This gave us a good workout and a dialogue between Ba and me (Hi) eventually sorted everything out with one minor exception in 20A.
We had three parts to consider according to the rubric.
1) A thematic name with 5 parts, the answers to 5 unclued lights leading to these parts.
2) A linked thematic item with 4 unclued “associations”
3) Two final unclued items associated with the person responsible for the change: These were also clued by the 21 misprints in clue definitions.
The title “Rehoused” led Ba brilliantly to deduce that we were looking at the “re-branding” of the monarchy by George V from its German house name to a more acceptable English version during the first world war. So we were looking for associations for SAXE-COBURG GOTHA and WINDSOR. My immediate association was the Windsor KNOT, which duly fitted in ?NO? adjacent to square 32. CHAIR could be seen at square 27 and a quick check in Chambers yielded the required definition, and also gave the (to me unknown) Windsor SOAP. It was a while before BAR???? led to the “Carry-on” star BARBARA Windsor at the square after 2.
By now the grid was still far from complete, but there was enough information to deduce INSTRUMENT on the bottom row of the grid, and this was possibly linked to SAX. I assumed that the five parts would be SAX ECO BURG GOT and HA and began to look for promising suggestions. FORTRESS at the top left was a BURG and later PROCURED appeared for GOT. After a fruitless search among eco-tourism etc. I seemed to have an indication of ITALIAN at the column down the middle and this led me to Umberto ECO, the ITALIAN WRITER who wrote “The Name of the Rose”. The final piece of the jigsaw fell into place with HECTARE (before square 22) which is abbreviated to HA. The preamble contained confirmatory references to one abbreviation and to one of two words.
A laborious cross-check of the letters in the rather strange “FIRST SEMI – DR KP BATH UPS RENT” left me with a B and a P unaccounted for, so the last two outstanding unclued lights had to be BOY and PLEAD. A discussion followed as to how these related to George V and to the appearing indications in the misprints of “SINGER REFUSE TO TESTIFY“.
The final blinding revelation was that BOY GEORGE is a SINGER and to PLEAD THE FIFTH is to REFUSE TO TESTIFY in the USA. Hence “GEORGE THE FIFTH” is to be written below the grid. It is my hope that George V will be disallowed when the results are checked!
An excellent construction from Lato, to whom go our thanks for a challenging grid, but not one so impossible as the two odd numbered ones (1215 and 1217) that preceded it.
Misprinted Clues (misprinted definitions in bold)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Mis-print | Amended clue | Answer | Wordplay |
| 10 | S | Advi(c)se in paper is unreliable | APPRISE | [PAPER IS]* |
| 12 | I | Current arrest’s over a f(a)ig | BANIA | I (current) + NAB (arrest) reversed + A |
| 18 | N | One in prison – re(s)nt paid in kind | CAIN | I in CAN (prison) |
| 19 | G | (N)Go old city’s not old | TRY | TROY minus O(ld) |
| 22 | E | Successor caught tun(a)e | AIR | sounds like HEIR |
| 24 | R | Order partner to get new g(l)rass | LAWN | LAW (order) + N(ew) |
| 25 | R | (N)Row apply oneself | SET-TO | Double definition |
| 27 | E | (C)Early calls about backing climb in Cairngorms | CLEEPS | Cleeps is an archaic word for names/calls from the same stem as yclept: SPEEL is to climb (Scot) + C (about) all reversed |
| 29 | F | (P)Flush new accommodation for the Commander-in-Chief | HECTIC | [THE CIC]* |
| 34 | U | Maybe fl(y)u from island carrying last of oil workers | AILMENT | AIT (island) round (oi)L + MEN (workers) |
| 35 | S | One following game not a bit knackered – le(g)ss fresh | STALER | STALKER (one following game) minus K(nackered) |
| Down | ||||
| 3 | E | Blu(b)e ‘It’s deserted’ | SAD | “IT” = S(ex) A(ppeal) + D(eserted) |
| 4 | T | Disagreement about s(h)toppers | TAPS | SPAT (disagreement) reversed |
| 5 | O | In temper, ranting and r(a)oving | ERRANT | Hidden in tempER RANTing |
| 14 | T | (F)Tree house in West | MAHOE | HO(use) in MAE (West) |
| 16 | E | (S)Eat here with girl being rude over time | TRATT | TART (girl being rude) reversed + T(ime) |
| 18 | S | Work in House ignoring right (w)singer (not Dave) | CHAS | [Chas and Dave were singers]: CHARS (work in house) minus R(ight) – not sure about the S [See comment 1 below] |
| 26 | T | Bitter, having crashed the ca(r)t | TIBERT | Cat in “Reynard the Fox”: [BITTER]* |
| 28 | I | Bruce may be broadcasting somewhere near W(o)igan | LEIGH | Sounds like (Bruce) LEE |
| 30 | F | Poet’s heading off (g)food | EATS | (K)EATS or indeed (Y)EATS! |
| 35 | Y | Mone(t)y not worth much? Well said you | SOU | SO (well) + U (sounds like you) |
Normal Clues
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Answer | Definition:Wordplay |
