Across
1. What you see is not grey for this puzzle, in a straightforward way (5,3,5)
10. As the crow flies, the elector leaves, for the swimmer, in a round about manner (7)
11. Around Q , it is shot, by the sound of it, (3,4)
12. The 50 strong cockney's are fat, perhaps? (4)
13. A mixed, short fibre under dress perhaps? (5)
15. Twisted metal will rot before a century (4)
17. A means to it, at last (3)
19. He may help with the tea, by the sound of it (6)
21. Crosward.... what should I do to improve it in this puzzle? (6)
22. As written in theory? (2,5)
23. Waits involving six, by the sound of it (6)
25. Sounds like a humble request in the court and just a humble request (6)
27. Close with 50, and sail in it without (3)
29. It encores without 20 down in the centre (4)
30. Not smooth in an unpleasant manner (5)
31. A medical and tasty plant (4)
34. A form of Al (7)
35. Tt, the first with respect to the second, of course (4,3)
36. The dark protector is abusing by mouth (13)
Down
2. Behold, we're 500 put down and around there (7)
3. He is able to be killed by him, by the sound of it (4)
4. Father has to turn here if he is to carry out the plan (6)
5. The coupled fish was back here with a week, Edward heard and you heard too (6)
6. Eh, notice Edward is a mess (4)
7. Cover the comfortable T, in slang, by the sound of it (3,4)
8. How dark is Milton's Paradise lost? (2,5,2,4)
9. Perhaps this vegetable was in a fight ? (5-4,4)
14. The sort of hernia needs fifty to help breath (7)
16. Ax51, sauce (5)
18. A coat similar to the common theme (5)
20. The military unit in Mensa, removes my mother, in fact they ban 'er, by the sound of it (3)
21. Sounds like or tea is after to help you (3)
24. Ritual five is a fake mess (7)
26. The old Iranians tongue (7)
27. I bought my tie in this land with one of this, so I heard (6)
28. Perhaps it is bad in the way of air (6)
32. It's 30, but let her at last in sea, by the sound of it (4)
33. Edward follows a gee to be cured (4)
Explanations
Explanations
Across:
1. Straightforward is seen to be BLACK AND WHITE and not grey,
10. AS THE CROW FLIES - ELECTOR = SAWFISH which is a swimmer (Deletion clue),
11. The sound of around (BALL) and Q (CUE), used to take the shot,
12. 50 (L) strong cockney (ARD) and LARD is FAT,
13. Mixed indicates anagram of Fibre and brief is short,
15. Twisted indicates anagram of ROT and Century (C) and a TORC is twisted metal,
17. A means to an END and END is at last,
19. A CADDIE helps with the tea (TEE) in golf,
21. RETYPE crossword,
23. Waits or WEIGHTS involving six (VI), by the sound of it,
25. Sounds like pleas in court (PLEASE) and PLEASE is a humble request,
27. Close (SEAL) without 50 (L) is SEA to sail in,
29. Encores - 20 down (ENS) and the CORE is the centre,
30. HARSH is rough and unpleasant,
31. A HERB is used in cooking and medicine,
34. ALUMINA is a form of Aluminium,
35. The first T is higher than the second, relating to food (OF COURSE),
36. To BLACKGUARD is to abuse verbally and can. Dark and protector are synonyms.
Down:
2. Behold (LO) + WERE + 50(D) and lowered is to put down,
3. Able (ABEL) murdered his brother CAIN,
4. Father has to turn (AD) + HERE, to carry out the plan,
5. Fish was back (DOC) with a week (k) +Edward (ED),
6. Mess indicates anagram of EH and ED,
7. Comfortable in slang (COSY) and T by the sound of it is (TEA),
8. Milton Described it is AS BLACK AS COAL in Paradise Lost,
14. Anagram of HERNIA + 50 (L),
16. A+ X (IO) +51(LI), which is a sauce,
18. Similar to black this is MERLE which is a coat,
20. MENSA - MA = ENS and ENS is a military banner,
21. Or tea (RT) is after REP and a REP helps you,
24. Mess indicates anagram of ritual and five (V),
26. AVESTAN is the Old Iranian language or tongue,
27. Tie land or sounds like (THAILAND) and bought with a unit of SATANG which is a unit of Thai currency,
28. ASTHMA is bad regarding airways,
32. 30 is the atomic number for zinc. The last letter (Z) + in+ sea (C),
33. A gee (A G) and Edward follows it (ED) and to cure is to age.
Posts
5 comments:
Hi Mark,
Well, I regressed terribly today, after my recent successes with your puzzles. I spent ages trying this one, at three different sittings, but I missed fully half of the answers.
I really liked your homage to M. Crosaire again, with your use of the BLACK theme. That helped me get further into the puzzle as I was able to get the BLACK clues. But I screwed up on BLACK-EYED bean, putting in BLACK-EYED PEAS instead. I was "certain" of the answer so had no chance with HER-B, and that left me struggling in the southeast.
The Lookup of the Day for me was SATANG. I knew I was looking for a Thai currency, but I was only familiar with the baht.
I enjoyed your two "chemiclues", ALUMINA and ZINC. I liked the CAIN clue as well.
But Clue of the Day for me was HIGH TEA, without question. That's some great wordplay, or letter play I guess, with the Tt device. Lovely stuff!
Note to self: do better next time ...
Hi Bill,
I wouldn't call it a terrible regression. More like a little slip up. Three sittings though shows dedication and that's appreciated as you know. I enjoy doing the Saturday stlye puzzle's but will wait a while before I do another as it can be difficult to think of a common theme to use for the 4 clues.
BLACK EYED PEAS was so close. I have only ever heard of BEAN so I discounted any other variation. Ah well. It will be my new veg. :)
SATANG was not new to me but ads a nice oriental spice to a very Irish puzzle.
Glad you like HIGH TEA. It was my favourite too. Hope it was not too obvious.
All the best,
Mark
Hi Mark and Bill,
I'm afraid I didn't have great success today...way off course!!!
The ones I missed...DOCKED, CUE BALL, AIOLI, SATANG, MERLE, ALUMINA and AVESTAN!!
I read 34acrpss as 'a form of AI (blame the ageing eyes!)...so thinking of 'artificial intelligence'... and/or the stories of old of the 'AI man' visiting farms...I was a bit off course!!!
Whatever about the others, I had no chance of getting SATANG, AVESTAN or MERLE...but I'd spent too long anyway, first trying the interactive...then resorting to pen and paper....to no avail!
What I liked:
The BLACK theme...without it I'd never have got going!
The 'TEA' sub-theme! HIGH TEA was also my favourite clue, but I also liked TEA COSY...both very quaint! CADDIE worked well too!
BLACK-EYED BEAN...I think Bill was unlucky putting in PEA...because I think they're one and the same thing...same veg. referred to as both PEA and BEAN...but then Bill, maybe you're a fan of the BLACK-EYED PEAS...that hip-hop band from the US of A!!
Thanks Mark and I guess we'll both have to try harder next time Bill!
Liz
Hi Liz,
Many thanks for taking the time out to give mine a go. It does now seem to me that the level of difficulty was high mainly because of the words I used Like MERE, SATANG and AVESTAN. For the next puzzle there will be alot more "heard-of" answers while keeping it challenging at the same time. I hope that this bad run won't put you off my further puzzles.
In the meantime, Crossword 8 is very nice puzzle and received high praise from our noble leader Bill :)
So you can surely give that a go if you feel like.
All the best Liz,
Mark
Hi Liz and Mark,
So Liz, you think I would have heard of a hip-hop band called BLACK-EYED PEAS? :o) I'm afraid I wouldn't know a hip-hop from a hop-hip!
Mark, M. Crosaire is fond of throwing in some obscure answers (like SATANG) to challenge us, so I wouldn't necessarily disregard the concept of using lesser-known words. Having said that, in my puzzles I deliberately stick to commonly used words and expressions. If a solver is getting stuck, I like them at least to have confidence that they have a good chance of having heard of the answer so they are less likely to give up.
Buuuuuut ... then I had to go and use ICBM in my latest puzzle, and that threw both you and Moley! Well, the good intentions are there anyway!!
Keep the puzzles coming, Mark!
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