Inquisitor 113 TOURIST TRAP by Phi

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Another challenging and well-constructed puzzle from Phi.

I found the bottom half of the puzzle easier to solve than the top, and indeed only had one word in the top half before solving the theme. Knowing what the replaced clashing letters were made it easier to solve the top half; still quite tricky though! 

I had “. . . G THE CHANGE” and “. . . THE TROOP” for the across and down replaced letters, and thoughts of “Trooping the Colour” and “Changing the Guard” sprang to mind. So the TOURIST TRAPs were GUARDING THE CHANGE and COLOURING THE TROOP. Very neat! These new versions of the existing parades are NEW ROYAL OCCASIONS, the phrase spelled out by the letters to be entered in the grid from the wordplay.

The “17th instance” referred to in the rubric is 16A and 9D which both have G as the crossing letter to be replaced by L. 11A and 22D have no change when the “replacement” is made – referred to in the rubric by the phrase “almost always different”.

I dread to think how long our setters spend working these themes out, but we must offer them all a vote of thanks for their brilliance in keeping us entertained weekly!

A few quibbles. Two legitimate but uncommon and ugly words – REGIFT and RIPED, and an American (I presume) spelling of PEDAGOG which does not appear in Chambers, Collins or the OED.  Also, shouldn’t St. Helier have been flagged as two words?

Clue  Grid Defined  Replaced  by  Comment 
Across
 1  RENIFT REGIFT   G  N  Not one of my favourite words! T(ime) + FINER reversed
 5  GEANGO  GUANGO  U  E  The rain tree, GEAN is the European cherry tree + GO (are sold) 
 10  DALWI LAMA   DALAI LAMA  A  W  Priest, LAD reversed + [MALAWI]*
 11  TRUE  TRUE  R  R  Genuine, TRU(C)E (One of the “almost always different” ones referred to in the rubric.)
 12  CUSPIOOR  CUSPIDOR  D  O  Old (thank goodness!) pub feature, CU + SPOOR round I
 13  YNNATE  INNATE  I  Y  “being without instructions”, E(lectronic) + TANN(o)Y reversed
 15  HOGAA  HOGAN  N  A  Strong drink, HOG + AA
 16  PEDAGOL  PEDAGOG  G  L  Teacher (US?? see above), [LED A G(r)O(u)P]*
 18  EMEOIC  EMETIC  T  O  “Bringing up” – nice definition, [E MICE O]*
 23  ATCENE  ATHENE  H  C  Wise figure, ATE round CEN(t)
 25  ESSENCE        Normal clue, ESSEN + CE
 27  HOTCN  HOTEN  E  C  Old word for called, HOT + C(old) + N(ote) 
 29  VISAID  VISCID  C  A  Sticky, V(ery) + I + SAID 
 30  STSELIER  ST. HELIER  H  S  Island capital, [TIRELESS]*
 31  GILI  GILA  A  I  Lizard, hidden in aGILIty
 32  EQUALOESS  EQUALNESS  N  O  Parity, E + QUA + LOESS
 33  NERMAN  GERMAN  G  N  European, swap the halves of NERMAN and you have MANNER, which is attitude. 
 34  MSLEES  MELEES  E  S  Affrays, M(ale) + (i)S + LEES
 
Down
 1  ROTYHE  ROTCHE  C  Little auk, [THEORY]*
 2  ECRNOMISE  ECONOMISE  O  Nice clue! a miser would want to economise, [MISER ONCE]*
 3  NOUNGERS  LOUNGERS  L  Chair by pool, NO (h)UNGERS
 4  FACTAID  FACTOID  O  Trivial pieces of information, F(ollowing) + ACTA + I’D
 5  GWSSET  GUSSET  U  A bracket, G(ood) + WET round SS
 6  EIPED  RIPED  R  Developed, [DEEP]* round I
 7  ALIZARC  ALIZARI  I  Madder colour, ALI + [CRAZ(y)]* 
 8  NAOA  NANA  N  The Darling’s dog in Peter Pan, NO round A + A
 9  OARALE  OARAGE  G  Rowing, OR ALE round A
 14  POINCILLE  POINTILLE  T  Dotted, [COLLIE NIP]*
 17  GOETAITE  GOETHITE  H  Hydrated ferric oxide = rust, [TO AGE]* + ITE(m)
 19  OYEBEAM  EYEBEAM  E  Glance, [MAYBE O(n)E]*
 20  ATHIRSS  ATHIRST  T  Avid, A + THIS round RS  
 21  TEASEN  TEASER  R  Problem, TEEN round A S(econd)
 22  ACTION  ACTION  O  Performance, (f)ACTION, Another “almost always different”  one.
 24  ENDISS  ENDOSS  O  Old support, hidden in friEND IS Surely.
 26  NULLA      NULL + A
 28  SSUR  SPUR  P  Encourage, RUSS reversed

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