A while back I received an email from an old Stickler fan lamenting the loss of decent cryptics from the papers and complaining about the inevitable move away from the printed medium. He said he would love to do The Stickler Weekly but wasn’t tech-savvy and had no desire to become so. He suggested a service where I would print a month’s worth of puzzles at a time and send them to him. He was happy to pay for the expense of doing this and indicated that other people might be interested in doing the same thing. I suspect that there are people out there in the same boat, however, with no way to reach solvers except through the internet, it seems I’m caught in a Catch-22 situation.
I assume if you have friends who prefer doing The Stickler Weekly on paper then you are downloading the PDF and printing it off for them, so my current solver base probably isn’t a good source for partakers of a print-and-send service.
I’d gladly do something in this area if enough people were interested but how to reach them? Any suggestions? Any comments?
| Across | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | POSTSCRIPT | |
| Displays rent in court supplement (10) | POSTS + (RIP inside CT) | |
| 6 | FAIR | |
| Trade show is pretty good (4) | Double Definition | |
| 10 | TINGLED | |
| Broken leg, pinned by metal rod, ultimately experienced pins and needles (7) | Anagram of LEG inside [TIN + RO(D)] | |
| 11 | NARROWS | |
| Extreme points made about missile contracts (7) | (N + S) outside ARROW | |
| 12 | EXPECTANT | |
| Hopeful is still standing with herniated muscle? (9) | EXTANT outside PEC | |
| 13 | NO-NOS | |
| Child playing back unacceptable things (2-3) | (SON + ON) reversed | |
| 14 | TAHINI | |
| Scrawny one consuming a thick Middle Eastern paste (6) | (THIN + I) outside A | |
| 16 | SNAPPED | |
| Leader of side took time out and lost it (7) | (S)IDE + NAPPED | |
| 17 | EAT | |
| Starter of eggplant at lunch, say (3) | (E)GGPLANT + AT | |
| 19 | PAIRING | |
| Union pressure addressed by broadcast (7) | P + AIRING | |
| 20 | BRUTAL | |
| Unsweetened ale mostly is beastly (6) | BRUT + (AL)E | |
| 23 | HOTEL | |
| Place that provides accommodation and stolen fuel discounted by 50% (5) | HOT + FU(EL) | |
| 24 | RETRACTOR | |
| Retired stage performer chasing right theatre item (9) | RET + (ACTOR after R) | |
| 26 | NANKEEN | |
| Twisted knee wrapped in one oldish cotton cloth (7) | Anagram of KNEE inside NAN | |
| 27 | RAILING | |
| King suffering from illness is complaining bitterly (7) | R + AILING | |
| 28 | DODO | |
| Repeatedly cheat slow-witted person (4) | DO twice | |
| 29 | ASTRINGENT | |
| A band used in stent is contracting (10) | A + (RING inside STENT) | |
| Down | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | PATIENTS | |
| Couple wearing trousers treated people (8) | TIE inside PANTS | |
| 2 | SUN-UP | |
| Joke with American rising early in the morning (3-2) | (PUN + US) reversed | |
| 3 | SELF-CONTROLLED | |
| Took a turn guarding mischievous child prisoner that’s restrained (4-10) | STROLLED outside (ELF + CON) | |
| 4 | RADIAL | |
| Carbon not used in revolutionary sort of tyre (6) | RADICAL minus C | |
| 5 | PENITENT | |
| Writer, one provided with shelter is apologetic (8) | PEN + I + TENT | |
| 7 | ADORNMENT | |
| Accessory on remand reviewed conclusion of court? (9) | Anagram of ON REMAND + COUR(T) | |
| 8 | RESIST | |
| Combat is noted in time of little activity (6) | IS inside REST | |
| 9 | TRANSPORTATION | |
| Freight train bypassing current diversion in the country (14) | TRAIN minus IN + (SPORT inside NATION) | |
| 15 | HEARTENED | |
| Inspired judge ordered teen back to ward (9) | HEAR + anagram of TEEN + WAR(D) | |
| 16 | SAG | |
| Drop fuel over (3) | GAS reversed | |
| 17 | ENTRANTS | |
| Disgruntled tenants outside restricted people moving in (8) | Anagram of TENANTS outside R | |
| 18 | ALL RIGHT | |
| Six letters from wordsmith, girl lapped up? (3,5) | wordsmiTH GIRL LApped reversed | |
| 21 | PHONED | |
| Person consumed by further education made a call (6) | ONE inside PHD | |
| 22 | STORER | |
| Warehouse worker, say, revised reports with page missing (6) | Anagram of REPORTS minus P | |
| 25 | TWINE | |
| Originator of the “Fermented Alcohol” thread (5) | (T)HE + WINE |
No ideas, David, sorry.
But there is a rather sad indicator in this, about the society & times in which we live;
that this guy doesn’t have someone – neighbour/friend/family to perform this minuscule activity
for him each week – imagine the warmth & gratitude.
We become so isolated as we age & get more frail.
Can identify to some extent, just very grateful that I have some capabilities in this area
(incl email to stay a little more connected) & access to assistance when it all goes pear shaped as it surely does from time to time.
(& NBN is coming soon, not looking forward to that AT All. It’s Telstra, what can possibly go wrong!!!!!!)
Now here’s a thought.
I would gladly print off & deliver – if he happened to live in Toowoomba Qld.
(Know I would be lost with our my weekly Stickler fix.)
Maybe for starters – some indicators of people who would be prepared to assist others in their localities in like manner, build up a People/Location list of those.
Not sure how to reach the ones who NEED the favour. Maybe via Printer/Deliverers who attend National Seniors meetings or the like???
I doubt there are enough people who don’t have the ability to print a web page, if not personally then through the agency of their 4 year-old grandchildren, to make the exercise worthwhile.
Loved 25-down.
18-dn: “Six letters …”; I count eight. Am I missing something?
Thanks in advance,
Steve = : ^ )
You’d be missing the definition…
Yep, that’d be right. So, if “… letters” onwards is the wordplay, that leaves “six” as the definition. I’m sorry, I’m obviously having a bad day. How does “Six” define ALL RIGHT?
Steve = : ^ \
Probably only one way in a crossword comprising numbered clues. Note there’s a question mark at the end of the clue.
Really, I don’t know why I bother sometimes.
Nice clue, BTW!
Steve = : ^ [
Well …. it is about ideas.
Sadly we’ll probably never know how many have neither of the above,
therefore are in even greater need of diversionary therapy..
There’s at least one.