‘PACEMAKER’ has two very different connotations. There’s the one trailblazing for the fit, and there’s the one that gives help to the less healthy. Will either of those meanings describe this puzzle?
As I found this one very tricky, I’d say it was the former meaning that had the most salience. Certainly this puzzle put me through my paces!
Unfortunately, I still can’t parse the clue for IRIDIUM. I am also unable to explain the presence of the names of newspapers in the clues – although perhaps that is unrelated to the theme.
However, although I thought for a long time that I would be unable to, I can explain everything else.
The five letters to be removed from seven clues are STAFT. The first letters of those clues are BMVAEOL. The easiest part of the solve for me was working out that the phrase to be written under the grid is MOVABLE FEAST.
A movable feast, according to Wikipedia, is ‘an observance in a liturgical calendar that occurs on different dates in different years’. A notable example is Easter.
The two clues that consist of wordplay only give MARCH and APRIL. Having figured out the theme of the puzzle, I had a hunch that the two blank squares should be filled in with (reading left to right) 22 and 25. However, I’m ashamed to say that it took me a little while to confirm this with the realisation that those would be the clue numbers for those lights.
Finally – and I’m afraid this didn’t immediately click either (I think there may have been some unfiring cylinders) – the title of the piece comes from PACE, which is an archaic word for Easter. By correctly completing the puzzle, the solver therefore becomes the ‘PACEMAKER’.
Although in my case it took a while for the elements to fall into place, it is lovely construction for a puzzle. Thank you, Ifor!
NOTATION
definition
(charade definition)
[anagram/homophone/container/etc. indicator]
{ANAGRAM}*
< reversal
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| AEROBE | A (One) E (evolved [primarily]) to R (take) O (oxygen) BE (to live) |
| AGREE | EAGER* [to play] match |
| ALMOST | [Adapt] {TO MAIL’S}* [ignoring I (one)] practically completely |
| ANTAE | Supporters by the entrance |
| APRIL | APR (Level of interest) I (in) L (league) |
| BASEBOARD | Support that’s BASE (low) and BROAD [R (right) across] |
| BITTER | Beer that’s BEst aftER [bottling] IT |
| CLIENT | What makes retrieval from server LIEN (right) [inside] CT (court) |
| COALS | Embers {AL [almost] C (cold), SO}* [going out] |
| DELTA | DETAIL* [changed] [after I (Independent) dropped] letter |
| EDDA | < [Climbing] lADDEr [carrying] books |
| ENNEAD | {EVEN [not V (five)] AND}* [odd] nine |
| HAIRDO | H (Hard) AIR (look) DO (once more in short) cut for locks |
| IDOL | Heart-throb [upset] TABLOID* [after TAB (bill)’s discounted] |
| IGUANA | Monitor GUARDIAN*, [misspelt] and [without R (right) D (date)] |
| IRIDIUM | Metal set faIR as short-term replacement |
| LEAD-IN | [Variegated] {Leaf stAINED}* as part of a record |
| LETHAL | Fell {ALL THE}* [way out] |
| LOCO | Crazy, LOCOMOTIVE (moving from place to place) [without MOTIVE] |
| LOLL | Hang < aLLOLympic [rings upside down] |
| MATT | Dull M ([start to] morning) A (absent) TT (Times) |
| MURENA | Fish {RoMaNs UsEd}* [regularly], [cooking] A (it locally) [semi-&lit] |
| NEAR | A (Abandoned) < Raft seEN [around] [before], not far away |
| NEED | Requirement ENDED* [badly] [after failing to reach a conclusion] |
| OAT | Pastoral song, <TAO (generally the right way) [in the Mirror] |
| OBA | Chief OB (objection) A [beginning to arise] |
| OBSOLESCE | LOSES* [out], C (caught) [in] OBE (award) in the process of becoming redundant |
| ODALLER | Scotsman‘s owner without superior ALLOWED* [to change] [when W (week)’s R (right)] |
| ONUS | [Head away from] BONUS (extra) responsibility |
| ORGAN | Instrument {RANG OUT}* [wildly] [after striking UT (first note)] |
| PEARL-SAGO | Cereal grains in P (powder [originally]) {AS REAL}* [crackers] GO (break down) |
| PLACE | E ([Leader in] Express) [pursues] PC (political correctness), [embracing] LA (the French) position |
| PROOFREAD | Check text PRE (before) [accepting] ROOF (covering) AD (advertisement) |
| READ | Learned RE (about) AD (promotion) in Telegraph, perhaps [semi-&lit] |
| RONEO | Early copier R (run), ONE Of a set |
| ROSTRAL | Offset a bill {ARR (arranged) and LOST}* [in transit] |
| SNIPS | SHOPS – [NIP (go quickly) for HOP (spring)] bargains |
| STIR | Pen set in motion [double definition] |
| TANGENT | TAN (Flog) and {GET N (new)}* [mobile], one over cot |
| TENDON | Leader {fasteNED ON T [top of trellis]}* [flapping about] |
| TOWERY | Very tall STORY – [S (Sun) rejected] [taking in] WE (people in general) |
| B | A | S | E | B | O | A | R | D | O | B | A |
| T | E | N | D | O | N | L | E | A | D | I | N |
| I | R | I | D | I | U | M | A | M | A | T | T |
| D | O | P | A | P | S | O | D | E | L | T | A |
| O | B | S | O | L | E | S | C | E | L | E | E |
| L | E | T | H | A | L | T | O | W | E | R | Y |
| 22 | M | A | R | C | H | 25 | A | P | R | I | L |
| R | U | N | P | E | A | R | L | S | A | G | O |
| O | R | G | A | N | I | L | S | S | G | U | L |
| N | E | E | D | E | R | O | S | T | R | A | L |
| E | N | N | E | A | D | C | L | I | E | N | T |
| O | A | T | P | R | O | O | F | R | E | A | D |
Not 100% sure about this but maybe in IRIDIUM it’s that IR is the chemical symbol in periodic table.
Good grief. Numbers had to be entered into the grid. That wouldn’t go down well with the pedants!
Alastair: Haha!
Key to this solve was the pair of three-letter entries. With those the rest of the grid-fill moved fairly quickly. What a lovely construction, though! Thanks, Ifor.
Niall, you’re right about IRIDIUM; after removal of letters, ‘Ir as short-term replacement’ indicates a metal for which Ir is the chemical symbol.
Iridium = Ir was surely the most devious clue in this set. Took me ages to see it, even though by then I’d found the grid entry.
Just goes to show that “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”, I actually found this the easiest EV for some time. No doubt I will be made to suffer next weekend!
Belatedly noticed #2 – definition of “pedant” = “someone who doesn’t agree with me”
An unworthy and unjustified jibe. Rather sad, really.