This week – extra letters in the wordplay spelling out a line form a verse and its source. Two further lines from the verse then must be applied to the completed grid to reunite an associated pair leaving a grid with some empty cells and only real words. Intriguing indeed.
Some tricky wordplay to explain, but not a difficult grid-fill.
The additional letters in the word play spell out KIDS NURSERY RHYME LITTLE DOG LAUGHED TO SEE SUCH SPORT
Slightly different words than I remember, not helped initially by my additional P in 32dn where damp seemed a more obvious word for wet then a dram – but dram is perfectly fair, just ask a Scotsman.
So the other lines from memory – the dish ran away with the spoon, the cow jumped over the moon and hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle.
The initial grid fill – showing the cow (CALF) under the moon and the dish and the spoon:
| E | M | I | R | A | T | E | A | P | N | E | A |
| C | O | D | E | F | I | D | D | L | E | Y | S |
| T | R | I | A | L | A | T | V | O | K | R | A |
| H | O | O | P | U | N | H | I | D | D | E | N |
| Y | N | T | M | O | S | E | S | D | O | N | A |
| M | E | C | O | N | A | T | E | E | R | T | A |
| A | Y | Y | O | O | R | A | T | R | E | S | S |
| B | R | A | N | C | O | T | E | S | J | T | O |
| E | N | A | C | T | I | O | N | D | O | U | C |
| L | E | V | A | A | D | R | T | A | N | T | I |
| C | H | I | L | D | I | S | H | M | E | S | A |
| H | U | M | F | S | P | O | O | N | O | I | L |
So with the dish and spoon going and the calf rising gave a final grid of:
| E | M | I | C | A | T | E | A | P | N | E | A |
| C | O | D | A | F | I | D | D | L | E | Y | S |
| T | R | I | L | L | A | T | V | O | K | R | A |
| H | O | O | F | U | N | H | I | D | D | E | N |
| Y | N | T | M | O | S | E | S | D | O | N | A |
| M | E | C | O | N | A | T | E | E | R | T | A |
| A | Y | Y | O | O | R | A | T | R | E | S | S |
| B | R | A | N | C | O | T | E | S | J | T | O |
| E | N | A | T | I | O | N | D | O | U | C | |
| L | E | V | A | D | R | T | A | N | T | I | |
| C | H | I | M | E | S | A | |||||
| H | U | M | O | I | L |
Putting the cat next to the fiddle. Simple when you see it.
Thanks Shark for a fun rendition of an old favourite, very neatly done.
Key:
Rev. reverse; * Anagram; DD Double definition; Underline – definition
ACROSS
| K | 1 Mike relaxed standard in Islamic office (7) |
| (Mike)* + rate (standard) = EMIRATE | |
| I | 6 Starve inside Australian army — American’s cessation of breathing (5) |
| Pine (starve) in a a (Australian army) = APNEA | |
| D | 10 Mock editor’s system of rules (4) |
| Cod (mock) + ed = CODE | |
| S | 11 Metal frames wooden pin (tip of double reeds) (8) |
| Fid (wooden pin) + d (tip of double) + sleys(reeds) = FIDDLEYS | |
| N | 13 Jordan once skipped university, time to start suffering (5) |
| Urinal (Jordan once – obsolete term for aa chamberpot) after t (time) = TRIAL | |
| U | 15 Dish of cheese covering game (4) |
| Oka (chees) around RU(game – rugby union) = OKRA | |
| R | 16 Ring back needy husband (4) |
| Rev (Poor h(husband)) = HOOP | |
| S | 17 Out in the open, criminal shunned identity (8) |
| (shunned + Id)* = UNHIDDEN | |
| E | 18 Grandma who paints second in front of witnesses (5) |
| Mo(second) + sees (witnesses) = MOSES | |
| R | 19 Adorn foreign lover (4) |
| (adorn)* = DONA | |
| Y | 20 Salt most excellent rabbit devoured (8) |
| Me (most excellent) + Cony (rabbit) + ate (devoured) = MECONATE | |
| R | 25 She speaks from odd Scottish lock? (8) |
| Orra(odd – Scottish) + tress (lock) = ORATRESS | |
