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Crossword No 2

Sunday, 04 February 2007 00:00 Martin Hills
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In keeping with this month’s theme, the letters forming the perimeter of this puzzle, running clockwise from the bottom left-hand corner (ie, starting at square 27), show a lover’s demand, having declared the fruitlessness of procrastination (4,4,4,2,5,3,6). As usual, answers may be in English or French, the choice often suggested by the clues, and all accents are ignored.

ACROSS
 
8          Small prospector in France? (6)
9          Ridiculous tale spun, yet unfolds (8)
10         I lay off 149 mistakenly  –  it’s not off the record!  (10)
11         What changes needed for warmer weather? (4)
12         Recover in new alcohol legislation (4,4)
13         Patriotism is the scoundrel’s last, said Johnson (6)
15         Cause and effect of desertification (2,5)
17         French stretch what ‘e rented out (7)
20         One found in gas  –  or another (6)
22         Record keeper sounds to be a researcher (8)
24         Incredible vessel? (4)
26         Lateral tan can make one hop! (10)
27         Knitters make such as love tokens (8)
28         Violently unseat author (6)
 
DOWN
 
1          Creator of the Tour de France?  (6)
2          Novel like thrown pieces reassembled (10)
3          Cross-dress in water (8)
4          Cheery with dissimilar direction first (7)
5          Pole carries the old operator on cats (6)
6          Encountered one in butcher’s stock (4)
7          Green rat, oddly enough, is alien to France (8)
14         The Last Supper, for example? (5,5)
16         Last words of the famous (8)
18         Joint producer of strange wan tones (5-3)
19         Digs bark at increase (3,4)
21         Uphill before 10?  How foul!  (6)
23         Hidden when away, like peanuts, maybe (6)
25         County reveals sunken treasure?  On the contrary!  (4)



 

AMB 's different kind of puzzle

Crossword puzzles seem to be popular with English speakers in France to judge by the fact that many anglophone publications here include them.  Interestingly, the majority of these are of the cryptic, rather than definition, type.  We guess that there may be many readers of this website who would like this kind of puzzles and have asked Martin Hills, one of our regular contributors, who has pioneered his own variety of bilingual puzzle, first in Var Village Voice and currently in The Connexion to let us publish some of his in AMB Cote d'Azur.
 
Martin writes:  ‘Like many other crossword puzzle setters, I graduated through years of solving other people’s in the UK papers.  I have always enjoyed puzzles that are a bit different, like the many original forms that Araucaria has created for The Guardian.  The puzzles that appear here will all be cryptic and will all have answers in both English and French, because most of us can do with practising our French and developing our vocabulary.  The French words are to be found in a good dictionary.  On top of that, each time I plan to add another twist of one sort or another.  Nothing too difficult  –  the level will be roughly similar to that of  The Times or The Guardian  –  but enough to get the little grey cells to work.  Remember, this is the sort of mental exercise that is supposed to help ward off Alzheimer’s!’