| 1 | Minder resentful about when to keep close | BABYSITTER | Minder: BITTER (resentful) round AS(when) round BY (close) |
| 7 | Men about to get killer at sea | ORCA | Killer at sea: O(ther) R(anks) + CA (about) |
| 8 | Hall’s a comic tenor | ATRIAL | Hall’s: A + TRIAL (a comic tenor!!) |
| 9 | Inflexible artist has room to sleep around | RAMROD | Inflexible: RA (artist) + DORM reversed |
| 11 | Handle of kettle, say, or bucket | BAIL | Double definition with an element of “sounds like” BALE |
| 13 | US band are, I’ve just remembered, in charts again | REMAPS | In charts again: REM (US band) + A(re) + PS |
| 15 | Scots attempted to be wealthy | MINTED | Scots attempted: Does “minted” mean to be wealthy? I couldn’t find any reference in Chambers. |
| 17 | Mean roast cooked without oven – lard no longer needed | ENARM | Obsolete word for to lard: [MEAN R(oast = oven)]* |
| 20 | Extremely loud note | SOH | Note: SO is extremely, but why is H loud? Should it have been “Extremely hard note”? [See comment 3 below] |
| 31 | He’s not quite ready to be a poet | HESSE | A poet: HE’S + SE(T) |
| 32 | A kit manufactured in tie dyed fabric | IKAT | Tie dyed fabric: [A KIT]* |
| 36 | One ape rejected – he didn’t know much | IGNARO | He didn’t know much: I + ORANG reversed |
| 37 | Take some time over choice | RARE | Choice: R (take) + ERA reversed |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Defiant – refuse to accept 2000 online | BRAZEN | Defiant: BRAN (refuse) round Z (2000) E (online as in e-mail) |
| 2 | Top club’s money dropped | ACME | Top: MACE (club) with the M “dropped” |
| 6 | Count low, I gathered | BASIE | Count (Basie): BASE round I |
| 12 | Get rid of d—- bore | BIND | Bore: BIN + D |
| 15 | Look and sound nasty | MIEN | Look: sounds like MEAN |
| 21 | Keep looking round in jug, on the contrary | OLPE | Jug: hidden in gnikoOL PEek (keep looking round). I thought this was an excellent clue! |
| 23 | Lamb outside school – Mary’s first obedient follower | YES-MAN | Obedient follower: YEAN (to lamb) round S(chool) M(ary’s) |
Thanks to Hi and Ba for an excellent blog, and to Lato for an puzzling crossword.
Usually, when they are provided, the unchecked letters in unclued entries turn out not to be very useful – except to check that there aren’t any mistakes in what you’ve guessed. But here, I too had to perform the”laborious crosscheck” to end up with BOY and PLEAD. I was less quick than Ba to jump to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha – probably because I was trying to fit Dante in as an Italian Author. The moment was of revelation was worth it!
At 18 down, to explain the ‘s’, the second definition of char 2 in Chambers is “(in pl) household work;”.
Thanks Hi.
After the couple of dozen comments on last week, I’d like to say that it’s interesting how different people approach the challenge. I found PLEAD really early and had TO TESTIFY (maybe a letter or two missing) so it didn’t take long to find REFUSE. Then I had SINGER but miscounted and thought I needed an extra letter (probably between G and E then when I regrouped and realised I had SINGER I found BOY fairly easily.
What held me up was the elemental treatment of SAXE-COBURG GOTHA. It took me a long time to realise what it actually meant, of course by then I had INSTRUMENT and it kinda fell into place.
Yes, this was a most enjoyable puzzle, which took me quite a while to work through even though I thought of the theme (with no certainty whatsoever of course) on reading the preamble and esp from the title. BTW, I think in SOH ‘loud’ may indicate a homophone of ‘so’. Thanks Lato and Hihoba.
A kind of OK puzzle, with some of Lato’s hallmarks – the preamble, the thematic associations. Well worked, but I can’t say I’m a fan of all those homophones (5?) and proper nouns (REM, Hesse, Basie, Mae, Lee).
I thought this was an excellent puzzle with just the right amount of penny-dropping moments. My key to solving after deducing some of the unclued entries was seeing the BARBARA and KNOT connection to Windsor. Thought the misprints were very cunningly concealed and made the overall solving all the more enjoyable.
A bit late to the thread but just to say thanks to HihoBa for the blog and Lato for the puzzle. I must admit that even knowing by the finish who the person must be, the preamble asked for the full name of the person. Now, ‘ George the fifth’ is (was) the title of that person and not the name.
However, once again a great Inquisitor.
Hmm… I think I would have been more likely to solve this had I not decided, rather hastily in retrospect, that the Italian writer was an Italian waiter. This deprived me of the A which would have given me Barbara – the only thing in the puzzle which might have steered me to Windsor. As it is I answered all the clues, but still the penny remained undropped. Thanks for the blog.