The preamble, rather vaguely, tells us that we need to highlight 23 squares and blank out 1 row. These items depict a musical reference and express the sentiment leading directly to the return trip – whatever that means! Also, around half the clues lead to an extra letter and around half the clues lead to a missing letter. I’ve never seen that trick before and it made the clues that extra bit tricky. Seeing as there are 43 clues, I guess that there are 23 of one type and 22 of the other. These leaders, in contiguous blocks, lead to the travellers and their chosen route.
In the end, it turns out that the extra/missing letters lead to DOROTHY, TOTO, SCARECROW, LION and TIN MAN and their route is YELLOW BRICK ROAD. In the grid, we have to highlight SOME(d2) WHERE(i1) (over) RAINBOW(d9) (bow shaped) and YAW(a1) (WAY up) and HIGH(m1). Then the last line, which contains PLACE LIKE HOME and has to be blanked making (no) PLACE LIKE HOME, which is the sentiment that leads DOROTHY and her dog TOTO back to their home. Since the story is almost certainly a dream, that explains the title. I’ve never actually sat down and watched the movie all the way through, I’m afraid I always found it a bit boring but I have caught snippets and therefore, probably, seen the whole thing.
I enjoyed the puzzle up to a point. I didn’t like the fact that the 23 squares to be highlighted were “randomly” placed, and especially the WAY (up.)
I guess the colour of the grid was significant this time too.
Thanks Kruger.
| Across | ||||||
| No. | Entry | Extra | Missing | Block | Definition | Wordplay |
| 1 | YAPP | Y | Binding for book |
APP(endix) | ||
| 4 | PAUA | D | Shell | PADUA (Italian city) | ||
| 7 | WROTH | O | Stormy | W[eathe]R (start and end)+TH(ursday) | ||
| 11 | AWESOME | R | Impressive | WA[r] (rev: back)+E(nergy)+SOME (rather) | ||
| 13 | SHIPS | H | Vessels | SIPS (drinks) | ||
| 14 | ETALON | O | Instrument for measuring wavelengths |
LEANT (anag: awkwardly) | ||
| 15 | SEA-HOG | T | DOROTHY | Cetacean | HOSTAGE (anag: cooked) | |
| 16 | LAXLY | T | In a careless way | [t]AX inside L(ord)+L(ieutenant)+[ma]Y | ||
| 17 | CARLISH | T | Rude | CARLIS[t] (supporter of de Boron)+H[eckle] | ||
| 20 | TUSH | O | Bottom | U[rsula] inside H[o]ST (rev: recalled) | ||
| 21 | DINOCERAS | O | TOTO | Fossil in Wyoming | DIN (obtrude noisily and persistently)+C (about)+ERAS (important dates) | |
| 23 | FECK | C | Meaning (Scottish: Ian, obsolete: old) |
KEF (drug for smoking) (rev: return) | ||
| 25 | WHAT | W | How | HAT (work alone – in Australia) | ||
| 27 | ANALOGUES | C | Watches | [c]ANAL+U[mbrella] inside GOES (anag: stupidly) | ||
| 29 | THOR | R | God | [e]THO[s] | ||
| 32 | CAVETTI | R | Hollow mouldings | C[r]AVE (long for)+TT (dry: TeeTotal)+[pa]I[nt] | ||
| 34 | BOSUN | O | Sailor | BO[o]S (disapproves of)+UN (a French) | ||
| 35 | AMENTA | A | Catkins | MANET (anag: painted) | ||
| 36 | SEA OWL | E | Lumpsucker | SE[e] (recognise)+A(merican)+OWL (bird) | ||
| 37 | STILL | S | SCARECROW | Quiet | TILL (cash register) | |
| 38 | EATS OUT | N | Encroaches upon | [n]EAT (elegant)+SOUT[h] (not H(ard)) | ||
| 39 | PLACE | I | Find a buyer for | PLAICE (fish) | ||
| 40 | LIKE | L | Corpse seen in Scotland |
IKE (former president) | ||
| 41 | HOME | O | LION | Goal | H(enry)+ME | |
| Down | ||||||
| No. | Entry | Extra | Missing | Block | Definition | Wordplay |
| 1 | YAWLED | N | Cried out | LADY W[h]E[n] (no H(usband)) (anag: upset) | ||
| 2 | AWEARIED | I | Tiresome | AWARDEE (anag: spoilt) | ||
| 3 | PSALM | M | Hymn | [b]LASP[emous] (hidden: some text) (rev: withdraw) | ||
| 4 | POLYACT | T | Like an octopus | PLO[t] (anag: lose)+[insanit]Y+ACT (behave) | ||
| 5 | AMOK | N | In a frenzy | A[void]+MONK (hermit) | ||
| 6 | ASSAYABLE | A | TIN MAN | Could be tested | ASS (idiot)+BAY (rev: mounted)+L(ecturer)+E[questrianism] | |
| 7 | WHERE | Y | At which point | HE[y] (dance) inside W[a]R[d]E[n] (oddly) | ||
| 8 | RIALTO | O | Venetian island | TRAIL (anag: around) | ||
| 9 | OPHIUCHUS | E | Constellation | PHI (Greek character)+UC (capital: upper-case) inside HOUS[e] (anag: distant) | ||
| 10 | HIGH-HAT | L | Aristocrat | HA (indication of surprise) inside H(ungary)+[l]IGHT (frivolous) | ||
| 12 | ENCARNALISE | L | Become sensual | A NICE REAS[o]N (no O[utfit]) (anag: strangely) | ||
| 18 | ANCHOVETA | W | YELLOW | Pacific fish | ANCHO[r] (mooring device (almost)+V(ery)+[w]ET+A(dult) | |
| 19 | REINSTALL | R | Put in office once more |
EIN (a in German)+STALL (display stand) | ||
| 22 | SAECULUM | K | A long period of astronomical time |
A[s]SUME (S(un) fades)+LUC[k] (anag: over) | ||