| H | 27 Pollard part of tree removing top of crown (4) |
| Branch (part of tree) – c (top of crown) = BRAN | |
| Y | 28 Squab put hen on eggs around shelters (5) |
| Coy (squab) + set (put hen on eggs) = COTES | |
| M | 31 Soldiers joining battle is law (8) |
| Men (soldiers) + action (battle) = ENACTION | |
| E | 32 Monkey once sweet (4) |
| DD Douce (once sweet) = DOUC |
DOWN
| D | 1 Rash Thursday in short month (May perhaps) (7) |
| Th (Thursday) in Dec (short month) + (may)* = ECTHYMA | |
| O | 2 No space kept back for halfwit (5) |
| Rev (No room) = MORON | |
| G | 3 Folly rarely sturdy and hostile housing books (7) |
| Gid (sturdy) + icy (hostile) around ot (books) = IDIOTCY | |
| L | 4 Cut authentic penny (4) |
| Real (authentic) + p = REAP | |
| A | 5 Tropp at first cooked Asian dishes (5) |
| T (Tropp at first) + (Asian)* = TIANS | |
| U | 6 Recommend short poet to bottle power (6) |
| Auden (Poet) – n around vis (power) = ADVISE | |
| G | 7 Poet Laureate, a female idol, runs for society and trudges (8) |
| Pl (poet Laureate) + goddess (female idol) changing s to r = PLODDERS | |
| H | 8 In South Africa, pass king and female head over heels (3) |
| Rev (k (king) + hen(female)) = NEK | |
| E | 9 A main position finally accepted for yogic position (5) |
| A + sea(main) + n (position finally) + a = ASANA | |
| D | 11 Fluidly unfold non-adhesive plastic (5) |
| (unfold)* = FLUON | |
| T | 12 Once split from your cover (5) |
| Yr (your) + tent (cover) = YRENT | |
| O | 14 The proper conduct in eastern philosophy for Greek character (5) |
| The + Tao (proper conduct in eastern philosophy) = THETA | |
| S | 18 Fool is months in advance with calendar attached to folio (8) |
| MOONCALF | |
| E | 21 Old plough cutting top off useless plant (5) |
| Ear (old plough) + void (useless) – v (top) = AROID | |
| E | 22 Regressively mock a person over type of bullfighting (7) |
| Rev (jeer) + one (a person) + o (over) = REJONEO | |
| S | 23 Lay bones upside down against community principles (7) |
| Rev. (laic (lay) + Ossa (bones)) = ASOCIAL | |
| U | 24 Variable old letter initially handy for a measure of reciprocal conductance (5) |
| Y (variable) + rune (old letter) + h (initially handy) = YRNEH | |
| C | 25 Groups of eight disused bags covering wild cat (6) |
| (cat)* in cods (bags – obsolete) = OCTADS | |
| H | 26 Two notes tenor finds very hard — octave and a third? (5) |
| Te + n (two notes) + t (tenor) + hh (very hard) = TENTH | |
| S | 27 Eject violently from school after bell’s finally gone off (5) |
| Bel (bell – l) + sch (school) = BELCH | |
| P | 29 Part of a body of troops deployed (5) |
| (troops)* = TORSO | |
| O | 30 African runner is turning round (5) |
| Tout(runner) + rev(is) = TUTSI | |
| R | 32 Curse wet November (4) |
| Dram (wet) + n (November) = DAMN | |
| T | 34 See Henman’s energy? (3) |
| V (see) + Tim(henman) = VIM |
Wasn’t this one fun? I got caught by the Dram/ Damp “trap” too… spotted the mistake later. The endgame is delightful. Shark puzzles are very creative and the clues are always sharp and fair.
Thanks to Shark for an excellent puzzle. When I vetted this, I thought the nursery rhyme was worded ‘…to see such fun’, so was surprised to see that reference sources confirm the true wording as ‘…to see such sport’.
I’m also interested to know what solvers made of the damp/dram choice at 32dn. Some solvers like extra letters from wordplay to be unambiguous. I don’t mind a bit of ambiguity every now and then, and consider it fair misdirection. Of course, if every clue in a puzzle led to such ambiguity, then that would be a different story.