Preamble: Ten answers, each forming at least a significant part of a member of a larger thematic set, must be modified before entry. Half of these entries indicate progress while the rest display nostalgia (always a moving experience). Corrections to single letter misprints in the definitions of 12 other clues give a helpful phrase. Word lengths refer to grid entries but word counts to clue answers. Unchecked and mutually checked letters from thematic entries could make MUMMY KISS KEA PRESUMABLY. The spelling at 18 is in the UK Advanced Cryptics Dictionary; it is also the French for the normal English version.
They say that you learn something every day. Today I learned that there’s a “UK Advanced Cryptics Dictionary”. If anyone’s interested, you can find out more here: http://www.crosswordman.com/wordlist.html.
I didn’t have too much trouble with most of the clues. As often happens, the SW corner was first to crumble. The thematic answers, for obvious reasons, eluded me for ages. As the grid filled, 9d wanted to be HIGHBURY and 38a wanted to be LIBERTY – means nothing to me. Something at the back of mind tells me that Karl Marx was buried at HIGHBURY but, no, no, I mustn’t listen to the voices – of course, KM was buried at Highgate.
Eventually, I had virtually all the grid filled apart from the thematics but no idea what was going on. Now I had to tackle the clues head on. OK, 38a is VETCH – what do VETCH and LIBERTY have in common? A quick trip to the internet revealed this website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_English_football_stadiums. 
OK, so that’s it. Football stadia that have changed their names – I’m afraid that leaves me cold. I know next to nothing about football, it’s stadia, what they’re called today, what they were called yesterday or what they might be called next week for that matter but since it’s my week to blog, I must press on. Trouble is my heart wasn’t really in it – sorry dear reader. The corrected misprints gave SOCCER STADIA which I didn’t actually work out until after the event.
Also I’m doing this blog pretty much at the eleventh hour so I don’t want to put myself under too much time pressure.
The Progress and Nostalgia presumably relates to the fact that we have some entries where the new name is clued and the entry is the old name and vice versa. Didn’t make me feel nostalgic in the slightest 🙁
The thematic entries are:
1a was BELLE VUE is now KEEPMOAT
1d was MANOR is now KASSAM
7d was ELM is now MADEJSKI
9d was HIGHBURY is now EMIRATES
16a was AYRESOME is now RIVERSIDE
22d was BURNDEN is now REEBOK
27a was BASEBALL is now PRIDE
31a was ROKER is now LIGHT
37a was DELL is now ST MARY’S
38a was VETCH is now LIBERTY
I didn’t bother confirming the unchecked and mutually checking letters.
Wagner last time, football this time, what is Nimrod trying to do to me? Only kidding, of course. Football’s not my bag, as you probably guessed but thanks to Kruger anyway.
Across
| Clue | Misprint | Correction | Entry | Original | Wordplay | ||
| 1 Fine prospect to ring venue that’s been renovated (not new) (8, 2 words) |
KEEPMOAT | BELLE VUE | BELL (ring) containing VEnUE (minus New; anag: renovated) | ||||
| 8 Judge starts to exonerate hugely unpopular speeding driver (4) |
JEHU | Judge+Exonerate+Hugely+Unpopular (starts to) | |||||
| 11 Narcotic drink beside lyricist’s bin (7) |
Bin->Sin | S |
AVARICE | AVA (narcotic drink [same as KAVA])+[Tim] RICE (lyricist) | |||
| 12 Detailed to examine car (4) |
AUDI | AUDIt (to examine; minus last letter: de-tailed) | |||||
| 13 It blows hat thus over middle of brow (5) |
hAt->hOt | O |
SIROC | SIC (thus) containing bROw (middle of) | |||
| 14 Sons habitually explained timeless delays (7, 2 words) |
Sons->Cons | C |
OLD LAGS | tOLD (habitually explained; minus Time)+LAGS (delays) | |||
| 15 Boxer’s engagement extremely likely, we gathered (9) |
