Monday 21 April 2014

We all must have been having a LOT fun. Yes, that must be it.

Hello.  Doesn't a year go by quickly?  I say this for no other reason* than just under a year ago I rather foolishly promised to write a cryptic crossword for my friend Steven to solve.  It turns out they take AGES.  Especially if you start writing one, and then forget all about it, and then start again after a few not-so-subtle reminders, and then forget again, and then receive another reminder, and so on.

 Anyway. I finally finished it today, nearly a year after I first started, and sent it to Steven (who I'm not sure ever really expected to see it) and I thought I'd put it here too.





ACROSS
1. Mantra starts and ends softly to create a show of splendour (4)
5. Stephen's favourite way to cook eggs (3)
8. Get back, old boy; South Africa return is punishment for poor behaviour in public (4)
12. Novello on the piano? Why not! (4)
13. Band lost in the stars? It's a sign (3)
14. Glaswegian perhaps? Beds are unmade (4)
15. Bad worker kisses nothing to form a famous alliance (4)
16. Initially show surprise when cat becomes confused (3)
17. Moving around rings, tree loses romance (4)
18. Don't catch this if you're in a rush to hear what Dylan sings (4,5)
21. Bob's friend? She's a queen! (3)
22. Set down an old fashioned way of returning a phone call (4)
23. Honest love for a writer (4)
25. Norton and Milliband could be magazine bosses (3)
28. More than one of these spells trouble for Caesar at a cetain time of year (3)
29. This fruit will make him leave (5)
31. A lizard which cheers the girl on (6)
33. Bond's boss, fashionable with a broken leg, to chat to everyone at the party
34. After a turn in Eastenders, you'll be waiting for him all night (5)
35. Forbid the airline to go north (3)
36. I can see the comic sailor's lost his dad (3)
37. Travel on 18, for example
38. The measure of this space is that it's a music venue with no point (4)
40. Abba's music always spells trouble
41. If Dan goes by backwards, for example, the Princess Bride's rats could cause peril (9)
46. Chooses to put spinning toys into more of a spin (4)
48. Fish missing a note can still make a type of music (3)
49. Eastern Sea is choppy but will soothe pain (4)
50. Sounds like wig-maker will get the lot (4)
51. No point in being crooked, I'll wager (3)
52. Cleaner loses article, holds up plant (4)
53. Single performance starts on cello (4)
54. Substance in the ground provides options, we hear (3)
55. It will wear out after too much driving (4)


DOWN


1.To cut back could mean there's just enough money for these (4)
2. Egg needs to learn to be egg shaped 3)
3. These services will break a thousand, too (4)
4. When played backwards, record contains an argument for roaming stealthily (5)
5. About a letter, two old ladies are in a state (7)
6. About that bad cheese? We covered it (6)
7. At first you only get it for a famous bear (4)
8.Raise a question as potassium is added (3)
9. At the top, she can seek retribution and take what she needs from what's left
10. Ron Bigly turns monotonously (8)
11.In two ticks I'll be near the ear (4)
19.Theodore, by including an example of poor grammar, is spoiled (7)
20. Mine and one other on the shortlist for an award (7)
24 To criticise a cooking implement (3)
25 This example's good for Easter (3)
26 management style prefered by burgulars (4,4)
        27 every other stay drips it, witch enjoys pain (8)
30 Overall, equipment efficiency put first (3)
32 Oxford professor is up, but off for some sleep (3)
33 Spoil the entrance to a sea-side resort (7)
35 River some say responsible for financial ruin (6)
39 Lazy policeman could do with one of these (1, 4)
40 In London, sounds like a farmer will fashion his old fashioned tool from cloth (4)
42 A punishment you've seen before, in which he was as bold as brass (4)
43 could describe a breakfast cereral which starts on top, we hear (4)
44 When confused I'm sure I'm often the cause computer errors (4)
45 Appear to be a Massai dagger, by the sound of it (4)
47 Initially spent in the Seychelles 





*Well, maybe that's not quite the only reason. Writing this crossword isn't the only thing I've spent the last year doing, obviously. I also ran a marathon, went to Australia (twice), and left my part-time job, among other things, but somehow didn't manage to blog about any of it. I plan to fix this.


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