With the preamble to this EV referring to an assertion by an unclued ‘somebody’ in ‘something’, also unclued, and recommending use of a dictionary of quotations, I don’t think it is giving too much away to say that there was a literary theme this week, and a bit of literary education for your blogger, who wasn’t familiar with the work in question.
The assertion was that ‘…in sinking to our proper level we have but one thing to lose…’, which was to be borne out by the clued entries. The first few solves seemed to be one or two letters too long to fit in their allotted spaces, so there was obviously something to be removed – and a good candidate seemed to be the letter H
As for the work – T(H)E ROAD TO WIGAN PIER, by GEORGE ORWELL…this contains the phrase ‘…we have nothing to lose but our aitches…’, and OUR AITCHES can be formed from that spare H plus ‘I CUT A ROSE’.
This was a wonderfully constructed puzzle – with every clued answer having at least one superfluous H. I especially enjoyed LUGHOLE, HUBBUB and HUSH-HUSH. CHILLADA, HEATH-POULT and UNBURTHEN were new to me, but the wordplay was good enough to have an educated guess – before referring to Chambers for confirmation!
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Answer | Entry | Clue / Logic/Parsing |
| 1A | THE ROAD TO | T_E ROAD TO | Thematic – linked to 37A (18 combined, 5 words) / Thematic – with H removed, as per theme |
| 7A | CHUG | CUG | Short dull sound as corps beheaded cut-throat (3) / C (corps) + HUG (thug, beheaded) |
| 8A | ASHPAN | ASPAN | Turkish officer shifting piano – organ ultimately remains here (5) / ASHPA (pasha, or Turkish officer, with P – piano – shifted) + N (last letter of organ) |
| 11A | HOTHOUSE | OTOUSE | Fiery set of pupils a feature of most nurseries (6) / HOT (fiery) + HOUSE (set of pupils, as in a section of a school) |
| 12A | WRATH | WRAT | Turncoat donning Auden’s highland cape (4) / WH (as in W.H. Auden) around RAT (turncoat, traitor) |
| 14A | TITHE-PIG | TITE-PIG | Sadly I get hit embracing priest as tribute to church (7, hyphenated) / anag (i.e. sadly) of I GET HIT, around P (priest) |
| 15A | WASHER | WASER | One responsible for cleaning metal ring (5) / double def’n, WASHER = cleaner, or metal ring |
| 17A | HUBBUB | UBBUB | Upper-class bishops in nave uproar (5) / HUB (nave, as in central part of a wheel) around U (upper-class) + BB (bishop, twice) |
| 18A | HUSH-HUSH | US-US | Secret thoughts oddly rejected, repeatedly revised (4, hyphenated) / anag (i.e. revised) of even letters, i.e. odd letters rejected, of tHoUgHtS – repeatedly |
| 20A | BESEECH | BESEEC | Beg to provide for ancient church (6) / BESEE (obsolete, to treat, or provide for) + CH (church) |
| 22A | HASTE | ASTE | Bowler possibly absorbing sun’s energy to speed up (4) / HAT (bowler hat) around S (sun), followed by E (energy) |
| 23A | HOIST | OIST | One breaking holy bread, an uplifting act (4) / HOST (as in Communion wafer, or holy bread) around I (one) |
| 25A | SIBSHIP | SIBSIP | Brothers share this intestinal problem on board (6) / IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) ‘aboard’ SHIP |
| 27A | HAMAL | AMAL | Travelling west, Eastern priest meets hospital porter (4) / H (hospital) + AMAL (Lama, as in Dalai Lama, reversed, or travelling West) |
| 29A | HULLOS | ULLOS | Greetings from seaman east of port (5) / HULL (port) + OS (Ordinary Seaman) |