FLYWEIGHT | FIGHT (engagement) containing LikelY (extremely)+WE | |||||
| 16 Dizzy diver rises abruptly – by the Thames? (8) |
AYRESOME | RIVERSIDE | DIVER RISEs (abruptly; anag: dizzy) | ||||
| 17 We’re told to interfere with armour (5) |
JAMBE | Sounds like JAM (interfere) | |||||
| 19 Crows not born in drying buildings (5) |
OASTS | bOASTS (crows; not opening) | |||||
| 22 Spiritual father’s soul turned up (4) |
BAPU | BA (soul)+UP (rev: turned) | |||||
| 23 Mod to joke about most of Caribbean music (5) |
Mod->Cod | C |
TORSK | ROT (joke; rev: about)+SKa (Caribbean music; most of) | |||
| 25 Woman sheltering in hostel rightly reflected (4) |
GIRL | hosteLR IGhtly (hidden: sheltering in; rev: reflected) | |||||
| 27 Game’s vile – cry out when broadcast (5) |
PRIDE | BASEBALL | BASE (vile)+BALL (sounds like BAWL: cry out) | ||||
| 31 Amusing person attracting attention (5) |
ROKER | LIGHT | (double definition) | ||||
| 32 Texan city’s alarm: oil all over the place (8) |
AMARILLO | ALARM OIL (anag: all over the place) | |||||
| 33 He has difficulty sexing stray cats with only photographs at first (9) |
seXing->seEing | E |
NYCTALOPS | CATS+ONLY+Photographs (at first) (anag: stray) | |||
| 35 Bill thrown in river can be cancelled (7) |
DELIBLE | DEE (river) containg BILL (anag: thrown) | |||||
| 36 Loose relative’s no adult (5) | UNTIE | aUNTIE (relative; minus Adult) | |||||
| 37 Island separatist’s gutted with yard in ruins (4, 2 words) |
DELL | ST MARY’S | SeparatisT (gutted)+Yard inside MARS (ruins) | ||||
| 38 Vandal’s beginning to cut climbing plant (7) |
LIBERTY | VETCH | Vandal (beginning)+ETCH (cut) | ||||
| 39 River bird (4) | NENE | (double definition) | |||||
| 40 Once again teach attorney to answer in control (8) |
Teach->Reach | R |
REATTAIN | ATTorney+Answer inside REIN (control) | |||
Down
| Down | |||||||
| Clue | Misprint | Correction | Entry | Original | Wordplay | ||
| 1 Police district’s method reported (6) |
KASSAM | MANOR | Sounds like MANNER (method) | ||||
| 2 Round last curve (4) | curVe-curSe | S |
EVIL | LIVE (last; rev: round) | |||
| 3 Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan arresting Doc over jewellery (8) |
EARDROPS | [Wyatt EARP and his brothers Virgil and Morgan] EARPS containing DR (doc) and Over | |||||
| 4 Decay found in stern of ship – each plank (6) |
planK->planT | T |
PROTEA | shiP (stern of)+EAch containing ROT (decay) | |||
| 5 Cut back green patch of ground (6) |
cUt->cAt | A |
OCELOT | ECO (green; rev: back)+LOT (patch of ground) | |||
| 6 Wet slag’s awful profiles of bottom (7) |
TALWEGS | WET SLAGS (anag: awful) | |||||
| 7 Husband leaves steer in wood (8) |
MADEJSKI | ELM | hELM (steer; minus Husband) | ||||
| 8 Referring to Caesar, Journal initially uses Latin – Scotsman follows (6) |
JULIAN | Journal+Uses (initially)+Latin+IAN (Scotsman) | |||||
| 9 Leading couple from Iran embraced by friends after plane finally lands in Middle East (8) |
HIGHBURY | EMIRATES | planE (finally)+IRan (leading couple) inside MATES (friends) | ||||
| 10 United Nations let El Salvador revolutionary disarm (7) |
UNSTEEL | UN (United Nations)+LET+ES (El Salvador) (anag: revolutionary) | |||||
| 18 Top of Etna someday obscured in fog (8) |
Fog->Dog | D |
SAMOYEDE | Etna (top of)+SOMEDAY (anag: obscured) | |||
| 20 Gold secured by firm can be kept in reserve (8) |
STORABLE | OR (gold) inside STABLE (firm) | |||||
| 21 Bleeding heart let diary shock (8) |
DIELYTRA | LET DIARY (anag: shock) | |||||
| 22 On eastern reserve, remove one old antelope (7) |
BURNDEN | REEBOK | RE (on)+Eastern+BoOK (with [one] Old removed) | ||||
| 24 Owner of estate upset cook to go to Lorraine (7) |
ODALLER | DO (cook; rev:upset)+ALLER (French for to go – as they might say in Lorraine, a region of France) | |||||
| 26 In garret I lease, provide new covering for floor? (6) |
RETILE | garRET I LEase (hidden: in) | |||||
