Doodlecat’s New Year Prize Cryptic Crossword
Competition now closed – solution & winners’ names below.
Across
9. I enter Crimea to find a New World. 7.
10. Issue – to arrange a neat meal without Al. 7.
11. Firm foundation – for sleeping? 7.
12. Piccalilli cited as containing illegal ingredient. 7.
13. Five hundred join group – for a passing fancy. 9.
15. This is an exercise. Pay attention! 3,2.
16. Untied? Get married! 6.
18. Made her tic more than once. 6.
20. Such thoughts give hesitation after pub. 5.
21. A taxing obligation for the postmaster? 5, 4.
24. One enters a river. Nice area! 7.
25. Frock made by the public speaker? 7.
27. Enthusiast finds Windermere’s cooler with a twitch. 7.
28. After a time it’s certain to be a wipe out. 7.
Down
1. Spiky sort of remark to exclude rising debutante. 6.
2. French fire over endless valley – that’s not democratic! 6.
3. Flooring from the jungle king. 4.
4. No need for a bus or taxi within this. 7,8.
5. An estate? Maybe, but not an industrial estate. 11, 4.
6. Supple Mary could be really sweet. 5,5.
7. Drug used on arctic voyage. 8.
8. Bureaucracy to deter PA. 3,4.
14. Cuts off to bury fungus over rising saint. 10.
17. Party given by sisters we hear was a disappointment. 3,5.
19. If Roman six try, they’ll create glass. 7.
22. Fuel us – that could be a handy arrangement! 6.
23. Agreeable chaps found south in Yemen. 3,3.
26. 6-6-44. 1,3
The winner of the first prize is Chris Peart – a great effort by Chris, as his printer was out of ink and he had to manually recreate the grid!
The second prize goes to Andrew Walker – the first correct entry to arrive, but sadly not the first out of the hat (actually it wasn’t a hat but a kitchen jug).
Many thanks to all who took the time to have a go. You kept me on tenterhooks by leaving your entries so late, so the last few days were a bit of a relief 😅.