I’m usually worried when I can do 1 across immediately, but solving the clues here was pretty straightforward though I had a number of question marks about several of the across wordplays and one of the downs. These are now solved.
CAPUL (26D) only became designated as obsolete in the 2008 edition of Chambers, so those of us with the CD or older editions could not understand why the term “old nag” was used!
Solving time: A quick one for me – about an hour and a half total, finished on Saturday morning, though it took much longer to sort out all the details for this blog!
We were to look in the finished grid for “A PLACE WHERE BONES ARE HOUSED“, this being the phrase yielded by initial letters of extra words in the Down clues. The unclued 5D was OS and the other two unclued items were 44A and 46A, SKULL and TIBIA, so we were clearly looking for bony hidden items and a place to put them.
Linking with skull and tibia were HUMERUS and SCAPULA as the “walls” of a “BUILDING” – rather like a childs drawing – and the “roof” was “CHARNEL HOUSE“. OS was the “chimney”, so that accounted for the asymmetrical 2, two 7s, two 5s and the the 12 letter 2 word phrase referred to in the rubric. The three 4s “in squares” represented the door and windows of the building and were “COXA” and “ULNA” for the windows and “RIBS” for the door. Very neat!
| O | |||||||||||
| S | |||||||||||
| R | N | E | L | H | O | ||||||
| A | U | ||||||||||
| H | S | ||||||||||
| C | U | C | O | U | L | C | E | ||||
| M | X | A | N | A | A | ||||||
| E | P | ||||||||||
| R | R | I | U | ||||||||
| U | B | S | L | ||||||||
| S | K | U | L | L | T | I | B | I | A | ||
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MISDEVOTIONS | [MOONS VISITED]* | ||
| 9 | STORES | S(on) + TORE | ||
| 10 | SEEMS | EM in S(h)E(d)S | ||
| 12 | THORNE | = novel by Trollop, flip the middle letters of THRONE (loo) | ||
| 15 | OBOE | O + BO(n)E – theme item | ||
| 16 | ROAM | = range, MA(y)OR reversed | ||
| 17 | IRRUPT | IR(an) + RU + P(or)T. RU is in Chambers as the international vehicle registration for Burundi. | ||
| 18 | HAWSERS | [WAS HER]* + S(tretch) | ||
| 22 | LASH | double meaning, dialect word for soft and to lash is to bind the ends of ropes to prevent fraying | ||
| 24 | CUZCO | = city in South America, CU + (i)Z(zard) + CO | ||
| 25 | AULIC | = courtly (legal). [CALUI]* (chap Louis minus posh) | ||
| 28 | MOXAS | Acupuncture aids – new word to me! MO + SAX reversed | ||
| 31 | NATAL | This is Natal in Brazil (hence Atlantic port) [ATLAN(tic)]* | ||
| 33 | LEVA | Leva is Bulgarian for lion according to Chambers, and is the Bulgarian monetary unit, hidden in YamboL EVAsively | ||
| 35 | PEA SOUP | [(s)UPPOSE A(ustralia)]* | ||
| 36 | ORBIER | = more round, [IRROBE]* – central (“essential”) letters of fire are sober | ||
| 40 | ECUS | (b)EC(a)US(e) | ||
| 42 | TUAN | Triple clue, “Master” and “Oz native” as definitions, [AUNT]* | ||
| 43 | STILLS | S(oprano) + TILLS | ||
| 44 | SKULL | unclued bone | ||
| 45 | TIBIA | unclued bone | ||
| 47 | OPEIDOSCOPES | = devices that turn sound into light. [COP EPISODES]* round O (11 as a Roman numeral). I hate these obsolete Roman numerals. Why does Chambers keep them in? | ||
| Down | ||||
| Extra word | ||||
| 1 | METRIC | MET (came across) + RIC(e) | Air | |
| 2 | STOA | O(ld) T(estament) in AS reversed (like erect!) | Pub | |
| 3 | ERNE | Spenserian word for yearn, ER (usually queen, not king) + NE | Loser | |
| 4 | VEERED | [EVER ED]* | Article | |
| 5 | OS | unclued bone | ||
| 6 | TEHR | = wild goat, [THE]* + R | Coypu | |
| 7 | OMBU | = a tree, but not from Burma, hidden in frOM BUrma | Er | |
| 8 | SEETHE | SEE + THE | Whingers | |
| 11 | EORL | EO (a game beloved of Inquisitor setters) + R + L | Hunted | |
| 13 | HO-HUM | = boring, HO (stop) + HUM (smell) | Emitting | |
| 14 | LIRA | = Turkish money, IR in LA | Rackets | |
| 19 | AZOV | = a sea, the good old ZO (zho, dso etc. for “cross”) in AV(ocat) | Entering | |
| 20 | SOAP | [OAP’S]* | Busybodies | |
| 21 | SUNS | SUN + S(pecial) | Oprah | |
| 23 | AITU | = a demigod, AIT (island) + U (as in U Thant for those of you that old!) | Newest | |
| 26 | CAPUL | = a horse (why old? see above), L (50) + UP (riding) + A + C(olt – an abbreviation I hadn’t come across before!) all reversed. | Elsie | |
| 27 | BLOTTO | B + L + OTT + O | Socialist | |
| 29 | SERB | S(v)E(n) R(o)B(s) | Another | |
| 30 | WAISTS | = bodices, WAS round I (current) + ST(one) | Ribbing | |
| 32 | LASSES | LA + SESS reversed | Employ | |
| 34 | AINU | = Japanese people, AIN (Scottish own) + U | Harvard | |
| 37 | BAKE | = a Scottish biscuit, B + AKE (old word for ache) | Oatmeal | |
| 38 | EILD | [LIED]* | Understated | |
| 39 | OTIC | O + TIC | Stops | |
| 41 | CLIP | = embrace, C (about) + LI (51) + P(eople) | Electioneering | |
| 45 | LO | OL(d) reversed | Dad | |
Before this gets buried, let me say that I really liked this. I don’t find time for the Indy Mag puzzle every week, but when I can knock it off in front of the telly on a Sat. evening and enjoy the penny-dropping (as here) it’s great fun.
A couple of minor quibbles with the rubric (which caused a short delay in my finishing the highlighting): why use the word “squares” twice in the same sentence with different meanings – once as “cells” and once as geometrical shapes? And in the phrase “… 2(7)s, 2(5)s, 3(4)s, in squares, …” get rid of the comma before “in squares” since it refers only to the four-letter words, not to all those that preceded it in the list.
I agree. It put me off for a short time.