| 28 Tree in Argentina infested with greenfly? Not quite (6) |
RAPHIA | RA (Argentina) containing APHId (greenfly; not quite) | |||||
| 29 Toddlers may get caught up in this eating regime swallowing singular parts of picnic (6) |
tOddlers->tIddlers | I |
DIP-NET | DIET (eating regime) containing PicNic (P and N are singular – ie non-repeated) | |||
| 30 PE only damaged knee protector (6) |
POLEYN | PE ONLY (anag: damaged) | |||||
| 34 Spot Cornishman’s fifth pasty (4) |
pastY->pastA | A |
ZITI | ZIT (spot)+cornIshman (fifth letter) | |||
Unlike Kenmac, this one was very much on my wavelength and I enjoyed it a lot. I nearly didn’t bother though – I didn’t really understand the instructions and it was only when my dad (Terrier, might appear here later) mentioned that the theme was a sporting one that I returned to it. That hint was enough – I quickly solved a few clues, including EMIRATES and that got me wondering about football grounds. Once I worked out JEHU then I knew that was it and I was away. Having said that, I did nearly come a cropper soon after not grasping that the number of letters between answer and replacement wasn’t necessarily the same (DELL, ST MARYS). KASSAM was my last one in, that was a new one on me. I also wondered whether MACRON might work for the BURNDEN clue (as I didn’t fully understand REEBOK).
Once I had cracked the theme I did hope that Maine Rd might feature ;o).
Also, 30d POLEYN made me think of West Ham’s BOLEYN ground – coincidence?
Thanks Kruger.
I enjoyed it too. EMIRATES and RIVERSIDE were the ones which triggered the theme for me. Football is always going to be a bit marmitey, but the stadium theme is a good one to exploit and it was done well here.
Kippax @1, I also noted the POLEYN/BOLEYN connection. I thought it might have been intended as a thematic the other way round with UPTON as the entry and BOLEYN being clued. It may have been only after the grid was filled that Kruger noticed and changed the entry to POLEYN as a standard clue. After all, it is not difficult to find a definition for BOLEYN, but I don’t think you could for UPTON. Or maybe it is just coincidence.
I also didn’t know about a UK Advanced Crosswords Dictionary. Thanks for the link, kenmac, I shall check it out.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
I set a new personal record in that I got the theme with the first clue I solved, 16A, and slotted in AYRESOME straight up. KEEPMOAT fell instantly afterwards – BELLE VUE was a ground I visited back in the 70s, on a misty Friday night,to see my team play Doncaster Rovers. You may know, or may not, that Belle Vue had the largest playing surface area in the then Football League, so it was pretty difficult to keep up with play. 1A was also my personal favourite clue.
As Kippax@1 has noted, the Bolton ground is no longer called REEBOK, it’s MACRON. The ground changes are progress for sure but the new names are decidely ugly as they are nearly always named after sponsors(York City’s ground was(still is ?) called KitKat Crescent !)
As a one-time supporter, I really miss the old grounds and their evocative names.I really don’t care much at all for modern football.
Anyway, many thanks to Kruger, the puzzle did inspire a sense of nostalgia. Old cricket grounds next perhaps ? And of course to Kenmac, I can really appreciate that this must have been fairly tough, or uninspiring, for all those who aren’t/weren’t football followers, although the clues themselves were fine.
Thanks kenmac and Kruger. I enjoyed this despite not knowing many of the football ground pairs. Wikipedia revealed all. The list of possibilities was long enough so that it did not become a list-ticking exercise. I think is essential in this sort of theme.
I don’t find I have to have any liking for a theme for it to make an enjoyable puzzle. It is a hunt for words, names of things. Liking for the things themselves is another activity altogether.
