After reading how disappointed Chalicea was that HolyGhost found her puzzle easy, I’m a bit hesitant about saying that this was one of my quicker Inquisitor solves. The clues seemed very straightforward, and the theme dropped out of the two letter choices pretty easily. Having said that, I found it an entertaining and nicely constructed puzzle.
The only problems lay in the rubric. Without going into detail it contained a logical inconsistency and a potential ambiguity, both of which could easily have been remedied. Being misled in the clues is fine, but not in the rubric!
Choosing one of letters 2 and 3 of the definition part of the clues gave SIXTY-FIVE MILLION YEARS AGO, CHICXULUB CRATER YUCATAN. Now that is the K-T boundary when the extinction of the dinosaurs occurred, so the word to be deleted was DINOSAURS and the agent of the distinction was an impact with an ASTEROID. DINOSAURS is found on the next to bottom row of the diagram, where elimination leaves real words: TON and A across and SLAE, SIENA, PURE, DEMONIC, RESIDE and CLOSET down. ASTEROID is on the diagonal from square 2 to the bottom right. A completed diagram is at the bottom.
ASTEROID is 8 letters, so we only need find 7 more letters and MAMMALS are conveniently placed on the top row.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Answer | Definition | Letter | Wordplay |
| 2 | IMAM | Mosque officer | S | MIAMI minus I(ndia) reversed |
| 5 | MALSTICK | Painter’s steady | I | TICK (credit) follows SLAM reversed |
| 10 | YLEM | Fixed, by some, as elemental source | X | (X)YLEM (woody tissue) |
| 11 | YEASAYER | Enthusiastic agreer | T | [EASY]* in YEAR (student group) |
| 12 | SIWASH | Gypsy without a tent | Y | Hidden in Tutsi was happy |
| 13 | ASHCAN | Refuse container | F | AS (so far) H(enry) CAN |
| 15 | SANTS | Sikhism’s devout people | I | SANS (discarded Greek letters) round T(ime) |
| 16 | ECARTE | Divertissement may feature this position (ballet) | V | [CREATE]* |
| 17 | ACCEPTER | One saying yes | E | [PET CARE]* round C(anine) |
| 19 | NEWS | Something not heard before | M | First letters of Noon Even We’re Sceptical |
| 20 | QUEUE | Pigtail | I | QUE (what French) + U(nderman initially) +E(arl’s) |
| 22 | DESERT | To leg it | L | [T(a)SERED]* |
| 26 | ERASER | Deleting device | L | ERAS + E(nginee)R |
| 29 | MEALY | Whitish | I | MEASLY (spotty) minus S(un) |
| 30 | EARS | Projecting parts | O | E(uropean) A(cting) + R(ight) + S(ucceeded) |
| 32 | IMPOSTOR | One pretending to be another | N | I(nternational) + T(enor) in [PROMOS]* |
| 35 | FAILLE | Rayon fabric | Y | FA(M)ILLE |
| 37 | NISSE | Benevolent character | E | Hidden reversed in blessings |
| 38 | LEARNT | Gained skill | A | [(p)LANTER(s)]* |
| 39 | RIDDEN | Worked up out of position | R | RID + [END]* |
| 40 | TONDINOS | Insculpted circles | S | Hidden reversed (about) in mason I’d notified |
| 41 | URSA | Bear | A | (o)U(t) unlimited + RSA |
| 42 | SERENADE | Light composition | G | [EA(st) ENDERS]* |
| 43 | CERT | Something inevitable | O | RE reversed (about revolutionary) in CT |
| Down | ||||
| 1 | LYSSA | Nocuous disease | C | LASSA with A replaced by Y |
| 2 | ILIACUS | Thigh muscle | H | I + [(c)ALCIU(m)]* + S |
| 3 | AMATEUR | Dilettante | I | AUR(a) (baseless mystique) round MATE (confounded) |
| 4 | MISSPEAK | Vocalise incorrectly | C | = MISS PEAK |
| 5 | MY HAT | Exclamation of disbelief | X | [(pol)YMATH]* |
| 6 | LASERS | Sources of light | U | LAGERS with G(allons) changed to S(weden) |
| 7 | TACAN | Electronic navigator | L | [(c)AN ACT]* |
| 8 | CENT | Currrency unit | U | (as)CENT |
| 9 | KREESE | My blade waves (= kris) | B | K(en) + REES (= Rhys, impetuous man) + E |
| 13 | AKEE | Esculent fruit | C | Sounds like A QUAY |
| 14 | ARETA | Virtuous female | R | ARET (award) + A(cademy) |
| 18 | DEMONIAC | Party dominated by evil spirit | A | [MIDOCEAN]* |
| 21 | EERIE | Strangely frightening | T | Sounds like EYRIE |
| 23 | RESIDUE | Remainder | E | [S(l)IDE RU(l)E]* |
| 24 | CLOSEST | Narrowest | R | LOSES (tanks) in CT (Connecticut – New England state) |
| 25 | DEFATS | Maybe removes dripping | Y | DEF (excellent) + (co)ATS |
| 27 | SIENNA | Burnt sometimes in colour | U | ANNE IS reversed |
| 28 | EMIT | Declare | C | TIME “up” |
| 31 | SLADE | Valley (a small one) | A | Scottish past tense of SLIDE |
| 33 | PURSE | Steal old bungs once | T | [SUPER]* – a bung is a purse |
| 34 | RENAY | Earlier deny | A | RONAY with E(nergy) for O |
| 36 | ALOE | Century plant | N | ALONE minus N(orway) |
Yes – another one towards the easier end of the spectrum. That makes four in a row – does this mean that this coming weekend’s puzzle will be a stinker for me to blog? (I did get slightly delayed by 15a SANTS and 1d LYSSA, and also, for some reason, by the wordplay at 41a.)
Hi(hoba) – I couldn’t see much wrong with the rubric. Was it “To complete the grid, solvers must remove the sufferers”?
No The first problem was the first sentence. “Either . . . provides a letter, one of which must be chosen.” You can’t choose one of a letter! Positions 2 & 3 provide two letters, one of which must be chosen!
The other problem was the positioning of the (15 letters in all) I was unsure whether I was looking for ASTEROID + 15 letters of beneficiaries or ASTEROID + 7. The comma before “and” didn’t help, and it could so easily have been stated “15 letters must be highlighted in the grid, representing the singular cause of the event and some ultimate beneficiaries.” – No possible confusion now.
Pedantic? Perhaps, but years of setting science exam papers have made me very wary of the potential misunderstanding of instructions!
Preferably, while you gain knowledge, can you mind updating your site with more information? It is very perfect for me.