What an unusual title! Ping pong, the machine that goes ‘ping’, Pingu…
No idea.
What a lovely, and quite unexpected theme!
Getting right into it, the first message is FOR GALLANTRY WE ALSO SERVE.
It is an inscription on the PDSA Dickin Medal, which was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in war.
The five thematic answers are recipients of the Medal: MAQUIS, PADDY, NAVY BLUE, MERCURY and TYKE. They were all pigeons, that is, members of the FLYING HEROES subset (the second message). The ‘thematic’ mode of entry is that they are scrambled (‘flying’).
A sixth pigeon, BEACH COMBER, is to be highlighted in the grid.
The folks over at answerbank.com certainly seemed to like it, with several saying they planned to read up on the theme.
I do wonder if 1 ac should be indicated as two words, but that’s a rather minor matter.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
FANGS = additional letter
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| F | 1 | ANT EGGS | Product of insect [wrapping] FANGS (teeth) around TEG (sheep) (7) |
| O | 6 | DELFT | D (Deserted) LOFT (shelter for pigeons) [outside] E (East) European city (5) |
| R | 11 | NEEDER | One craving N (nationalist) ERE (before) < [return of] RED (communist) (6) |
| G | 12 | PINOLE | {LONE PIG}* [trampled] ground seeds (6) |
| A | 13 | URTICARIA | Nettle rash AURA (essense) [overcoming] TIC (twitching) combined with < [repellent] AIR (gaseous mixture) (9) |
| L | 15 | EACH | Individually, < [knock back] ALE (beer) [before] CH (church) (4) |
| L | 17 | BERK | Fool‘s BLEAK (hopeless), [getting] R (rupees) for A (Austria) (4) |
| A | 18 | LINTIE | Scottish finch LAIN (positioned) with TIE (restraint) (5) |
| N | 19 | TELLER | Vote counter < [from the East] RELENT (to soften), [accepting] L (latitude) (6) |
| T | 22 | LORETTE | Courtesan [composed] LETTER* [about] OT (religious books) (7) |
| R | 24 | ENSTEEP | ENTER (Begin) [penning] S (strangeness), (record) EP Bill’s place underwater (7) |
| Y | 26 | VOTERS | Electorate {T (tense) and SO VERY}* [confused] (6) |
| W | 28 | HUMERI | Bones HUM (smell bad) – < WIRE (telegram) [back] (6) |
| E | 30 | COMP | Fellow player COME (to arrive) with P (piano) (4) |
| A | 32 | CASA | Spaniard’s home AC (air-conditioned) AS (since) A (afternoon) (4) |
| L | 33 | PALTRIEST | Least generous TIPSTER* [horridly] [keeping] ALL (everything) (9) |
| S | 34 | REMEDY | RE (On) MEDS (drugs), YOUTH’s [beginning] to mend (6) |
| * | 35 | MAQUIS | MARQUIS (Nobleman) with R (king) [cut] shrubs (6) |
| * | 36 | PADDY | CADDY (Carry clubs) with P (power) [to relieve] C (cold) rage (5) |
| O | 37 | SCISSEL | Scrap metal CO (company) [cutting] {LESS IS}* [in trouble] (7) |
| Down | |||
| * | 1 | NAVY BLUE | [Disheartened] NAVVY (labourer), BLUE (sad) a shade (8, two words) |
| S | 2 | NEREID | Marine worm < SERE (to dry up) in NID (old pheasant’s nest) (6) |
| E | 3 | TETANUS | Disease TAN (beat) US (American) [after] TEE (support) (7) |
| R | 4 | EDICT | RE (Concerning), D (daughter) with I (one) CT (court) order (5) |
| V | 5 | GRACELESSLY | With inelegance, GR (Greek) ACE (expert) on LEVY (tax) [arresting] S (second) SL (lawyer) (11) |
| E | 7 | ENABLED | Allowed A (article) [supporting] EN (opponents) BLEED (to run) (7) |
| F | 8 | LORE | LE (In France, the) [entertaining] FOR (pro) is teaching (4) |
| L | 9 | FLARE | Flash F (fellow) < [upset] {ER (Queen) and ALL} (everything) (5) |
| * | 10 | TYKE | Yorkshireman‘s LEAK [finally] [fixed in] TYE (trough) (4) |
| Y | 12 | PROTOPHYTIC | Like group of plants [destroying] TROPHYPOT*, ICY (hostile) |
| I | 14 | CHIMERA | Monster AI (three-toed sloth) [under] CHIMER (bishop’s robe) (7) |
| * | 16 | MERCURY | Messenger MERRY (causing laughter) [entertains] CU (copper) (7) |
| N | 20 | REMITTAL | Slackening RENAL (of kidneys) [punched by] MITT (hand) (8) |
| G | 21 | STEPPED | ST (Way), EG (for example), < [upcoming] DEPP (American movie star) moved feet (7) |
| H | 23 | THESEUS | Legendary hero [initially] ECSTATIC SHE (female) THUS (accordingly) [hugs] (7) |
| E | 25 | WRASSE | Fish WARS*, [rubbish] SEE (to watch) (6) |
| R | 27 | OOZED | OOR (In Scotland our) ZED (last letter) is leaked (5) |
| O | 29 | MAIMS | Cripples MAOISM (Chinese Communism) [after turning last couple of characters] (5) |
| E | 30 | CARP | Swimmer‘s CARE (anxiety) [over] P (pressure) (4) |
| S | 31 | MAMA | Mature lady in America, I (one) [leaving] MIASMA (foul vapours) (4) |
I agree, this was a really nice puzzle with a really interesting theme. Just to add two points; Chambers gives ANT-EGGS as hyphenated, so only one word; also, I interpreted the title as indicating PI in GONG (so a Private Investigator, or dick, inside a gong, or medal).
Yes, one of those themes I was dimly aware of before, but read around a bit more later. Are animals really brave, though? Who knows? But it’s probably the sort of award we’ve introduced out of some sense of catharsis, perhaps, trying to justify placing animals in such horrible environments for our own selfish reasons…
Incidentally, 14dn Chimera is an anagram of “Cher Ami”, the WWI pigeon that is the one I’d heard of. It never won the Dickin Medal, which is presumably why it wasn’t treated as a thematic clue, but another nice touch to the puzzle. Thanks, proXimal