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