Hey, boys and girls! Do you like shameless cross-promotion? You do? Well, that’s just great, because I was about to tell you that you should listen to Mighty Mighty Mix Tape on www.oxideradio.co.uk at 10pm on Mondays (during term time only – and, yes, Oxford’s terms are ludicrously short).
Right, on with the (other) show!
Either I get lucky, or I’m just biased towards the EVs that I cover, but I enjoyed this one. (I do enjoy most of them, but perhaps not equally.) It didn’t hurt that I pretty much worked out the theme from the title – the first time I’ve done that.
‘Udergroud’ obviously suggested the word ‘Underground’. ‘N’ is (or can be) a note, so we have a pretty easy reference to ‘Notes from Underground’ by Dostoyevsky.There are only so many famous Dostoyevsky works, so one only needed to get a few of the 2nd/4th letter pairs to figure them out. That gave:
THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV / THE DEVILS / FYODOR MIKHAILOVICH DOSTOYEVSKY
(Thanks to Deep Threat for clearing up a silly mistake I made with spelling of his middle name.)
We’ve not mentioned his best-known work yet and, unsurprisingly, the unclued entries ‘exemplify’ Crime(s) and Punishment(s).
The first letters of the normal clues spell out (Prince) MYSHKIN, who is the main character from THE IDIOT, which can be found in the centre of the grid.
Simples.
*One gripe: it appears that there’s a mistake in 3dn. The required extra letters are DO, but the clue appears to give PO. Thanks to Querulous (in the comments below).
Notation
(xxx) = definition
{xxx} = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
xxx = unused letter(s)
that=extra word
TH=2nd/4th letters (in ‘message’ order)
M=initial letter of normal clue
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TH | STYLISE | Conventionalise that hit list? Yes (7) | conventionalise: LISTYES* [hit] |
| 6 | M | DUCKS | Moves head lower for mandarins perhaps (5) | double definition: moves head lower/mandarins perhaps |
| 10 | TREASON | Unclued | ||
| 12 | EB | TART | Troy’s drawing, bedbugs biting (4) | biting: T (troy) + ART (drawing) |
| 13 | RO | TROUNCERS | These four harassed once jumping counter by customer services’ centre (9) | these harassed once: COUNTER* [jumping] + customeRServices [centre] |
| 14 | TH | LONG | Itching down to the ankles see – no good (4) | down to the ankles: LO (see) + NG (no good) |
| 15 | ER | ASPIC | Game might be covered by this archaic snake creed (5) | double definition: game might be covered by this/archaic snake |
| 16 | SK | ROED | Skis course, reportedly carrying eggs (4) | carrying eggs: homophone [reportedly] of RODE (course) |
| 17 | Y | FINI | Yankee bill’s overinked, essentially ruined (4) | ruined: FIN (Yankee bill – specifically a $5-bill) + overInked [essentially] |
| 19 | AR | RATHE | Married early, verteran is heart broken (5) | early veteran: HEART* (broken) |
| 21 | AM | DIOTAS | Two-handled vases said to warm liquid (6) | two-handled vases: SAIDTO* [liquid] |
| 22 | AZ | SPRINT | Dazzling dash to make an impression on judges finally (6) | dash: judgeS [finally] + PRINT (to make an impression) |
| 24 | ARSON | Unclued | ||
| 26 | S | BABE | Stunner’s incomplete folly (4) | stunner: BABE |
| 28 | OV | SOUL | A tiny amount of money’s left for convector element (4) | element: SOU (a tiny amount of money) + L (left) |
| 30 | TH | GRIST | Ground corn’s a saviour – church departs for first of Gabonese ghettos (5) | ground corn: CHRIST (a saviour), replacing CH (church) with G [first of Gabonese] |
