
BELl (strike) missing the last letter (‘not ending’) + FAST (quickly’)
Double definition
A cryptic clue for ‘lure’ could be RULE OUT – with ‘out’ as an anagrind
Hidden (‘cut’ into) in seminAR CAN Arbitrarily
ER (Queen Elizabeth – ‘ruler once’) round (‘accepting’) MBE (honour)
STay AGes with the last two letters (‘couples’) of each word ‘leaving’
I’m afraid that “Blue Lights” is yet another TV series that I have never watched, nor, in this case, even heard of, but the “police” vibe was apparent.
It didn’t intrude on my enjoyment of the puzzle.
“city” solutions are becoming a bore, though I now know why it’s BELFAST.
29(ac), MINE=BOMB seems weak to me.
7(d) “Scotsman might wear this”, ditto. SPORRAN.
Not blown away, to be honest, but it’s a case of fair cop, when a theme takes the driving seat.
Thanks for enlightening me, B’an’Jo
I thought EMBER was clever, and, for once, remembered the “statesman” trick. For a while I thought the police show was going to be Grace.
SMART BOMB
Collins
A mine is a bomb which is hidden in the ground or in water and which explodes when people or things touch it.
So mine is a type of bomb (maybe loosely, but close enough for a crossword puzzle).
Liked PLODS, CALLING and EMBER.
Thanks Atrica and B&J.