Typical!! One of my (two) New Year resolutions is to adopt the practice of giving the full clues in my EV blogs. And what happens? I get landed with a puzzle that has 63 of them! Having moaned that, it turned out not to be too difficult once I’d decided how to highlight the definition part of each clue and what tricks I could use in writing the blog. So here it is.
This was in fact Owzat’s first EV puzzle for 11 years, well before my time of solving them, so I have no idea whether he/she generally sets an easier puzzle. The preamble was quite intriguing: we had to deduce a 16 across instruction from a work by 51, consider a revised instruction in the light of 3 and 29, and then complete the grid with three resident jokers.
Having 16ac ending in …HEC.OW.S pretty quickly led to SEND IN THE CLOWNS, a song from the 1973 musical, A Little Night Music, by STEPHEN SONDHEIM who appears at 51ac. 3 and 29 give “Don’t bother, they’re here”, the last two lines from the song, and three clowns can be found at 43ac GRIMALDI, 33dn WETTACH, and 31dn POLIAKOV. Joseph Grimaldi was an English clown way back at the beginning of the 18th cenntury; Charles Wettach (1880 – 1959) was known as Grock; and Nicolai Poliakov (1900 – 1974) was born in Latvia but performed in England for most of his life.
I have to confess that I was still confused by the preamble. The instruction to be deduced was to “send in the clowns”, but they’re already there, so I guess the revised instruction is to “do nothing”! Unless I’m missing something, it does seem a trifle contrived for the preamble’s sake.
However, this was an enjoyable, if easy, puzzle from Owzat … but then EVs don’t all have to be tough.
Solving time: luckily the gods were on my side: the puzzle took only marginally over an hour to complete, so the time saved was used in typing the clues.
Legend:
Definition in clue
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden
| ACROSS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MUDPACK | Female cosmetic is rubbish, wrong pad included in it (7) MUCK (rubbish) including PAD* |
| 7 | SCHISMS | After short, school Miss organised breaks (7) SCH (short school) + MISS*;I don’t like misplaced punctuation and would put the comma after “school” |
| 13 | FLOOR | Base reported defect (5) sounds like FLAW (defect) |
| 15 | EPHEBI | Extreme pressure put on male, one attached to both sexes and young Greeks (5) EP (extreme pressure) + HE (male) + BI (one attached to both sexes?) |
| 16 | SEND IN THE CLOWNS | (15, 4 words) Unclued |
| 18 | ACTA | Minutes in American court accepted (4) A (American) + CT (court) + A (accepted) |
| 20 | AFRESH | Abuse ref has once more (REF HAS)* |
| 21 | YLEM | Original matter merely disheartened in recession (4) ME(re)LY< |
| 23 | MISGUIDE | Note son and female scout give wrong directions (8) MI (note) + S (son) + GUIDE (female scout) |
| 26 | UP-OVER | At university screen’s no top like a door raised to horizontal position (6, hyphenated) UP (at university) + (c)OVER (screen has no top); see alongside entry up-and-over |
| 27 | REDO | Catholic excused from belief to try again (4) CREDO (belief) – C (Catholic) |
| 28 | STET | Restore after marking for removal road that’s had its central area blocked off (4) ST(re)ET (road) |
| 30 | KOTOW | Japanese musical instrument, principally white and fawn (5) KOTO (Japanese musical instrument) + W (principally White) |
| 32 | DISPATCHES | Forwards scrap in rough sides (10) PATCH (scrap) in SIDES* |
| 34 | PERAEOPOD | O! Dear! Pope cracked crab’s leg (9) (O DEAR POPE)* |
| 36 | FLEETINGLY | Run away with sensation for a second (10) FLEE (run away) + TINGLY (with sensation) |
| 37 | ROYST | Revel noisily in new story (5) STORY* |
| 39 | AERY | Aged Roy, regularly visionary (4) AE (aged) + RY (RoY regularly); I’m not particularly keen on this to mean just 1st and 3rd letters in a 3-letter word, but it’s sound |
