There’s a lot going on in the preamble: a partial quotation, CLASHes ‘contributing to’ a further CLASH, those involved in the CLASH and – just for good measure – a final CLASH to be written below the grid. Unusually, all but the last clue yield a superfluous letter in the subsidiary indication. Why might that be? Well, I have a theory.
Fortunately, I’m rather keen on the source of the quotation. The letters confused me for a while, as they seemed to (and in fact do) end with the word ‘OR’. Spotting ‘Lincoln County’ in the message was quite a help, though, and I soon had:
DO YOU KNOW WHERE WE’RE HEADIN’, LINCOLN COUNTY ROAD OR
Now, this quotation has an abbreviated gerund, and I just wonder whether the original plan for the grid was thought out leaving room for the absent G.
In any case, it is from Senor (Tales of Yankee Power) from the first ever Bob Dylan album that I ever owned, namely Street Legal. It references the Lincoln County War (which gave us Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid). And anyone who’s heard the song will know that the alternative to Lincoln County Road is ARMAGEDDON.
This was helpful, because it located and rationalised the clashes, which all appear in the NW-SE diagonal. The discarded letters are YEOPP, to which we will return.
As for the participants, we seem to have moved away from Lincoln County, and anyone looking for sheriffs and outlaws is going to be disappointed. Rather neatly, they are also to be found running NW-SE in the NE and SW corners. They are simply GOOD and EVIL.
This leaves the final clash, which I found rather confusing, as it was all too easy to read too much into the instructions. The ‘unfinished CLASH’ is, quite simply, CLAS. Combining this ‘suitably’ with the discarded letters renders APOCALYPSE.
So, a long way from Dylan, but the sort of thing he might write a song about.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
xxx = unused letter(s)
SED =superfluous letter
ERAS = discarded letter
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 1 | AT SEA | Disorganised article that oddly implicates Scottish Education Department (5, 2 words) | disorganised: A (article) + ins. [implicates] SED (Scottish Education Department) in ThAt [oddly] |
| O | 5 | TANGLES | Dance with, for the most part, fewer complications (7) | complications: TANGO (dance) + LES |
| Y | 11 | TAPED | Doctor adeptly abandoning Latin used sparingly in Glasgow (5) | used sparingly in Glasgow: ADEPT |
| O | 12 | LOGO | Small design can be sold (4) | small design: LOO (can) + GO (be sold) |
| U | 13 | ERAS | One third of Europeans say retreating enemy ultimately suppressed important dates (4) | important dates: EURopeans [one third of] + <[retreating]SA |
| K | 14 | ERBIA | Unofficial market beginning to import Australian oxide (5) | oxide: KERB (unofficial market) + I (beginning to Import) + A (Australian) |
| N | 17 | OILSEED | No refined diesel in source of greasy liquid (7) | source of greasy liquid: NO + DIESEL* [refined] |
| O | 18 | PSORA | Poor adult starting to scratch nasty itch (5) | itch: [POOR + A (adult) + S (starting to Scratch)]*[nasty] |
| W | 19 | TESTEE | Trialist’s dish included in part of course (6) | trialist: ins. [included in] of STEW (dish) in TEE (part of course) |
| W | 20 | STRING | Train was not accepted by Hertfordshire town (6) | train: W |
| H | 22 | BRUTER | Diamond worker’s American brother lodged in temporary dwelling? On the contrary (6) | diamond worker: ins. [lodged in] of HUT (temporary dwelling) in BRER (American brother) [on the contrary indicates that HUT is in BRER, rather than vice versa] |
| E | 23 | KHEDAS | Deviously, he asked for enclosures for capturing wild elephants (6) | enclosures for capturing wild elephants: HEASKED* [deviously] |
| R | 25 | EGRESS | Depart and return (6) | depart: REGRESS (return) |
