Across
1, 5 across. Outstanding competitors dread sleep? Yes, in a way. (6,7)
10. In thieves’ jargon, French king gets social security and flaky roll. (9)
11. Plain clothes worn by Islamic law interpreter? (5)
12. Distributes ridges that separate watersheds. (7)
13. One who falsifies accounts with the Chagall painting. (7)
14. Young ladies seldom smile – see how things change! (14)
17. Drug development specialist is cranky apologist with charm. (14)
21. Dilatory gag order changed in pig fat. (7)
22. Eject former sign of life. (7)
24. Point to a policeman’s informer and hunt it with forks and hope. (5)
25. Publicans dedicated to the promotion of cricket. (9)
26. The kind of reliable guy to let down a date? (5-2)
27. Enjoy musical ornament. (6)
Down
2. Works out first lady’s cut short? Solve somehow. (7)
3. Administered medication and nodded off, one hears. (5)
4. Poets add excitement around bad lads - now descriptive of annoyingly unhurried pace. (4,4,3,4)
5. Gain advantage by trickery and place a firmly fixed series of six balls at Lord’s. (3,1,4,3,4)
6. Texas animal with a rabbit’s head, irate and sick – there’s nothing to it. (9)
7. F-fuel mixture gets General Electric to create beam. (7)
8. They throng winter resorts and give wild shrieks without heroin. (6)
9. Riding school familiar to little Oscar. (7)
15. Cattle may be set aside for particular purpose. (9)
16. Disbeliever to bathe? Is Thomas seen within? 7)
18. Witch, Irish cop lacking resistance and religious text. (7)
19. Evil, monstrous spot causing disease. (7)
20. Blocks narrow passages off street. (6)
23. Initially placed every Roman in latent danger. (5)
Notes
E-mail your solutions of The Very Logical Prize Puzzle No. 217 by the closing date of 4 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday, Feb. 17 to stephaniepiro@gmail.com and include your name, postal address and your choice of a Strip T’s shirt, should you be the drawn winner. Please include a second choice (design number and size) just in case we are out of stock of your favorite t-shirt. The items on Café Press are not in our stock and consequently are not available as prizes.
Solutions can also be faxed, if you prefer, to USA code 1-603-755-2926, or mailed to John Nolan, 27 River Road, Farmington, NH, 03835.
All answers, except proper names, appear in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary tenth edition and/or The Chamber’s Dictionary. In this "British-style" crossword, punctuation marks in clues are best ignored, as a rule. The answer to 18 down is an alternative spelling.
The solution to The Very Logical Prize Puzzle No. 217, along with the name of the winner, and everyone else submitting correct solutions, will be published on this site towards the end of February.
The winner of TVLPP for January, drawn by Stephanie, herself, during a cartooning break, is Jim Horrigan of Portsmouth, NH. Let us know your choice of T-shirt, Jim, (with a reserve choice), and we'll get it in the mail pronto.
Other correct solvers this month were that strong English contingent of Ian Laming, Keith Williams and Mark Nichols, Calfan Dary from a Very Warm Place, Chris Rogers, Barbara Trow and Randy Taylor from icy New Hampshire, Jim Sempsrott from Raleigh, NC, and Nancy Mooney Hebert of Florida, who reports a recent and unusual touch of frost. (My heart goes out to you, Nancy. Hang on there.)
Jim Siirola on Utah pretty much solved it, and probably made a typo writing "ligurus" rather than "ligures."
Then there was the Tunapuna/French/English crossword combo of Bonnets and Simmon(d)s who got everything right, including "calypso" included in their honor, until it came to that good old Scottish highland drinking den "bothan" whereat they all wrote "dothan." Dothan, it seems, is a town in Alabama, where there may well be an illicit drinking establishment, but not the one being sought.
Never mind, please enjoy TVLPP No. 217 above.
