The preamble tells us that twelve answers need to be substituted with a ‘thematically associated’ word before entry. And the one unclued entry can be ‘similarly’ associated with a word which must be highlighted. Sounds straightforward enough, but is Ferret really being ‘NICE’ to us…?
The other key pointer is that ‘numbers in brackets refer to grid entries’. So there are twelve clues that don’t necessarily match their enumerations – something to bear in mind. And with all these substitutions going on, a pencil is probably a good idea to start with.
My usual approach in a puzzle like this is just to start in and solve as many clues as I can – if 12 are thematic then the other 36, in this case, must be ‘normal’ – to see where any inconsistencies/clashes start to manifest themselves…and gradually it started to work. The first pass of the across clues didn’t yield much, but going down I soon had 8D as ‘WARM’ needing to go into a (5), and 13D as ‘SOFT’ with a (6).
Once some crossing letters started to appear, WARM had to become ‘?O?ST’ and SOFT looked like ‘?UTT??’ – at which point the penny dropped – as WARM as TOAST! So perhaps we are looking at phrases where something is ‘as XXX as YYYY’… This was confirmed by 26D ‘COLD’ having to fit into ‘??AR?TY’ – as COLD as CHARITY.
But there was still a fair amount of work to do – that was only two or three out of twelve – and there were some fairly tough clues and obscure-ish words to track down – SISSOO, VEHMIC, BABLAH and SPARTH spring to mind, although SPARTH did crop up recently in another puzzle, so was somewhere in the recent recesses of my mind.
In the end, all the thematic substitutions were symmetrically placed as well – a nice touch, and maybe the setter (or editor) decided against mentioning this, as it would potentially halve/reduce the difficulty?
So that left the unclued entry – EA?Y – which I took to be ‘as EASY as PIE’ with PIE from SPIED at 18D – nicely central.
Which this puzzle certainly wasn’t – it wasn’t ‘as hard as nails’ either, but I would put it about middling on the non-existent ‘EV-scale of difficulty’.
On a minor quibble-ette or two: I hadn’t heard of the phrase ‘as smart as paint’, (probably my ignorance, but it isn’t in my versions of Chambers), and I only know of the phrase ‘as thick as thieves’, as opposed to ‘as close as thieves’ (1D) – there may be many past (and current) English batsmen who fans would like to call ‘THICK’, (KP = NUTS?! Ian Terence Botham?), but I don’t know of any with that as a surname…
**Update – thanks to Dave H for suggesting T’ + HICK (English batsman, of Zimbabwean origins…)
And, lastly, I couldn’t quite work out the relevance of the title – ‘as nice as a ferret’ is not a phrase I have heard of – but to paraphrase a certain football chant of the 1970s, ‘Nice one, Ferret, let’s ‘ave another one’…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Extra letter | Solution (where changed) | Entry | Clue (definition in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
| 1A | TEC | Busy, bustling etc (3) / anag (i.e. bustling) of ETC – ‘busy’ being slang for a detective, or ‘tec |
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| 3A | DULL | DITCHWATER | Race leaving make of longlife battery flat (10) / DU(RACE)LL – make of battery, without RACE |
|
| 10A | HARISH | Somewhat insensitive, heartless, like a bawd say (6) / HAR(D)ISH – somewhat insensitive, osing middle letter, or heartless. ‘bawd’ having a meaning as ‘a hare’ |
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| 11A | LACTOSE | Sugar rendering solace over time (7) / anag (i.e. rendering) of SOLACE, around T (time) |
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| 12A | OSSI | Former East German held back by his socialism (4) / reversed hidden word in ‘hIS SOcialism’ |
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| 13A | BOLD | BRASS | Black and heavy meteor striking Italy and Spain (5) / BOL(I)D(E) – large meteor – striking (out) I (Italy) and E (España, Spain) |
|
| 14A | EYE-UP | Consider the attractiveness of doing uey in European Parliament (5, two words) / EP (European Parliament) around anag (i.e. doing) of UEY |
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| 15A | ROGUISH | Confounded rum is rough (7) / anag (i.e. rum) of IS ROUGH |
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| 16A | VASSALS | Recall girl amongst Virginia’s dependants (7) / VAS (Virginia’s, or Va’s) around SSAL (girl, recalled) |