| E | 26 | LOVATS | Takes great pleasure in possessing last of llama and goat wools (6) | wools: ins. [possessing] of AT [last of llamA and goaT] in LOVES (takes great pleasure in) |
| W | 28 | DEIST | Believer in United backed City, essentially accepting second (5) | believer: <[backed]WED (united) + ins. [accepting] of S (second) in cITy [essentially] |
| E | 31 | EVENTER | The first lady to put down a horse (7) | a horse: EVE (the first lady) + ENTER (to put down) |
| R | 34 | GELDS | King George retained his initially overlooked special taxes (5) | taxes: GR (King George) + |
| E | 35 | SPOT | Identify guillotined tyrant (4) | identify: |
| H | 36 | TOIL | Struggle aboard with oilskins (4) | struggle: wiTHOILskins [aboard] |
| E | 37 | CRANE | Strain neck to see face of Cambodian princess (5) | strain neck to see: C (face of Cambodian) RANEE (princess) |
| A | 38 | SWELTED | Outside left toiled and passed feverishly to Edmund (7) |
passed feverishly to Edmund (Spenser): ins. [outside] of L (left) SWEATED (toiled) |
| D | 39 | SIRES | Excluding first earl, regrets the loss of old lords (5) | lords: D |
| Down | ||||
| I | 1 | ATE UP | Consumed awful pie at university (5, 2 words) | consumed: [PIEAT + U (university)]* [awful] |
| N | 2 | TYRES | Sentry blows up rubber cushions (5) | rubber cushions: SENTRY* [blows up] |
| L | 3 | SPRY | Nimble, cunning priest is apprehended (4) | nimble: ins. [is apprehended] of PR (priest) in SLY (cunning) |
| I | 4 | ADELA | Noble woman from capital of state (not the southern quarter) (5) | noble woman: ADELAI |
| N | 5 | THRONES | Angels immediately admitting man to entrance of sanitorium (7) | angels: ins. [admitting] of RON (man) in THEN (immediately) + S (entrance of Sanitorium) |
| C | 6 | AMBIT | River took firm hold of compass (5) | compass: CAM (river) + BIT (took firm hold of) |
| O | 7 | NAILER | Worker in metal spikes ale with iron—that’s terrible! (6) | worker in metal spikes: [ALE + IRON]* [that’s terrible] |
| L | 8 | LORETTE | Learning upset Latvian mistress (7) | mistress: LORE (learning) + <[upset]LETT (Latvian) |
| N | 9 | EGO | Man’s self-confidence (3) | self-confidence: EGON (man) |
| C | 10 | SOLDERS | They constantly find fault with alloys (7) | alloys: SCOLDERS (they constantly find fault) |
| O | 15 | ASSURED | Norse god embittered, without doubt (7) | without doubt: AS (Norse god) + SOURED (embittered) |
| U | 16 | MRIDANG | Drum from Uganda incomplete—rim damaged(7) | drum: [UGAND |
| N | 20 | SKLENTS | Scottish version of Points of View ends in viewer’s frank email on footage shown about Olympics (7) | Scottish version of Points of View: [ends in] viewerSfranKemaiLoNfootagEshowNabouTolympicS |
| T | 21 | REVERIE | Fancies former tennis player in short rawhide thong (7) | fancies: ins. of EVERT (former tennis player) in RIE |
| Y | 22 | BOARDED | Young man mistakenly read front of document and embarked (7) | embarked: BOY (young man) + READ* [mistakenly] + D (front of Document) |
| R | 24 | ATTEST | Wily trick at international match is manifest (6) | manifest: ART (wily trick) + TEST (international match) |
| O | 27 | SELLE | Convince one of the value of old English antique seat (5) | antique seat: SELL (convince one of the value of) + OE (Old English) |
| A | 28 | DISCS | Records hepatitis C as identifiably making a comeback, to some extent (5) | records: <[making a comeback]hepatitiSCASIDentifiably [to some extent] |
| D | 29 | SCOPE | Caught sight of a length of cable (5) | a length of cable: SCOPED (caught sight of) |
| O | 30 | TOTES | Carries Dorothy’s dog to middle of fireside (5) | carries: TOTO (Dorothy’s dog) + firESide [middle] |
| R | 32 | SOAR | With no trace of wind, new arrows fly high in the air (4) | |
| 33 | VOW | I perhaps forget railroad’s promise (3) | promise: VOW |
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