Guardian Prize 30,074 / Kite

My third blog out of the four most recent Kite Prize puzzles …

… and I’ve rather got my comeuppance this time, I think. The last puzzle was published on the US National Day, July 1st and I rather suggested that the obvious theme of the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE had left me slightly underwhelmed (after the clever timely one on the Artemis Moon Mission.) This time, I wasn’t initially even thinking about a theme, but, as I worked through the puzzle and then the first draft of the blog, bells started at least tinkling (the combination of COTTAGE CHEESE soon proved a red herring but not, as it turned out, entirely irrelevant) and realisation gradually dawned that an impressive number of entries (sometimes in combinations – ARMY KNIFE, CHEESE Plant!) could be prefaced by SWISS. It was only at the last moment that I remembered the date significance of the previous puzzle and thought to look up August 1st – to find (the icing on the cake and the key to the whole thing) that it was the SWISS National Day.
Chapeau to Kite!

I’ve highlighted the theme entries I spotted but would welcome any more suggestions.

Quite apart from the theme, it was an enjoyable solve. There seemed to be quite a number of subtraction and substitution clues but that is an observation, not a complaint: they seem to be becoming increasingly common and I enjoy them. I also noted several instances of Kite’s slightly unusual use of words (addle as an adjective, blemish as a verb …) and sometimes poetic word order, contributing to some ingenious constructions but that added to the interest. I had ticks for CHOCOLATE, KNIFE, COTTAGE, OWNERSHIP, CAVIAR, GLASNOST, SHOWER and ROLL. (Whisper it, I even quite liked the Spoonerism.)

Many thanks to Kite for an interesting and enjoyable puzzle.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

9 Vegetable patch ardently covered (5)
CHARD
Hidden in patCH ARDently

10 Sweet coke, hot drinks in cafe with espresso at first (9)
CHOCOLATE
HOT, from the clue, round (drinks) COLA (coke) in C[afe] E[spresso]

11 Confirmed fronts of service uniforms dirty (9)
SUSTAINED
Initial letters of Service Uniforms + STAINED (dirty)

12 Drunk Nelson at last provided English cutter (5)
KNIFE
Last letters of drunK nelsoN + IF (provided) + E (English) – kudos for ‘drunk’ not being an anagram indicator

13 Extravagant Co-op surrounds home (7)
COTTAGE
CAGE (coop) round OTT (extravagant)
coop = Co-op reminded me inevitably of the classic Two Ronnies crossword sketch  – you don’t have to watch it (again) but someone expressed surprise that I didn’t cite it, as usual, when the opportunity arose in a recent blog – and there may yet be some who’ve never seen it 😉

15 Sufferer I treated internally in a state (7)
ERITREA
Hidden in sufferER I TREAted

17 View sample that is trimmed at the front (5)
WATCH
[s]watch (sample)

18 Sink in which neon reflected? (3)
SAG
A reversal (reflected) of GAS (neon – definition by example, hence the question mark)

20 17, you say, in type of carriage coming back (5)
GUARD
U (you say) in DRAG (type of carriage – Chambers: ‘a large open carriage with transverse or side seats’)

22 Peer from jet, disregarding old ship (7)
DUCHESS
D[o]UCHE (jet, minus o – old) + SS (ship)

25 Sky-high price of cockney’s locks sounds reasonable (7)
AIRFARE
‘AIR (cockney’s locks) + FARE (sounds like fair, reasonable)

26 Directions with extra finally given after short arm bowl (5)
ARENA
AR[m] + E N (directions) + [extr]A

27 Possession of pier shown to be condemned (9)
OWNERSHIP
An anagram (to be condemned) of PIER SHOWN

30 One packing essential cape that’s showing mould (9)
MUSTINESS
I (one) in (packing) MUST (essential) + NESS (cape)

31 Colour in retrospective Tarantino melodrama (5)
LEMON
Reversed hidden in TarantiNO MELodrama

Down

1 Court serves claims, primarily making sound lawsuits with these (4)
ACES
ACES sounds like ases, which, if put after the first letter of Claims, gives ‘cases’ (lawsuits)  – I think

2 Blemish on this wobbly bottom of frequent flyer (5,3)
MARSH TIT
MAR (blemish) + an anagram (wobbly) of THIS + [frequen]T – I don’t think I’ve met ‘blemish’ as a verb but it’s in both Collins and Chambers

3 Ignoring the last perfect theory (4)
IDEA
IDEA[l] (perfect)

4 First of cantilever bridges crossed having no parking inspectors (8)
SCANNERS
C[antilever] + S[p]ANNERS (bridges) minus p (parking)

5 Pet Labrador’s initially absent after eating posh food (6)
FONDUE
FOND[l]E (pet) minus initial letter of labrador round U (posh)

6 Plant maybe in Spooner’s garment dryer (4,6)
ROCK SINGER
Spooner’s garment dryer might be a sock wringer – here‘s the rock singer

7 Troops I fed left yankee wanting eggs (6)
CAVIAR
I from the clue in (fed) CAVA[l]R[y] (troops) minus (wanting) l (left) and y (yankee – NATO alphabet)

8 Nice summer, fine at the beginning for festival (4)
FÊTE
The usual trick, which I always enjoy, of ‘Nice’ indicating French: F (fine) + ÉTÉ (French for summer)

13 Join firm, starts scared (5)
COWED
CO (firm) + WED (join) -‘starts’ indicates the word order

14 Jews ask him a Zen problem (10)
ASHKENAZIM
Clever anagram (problem) of ASK HIM A ZEN

16 Bad religious scholar opens beer (5)
ADDLE
DD (Doctor of Divinity – religious scholar) in ALE – again, I don’t think I’ve met ‘addle’ as an adjective but it’s in my dictionaries

19 Last song performed in Moscow, it shows sincerity (8)
GLASNOST
An anagram (performed) of LAST SONG

21 Three articles by mother providing curse (8)
ANATHEMA
AN A THE (three articles) + MA (mother) – not the first time I’ve seen this but it’s a good one

23 Bad luck if it’s hard (6)
CHEESE
Cryptic definition

24 One that displays useless lot (6)
SHOWER
Double definition, with different pronunciations, the second being army slang, whose use I always enjoy

26 Adams entertaining republican soldiers (4)
ARMY
R (republican) in AMY (Adams) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Adams – I’m afraid I had to google this actress

28 A bit funny Penny’s missing something needed for toilet (4)
ROLL
[d]ROLL (a bit funny) minus d (old penny)

29 Yearn to stick close to fiancée (4)
PINE
PIN (stick) + [fiancé]E