| 40 | LOTI | A large number connected with one French writer LOT (a large number) + I (one) |
| 42 | FAIRER | More just force help with drying (6) F (force) + AIRER (help with drying) |
| 43 | GRIMALDI | (8) Unclued |
| 46 | INGO | Reveal Scottish house of no little breadth (4) BINGO (house!) – B (little breadth) |
| 48 | MASKED | Short medical screening request concealed (6) MED (short MEDical) screening (covering) ASK (request) |
| 50 | SHEA | Type of butter cut right away (4) SHEAR (cut) – R (right) |
| 51 | STEPHEN SONDHEIM | (15, 2 words) Unclued |
| 54 | TONERS | People making up without first getting hair preparations (A)TONERS (people making up, without first) |
| 55 | LERNA | Learn about place near Argos LERNA* |
| 56 | SURBASE | Partly uses a brush over pedestal cornice (7) in usES A BRUSh< |
| 57 | USELESS | What energy conservation people advise is no good (7) USE LESS (advice from eco-people) |
| DOWN | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 | ULE | Polled Christmas tree (3) (Y)ULE (Christmas, polled) |
| 3 | DON’T BOTHER | (10, 2 words) Unclued |
| 4 | POD | School case two meanings |
| 5 | ARIAN | Maid losing her head is theologian (5) (M)ARIAN (maid, losing her head) |
| 6 | CONFER | Give credit to maintain a grasping fellow (6) CR (credit) maintaining (holding) ONE (a) grasping F (fellow) |
| 7 | SCHEME | Divers seem to embrace chain in plan (6) SEEM* embracing C (chain) |
| 8 | CUES | According to audience, lines getting prompts (4) sounds like QUEUES |
| 9 | HECH | City partly invested in hospitals, expression of surprise up north (4) EC [city (of London), partly] in two Hs (hospitals) |
| 10 | SHOYU | Ignoring recipe, cook yours with hot Japanese sauce (5) [YOURS – R (recipe) + H (hot)]* |
| 11 | MEWL | Heard obstinate person cry (4) sounds like MULE |
| 12 | KISMET | King’s Head is convened for a musical (6) K (King’s head) IS MET (convened) |
| 14 | ETRURIAN | Trainer worried about University in old Italian state (8) TRAINER* around U (university) |
| 16 | SALUKI | Silky-haired dog Lisa flew around country (6) LISA* around UK (country) |
| 17 | LEGATOR | Person who leaves something on a hill (7) LEG (on, as in cricket) + A + TOR (hill) |
| 19 | ARVO | Canberra PM right about Macau currency! Just the opposite (4) AVO (Macau currency) about R (right) |
| 22 | SPOOLER | Sermon about combination of interest one commits to memory (7) SER (sermon) about POOL (combination of interest) |
| 24 | SOAPY | Old-timer in case of surgery is like a person in lather (5) OAP (old-timer) in SY (case of SurgerY) |
| 25 | DEEPSET | Firmly positioned in satellite, speedily erected (7, hyphenated) in satelliTE SPEEDily< |
| 29 | THEY’RE HERE | (10, 2 words) Unclued |
| 31 | WETTACH | (7) Unclued |
| 32 | DRILL | It may be boring down by small stream (5) D (down) + RILL (small stream) |
| 33 | POLIAKOV | (8) Unclued |
| 35 | STREAM | Master running current MASTER* |
| 38 | OILS | Perfume ingredients from ground first to last (4) SOIL (ground, first letter to last) |
| 39 | AGISTS | Since keeping substance, charges with tax (6) AS (since) keeping GIST (substance) |
| 41 | TISSUE | The outcome is a piece of paper (6) T (the) ISSUE (outcome) |
| 42 | FIENDS | No time for duke sheltering close wicked people (6) FIST (duke) – T (time) sheltering END (close) |
| 44 | MOPER | Floor cleaner given to the Queen? She’s not happy! (5) MOP (floor cleaner) + ER (Queen) |
| 45 | ADDLE | A couple of daughters into beer become confused (5) DD [two Ds (daughters)] in ALE (beer) |
| 47 | GENU | Information on universal joint (4) GEN (information) + U (universal) |
| 48 | MESA | Same ground in flat-topped hill (4) SAME* |
| 49 | ANIS | Cuckoos from one island (4) AN (one) + IS (island) |
| 52 | HEL | He needs Latin goddess (3) HE + L (Latin) |
| 53 | INS | I have opposing directions for party members (3) I + NS (opposing directions, North South); have should be having, for example |