Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 073
A Puzzle by Gazza
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Foreword
Welcome to the latest in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week Gazza makes his long awaited return with a very enjoyable puzzle.
The puzzle
A Puzzle by Gazza
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.
| Across | Down | |||
| 1 | Moves to retain nucleus of Countdown in planned programmes (7) | 1 | Cooked rare seabird (7) | |
| 5 | Defective hearing? Not I – it’s the wind (7) | 2 | Crowds round speaker with sugary fare (9) | |
| 9 | Worship a dancing latin duo (9) | 3 | Totals are up or I’m a Dutchman (7) | |
| 10 | Assassin took out henchman in jail (5) | 4 | Daughter’s in inspired form and ready to iron (4-5) | |
| 11 | Cultivated a plot (7) | 5 | Patch of copper (5) | |
| 12 | Skipping regular reunion forums can be harmful (7) | 6 | Vice supremo’s going down (7) | |
| 13 | Sign that nothing’s wrong after detective comes across suspicious joint (9) | 7 | Eth’s beloved party’s musical theme (5) | |
| 15 | Degenerate graduate tucking into Mars? (2,3) | 8 | Foreign dailies communicated effectively (7) | |
| 17 | Track the leader in training (5) | 14 | I stalk two crooked power units (9) | |
| 19 | Pretty young thing, easy to catch for a lark? (5,4) | 16 | Black broadcast from irrational boyfriend (5,4) | |
| 22 | Reserve’s second time back in shape (7) | 17 | Gingerbread group’s first placement (7) | |
| 25 | Win over the French follows mini-defeat initially around the end of March (7) | 18 | Stop me getting back to save try (7) | |
| 26 | Here in parts of Canada the monarch appears more distant (5) | 20 | Gave proceeds to journalist (7) | |
| 27 | Pinched and scratched (9) | 21 | Spanish Dragons’ Den – a Sun fabrication? (7) | |
| 28 | Charm old actress after golf (7) | 23 | Board provides late news of European rights (5) | |
| 29 | A theologian, hampered by short sight, say, gets upset (7) | 24 | Channel cover-up threw establishment (5) |