www.algy.me.uk
Original cryptic crosswords by Algy
HEROD ON THE RUN (Barred crossword BR_0002)
The 8 unclued lights between them contain 5 characters, two of them sharing a first name, which only appears in the grid once. Solvers will find that the letters of the name MATTHEW RIKKI BURNEY can be used to fill the unchecked letters in the unclued lights. Chambers (2008) is recommended for all but proper names.
The move of this website to a new web-host has prompted me to add this puzzle, so ending many years of silence from me. This is the puzzle that brought an end to my very short crossword–setting career. It was rejected, I seem to remember, because the editor didn't like the theme. In his final sentence he complained about one of the clues, but as that clue was what caused the whole crossword to spring into life, I was not going to amend it. This, on its own, would not have stopped me setting, but sadly, the rejection coincided with a family tragedy that knocked me for six.
ACROSS
| 1,16 | Mop! Dry us! (16, 3 words) |
| 6 | Hanging sweet-container – good natural one (6) |
| 10 | Indiscreet about maudlin topic (12) |
| 12 | Gas surrounding pipe overlays (5) |
| 13 | On the surface, collects bards so bewildered (7) |
| 15 | Dutch measure of French ardour (6) |
| 16 | See 1A |
| 20 | Notices about church computing back independent woolly bears (8) |
| 21 | Prostrate like pickled padre (7) |
| 23 | Absolutely running through centre stage (4) |
| 24 | Extremely idiotic entertainers have method where Axels are concerned (7, 2 words) |
| 25 | Marine home quarter like Hades (8) |
| 29 | Mr Garnett, I hear, with help, is confusing with soup (8) |
| 30 | No veteran in utility room (4) |
| 31 | Culminating film speed in electronic news gathering (6) |
| 33 | Take fish outside channel (6) |
| 34 | Values animal existences (8) |
DOWN
| 1 | Loony, lacklustre Liberals removed camping chair (8) |
| 2 | Articulate newsreader on Newsnight starts shortly (4) |
| 3 | Tribes disturbed underwater bait takers (6) |
| 4 | Cracked linoleum missing no ornament (6) |
| 5 | Blocks upturned school parking notices (8) |
| 7 | Stone woman buried in Iceni obelisk (5) |
| 8 | Deployed at the double, without uniform, at a fixed price (10, 2 words) |
| 9 | Back in Brussels, I arrange divisions (6) |
| 11 | Little boy is fool supporting day carrying no date (9) |
| 14 | Engineers with these riotous rages (7) |
| 17 | Unknown, compound time period in history (10) |
| 18 | Dark sentence for one who doesnt sing during the day (9, 2 words) |
| 19 | Curse crude home-brews with no distinction (7) |
| 22 | Fool endlessly apprehensive in lanes (8) |
| 25 | Sozzled Steptoe, without quarter, fixed copper (6) |
| 26 | American aspen quivering leads to breaks in breathing. (6) |
| 27 | Garment of skins is Arabic, old-style, in Kansas (6) |
| 28 | Once promised purloined letter (5) |
| 32 | Kantele, oddly, is a cloth covering (4) |
The 5 characters are HUGH PADDICK, BILL PERTWEE, BETTY MARSDEN and KENNETHs HORNE and WILLIAMS, all regulars in the classic 60s radio show ROUND THE HORNE (HEROD ON THE RUN*). Sadly the regular announcer DOUGLAS SMITH couldnt be fitted in, though RAMBLING SYD RUMPO, one of the shows comic creations, could be.