Recent winners
No. 115 - Andy Knap of London, SW20, England
No. 116 - Randy Taylor of Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
No. 117 - Chris Rogers of Farmington, New Hampshire, USA
No. 118 - Don Parent of Hanover, Maine, USA
No. 119 - Karen Muller of Kohimarama, Auckland, New Zealand
No. 120 - Nancy Mooney Hebert of Palm Bay, Florida, USA
No. 121 - Carl E. Damuth of Wells, Maine, USA
No. 122 - Don Parent of Hanover, Maine, USA
No. 123 - Randy Taylor of Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
No. 124 - Karen Muller of Kohimarama, Auckland, New Zealand
No. 125 - Carl E. Damuth of Wells, Maine, USA
No. 126 - Joan Bittrolff, Somersworth, New Hampshire, USA
No. 127 - Not posted due to the stress and pressure of vacation
No. 128 - Chris Rogers of Farmington, New Hampshire, USA
No. 129 - Nancy Mooney Hebert of Palm Bay, Florida, USA
No. 130 - Carl E. Damuth of Wells, Maine, USA
No. 131 - Joan Bittrolff, Alford, Florida, USA
No. 132 - Slipped through cracks due to computer crisis
No. 133 - Karen Muller of Meadowbank, Auckland, New Zealand
No. 134 - Randy Taylor of Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
No. 135 - Don Parent of Hanover, Maine, USA
No. 136 - Paul Noack of West Broomfield, Michigan, USA
No. 137 - Carl E. Damuth of Wells, Maine, USA
No. 138 - Don Parent of Hanover, Maine, USA
No. 139 - Barbara Trow of Dover, New Hampshire, USA
No. 140 - Bonnie & Kevin Bergeron, Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
No. 141 - Nancy Mooney Hebert of Palm Bay, Florida, USA
No. 142 - Karen Cleary of St. Johns Park, Auckland, New Zealand
No. 143 - Chris Rogers of Farmington, New Hampshire, USA
No. 144 - Veronique Bonnet, Rodez, France
No. 145 - Carl E. Damuth of Wells, Maine, USA
No. 146 - Huguette R.-M. Simmonds of Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago
No. 147 - Randy Taylor of Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
No. 148 - Pierre Gaillard, Olemps, France
No. 149 - Reynir Axelsson, Mosfellsbaer, Iceland
No. 150 - Paul Noack of West Broomfield, Michigan, USA
No. 151 - Régine Privat, Naucelle, France
No. 152 - Don Parent of Hanover, Maine, USA
No. 153 - Barbara Winter, Dover, New Hampshire, USA
No. 154 - Joan Bittrolff, Alford, Florida, USA
No. 155 - Condell Lovell Simmons of Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago
No. 156 - Nancy Mooney Hebert of Palm Bay, Florida, USA
No. 157 - Karen Cleary of St. Johns Park, Auckland, New Zealand
No. 158 - Barbara Trow of Dover, New Hampshire, USA
No. 159 - Paul Noack of West Broomfield, Michigan, USA
No. 160 - Sylvie Chauchard of Belmont Sur Rance, Belmont, France
No. 161 - Carl E. Damuth of Wells, Maine, USA
No. 162 - Yvette Gaillard of Olemps, Rodez, France
No. 163 - Randy Taylor of Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
No. 164 - Calfan Dary of Anggabaya, Bali, Indonesia
No. 165 - Keith Simmonds of Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago
No. 166 - Chris Rogers of Farmington, New Hampshire, USA
No. 167 - Joan Bittrolff of Alford, Florida, USA
No. 168 - Betty Bardy of Albi, France
No. 169 - Randy Taylor of Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
No. 170 - Bonnie & Kevin Bergeron, Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
No. 171 - Paul Noack of West Broomfield, Michigan, USA
No. 172 - Barbara Trow of Dover, New Hampshire, USA
No. 173 - Barbara Winter of Dover, New Hampshire, USA
No. 174 - Nancy Moony Hebert of Alton, New Hampshire, USA (in summer)
No. 175 - Jim Gaudet of Dover, New Hampshire, USA
No. 176 - Keith Williams of Kings Worthy, Winchester, Hampshire, England
No, 177 - Karen Cleary of St. Johns Park, Auckland, New Zealand
No. 178 - Calfan Dary of Anggabaya, Bali, Indonesia
No. 179 - James O. Horrigan, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
No. 180 - David Simmonds of Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago
No. 181 - Chris Rogers of Farmington, New Hampshire, USA
No. 182 - Madeleine Dupierre of Rodez, France.
No. 183 - Paul Noack of West Broomfield, Michigan, USA
No. 184 - Jim Siirola of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
No. 185 - James O. Horrigan, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
No. 186 - Randy Taylor of Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
No. 187 - Joan Bittrolff of Alford, Florida, USA
No. 188 - Natalie Ryder, Bremen, Georgia, USA
No. 189 - Barbara Trow of Dover, New Hampshire, USA
No. 190 - Héloïse Bonnet of Rodez, France
No. 191 - Jim Gaudet of Dover, New Hampshire, USA
No. 192 - Calfan Dary of Anggabaya, Bali, Indonesia
No. 193 - Keith Williams of Kings Worthy, Winchester, Hampshire, England
No. 194 - Huguette R.-M. Simmonds, Tunapuna, Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies
No. 195 - Terry Towle, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA
No. 196 - Vidya Singh of Sidcup, Kent, England
No. 197 - Jim Sempsrott, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
No. 198 - Condell Lovell Simmons of Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago
No. 199 - Trudy Metzger, Caroline Williams, Laura Bradford of Westport I., Maine, USA
No. 200 - Norbert Bonnet of Rodez, France.
No. 201 - Barbara Bierweiler of Ossipee, New Hampshire, USA
No. 202 - Paul Noack of West Broomfield, Michigan, USA
No. 203 - James O. Horrigan, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
No. 204 - Randy Taylor of Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
No. 205 - Chris Rogers of Farmington, New Hampshire, USA
No. 206 - Nancy Mooney Hebert of Palm Bay, Florida, USA
No. 207 - Wayne Maricheau of Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago
No. 208 - Mark Nichols of Rugby, Warwickshire, England
No. 209 - Keith Williams of Kings Worthy, Winchester, Hampshire, England
No. 210 - Jim Sempsrott, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
No. 211 - Calfan Dary of Anggabaya, Bali, Indonesia
No. 212 - Joan Bittrolff of Alford, Florida, USA
No. 213 - Barbara Trow of Dover, New Hampshire, USA
No. 214 - Keith Simmonds of Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago
No. 215 - Ian Laming, Chippingham, Wiltshire, England
No. 216 - James O. Horrigan, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA