My brain has already gone on its Christmas holidays. This, coupled with a handful of tricky words, made this enjoyable offering from Orense a tougher-than-expected solve – but there was a reward waiting for me at the finish, in the form of a perimetrical…
This is my last blog of 2012, so I’ll take this opportunity to wish everyone – setters, bloggers, solvers, lurkers, commenters – a very merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!
ACROSS
1. TELUGU T(h)e + lug [pull] + U [universal]
9. EMOTICON Anagram of economist minus s [small]
10. IDOL Sounds like idle [‘resting’]
11. FISCAL DRAG FI [F1, Formula One] + scald [burn] + rag [(news)paper]
12. ARNE RN [Royal Navy, military service] within a(bsenc)e; ‘noted person’ is a cryptic definition of a composer, i.e. one who deals in musical notes
13. AESTIVATES Anagram of vet is at sea
17. WELT Initial letters of Worry English Lanuage Teachers
18. KYOTO Reversal of toy [play] within KO [knockout]
19. LAIC L [left] + I [one] within Ac [account]
21. OOPS-A-DAISY O [zero, duck] + anagram of soap + dais [platform] + Y [yes]
23. GO TO Got [obtained] + o [ring]
24. HULLABALOO Hull [outside of ship] + a + Baloo [the bear in Kipling’s Jungle Books]
28. EXAM Reversal of axe [cut] + (ter)m
29. WRITE-INS Anagram of win theirs minus (cas)h
30. SETTEE set [group] + tee [supporter of (golf) course]
DOWN
1. GENDARME Gen [lowdown, information] + anagram of armed; ‘Nice’ refers to the French city
2. OUBLIETTES I [one] within (d)oublet [jerkin] + reversal of set [fixed]
3. OUTFLANKED Double definition
4. DENS De [French for ‘of’] + n(ational)s
5. TOGA Alternate letters of sTrOnGmAn
6. HIND Hand [worker] with I [one] replacing a
7. IODATE I [independent] + o [old] + date [assignation]
14. SHOJI Ho(ur) [thirty minutes being a ‘half hour’] within SJ [Society of Jesus, Jesuits] + I [one]
15. IVORY COAST Ivory [cream-coloured] + s [son] within coat [fur]
16. ALLEGRETTO All [everybody] + egret [long-legged bird] + (s)to(p)
20. INTRANET Anagram of natterin(g)
22. OEUVRE O(rchestra) + anagram of revue
25. LOTS Lo [look] + t(hing)s
26. BRIO B [born] + Rio [carnival venue]
27. LASH As [when] within L [left] + H [hand]
The letters around the edge of the completed puzzle – the ‘perimetrical’ – spell out GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT…
Thanks Orense for an enjoyable puzzle and Ringo for the blog. I failed to spot the perimetrical (or Nina) until I had finished solving. it would have helped with 2dn – my last answer in, and it certainly goes some way to compensating for a rather disjointed grid.
Thanks Ringo and Orense
I was still a few off yesterday but then got down to just 2 this morning
so cheated to get Telugu and Oubliettes to end my frustration
I noticed at the start that there was the maximum perimeter squares in the grid but still missed the message. Doh
Thanks Ringo and Orense. Enjoyable, good stuff – as usual the Nina was totally lost on me!