My house is, indeed, empty as I write these few lines, as is my stomach. My diary is empty, as exams very recents came to an end. Apparently, most empty of all is my head, since I can’t think of any more appropriate introduction to this enjoyable puzzle.
Helpfully, 6dn wasn’t too tricky, rendering CHARLES STUART. This helped confirm the thematic adjustment suggested by the speaker, namely that half of the across answers have their ‘heads’ removed before entry. The last few down clues gave up their treasures and a little well-targeted googling laid bare the thematic phrase:
I SEE ALL THE BIRDS ARE FLOWN
which was a remark made by Charles during his abortive attempt to arrest the ‘Five Members‘. In line with this remark, the birds have ‘flown’ from the other half. That is, the names of various birds must be removed before entry.
I was rather preoccupied with exams when I started this, and I was concerned that the discovery of the remaining birds would be a slog. I am happy to report that this was not the case. 1ac took me an age (much longer than it should have done) and 38ac was the last to go in, finally having twigged and looking over a map of Africa to try each country in turn.
An enjoyable solve, then, and I do also like the title. I’m not sure if the ‘House’ was intended to refer to the House of Stuart as well as the House of Commons but, intentional or not, I like it.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
XXX = unused letter(s)
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DODO | 1 | PAEDODONTIC | Conflicting advice in middle of special broadcast about children’s teeth (7) | about children’s teeth: DO DON’T (conflicting advice)[in] |
| CROW | 7 | SCARECROWS | Shabby dressers hard to get advancing English lines (6) | shabby dressers: SCAREC (SCARCE (hard to get) [advancing English]) ROWS (lines) |
| KEA | 12 | TAKE AIM | A mistake at sea, sailors ultimately missing target (4, 2 words) | target: AMI |
| 13 | CHURLISH | Nurse inputting web address for Queen is far from gracious (7) | far from gracious: CHERISH (nurse) [inputting] URL (web address) for ER (Queen) | |
| 14 | WRITTEN | Composed Scots score in recent comeback (6) | composed: RITT (Scots score) [in] <NEW (recent)[comeback] | |
| 15 | TROUNCE | Severely punish gutless sailor with cat (6) | severely punish: T |
|
| COB | 16 | COBBLERS | Stones admitting the end of Jagger? Nonsense (5) | nonsense: COBBLES (stones) [admitting] R (the end of jaggeR) |
| ANI | 17 | ORGANISM | Newspaper illustrates extremely minute life-form (5) | life-form: ORGAN (newspaper) IS (IllustrateS extremely) M (minute) |
| GULL | 18 | GULLIBLE | Had easily mixed glue to hold retro poster (4) | had easily: GLUE* [mixed] [to hold] <BILL [retro](poster) |
| 19 | CREPT | Stealthily moved material taken into court (4) | stealthily moved: REP (material)[taken into] CT (court) | |
| 20 | PITIABLE | Recalled temptation, breaking down in sorry state (7) | in sorry state: <BAIT [recalled](temptation) [breaking] PILE (down) | |
| KNOT | 23 | BANKNOTES | Currency left out of featureless memoranda (5) | currency: B |
| 24 | ELSE | Beethoven’s dedicatee, one not seen otherwise (3) | otherwise: EL |
|
| 27 | EVER | River’s out of bounds at any time (3) | at any time: |
|
| 29 | ACUTER | More keen engineers returning after a break (5) | more keen: <RE (engineers)[returning] [after] A CUT (break) | |
| PEN | 31 | SERPENTINE | Attractive stone feature in London park (7) | double definition: attractive stone/feature in London park |
| 32 | FARAD | Unit very much suffered in the East End (4) | unit: FAR (very much) AD (suffered (HAD) in the East End) | |
| 34 | VITAL | Lively mutt’s tail breaks medicine bottle (4) | lively: T (mutT’s tail) [breaks] VIAL (medicine bottle) | |
| 37 | CHERUB | Youngster cuddling the lady’s sweet child (5) | sweet child: CUB (youngster) [cuddling] HER (the lady’s) | |