| 32 | ED | FUST | Ian abandons heady egg-based wine drink – taste of wine cask (4) | taste of wine cask: FUST |
| 34 | EV | CLEARCOLE | Distinct cabbage leaves, whitish primary covering (9) | whitish primary covering: CLEAR (distinct) + COLE (cabbage) |
| 35 | IL | SILL | Plain bottom of plough is switched by lines (4) | bottom of plough: IS* [switched] + LL (lines) |
| 36 | SF | CHOANAE | Nostrils ache, somehow blocked by offset entry to olfactory organ (60% unused) (7) | nostrils: ins. [blocked by] O [entry to Olfactory] + |
| 37 | THEFT | Unclued | ||
| 38 | HANGING | Unclued | ||
| Down | ||||
| 1 | H | STALER | Handle in parts’ beginning to rust, more tainted (6) | more tainted: STALE (handle in parts, i.e. dialect) + R [beginning to Rust] |
| 2 | YO | TRIO | Copy group and oddly turn it on (4) | group: TuRnItOn [oddly] |
| 3 | DO* | LARGE | Elgar when excited composed* [see comment above] ostentatiously (5) | ostentatiously: ELGAR* [excited] |
| 4 | RM | ISOLDE | Fair girl?! One tramp tricked me, pinching money (6) | fair girl: I (one) + SOLD (tricked) + |
| 5 | IK | ENNUI | Boredom’s set into teen, bickering nuisance (5) | boredom: teENNUIsance [set into] |
| 6 | HA | DECANI | Wash caned ironwork (originally caned) denoting dean’s place in church (6) | dean’s place in church: [CANED + I (Ironwork originally)]*[caned] |
| 7 | K | UTES | Knocking off British spotlights for Native Americans (4) | Native Americans: |
| 8 | IL | CARPETS | Will reprimands one indulged, transported by taxis e.g. (7) | reprimands: ins. [transported by] of PET (one indulged) in CARS (taxis e.g.) |
| 9 | STOCKS | Unclued | ||
| 11 | OV | OUTFIT | Not in appropriate convent clothes (6) | clothes: OUT (not in) + FIT (appropriate) |
| 16 | RAPE | Unclued | ||
| 18 | GAOL | Unclued | ||
| 20 | I | TREILLE | I relet L shaped latticed structure (7) | latticed structure: IRELETL* [shaped] |
| 21 | IC | DRENCH | Actress Judy’s acting holding piece of raku to fill with drink (6) | to fill with drink: ins. [holding] of R [piece of Raku] in DENCH (actress Judy) |
| 22 | HD | SAGEST | Most wise gents as fancy without new shades? (6) | most wise: GE |
| 23 | OS | NATANT | Ant struggles with twin swimming ashore (6) | swimming: ANT* [struggles] + ANT (twin) |
| 24 | TO | ASWOON | Fainting once like wife of potter, forward (6) | fainting once: AS (like) + W (wife) + O (of) + ON (forward) |
| 25 | YE | NUTMEG | Very eccentric girl’s seasoning (6) | seasoning: NUT (eccentric) + MEG (girl) |
| 27 | BIRCH | Unclued | ||
| 29 | VS | OFLAG | Prison camp belonging to evasive former convict (5) | prison camp: OF (belonging to) + LAG (former convict) |
| 31 | N | SELF | No hard part to sandbank uniform in colour (4) | uniform in colour: S |
| 33 | KY | SPAN | Bridge is new, supporting resort – okay? (4) | bridge: SPA (resort) + N (new) |
I’m slightly confused by 3d – shouldn’t the 2nd and 4th letters be PO rather than DO, i.e. cOmPosed?
You are, of course, completely correct.
It appears that there is a mistake. ‘Fyopor’ would be a silly name, after all.
I have amended the post.
I had ‘wash’ as the extra word in 6d. This gives ‘Mikhailovich’ for the patronymic, which is a more usual spelling. Then the wordplay uses one instance of ‘caned’ as the anagram indicator.
What *was* I thinking? Obviously, that is what is intended. My apologies all round.
I think the gremlins might have changed “conducted” to “composed” in the clue for 3d.
Thanks to Deep Threat – I was with Mr Sting on the patronymic.
Cap’n P’ng’n