Kippax, Manchester City (my team as well!) have featured in at least a couple of Listener crosswords.
No 3826 New for Old by Samson (same theme as this one) featured Maine Road/ City of Manchester stadium.
No 4039 Intimacy by Bandmaster featured various football scores (The title is an anagram of Man City 1).
More info on the Listener website!
I had no idea what the theme was even after filling in a depressing amount of the grid. I finally deciphered something like ..OT.ALL .T.DIA and the rest was down to Google. Like peedee@4 I felt that there were enough possibilities to stop the end game being a chore. Even though my lack of knowledge of the theme let.
me down in the end, I rather enjoyed this one.
Many thanks to setter and blogger.
Knowing absolutely nothing about football or football venues it was some time before I got the theme. That moment occurred when I had enough misprints to see what the key phrase must be. I think at that time I’d solved only a couple of thematic clues, BELLE VUE and LIBERTY. For me, the weakness in this sort of puzzle is that once you have the theme the puzzle instantly collapses. All that is necessary is to consult the appropriate Wikipedia page and enter the new names where they fit. It’s not necessary to solve the thematic clues at all, except a couple to get the precise theme. I suppose some may see that as a positive aspect, in that in the end there’s a level playing field, so to speak, between ignoramuses, like me, and the cognoscenti, but I feel those sort of endgames are a bit anti-climactic, especially when nothing else emerges from entering the thematic names.
Being a football fan I liked the theme and having had a season ticket at Highbury for several years that was my in. I enjoyed solving it but I tend to agree with Andy that it needed something to emerge at the end. The ideal end of a thematic puzzle for me isn’t finding the nth modified or unclued entry, it is that feeling you get when everything comes together. Kruger is a terrific setter and I still have fond memories of Operation, but this wasn’t one of his best for me.
I started this puzzle at 1.30 on Saturday afternoon whilst waiting for a friend outside…..the Emirates stadium! Not only that, it was for wholly random reasons the first clue I solved.
The theme twigged soon after and I thought it was quite a nice PDM.
I too saw POLEYN and thought it beyond coincidence that it was there.
Considering it’s by far the most popular sport in this country, the surprise is that there aren’t more football-related puzzles.
For a long time I thought this impossible – grid half filled, no sense of theme. I picked it up a week later, looked at the two thematic clues I had solved – Emirates, Riverside – and the theme suddenly screamed out at me. From then on, I liked it a lot (though I did need Wikipedia). Thanks to Kruger, and sorry Kenmac hasn’t come to football yet…
Not too much trouble on this one, as I am a football fan, though more the nostalgic type than current. A point confirmed after a quick check of the stadia listed; I have visited 7 of the old ones, but only 4 of the replacements.
Like others my “in” was Emirates/Highbury and then when Riverside/Ayresome showed itself next, and then it was steady progress.
I too spotted Poleyn, perhaps Kruger was thinking of a current/future clue based upon Olympic?
Kenmac, I have often wished football wasn’t my bag too given the 40 years of torture my team has provided me.
Thanks to Kruger for the great puzzle and kenmac for the blog once again.
I wasn’t nearly as grumpy as kenmac (who has lived up to his avatar here) about this, but still didn’t enjoy it greatly. I got Emirates and Riverside and eventually dredged up Highbury and the theme clicked. But then it was down to the Internet for most of the rest (apart from the Dell, which is about my limit on the stadia knowledge front). I found cold solving the thematic clues, without knowing lengths or having much expectation of recognising the answers, beyond me in most cases, so resorted to reverse engineering after spotting likely candidates on Wikipedia. I’m beginning to doubt that I have any pools of knowledge at all after some of these recent puzzles.
(Nice use of gradient fill in the grid there kenmac – that’s dedication to detail for an eleventh hour blog.)
Total non-football-fan here, but I started guessing with EMIRATES which for a while I thought might transform to HOLLOWAY and very much later got as HIGHBURY. Thereafter, more resort than usual to the services of that nice Mr Google — although, since I live in Reading and am constantly confronted with the name, MADEJSKI emerged rather easily.
No complaints; rather, general cheer. Total non-football-fans can’t expect slavish compliance to their total non-football-fan preferences, and really it’s a lot of fun to solve something outside one’s own comfort zone.