| SWAN | 38 | BOTSWANAN | African maggots, pale and short (5) | African: BOTS (maggots) WAN (pale) AN |
| 39 | ORIGAMI | Almost fail to secure European capital for oriental craft (6) | oriental craft: OMI |
|
| EMU | 40 | EMULATORS | They rival Ulsterman foolishly giving new for old (6) | they rival: [ULSTERMA |
| DOVE | 41 | OVER AND OVER | Clubs lost to top Hampshire town repeatedly (7, 3 words) | repeatedly: |
| HERON | 42 | PERCHERON | Horse steps up to platform bearing guerilla leader (4) | horse: PERRON (steps up to platform) [bearing] CHE (guerilla leader) |
| RAIL | 43 | TRAILERING | Showing snippet of US series breaking time barrier (6) | showing snippet of: ER (US series) [breaking] T (time) RAILING (barrier) |
| 44 | STEADY ON | Alternatively “do not be hasty”, both possibly ignored (7, 2 words) | &lit: D |
|
| Down | ||||
| I | 1 | PARBOIL | Manic bipolar cook briefly employing waiter (7) | cook briefly employing water: BIPOLAR* [manic] |
| S | 2 | ATILT | Learner stops shaving it off at an angle (5) | at an angle: L (learner) [stops] AT IT (having it off) |
| E | 3 | EATERIE | Son quits festival that is a treat, say, for Yanks (7) | a trat, say, for Yanks: EA |
| E | 4 | NITRE | Salet – knight’s headgear bearing no mark (5) | salt: N (knight) |
| A | 5 | IGNOBLY | Criminal laying about old boy in mean fashion (7) | in mean fashion: LYING* [criminal] [about] OB (old boy) |
| L | 6 | CHARLES STUART | He ruled Arthur’s castle lawfully (13, 2 words) | he ruled: ARTHURSCASTLE* [awfully] |
| L | 7 | SURGED | Press probing case of dubious lover slipped back (6) | slipped back: URGE (press) [probing] <SD (case of DubiouS)[over] |
| T | 8 | CROSSBAR | Part of bike trail after king’s left station (8) | part of bike: BAR (rail) [after] |
| H | 9 | RINSE | Application for locks extracted from oyster in shell (5) | application for locks: [extracted from] oysteRINSEll |
| E | 10 | ESCAPEE | We finally understand guards hate jail breaker (7) | jail breaker: E (wE finally) SEE (understand) [guards] CAP (hat) |
| B | 11 | SHEETS | Man beaten by stakes falls heavily (6) | falls heavily: HE (man) [eaten by] SETS (stakes) |
| I | 19 | RANT | Empty speechifying filed on time (4) | empty speechifying: RAN (fled) on T (time) |
| R | 21 | ABED | Crouched to exclude getting up right away? (4) | couched: <DEBA |
| D | 22 | BARGEMAN | Spooner says Mrs Simpson cursed lighter owner (8) | lighter owner: [Spooner says] MARGE (Mrs Simpson) BAN (curse) |
| S | 25 | SURVIVE | Last lively Scots supporting son in France (7) | last: VIVE (lively Scots) [supporting] SUR (on in France) |
| A | 26 | SEA-BLUE | No time to fix college sportsman’s main taint (7, hyphened [sic]) | main tint: SEA |
| R | 27 | VICTORY | Turn out of house without coat (blue, it’s hardly worn) (7) | it’s hardly won: |
| E | 28 | REINS IN | Checks piety of old under influence, we hear (7, 2 words) | checks: SIN (pity of old) [under] REIN (homonym [we hear] of REIGN – (influence)) |
| F | 29 | CARROT | Incentive offered for sitting up in pram? (6) | incentive offered: <OR [sitting up] in CART (pram) |
| L | 30 | FIRING | If sent north, band’s slacking (6) | sacking: <IF [sent north] RING (band) |
| O | 33 | ANGER | Make hot orange crackers (5) | make hot: RANGE* [crackers] |
| W | 35 | VOTED | Vicar at first won books editor proposed (5) | proposed: V (Vicar at first) [on] OT (books) ED (editor) |
| N | 36 | NARCO | Persistent complainer heard over agent from NUS (5) | agent from US: NARC (homonym [heard] of NARK (persistent complainer)) O (over) |
Yes, I agree Mister Sting, an enjoyable solve. I am huge fan of Nutmeg’s clues but not always of the themes, but this was really good. Nice easy anagram to get us in as you say and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the initial trigger for the puzzle. Thanks Nutmeg and Mister Sting.