Word Puzzle 100

Word Puzzle 100 – Solution with Explanation

Theme: Wimbledon champions (M/W Singles) past, present and future

Clues:

1. North American boy retiring as champion? (5)

Nadal, NA (north American), lad (boy), retiring (reversal), champion (def, theme is

Wimbledon)

2. Champ gave, sarcastic, elliptical, short hedging answer? (9)

Sharapova, champ (thematic def), sharp (sarcastic), short (delete last letter in) oval

    (elliptical), hedging (container), a (answer)

3. Short parody in act six hundred, is a winner (8)

Djokovic, short (delete last letter in) joke (parody), in (insertion), do (act), VI (six), C

(hundred), winner (thematic def)

4. This champ had to toil miserably after the ban (7)

  Bartoli, champ (thematic def), miserably (anagram of) toil, after (positionally later), bar (ban)

5. Champion American detective with royal badge facing difficulty (7)

Federer, champion (thematic def), Fed (American detective), ER (royal badge), facing

(juxtaposition), er (difficulty)

6. This champ had a muse in Croatia about the master (8)

Muguruza, champ (thematic def), “muza” (muse in Croatian), about (container), guru

(master)

7. Detective tailing Billy who failed narrowly to be the champion (7)

Roddick, dick (detective), tailing (positionally after), rod (billy), Roddick lost Wimbledon

        finals and never won the tournament.

8. This champ and supergiant embraced difficult travail (11)

  Navratilova, champ (thematic def), nova (supergiant), embraced (container), difficult

  (anagram of) travail

9. Bad rap on setter, stokes the champ (7)

Sampras, bad (anagram of) rap, on (juxtaposition AB or BA), Sam (setter), s (stokes), champ

(thematic def)

10. Brew without the odd cake for this champ (6)

   Becker, beer (brew), without (container), odd (odd letters in) cake, champ (thematic def)

11. Marilyn gave up love for the church, for this champ (7)

   McEnroe, Monroe (Marylin), gave up x for y (replace x with y), so replace o (love) with

   CE (church) in Monroe, champ (thematic def)

12. This champ did study on Scandinavian language and not English (7)

  Connors, champ (thematic def), con (study), Norse (Scandinavian language), not (deletion

  of) E (English)

13. Champ and a terrible tsar, lives with awful vice (10)

   Ivanisevic, champ (thematic def), Ivan (terrible tsar), is (lives), awful (anagram of) vice

14. Champ’s choice: early morning on Saturday (8)

   Williams, champ (thematic def), will (choice), I am (early morning), S (Saturday)

15. Jack and Erik wild about the champ (8)

   Krajicek, wild (anagram of) Jack + Erik, champ (thematic def)

16. Muslim leader on ship with a champ (6)

   Agassi, Aga (Muslim leader), SS (ship), I (a), champ (thematic def)

17. Not a thematic champ but champ nevertheless found in famous prison without a single

   bar (7)

   Alcaraz, def: not a Wimbledon champ yet, but has won grand slam, Alcatraz (famous

   prison), without (deletion of) T (single bar) {Interesting note, since posting this puzzle, Alcaraz has now won Wimbledon}  

18. Reportedly chart for champ (4)

   Graf, homophone (reportedly of) graph (chart), champ (thematic def)

19. Champ who visits around the league (5)

   Seles, champ (thematic def), sees (visits), around (container), L (league)

20. Champ voted first in “Best of Russian Gymnasts” (4)

   Borg, champ (thematic def), first in (1st letters in) “Best of Russian Gymnasts”

21. Champ Jimmy left England for Austria (5)

   Laver, lever (jimmy), left for (swap) E (England) with A (Austria)