Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 015
Going a bit Elgar by Anax
+– + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Foreword
Welcome to the fifteenth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week Anax has provided a puzzle with a personal touch.
Setter’s Notes
After deciding to place a couple of personal answers in the grid, it struck me that Elgar is the prime candidate for doing this sort of thing and that – were he to do so – the clues would be littered with fun, sometimes very Libertarian elements. I can’t emulate Elgar’s talent but I thought it would be interesting to try and incorporate some of his playfulness and occasional risk-taking.
So, as on previous occasions, this is Anax doing a bit of play-acting and temporarily throwing off some of the Ximenean shackles. It’s quite a tough one I think; 4 stars for difficulty would probably be fair, maybe even 5 for some, but I hope you’ll persevere and get the same fun out of solving it as I did writing it.
Some of you may be puzzled by one clue which appears to have no definition, so I’ll just mention that regular contributor Moonstruckminx and I are now a very happy item, and she makes quite regular visits to my northern lair.
The puzzle
A Puzzle by Anax
If you prefer your puzzles on paper, click on the grid to download a pdf of the puzzle.
Additionally there is an interactive version of the puzzle here
Across | Down | ||
1 | Nearly all guards available to take crowd out to lunch (10) | 1 | I’m going north to meet Anax regularly (4) |
6 | That’s a stop! (4) | 2 | Award for accepting old woodwind instrument (4) |
9 | Nazi pervert sits on face (10) | 3 | Half a dozen fences protect part of spike (6) |
10 | A German’s excessive love (4) | 4 | Reason direction changes? (15) |
13 | This starts to play it after loading number? (7) | 5 | Cellist’s leisure wear (not uniform) (6) |
15 | Small piece of luggage that’s unopened – soft and neat (6) | 7 | Free-thinking alien protected by ideal mistress (10) |
16 | Ford car that is a classy vehicle – get into it (6) | 8 | PayPal’s CEO ordered book (10) |
17 | Full ID required to see film (12,3) | 11 | Mum’s red skirts I have repeatedly left to get dry (10) |
18 | Book a flight (6) | 12 | You and I entering list you’d rearranged deliberately (10) |
20 | King the other king rejected (6) | 13 | So, pump furiously to keep tyre’s shape inflated (7) |
21 | Sat around playing while producing classical pieces (7) | 14 | Letters initially are / is longer (7) |
22 | Cat’s call as he’s content (4) | 19 | Rather like this expert (6) |
25 | An old lady’s to cackle about odd stuff (10) | 20 | Film certificate (adult) and a forged certificate (for all) (6) |
26 | The German axis breaks in at least 48 hours (4) | 23 | Turned up behind or with the others (2,2) |
27 | Attempt to fit a new spine with ease (10) | 24 | Joke spectacles by blind man called Charles (1-3) |