Two Schadenfreudes in a row for Hihoba to blog. Another mercifully brief preamble told us that there was a letter to be removed from each clue, always leaving a word but not necessarily making sense. These letters (32 in all) plus the letters in the perimeter (another 44) give six items. The “prizewinner” of the title would appear in the completed grid.
Solving the clues was not as hard as I expected, as there seemed to be little choice about the letters to be removed in many clues, and after steady progress I found the following letters from the across clues. NA?ZISSUNDG??D????. Now this did not seem to be very likely as an English item, and even in German (with the obvious UND) I was unable to guess where it came from. However I did seem to recall that the German version of Narcissus was Narziss, so I thought it was worth a Google. Lo and behold I found NARZISS UND GOLDMUND, a novel by Hermann Hesse. The down clues had yielded ?ETER CAMEN????, so I googled Peter cam… and was rewarded with PETER CAMENZIND, another Hesse novel. So, never having read any Hesse, I found his bibliography in Wikipedia and rapidly filled in the other four items in the perimeter with ROSSHALDE, DEMIAN, DAS GLASPERLENSPIEL and STEPPENWOLF. (I had at least heard of the last one!)
The author himself (the 50th anniversary of his death was on August 9, 2012) is on the top left to bottom right diagonal and the prizewinner reference is that Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. Tsimples!
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Changed word | Letter | Answer | Definition: Wordplay |
| 8 | scree(n) | N | SEARCE | Old sieve: [SCREE A]* |
| 9 | p(a)lace | A | ALLOA | Place in Scotland: ALLO(w) (grant reduced) + A |
| 10 | b(r)ead | R | SOROBAN | Bead counter (Japanese abacus): SO (thus + [ON BAR]* |
| 11 | (z)eta’s | Z | EGGS | Mines: E (Eta’s first) + G(erman) in G(rammar) S(chool) |
| 13 | pl(i)ant | I | ACER | Plant: (ARE C(lubs)]* |
| 14 | (s)take | S | MAGG | Take (Walter (Scott) usage meaning to steal): M(oney) on A GG (horse) |
| 15 | boa(s)t | S | RO-RO | Boat: O(ther) R(anks) in RO (Romania) |
| 18 | Per(u) | U | APRIL | 30 days (hath September . . .): Per = A (as in “ten a penny”) L (initially Lasted); so AL round PR(esent) I(ndependence) |
| 19 | a(n) | N | FRAILNESS | Infirmity: FR (father) + [LESS IN A]* |
| 21 | like(d) | D | CARNAUBAS | Palm trees: ARNA (buffalo) in CUB (cattle-pen) + AS (like). Three unfamiliar meanings out of four! |
| 23 | Pi(g)’s | G | OPSIN | Protein: [PI’S ON]* |
| 24 | so(o)n | O | SAMP | Cereal (maize porridge): S(on) P (soft) round AM (in the morning) |
| 25 | jo(l)t | L | WHIT | Jot: [WITH]* |
| 26 | (d)rill | D | NALA | Rill (watercourse): N(ew) + L(earner) in AA (breakdown service) |
| 29 | (m)en | M | NEED | Requirement: NE (backward EN) + ED(ucations) |
| 30 | o(u)r | U | WINDSOR | House: D(aughter) in WINS (secures) + OR |
| 31 | inter(n) | N | EARTH | Old inter (bury): EH (what!) round ART (cunning) |
| 32 | abrade(d) | D | STUNS’L | Part of the rigging: STUN (abrade) + S(wel)L |
| Down | ||||
| 1 | (p)age | P | AEON | Age: A(ssociate) + [ONE]* |
| 2 | rob(e) | E | DROMOI | Racecourses (Greek): ROM (Gypsy) in DO (rob) + I(nternational) |
| 3 | sec(t) | T | DEACONRY | Clergyman’s office: DRY (sec) round [A ONCE]* |
| 4 | not(e) | E | ERNE | Sea bird: RE (on) reversed (rising) + NE (not old) |
| 5 | (r)are | R | MADRASAH | School for Muslims: MADRAS (Indian city) + A(re) + H(ospital |
| 6 | (c)argo | C | ALGAROBAS | Trees: [ARGO BALSA]* |
| 7 | (a)head | A | NOGGIN | Head: NOG (snag) over (north of) GIN (Geneva) |
| 12 | (m)ore) | M | BRASSIERE | Women’s support: BRASSIE (club) + RE (lovelorn = remove O from ORE!) |
| 16 | Ann(e) | E | ALANNAHS | Tearms of endearment: A + L(ecturer) + ANN + [HAS]* |
| 17 | li(n)es | N | PENALISE | Handicap: PEN (writer) + [LIES]* round A(merican) |
| 20 | (z)one | Z | UPHEAP | Make a pile: U(nionist) + PH (H(alf) P(ay) reversed) + E(uropean) + A (one) + P(ower) |
| 22 | (I) | I | USED-UP | Exhausted: [DUE S(outh)]* + UP (finished) |
| 27 | (n)ode | N | AWDL | Ode: AWL (hand tool) round D(iameter) |
| 28 | name(d) | B | BOS’N | Naval officer: B(ritish) + O(rdinary) S(eaman) + N(ame) |
I found this remarkably easy. Soon after the end of my first pass through the clues I picked up on NARZISS UND GOLDMUND and spotted HERMANN HESSE on the diagonal, and then the rest just fell away. (Being of a certain age, I was familiar with most of the books + some others, though I’ll admit to starting The Glass Bead Game three or four times and not getting very far.)
This should take nothing away from the puzzle: grid plus clues all very neat indeed; but only briefly engaging – grade 1 of 5?