Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 038
A Puzzle by Chaz
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Foreword
Welcome to the thirty eighth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week we have a puzzle from Chaz. There are themed answers and extra letters that must be removed from the wordplay, but don’t let that put you off as it is an excellent puzzle.
The puzzle
A Puzzle by Chaz
There is an interactive version of the puzzle here.
If you prefer your puzzles on paper, a pdf of the puzzle an be downloaded from the interactive version.
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Seven entries form part of a famous octet and lack further definition.
Eleven other clues contain an extra letter in the word-play which when removed spell out, in order, an instrument associated with the group; all other clues are normal.
The absent member should be written below the completed grid.
| Across | Down | |||
| 7 | Noble gas in French wine (5) | 1 | Funny greeting, king’s holding debt (9) | |
| 8 | Wall pictures make nooks absurd (9) | 2 | Boisterously enjoy bad direction for wake-up call (8) | |
| 10 | Microsoft founder has gold for dessert (6) | 3 | Wailer outlaws sheep innards (7) | |
| 11 | 26’s fragment holding right (8) | 4 | Senseless tall crime regarding verse (8) | |
| 12 | Drive out princess’s beavers’ home (8) | 5 | Meal making digital exchange (6) | |
| 13 | Clergyman without ‘A’, being short in manner (4) | 6 | Company bill? (5) | |
| 15 | Ural mine shift for number of Romans (7) | 9 | Exciting dead kitty (4) | |
| 17 | Second rate & lit. from Buddhist School (7) | 14 | Lee proved difficult to be regenerated (9) | |
| 20 | Work-shy detective backing limb (4) | 16 | Outfit I repair is holding up pre-dinner drink (8) | |
| 22 | Books backups (8) | 18 | Trio captures quiet river shark (8) | |
| 25 | Toll road gate hut pinker removed (8) | 19 | Given the low-down as Superman obviously has been (7) | |
| 26 | Put an end to hesitation (6) | 21 | End car crash (6) | |
| 27 | Suspended Leeds in ID mix-up (9) | 23 | Discover old penny in mass of bubbles (4) | |
| 28 | Last month lad’s lure (5) | 24 | High among detectives (5) |
NTSPP – 039 >