Only 20 non-standard clues this week – 6 without definitions and 14 with an additional letter in the wordplay which give a specific way of travelling around the world. However, the grid, also, has a number of clashes to be resolved according to the theme.
Quite an accessible puzzle, in my opinion – plenty of relatively straight forward clues to get the grid filling going and then some quite challenging ones to complete it.
It quickly became apparent that there was a clash between L and R down the leading diagonal so which one needed to be chosen. The extra letters were rather helpful DRIVE ON THE LEFT with the 6 unclued entries all being countries where the side to drive on is that of a right handed horseman going into a battle. The L needed to be chosen to complete the puzzle.
The unclued entries were JAPAN; SEYCHELLES; NIUE; NEPAL; BANGLADESH and TONGA where the driving side is still dictated by the preference of battling knights. Looking on the net – there are a surprising number of countries still driving on the aggressive side of the road!
Many thanks Wiglaf – fun and educational too.
Key;
Rev. reverse; * anagram; Underline – definition; Bold – left driving country
ACROSS
| D | 1 The French demanding plays for principal actors (10, two words) Le (The French) + (demanding)* = LEADING MEN |
| 11 Edmund’s grey as Sergei wanders round India (7) (Sergei)* around I (India) = GRIESIE (Edmund is a reference to Spenser) |
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| R | 12 Muslim scholars control Morocco (5) Rule(control) + MA (Morocco) = ULEMA |
| 13 Feeble-minded son gets sick rarely (5) S (son) + illy (sick rarely) = SILLY |
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| 14 The Christian Democratic Union’s okay with God (5) Ja (german for yes – i.e. The Christian Democratic Union’s okay) + pan (god) = JAPAN |
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| 15 Woolly-headed alpine show tune (9) DD EDELWEISS (a song and a flower) |
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| I | 17 Amino acid, essential ingredient of hair gel (3) Hidden hAIR Gel) = ARG |
| 18 Badger-like creature reduced speed (4) Ratel (Badger-like creature) – l (reduced) = RATE |
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| 20 Harry Cornel, copier (6) (cornel)* = CLONER |
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| V | 23 Died by means of old fashioned witchcraft (4) Ob (died) + via (by means of) = OBIA |
| E | 24 Foul-smelling resin found in joint (4) DD Hinge and HING |
| 25 Conservative military officer, heading off with journalist, walked badly (6) Blimp (Conservative military officer) – b (heading off) + ed (journalist) = LIMPED |
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| 27 A right buff (4) One (a) + r (right) = ONER |
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| O | 30 Nilotic cattle herder read French wearing glasses? (3) Lu (read in French) in oo (glasses) = LUO |
| 31 Gal sneers, oddly without ire (9) (Gal sneers)* = ANGERLESS |
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| N | 33 Local’s farm building in Lynn needing restoration (5) (in Lynn)* = LINNY |
| 34 Artist missing house garden (5) Hogarth (artist) – ho (house) = GARTH |
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| T | 36 Boy sailor’s crossing the border briefly (5) Tar after edge (border) – e = EDGAR – not convinced that crossing really allows this to be after |
| 37 Lyle is out to catch a primitive echinoderm (7, two words) (lyle is a)* = SEA LILY |
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| H | 38 A line chart used by Michael undergoing review of outdated science (10) A + (line) + ch (chart) + (Michael)* = ALCHEMICAL |
DOWN
| 2 Cut off peel without skin round cover (5) Peel – pl (skin) around lid = ELIDE |
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| 3 Exposed dog deprived of drink (5) Airedale (dog) – ale = AIRED |
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| E | 4 Operator disrupted most of Leeds (3) (leed)* = DEL |
| 5 No. 1 court? Not No. 1 (4) N (no) + I (one) + sue(court) = NIUE |
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| 6 Uncommonly, father is cut getting captured by fellow soldiers (7) Gent (fellow) around I (is cut) + or (soldiers) = GENITOR |
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| 7 England’s first and final shake up with queen in rubber-like material (9) E (Engand’s first) + last (final) + rev. (Mo (a shake)) + er (queen) = ELASTOMER |
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| 8 Writer goes up to meet gangster (5) Rev. (pen (writer)) + al (gangster) = NEPAL |
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| L | 9 Wiseacre misspelt ‘misalter’ (7) (misalter)* = SMARTIE |
| 10 Bar girl’s beginning to get cruelly lashed? (10) Ban (bar) + g (girl’s beginning) + (lashed)* = BANGLADESH |
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| 13 E.g. attacks can be heard (10) Homonym of Say (e.g) + shells (attacks) = SEYCHELLES |
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| 16 Vessel of echinoderms released initially in grand waterway (9) R (released initially) + in + g(grand) + canal (waterway) = RING CANAL |
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| 18 Noel’s crumpled fabric (4) (Noel)* = LENO |
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| 19 Illness caught from flipping Oliver (4) Rev. Hidden oLIVEr = EVIL |
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| E | 21 Priest needs sleeve fish beheaded to make soupy foods (7) Eli (priest) + squids -s (sleeve fish beheaded) = LIQUIDS |
| 22 Pine is hard and lengthy (7) Long (pine) + is + h (hard) = LONGISH |
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| 26 One subjugated by guild (5) Tong (guild) + a (one) = TONGA |
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| 28 This composer has a song with missing lines about to be sung (5) Me (This composer) + Lyric (song) – yr (lines(ry) about) = MELIC |
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| 29 Lambskin Asian ruler removed in Vauxhall? (5) Astrakhan (lambskin) – khan (Asian rule) = ASTRA (make of car) |
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| F | 32 Jimmy carries iron fencing equipment (4) Fe (iron) + pee (Jimmy) + EPEE |
| T | 35 Boxer turning tail (3) (tail)* = ALI |
Nice puzzle – and thanks for the blog, Twencelas.
I trundled along and spotted the L/R clashes and the instruction to ‘drive on the left’, but I was thrown by the fact that four of the undefined thematics are symmetrically placed, and I was expecting the sixth country to be at 33A to match JAPAN – but 33A seemed to have a perfectly good definition.
Once I worked out it was at 5D I couldn’t parse that and nearly gave up by putting in NICE – maybe that city has a rebellious streak and forces drivers to change over at the city limits?! Then a search/Wiki-oogle threw up a list including NIUE – which I wasn’t familiar with, so an instructive puzzle for me as well!
Thanks for the blog, and I’m glad you enjoyed Wiglaf’s puzzle. Like mc_rapper, I found it educational in that I wasn’t familiar with Niue. Given that (according to Wikipedia) it has a population of slightly less than 1500 spread out across 100 square miles, I’d have thought it wouldn’t make much difference on which side of the road one drives!