Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

A big thank you to Jono for setting this Mid Week Puzzle, the puzzles are always popular.

Are there any other volunteers out there willing to have a go at setting a Mid-Week Puzzle?

They don’t have to be as complicated as Jono’s, how he manages to come up these clues totally baffles me. But then the Daily Mail simple crossword totally baffles me as well😂

I’m sure our regulars would appreciate a simple quiz, something like place names or sports stars, Kings & Queens etc etc. Give it a go👏

Thanks to all who gave this a go and congrats to those who finished. Just to wrap things up, here is the solution…

“Take away those pillows I shall need them no more”
Lewis Carroll, 1898

1. Take away top brass in Moscow in grip of dissident outsiders, one of a pair (7) - Doublet
[r]OUBLE in DT

2. One shelled those abandoning horse to quash organised riot (8) - Tortoise
(RIOT)* in T[h]OSE

3. Search pillows essentially errant king (7) - Charles
(SEARCH L)*

4. Casually I shall consumed by pains of Greek hero (8) - Achilles
I’LL in ACHES

5. Sharing central character fighter to kill eponymous heroine (5) - Alice
ALI and ICE (sharing the I)

6. Fish to join one who may need a mitre (9) - Carpenter
CARP + ENTER

7. Sensen might so describe his recurring theme! (8) - Nonsense
‘Sensen’ -> ‘N’ ON SENSE

8. Associate of 6 returning no end to certain rule (6) - Walrus
SUR(e) LAW reversed

9. Day cut short as Surrey bowled out by Cheshire village (9) - Daresbury
DA(y) (SURREY B)*

10. Aunt Pat more befuddled by Brexit? (11) - Portmanteau
(AUNT PAT MORE)*

Some links I found useful:-

The Doublet
https://tinyurl.com/5yh8uj8f
…and here is the original Doublets competition puzzle
https://tinyurl.com/yc649ju2

Charles, Alice and Nonsense
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll

Tortoise and Achilles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Tortoise_Said_to_Achilles

Walrus and Carpenter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walrus_and_the_Carpenter

Daresbury
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daresbury

Portmanteau
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau

Thanks for playing!

Too devious for me, jono, but thanks anyway. I just had ALICE and DARESBURY.

Good Work Jono!
I managed to get 6 but would probably never have fathomed the other 4!

Thanks Jono. You must have spent hours/days creating this puzzle, but it was way too convoluted for my brain, so I gave up after solving 3,4 and 10

I guessed 3 was Charles, using L from the asterisked word, but had no idea what the word was.

I also guessed 4 was Achilles but I
did not solve the asterisked word.

10 was the first and easiest and I remembered you had used the word in a previous puzzle.

Gold star 🌟 for remembering I clued PORTMANTEAU once before, Jazzgirl. Just looked it up and it was Feb last year!

Gee, thanks Jono 🤩

Thanks, Jono. I enjoyed the challenge, though I fell by the wayside.
In #7, I was looking at words starting with 'my' - 'Mythical',etc. Needless to say, they didn't work 😄
Looking forward to the next one.

Thanks, jono. Brilliant work.
I got a handful of words, but was unable to invest the (substantial amount of) time I'd have needed to get close to finishing.

Thanks Jono. Brilliant theme and clueing...worthy of a Listener.

I struggled to get going but the first 5 or 6 solved brought me to the right Wiki page which helped enormously. (I think Alice, portmanteau and the walrus and carpenter were the key. (Achilles and Charles were the very first but I went off in the wrong direction from those - didn't know about the tortoise and Achilles).