The title doesn’t give a lot to go on, but I think we all recognise the setter.
Bit of a rushed explanation this week, I’m afraid, as the deadline has sneaked up on me.
The title is a reference to Shakespeare’s
‘ALL THY OTHER TITLES thou hast given away’
(King Lear Act 1, Scene 4)
The caps indicate the hidden message to be uncovered.
The phrase is spoken by the FOOL, who is to be highlighted in the grid.
I loved this puzzle, and this overly short explanation doesn’t do it justice. Like all Samuel puzzles, it’s pleasantly challenging, imaginative and has a nice amount of thematic material.
NOTATION
definition
(charade definition)
[anagram/homophone/container/etc. indicator]
{ANAGRAM}*
< reversal
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AMIR | VENDEMIAIRE | Five airmen crashed midair carrying 250 English for month in France (11) |
| 12 | KINGLEAR | Scots fire west from conflict (7, two words) | |
| 13 | LORD | ALSACE | Acting luminaries initially bag drôle French part (6) |
| 14 | LANDGRAVE | LIFE | Press about beginning to feed vegan lard for eternal happiness (4) |
| 15 | TYCOON | TAP SHOE | <SPAT (Quarrel) [over] HOE (gardening tool) – dancers, not coy, might have two (7, two words) |
| 16 | HOJATOLESLAM | SENNA | Josh male alto SEN (lacking) N (new) A (advanced) laxative (5) |
| 17 | YEOMAN | TUFT | F (Fellow’s) [trapped] by TUT (work for local) money, a titled student (4) |
| 18 | OMRAH | WEIRDOS | WEIR (Scots guard) DO So harm eccentrics (7) |
| 20 | TENNO | ETCHER | [Short of] F (force) FETCHER note n(one bringing) cutter (6) |
| 25 | HOLINESS | OLDENS | [Topless] BLONDES* [angrily] hiss – Noel rarely ages (6) |
| 26 | EARL | NILSSON | Swedish soprano learNS [about] IL (Illinois) SON (native) (7) |
| 27 | REGINA | NEAT | Nearing EAT (Tanzania) – excellent! (4) |
| 28 | TSAR | MUFTI | Civilian F (force)s rat [during] MUTI (African medical treatment)? (5) |
| 30 | IMAM | INDITER | HINDITERrorists partly maim former dictator (7) |
| 32 | TUAN | AMLA | [Scratching head], LLAMA* [jiggled] a nut tree (4) |
| 33 | LADYSHIP | CATALO | Cross CAT (chap) hid, play sH (hot) [from] HALO (ring) (6) |
| 34 | EFFENDI | ELITISM | E (Base) find fee [badly] LIMITS favouring the best (7) |
| 35 | SQUIRE | MCINTOSH RED | Risqué M (maiden) [stirred] TONIC* with SHRED (cut) fruit (11, two words) |
| Down | |||
| 2 | KELLAUTS | SALUTE* [at sea] [carrying] L (50) Indian robes (7) | |
| 3 | KNOSP | NOS (Numbers) P [at first peruse] flower-like ornament (4) | |
| 4 | DIKAST | Judge [wrongly] ADMITS* [misplacing] M (money) (5) | |
| 5 | KERCHIEFS | Head covers CHIEF (upper part of field) [in] ERS (vetch) (8) | |
| 6 | INKNEED | NÉE (Born) [in] IND (India) bow-legged? Quite the opposite! (6) | |
| 7 | KAGUS | Fliers R (run) [from] ARGUS (mythological guardian) (4) | |
| 8 | KILLERS | ILLER (More unfortunate) S (has) arduous tasks (6) | |
| 9 | REKINDLE | REIN (Stop up) [with] A (associate) [from] DALE (valley) to inflame again (7) | |
| 10 | BREASTSTROKE | REST BRATS* [upset] [by] OE (Scottish grandchild)’s alternative to the crawl? (11) | |
| 11 | PATTERN-MAKER | ER (Queen) [entering] APARTMENT* [disturbed] foundry worker (11) | |
| 19 | KILLADARS | ALL RAIDS* [injured] officers in charge of eastern forts (8) | |
| 21 | CALFLICK | 17 CALL (cry) [about] F (fellow) IC [seconds from disco] (7) | |
| 22 | SNAKELIKE | Reptilian ALIENS* [destroyed] E (Spain) (7) | |
| 23 | ASTATKI | A (Acceleration) [reduced] STATIC (stable) fuel (6) | |
| 24 | KOOKIEST | Most eccentric P [professor’s at first] [leaving] [unstable] ISOTOPE* (6) | |
| 27 | KNITCH | N (Norse) ITCH (desire) fuel for some (5) | |
| 29 | KICK IN | Contribute [most of] ICING (cake decoration) (4, two words) | |
| 31 | TAKER | TALER (Old German coin) [disheartened] thief, perhaps (4) | |
Lack of familiarity with Shakespeare meant that I highlighted LEAR rather than the correct Fool, but that aside this was, I thought, a welcome return to solvable EVs after two seriously tough puzzles with some accessible clues and a clever pair of thematic devices.
I’m afraid I found this one “seriously tough” as well – totally defeated me.
There have been a few comments on 15-Squared recently about both EV and IQ getting increasingly difficult. If my own solving success rate is anything to go by, that is certainly the case.