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| 19A | STATUE | Body height not right in the Sphinx at Giza for example (6) / STATU(R)E – body height, losing R (right) |
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| 22A | SPOTLIT | Division surrounding lead in Othello getting time in the limelight (7) / SPLIT (division) around O (lead letter of Othello) + T (time) |
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| 23A | SISSOO | A thousand leaves performing osmosis in tree (6) / anag (i.e. performing) of OS(M)OSIS – without M – a thousand, leaving |
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| 24A | VEHMIC | Have Her Majesty in charge of German court? (6) / VE (contraction for ‘have’, as in they’ve) + HM (Her Majesty) + IC (in charge) |
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| 28A | REBUKER | Someone who checks once on fuel [not nuclear] (7) / RE (on) + BU(N)KER (fuel store, missing N – nuclear) |
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| 32A | REPAST | Mushy peas for one in restrained meal (6) / R(I)T – ritenuto, or restrained, in music – with EPAS (anag, i.e. mushy, of PEAS) replacing I (one) |
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| 35A | DEEP-SEA | Argon once seeped out of the lower oceans (7) / anag (i.e. out) of SEEPED + A (former abbreviation for Argon, now Ar) – no hyphenation indicated! |
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| 36A | SABEANS | Yemeni people no longer save obsolete coins (7) / SA (sa’, obsolete contraction of ‘save’) + BEANS (obsolete for money, or coins) |
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| 38A | TATAR | Sailor comprehends army’s language (5) / TAR (sailor) around TA (Territorial Army) |
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| 40A | HARD | NAILS | Scots listened with difficulty (5) / double defn. HARD being ‘with difficulty’, and also a Scottish form of ‘heard’, or listened |
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| 41A | EYRA | Worrying when this wildcat is anywhere around (4) / semi &lit/partial or subtractive anagram – anag (i.e. around) of ANYWHERE less WHEN |
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| 42A | UNNAMED | Mundane novel without a title (7) / anag (i.e. novel) of MUNDANE |
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| 43A | ASTRUT | A prop no longer sticking out (6) / A + STRUT (prop) |
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| 44A | OLD | METHUSELAH | Antique discovered in school desk (10) / hidden word in ‘schoOL Desk’ |
|
| 45A | DEY | Refuse to admit killing new Algerian ruler (3) / DE(N)Y – refuse to admit – without (killing off) N (new) |
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| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Extra letter | Solution (where changed) | Entry | Clue (definition in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
| 1D | THICK |
THIEVES | Very friendly to former English batsman (7) / T (t’, old contraction of TO) + HICK (Graeme, English batsman, of Zimbabwean origins) |
|
| n/a | EASY | thematic/unclued (4) / Thematic deduction – EASY as PIE (in SPIED at 18D) |
||
| 2D | RICH | CROESUS | Full court house following Irish uprising (7) / RI (Ir, or Ireland, rising up) + CH (court house) |
|
| 3D | DISUSE | Neglect studies after time spent abroad (6) / anag (i.e. abroad) of S(T)UDIES without T (time) |
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| 4D | THIRLS | Restricts local’s openings (6) / double defn (two obscure ones!). ‘Thirl’ can be a dialect (local) term for an opening; and also a form of ‘thrall’, or serfdom/restriction of freedom. |
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| 5D | CLIO | Caught news in Sydney about whales’ food (4) / C (caught, in cricket) + LIO (oil, or news/gossip, in Australia) |
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| 6D | HANGS | Suspends stock exchange index after losing electronic news gathering (5) / HANG S(ENG) – Hong Kong Stock Exchange – without ENG (Electronic News Gathering) |
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| 7D | ATRIAL | One has examination of part of the heart (6) / A (one) + TRIAL (examination) |
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| 8D | WARM | TOAST | Comfortable with weapon (5) / W (with) + ARM (weapon) |