| 23 | FAT CAMP | C | Residence forobese children |
FA[c]T (reality)+CAMP (affected) | ||
| 24 | SORBATE | B | Salt | AT (astatine) inside SORE (reddish-brown) | ||
| 26 | IRENIC | I | BRICK | Pacific | ERIC N(orth) (anag: tossed about) | |
| 28 | SENATE | A | Legislative body | SENT (dispatched)+E(spaña) | ||
| 30 | ETTLE | D | (Scots) intend | TE[d] (spread grass) (rev: over)+[pi]T[ch]+L[in]E | ||
| 31 | WOOSH | O | Sound of movement | HOW S(oprano) (anag: changed) | ||
| 33 | WEAK | R | ROAD | Frail | WEA[r] (guide (in Scotland))+K(ing) | |
Wow – thanks, Kenmac, for your multi-coloured explanation – I had all the answers, the deleted bottom line, the characters and their route – just couldn’t see the ’23 squares’. I even tried enlisting the help of a colleague who, I am told, is a ‘friend of Dorothy’! (;+>)
I guess it didn’t help that I was looking for something in contiguous squares – although having endured, sorry, enjoyed, an amateur school production of TWOO last year, I should have at least made the ‘rainbow’ connection, and been looking for that word and/or shape…
Definitely at the harder end of the scale – of clueing, and thematic difficulty – for me, at least.
Many thanks for the very comprehensive “multi-coloured” blog, Kenmac, and for explaining this puzzle.
I did not find the clues esp difficult, and filled the grid reasonably quickly.
I also saw the bottom line which looked like what should be deleted. However, unlike you and mc_rapper67, I was not able to find the names and route from the extra/missing letters so needless to say I did not find the 23 squares to highlight having no idea of the theme. Also was a little distracted by STILL EATS OUT in the penultimate line which I thought might have some connection with PLACE LIKE HOME. Looking again at those extra letters now I think I should have seen the names etc, but I think I’d still not have found the rest but you never know. Researching the film, The Wizard of Oz, once I’d identified it, might have given it all. BTW I’d recommend you watch that film in full – one of best films ever made IMHO.
And, while I ultimately failed pretty badly, I enjoyed the challenge and thought the clues were excellent, thanks Kruger.
I found the clues either fairly easy or fairly hard, with not much in between. And having the wordplay with missing or extra letters made the puzzle more difficult, as Ken said. However, with the grid complete, and having sorted out DOROTHY, TOTO, etc., it was easy to locate the bottom row as the one to blank out. Quite quickly found the RAINBOW arc and soon after saw SOME WHERE … but then ground to a halt. It wasn’t till a day later (and with a friendly hint) that I spotted the disconnected blocks containing WAY (up) HIGH.
A bit of a toughie from Kruger, and the end not quite as satisfying as some of his others.
I really enjoyed this. It’s only the third Inquisitor I’ve done but I’m a big fan.
Ken – truncated wordplay explanation.
On my monitor (1280 pixels wide), I’m missing the end of some of the longer wordplay explanations (21a, 6d, 9d, 10d) – this seems to be independent of browser. On my laptop (1366 pixels), it’s only the really wide ones that get chopped. It’s not a big deal, and I guess this might not happen on wider screens; but maybe one could get the entry to wrap automatically?
I’m not a techie, but I’ve no problem reading all the explanations. BTW, my browser is Firefox. Maybe this is a problem only on laptops – mine is a desk computer.
Oops!
The HTML editor I use (Kompozer) tries to be too clever sometimes. It had added in explicit column widths for some columns. All sorted now – thanks HG.
Ken
I really enjoyed this one, like Tramp. Dorothy’s way back from Oz is to repeat (3 times I think) “There’s no Place Like Home” which, as a statement, cryptically describes the lack of the bottom row perfectly, and I can’t see Kenmac’s objection to YAW! “Somwhere, over the rainbow, way up high” perfectly and cryptically describes the placement of the words in the diagram. I would have preferred “some” and “where” to be connected, but otherwise I found it an excellent offering! The “way up high” bit kept me guessing for a while!
Thank you kenmac for your excellent review – and in “Glorious Technicolor” too! I’m afraid I cannot claim credit for the colour of the grid and indeed it hadn’t registered until you pointed it out.
Like nmsindy, I think the film is not given the credit it deserves, probably due to too many festive repeats. In fact, like kenmac, I probably haven’t ever watched it from start to finish but seen so many 30-minute exerpts that I’m sure I must have seen it all.
Thanks also to those who commented on the puzzle.