Warning: Spoiler-ridden blog post; scroll down to start
I’ve been slow in making crosswords here, as I’ve been focusing on slowly progressing a themed 15x15 that’s been rattling around in my head for the last few weeks. But I felt like putting another grid up, so here we are.
This crossword has a few ‘slightly more challenging’ clues, so I’ve included a way to get hints without just revealing the answer; and also talked about the construction in case anyone’s interested.
I hope you enjoy this :)
Clue explanations
Clue: 1A
Definition: indiscriminately send messages Wordplay: SS (Nazi) around (held) map (plan) backups (up). Comments: Quite a dense clue, but I’m happy with what it does.
Clue: 5A
Definition: Layer Wordplay: Answer hidden (holds) in ‘(he n)ever’ Comments: Layer for chicken is pretty commonplace, but I kinda like the simplicity of it.
Clue: 6A
Definition: Body part Wordplay: Anagram argon Comments: I don’t really like this clue, but it does what it needs to. These small grids are quite constricted on words allowed, really
Clue: 8A
Definition: Border Wordplay: Double-definition: Break off = stop, border = edge Comments: Sure, this seems inoffensive but not especially clever.
Clue: 9A
Definition: Sweets Wordplay: anagram (spoiling) of start Comments: I don’t like that tarts can be sweet or savoury, but I like the ‘starts spoiling’ for an anagram indicator.
Clue: 1D
Definition: To express themselves loudly Wordplay: St (Saint) around (to accept) H (hot), O (love), U (initially unable). Comments: Not in love with this, for a while it was ‘way’ instead of saint; but that seemed harder and worse for surface. It’s a delicate charades clue, and I’m not very good at them.
Clue: 2D
Definition: By means of Wordplay: Alternate letters of (p)o(e)t(r)y. Comments: The ellipsis construction is another new one to me, I couldn’t find a great surface for this clue; but it could just about piggyback off the last surface.
Clue: 3D
Definition: Inflame Wordplay: Stove -> Range, move ‘r’ from strat to end Comments: Not a perfect surface, but I’m blaming the grid constraints and will call it serviceable. I like the wordplay
Clue: 4D
Definition: Propels Wordplay: Dissent - it (wanting it) anagramed (badly) Comments: I like this clue, even if it initially had ‘pays out’ (spends) as the definition instead of ‘propels’.
Clue: 7D
Definition: worker Wordplay: Backwards hidden (look up) in earned(t na)tive Comments: This clue seems fine to me.
Good luck!