Half the clues are normal and half need alteration. Where a conflict arises, this must be resolved to produce a real word. Simplicity personified for an EV, or so it sounds. Will half and half become a pint of light ale or a heavy stout?
This certainly proved a workout to expel any excesses from the Christmas period. Certainly, in my book this was a difficult grid fill, with no promise of a hidden message to be revealed on its completion or provide assistance along the way. But in the end, with the benefit of three sittings, I got there.
Hats off to a masterful construction by Rustic to meet the rules, he had set for the puzzle. The construction of a symmetrical grid, containing 40 words – 20 across and 20 down, then to change 10 of each of the across and down answers to produce a full grid of real words.
That’s before considering the clues themselves. He certainly has my admiration.
I’ve numbered the unchanged answers as a cross check for the half and half in the title.
Key: * (anagram); Rev (Reversed); DD (Double definition); Bold (definition)
ACROSS
| Clue | Original Answer | Changed answer |
| 1 Start to taste fruit melting(4) T (start to taste) + haw (fruit) |
THAW | 1 |
| 4 Claim from Yorkshire town not initiated (8) Harrogate – H (not initiated) |
ARROGATE | ABROGATE |
| 11 Group of islands hinder return of a disease (5) Rev ci (channel islands) + bar (hinder) |
RABIC | 2 |
| 13 Nick underwent one (5) Sat (underwent) + an (one) |
SATAN | SARAN |
| 14 Firmly implant nut’s support (6) En (nut) + root (support) |
ENROOT | 3 |
| 15 French tutor starts to slander Spanish head of religious establishment (6) Abbe (French tutor) + s + s (starts of slander and Spanish) |
ABBESS | 4 |
| 16 Smear with oil once Ainslee is going sick (5) (ainslee – is)* |
ANELE | 5 |
| 18 Insincere praise from cook drinking espresso (8) Fry (cook) around latte (coffee – not exactly espresso) |
FLATTERY | SLITTERS |
| 19 Learning established usage as reported (4) Homonym of law (establish usage) |
LORE | 6 |
| 22 Compel trade to forfeit two million(6) Commerce (trade) – 2 x m (million) |
COERCE | 7 |
| 24 A bear’s waste contains sulphur (6) Urine (waste) around S (Sulphur) |
URSINE | ARSINE |
| 26 Detroit bans most of the bread (4) Nathan {Detroit} – th (most of the) |
NAAN | 8 |
| 28 Elevated rope on east bell (8) Tow (rope) + e (east) + ring (bell) |
TOWERING | TOLERANT |
| 31 Son rushed to shop (5) S (son) + tore (rushed) |
STORE | STARE |
| 33 Cheers long delayed in middle of test (6) Es (middle of test) around late (long delayed) |
ELATES | ELATER |
| 34 Bird fails to finish beer (6) Bittern – n (fails to finish) |
BITTER | BITTEN |
| 35 Opuntia. The first two found in Northern Alabama (5) Op in N + Al (Alabama) |
NOPAL (cactus) | NEPAL |
| 36 Poet’s even caught first organ swimming (5) Ct (caught) + ene (even) |
CTENE | 9 |
| 37 Legless lizard is not tall with truncated shape (8) S + low (not tall) + w (with) + ormer (ear shaped) – er |
SLOWWORM | GLOWWORM |
| 38 Mechanics lack Ian’s skills (4) Artisans (mechanics) – (ians)* – a little tenuous I think |
ARTS | 10 |
DOWN
| Clue | Original Answer | Changed answer |
| 1 Woody plants in small groups lack height (5) Threes (small groups) – h (height) |
TREES | 1 |
| 2 Dance for Scots vagrant without work (7) Landloper (scottish word for tramp) – op (work) |
LANDLER | HANDLER |
| 3 Timid one gets help on Friday (6) A (one) + fr (Friday) + aid (help) |
AFRAID | ABRAID |
| 5 Allow Spenser’s brute to get elderly uncle (7) Bête (brute) around eme (uncle) |
BETEEME | 2 |
| 6 Study some animal’s stomach (4) DD |
READ | REAL |
| 7 Eats greedily slobbering horribly spitting out most of peel (7) (slobbering – rin (most of rind {peel})* |
GOBBLES | GABBLES |
| 8 Metric unit and at first what it measures (4) Are (unit) + a (at first) |
AREA | 3 |
| 9 Australian crook rates stun gun (5) (rates)* – Australian crook is ill and indicates an anagram here |
TASER | 4 |
| 10 Pete worried after being put under water for poet (7) Ens (being) + (pete)* |
ENSTEEP | 5 |
| 12 Short stories about street disputes (8) Contes (short stories) about st (street) |
CONTESTS | CONTENTS |
| 17 Inner secret leaders of Ionic Order obscured (8) (secret + I + i)* |
ESOTERIC | 6 |
| 20 Prohibition on Sumner leaving society and losing weight (7) Ban (prohibition) + Sting (Gordon Sumner – s (society)) |
BANTING | BANTENG |
| 21 Sound bell before Tyler returns for game (7, 2 words) Ring (bell) + Rev(Wat {Tyler}) |
RINGTAW | 7 |
| 22 Alarm spread around most of poor Indian region (7) (alarm)* around (bad – d {poor}) |
MALABAR | CALABAR (as in -bean) also mentioned in preamble |
| 23 Change number in secret (7) N(number) in covert (secret) |
CONVERT | CONVENT |
| 25 Destroy college’s measure of wine (6) C (college) + anker (measure of wine) |
CANKER | CANTER |
| 27 Gene from everything on the wing (5) All (everything) + el (wing) |
ALLEL | 8 |
| 29 Accents of the ones in the countryside (6) T(The dialect) + ones |
TONES | 9 |
| 30 Criminal winning all the tricks except the last (4) Capot – last (winning all tricks in piquet) |
CAPO | 10 |
| 32 Vessel with British equipment (4) B (British) + rig (equipment) |
BRIG | TRIO |