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Clues by Tramp and Grid by Max Jackson
Theme: The Goon Show
The winner of the May puzzle was Jerome Colburn.
We were told that this puzzle marks the 70th anniversary of the first appearance of what was to become the 25ac, 27to.
Ten asterisked clues lack a definition; these each belong to one of two thematic groupings, from which members from one group of four together portrayed the members of the remaining group of six. Solvers should submit with their entry their solution for the one of the four who portrayed none of the six.
As more than one of you said in your comments, this instruction was a difficult one to fully comprehend. Incidentally, I digress, these rubrics are tricky things to write requiring as they do total accuracy and a pithy presentation. This one it transpired, once I’d solved the puzzle, met both these requirements.
As usual in these circumstances all one can do is get on and solve the clues and hope that all will become clear. I’ve said this before but either I’m getting better or Frank Paul is getting kinder but I solved the picture clue relatively early on. It helped knowing that it likely started with an ‘A’ or a ‘B’ which led to ‘bent ‘I’ plus NE’- BENTINE. This in turn helped with the start of Clue 33 with TINE = SPIKE and the theme emerged.
Solving the undefined asterisked clues was helped enormously from being of an age that tuned into the Goons on the wireless (there’s a word now little used but back then pervasive) in my youth. For younger solvers JC’s comment in the form of a clue ‘My friend bothered a kid I wipe (9)’ provided what was required.
So we had a group of four: Bentine, Sellers, Milligan and Secombe, three of whom played the six famous Goon characters found in the finished puzzle. And the Easter egg was Michael Bentine, who was a founding member of the Goons but only featured in the first 38 episodes.
Your comments were overwhelmingly complimentary. I agree, this was a lovely puzzle created by one of our regular solvers Max Jackson and clued by the superb Tramp.
Grid solution
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