I am reliably informed that the word ‘ambiguity’ comes from the Latin ambi-, eaning both ways, and agere, meaning to drive. Will this puzzle take the easy road or will it drive the solver crazy?
I’m a fan of these alphabetical, slot-in puzzles, perhaps (as I may have mentioned before) such was the format of the first EV I ever solved. There’s a fair amount of cold solving in them, though, so it’s important to pitch the level of the clues correctly, which I think Piccadilly does. There’s an extra bit of help potentially available, if you twig early enough that there are several pairs of nearly identical clues, but I either didn’t need this or only realised it quite late on.
Resolution of the AMBIGUITIES relating to the placing of these pairs is the essence of the end game.
The initial letters (highlighted in red in the explanation of the clues below) of the first ten down answers (numbered below) read CENTRAL ROW. This row, if the various AMBIGUITIES are correctly inserted, helpfully reads THIS IS CORRECT, as you’ll see below.
A lovely puzzle.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = anagrind or homophone/container/etc. indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| D | E | T | E | N | T | I | O | N | F | K | S | A |
| O | V | E | N | T | E | R | T | A | I | N | E | R |
| O | O | N | T | S | L | D | I | S | F | A | M | E |
| R | E | T | I | C | L | E | C | C | E | R | I | C |
| M | A | T | C | H | E | T | C | H | A | T | T | A |
| A | R | R | E | A | R | E | P | A | C | R | I | S |
| T | H | I | S | I | S | C | O | R | R | E | C | T |
| P | I | E | R | R | O | T | C | R | E | E | S | E |
| I | S | S | U | E | D | I | U | E | A | S | E | S |
| S | T | E | E | D | G | O | L | D | S | A | L | T |
| T | O | R | S | I | O | N | A | D | O | L | I | A |
| O | R | A | N | G | O | U | T | A | N | G | S | T |
| L | Y | S | E | I | N | S | E | N | S | A | T | E |
| ALGA | Marine growth [starts to] Affect Lifeboats Getting Afloat (4) | |
| 10 | ARECAS | We get nuts from these A (American) [mutated] ACERS* (6) |
| ARREAR | pAiR [regularly] REAR (hinder) what remains undone (6) | |
| CERIC | ERIC (Man) [goes after] C (cocaine) containing rare-earth metal (5) | |
| CHAIRED | Conducted meeting of CHAD (African country), [suppressing] IRE (anger) (7) | |
| CHARRED | Embarrassed after fish scorched (7) | |
| CHATTA | Australian louse volunteers to find umbrella (6) | |
| CREESE | Malay dagger eviscerated cougar, eagle and snake (6) | |
| DETECTION | Doctor cited note making discovery of something hidden (9) | |
| DETENTION |
TENONDIET* [suffering] confinement (9) | |
| DISFAME | Uncommonly evil reputation IS F (following) DAME (woman) [on the outside] (7) | |
| DOLIA | Ancient jars, OLD*, [broken] I (in) A (Austria) (5) | |
| 1 | DOORMAT | “Clean shoes on this,” MATADORSO* [ordered], AS [leaving] (7) |
| EASES | Moves gently E (east), facing [choppy] SEAS* (5) | |
| ENTERTAINER | Professional musician, perhaps, ENTER (to come on stage) with TRAINER R (right) [away] (11) | |
| 4 | ENTICES | Tempts ENT (hospital department) to ICES (frozen treats) (7) |
| EPACRIS | ISCRAPE* [out] health-like plant (7) | |
| ERAS | [Almost] ERASE (destroy) important dates (4) | |
| ESNE | Old slave SEEN* [working] (4) | |
| 2 | EVOE | Expression of Bacchic frenzy – first lady swallowing drop of ouzo! (4) |
| 7 | FIFE | Little flute from Scottish county (4) [double definition] |
| GOON | Peter Sellers, perhaps, GO ON (to appear on stage) (4) | |
| HISTORY | [Core of] mytHIcal STORY (tale)? It’s in the past (7) | |
| INSENSATE | Inanimate aNdroid’s [second] [piercing] IS ENSATE (sword shaped) (9) | |
| ISSUED | IS (One’s) SUED (prosecuted at law) and turned out (6) | |
| 8 | KNAR | <RANK (Row) [about] knot in tree (4) |
| LIST | Catalogue of LISZT (composer), [not] Z (unknown) (4) | |
| MATCH | MAT (Dull) CH (church) marriage (5) | |
| OCULATE | Eyed O (old) CU (copper) LATE (coming after the usual time) (7) | |
| OLD SALT | LADLOST* [at sea] is an experienced sailor (7, two words) | |
| OONTS | Camels in India NOTSO* [lively] (5) | |
| ORANG-OUTANG | Anthropoid ape [dancing] TANGOONARUG* (11) | |
| 6 | OTIC | Aural is <CITO (quickly) [over] (4) |
| PIERROT | I ERR (make a mistake) [intercepting] POT (drug) for seaside entertainer (7) | |
| PISTOL | [From] camP,ISTOLe weapon (6) | |
| REASONS | Premises ARE* [modified] by SONS (male descendants) (7) | |
| RETICLE | TIERCEL* [damaged] attachment to optical device (7) | |
| 9 | SEMITIC | Old language from M (Malta) [in] CITIES (large towns) [returning] (7) |
| STEED | Horse from T (Thailand) [in] SEED (race) (5) | |
| 5 | TELLERS | [Redirect] LETTERS* L (left) [for] [leader of] Troubled bank’s employees (7) |
| 3 | TENT | TEN (Number) [head to] This portable shelter (4) |
| TESTATE | Having will to find ATE (one responsible for mischief) [after] TEST (trial) (7) | |
| TORSION | I (One) [stopping] TORSO (trunk of body) at [end of] harpooN twisting (7) | |
| TREES | Large plants [start to Rot [in] TEES (river) (5) | |
| TRIES | TORIES (Conservatives) [shirking] O (nothing) to make efforts (5) |
I found that this was one of the first times I’ve been able to cold-solve most of the clues in a jigsaw before fitting anything in. Anyway, a clever construction so thanks to Piccadilly for that!