Answer: JANUARY TWENTY-SIX, AUSTRALIA DAY
| Across | ||
| 7 | JOY-RIDE | |
| Joey excited about free pleasure trip (3-4) | Anagram of JOEY outside RID | |
| 8 | ANNULET | |
| Small ring sabotaged a tunnel (7) | Anagram of A TUNNEL | |
| 10 | NAVY BLUE | |
| Argument in one of the services is colourful! (4,4) | Double Definition | |
| 11 | UNTIED | |
| Battered intruder, giving up rights, is freed (6) | Anagram of INTRUDER minus (R+R) | |
| 12 | AARDWOLF | |
| A road in sight of a stream kept back striped hyena (8) | (A + RD) inside (A + FLOW reversed) | |
| 14 | RAID | |
| Right to assist with attack organised by police (4) | R + AID | |
| 16 | YELTSIN | |
| Old Russian leader’s not exactly in style (7) | Anagram of IN STYLE | |
| 18 | TENURES | |
| Retarded web user misread terms of office (7) | NET reversed + anagram of USER | |
| 20 | WINO | |
| Person who is often too drunk to succeed with love (4) | WIN + O | |
| 21 | EMBODIED | |
| Represented leader of enormous mob strangely passed away (8) | (E)NORMOUS + anagram of MOB + DIED | |
| 24 | NAGANO | |
| Constantly find fault with a negative Japanese city (6) | NAG + A + NO | |
| 25 | TALLYING | |
| Adding up is sound as a bell with input from co-worker (8) | ALLY inside TING | |
| 27 | YELLING | |
| The old, long fish is making a lot of noise (7) | YE + L + LING | |
| 28 | SOURCES | |
| Suppliers of information arranged courses (7) | Anagram of COURSES | |
| Down | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
| 1 | IOTAS | |
| I sprayed oats – small amounts (5) | I + anagram of OATS | |
| 2 | X-RAY | |
| Taxpayer, missing a pet, distributed intimate photograph (1-3) | Anagram of TAXPAYER minus (A + PET) | |
| 3 | ADDLED | |
| Rotten line carried by extra (6) | L inside ADDED | |
| 4 | UNMUFFLE | |
| Greek character, in fun, deviously lifted brownie free of cover (8) | MU inside anagram of FUN + ELF reversed | |
| 5 | SUBTERFUGE | |
| Bust refuge implicated in deception (10) | Anagram of BUST REFUGE | |
| 6 | TELEVISES | |
| Shows jeans in among golfing gear (9) | LEVIS inside TEES | |
| 9 | RECON | |
| Scouting mission is heading to reef once at sea (5) | (R)EEF + anagram of ONCE | |
| 13 | ACTIONABLE | |
| Imperfection originally discovered in a cable carrying heavy weight, is giving grounds for lawsuit (10) | (I)MPERFECTION inside (A + CABLE outside TON) | |
| 15 | LEVITATED | |
| Imposed tax, that includes shabby articles, may be raised (9) | LEVIED outside TAT | |
| 17 | ICEBOUND | |
| Wandering Bedouin, catching cold, is frozen in (8) | Anagram of BEDOUIN outside C | |
| 19 | ABATE | |
| Former cricket captain at game finally let up (5) | AB + AT + GAM(E) | |
| 22 | DOLLOP | |
| Mass gathering mounted election (6) | DO + (POLL reversed) | |
| 23 | ANGEL | |
| An application in semi-solid form is dear (5) | AN + GEL | |
| 26 | YARD | |
| Strong cart ripped up garden (4) | DRAY reversed |
Love the Holiday Special. How about another in the next Boxed Set. Stickler Weekly takes (two of) us usually under an hour. Holiday Special took more like 6 hours. Really re-activates the grey cells.
I had the opposite experience — I finished this one more quickly than the average Stickler. That’s probably because I worked out the commemorative fact right at the start. This meant that I was able to put all the starting letters in the grid, and also against the clues.
Good fun, and a nice change.
Solved most of the clues but did not have a clue where to fit the answers in the grid. I must have missed something!
Hi Andrew,
The fitting of the answers into the grid is a puzzle in its own right. Obviously the lengths are known, so all answers can only go in certain places, and they must intersect with other answers. The first letters must spell words, so that also limits where the answers go. For instance, it’s unlikely that X will follow J.
Any help?