|
| 9D | RESTEM | Poet’s push against current shoddy use of meters (6) / anag (i.e. shoddy use of) METERS |
||
| 13D | SOFT | BUTTER | Very good newspaper is politically moderate (6) / SO (very good) + FT (Financial times, newspaper) |
|
| 17D | AFIRE | Burning anger following a fine (5) / A + F (fine) + IRE (anger) |
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| 18D | SPIED | Discovered welcome luxury in Swaziland (5) / SD (Swaziland) around PIE (a welcome luxury, colloquialism)) |
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| 20D | UTILE | Useful reagent primarily extracted from titanium oxide (5) / (R)UTILE – titanium oxide – without R – first letter of Reagent |
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| 21D | SAFE | HOUSES | Secure top of forestay in rough sea (6) / anag (i.e. rough) of SEA, around F – top letter of Forestay |
|
| 25D | KEEN | MUSTARD | Intense display of grief over the dead (7) / double defn. KEEN can be intense (adjective); and also a noun – to grieve/wail/lament the dead |
|
| 26D | COLD | CHARITY | Indifferent about antique (7) / C (circa, about) + OLD (antique) |
|
| 27D | CRINUM | Flower stall shunned by British mine workers (6) / CRI(B) – stall, without (shunned by) B (British) – plus NUM (National Union of Mineworkers, British trade union) |
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| 29D | BABLAH | Baboon’s half seen by Prince climbing tree (6) / BAB (half of baboon) + LAH (Hal, Prince Harry, climbig) |
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| 30D | RE-SEAL | Searle designed stamp for a second time (6) / anag (i.e. designed) of SEARLE |
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| 31D | SPARTH | Locks up husband’s antique battle-axe (6) / SPART (TRAPS, or locks, up) + H (husband) |
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| 33D | SMART | PAINT | Witty yarns recalled (5) / SMART = TRAMS (silk yarns) backwards (recalled) |
|
| 34D | TAXES | Thailand dispenses with many taxis (5) / T (Thailand) + AXES (dispenses with) – TAXES being the plural of the noun TAXIS (e.g. “arrangement or order”) not of TAXI (cab) |
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| 37D | NODE | Drama editor brought up complication in a story (4) / NO (Japanese drama) + DE (Ed, or editor, brought up) |
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| 39D | AGUE | Dagga user regularly gets a shivering fit (4) / alternate letters (regularly) of dAgGa UsEr |
||
An enjoyable puzzle, as I’ve come to expect from Ferret over at the Inquisitor; I think this is his first EV. And thanks for the blog, mc.
A couple of points though. 1dn does indeed lead to THICK: definition is ‘very friendly’, with T’ (an old form of to) + HICK (reference to Graeme Hick, England batsman). As for 34dn, I didn’t like ‘many taxis’ as the definition of TAXES; it would be like defining ‘dogs’ as ‘many dog’.
Like you, I’d not heard of ‘smart as paint’, and I’ve always used ‘dull as dishwater’ (actually, I don’t think I’ve used it for about 50 years). But my favourite has to be ‘daft as a brush’!
Dave.
Well, I was hoping for ‘as soft as clart’ but we Northerners never seem to strike lucky. Presumably Ferret is being as nice as pie and giving us confirmation in the title.
I think the title is ‘Nice as PIE’.
Nick
If you haven’t heard of the phrase “smart as paint” you haven’t read Treasure Island. Long John Silver is fond of using it.
Thank you mc for the blog and kind comments. Dave is correct about the intended clue logic for THICK and the title is indeed meant to confirm the highlighting of PIE. I used it because because there are three contiguous cells containing ABC and As easy as ABC could be an acceptable answer. I thought it would make the puzzle too easy to mention the symmetry, but hopefully it helped identify later thematic entries and add another confirmation that PIE was the correct word to highlight.
I think Dave is also correct about TAXES. It was not a good clue. I promise to try harder next time.
Daft as a brush is indeed a lovely phrase but I restricted myself to ‘As xxx as zzz’ with no other words. I din’t have the latest edition of Brewers at the time of setting but all the phrases used in this puzzle appear in the new edition under As, including daft as a brush and its suspected origin.