| 30A | WRENCH | WRENC | Runs into old girl, causing sprain (5) / WENCH (archaic, or facetious, for girl) containing R (runs) |
| 32A | SIDEPATH | SIDEPAT | Pets had run wild over one footway (7) / anag (i.e. wild) of PETS HAD, containing I (one) |
| 33A | THALI | TALI | Grace shortened for Indian meal (4) / THALIa – one of the three Graces – shortened |
| 34A | LUGHOLE | LUGOLE | It helps you hear where bathwater goes, though not initially (6) / double defn/&lit? pLUGHOLE without initial letter |
| 35A | HECATE | ECATE | King escaping hell, worried Will’s witch (5) / HECk (interjection, ‘Hell!’, without K – king) + ATE (worried) |
| 36A | LATH | LAT | One typically thin prince returns – about time! (3) / LAH (Hal, or Prince Harry, retuned) abround T (time) |
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Answer | Entry | Clue / Logic/Parsing |
| 1D | THAW OUT | TAW OUT | God, they say, not allowed to recover from cold (6, 2 words) / THAW (homonym of Thor, god) + OUT (not in, not allowed) |
| 2D | EPHAHS | EPAS | Husband in fashion backing biblical measures (4) / EPAHS (shape, or fashion, backing) containing H (husband) |
| 3D | ON THE BEAM | ON TE BEAM | He intercepts boatmen moving at right angles to ship’s course (8, 3 words) / anag (i.e. moving) of BOATMEN, containing HE |
| 4D | HABITUES | ABITUES | To some extent wearing colours, they frequently turn up (7) / HUES (colours) around A BIT (to some extent) |
| 5D | DHOTIS | DOTIS | Minimal clothing stolen in underworld (5) / DIS (underworld) containing HOT (stolen) |
| 6D | HOOP-ASH | OOP-AS | Climbing bear has broken wood for casks (6, hyphenated) / HOOP (Pooh, as in Bear of Little Brain, climbing) plus anag (i.e. broken) of HAS |
| 7D | CUISHES | CUISES | Copper plates not primarily pieces of armour (6) / CU (copper) + ISHES (plates, or dishes, without first letter) |
| 8D | GEORGE | GEORGE | Thematic – linked to 23D (12 combined, 2 words) / Thematic |
| 10D | SHRUBBIER | SRUBBIER | Quiet one engaged in sport series, more like Daphne? (8) / SH (quiet) + RUBBER (series of games) containing I (one) |
| 13D | THRUST | TRUST | Stab bird, having missed last time … (5) / THRUS (thrush, or bird, without last letter) + T (time) |
| 16D | HEATH-POULT | EAT-POULT | … greyhen’s fluttering up that hole (8, hyphenated) / anag (i.e. fluttering) of UP THAT HOLE |
| 19D | UNBURTHEN | UNBURTEN | Hitch greek character up after that historic discharge (8) / RUB (hitch+ + NU (Greek letter) – all turned upwards – plus THEN (after that) |
| 21D | CHILLADA | CILLADA | Cool girl’s spicy cake (7) / CHILL (cool) + ADA (girl) |
| 22D | HASLET | ASLET | Cheap solvent regularly used for cooked meat (5) / even letters (i.e. regularly used) of cHeAp SoLvEnT |
| 23D | ORWELL | ORWELL | Thematic – linked to 8D (12 combined, 2 words) / Thematic |
| 24D | SLEIGHT | SLEIGT | Cunning son’s left rowing boat (6) / S (son) + L (left) + EIGHT (rowing boat, or crew) |
| 26D | HUSKIER | USKIER | Short Barbarian sportsman’s more sturdy (6) / HU (Hun, or barbarian, short of a letter) + SKIER (sportsman) |
| 27D | AND HOW | AND OW | A Norse sailing ship, certainly (5, 2 words) / A + N (Norse) + DHOW (sailing ship) |
| 28D | HATPEG | ATPEG | The gap planned for storage of lids (5) / anag (i.e. planned) of THE GAP |
| 31A | BAHAI | BAAI | Believer, king and knight leaving island kingdom (4) / BAHAI = Bahrain, island kingdom, without R – king – or N – knight |