I’ve never known an EV to be slapdash, and I doubt this one will be!
The extra letters took a lot of getting, even once I had a good idea what the second word was going to be. They spell DUMPY DIGIT – nice that it’s one word for the across clues and one for the down clues.
The synonyms give us FAT-FINGER, where the – (DASH) comes from the title, giving the ‘single-word pressing problem’ (thanks commenters). I think this means that we are to write FAT-FINGER ERROR under the grid, but I’m not sure, as I don’t know how ERROR is related to SLAPDASH, nor how this is a ‘single-word pressing problem’.
In any case, the fourteen letters that are to be amended are all adjacent on the keyboard, e.g. SORITES becomes SPRITES.
I’ve certainly never come across a puzzle that uses this theme. Possibly as a result, the endgame was quite a challenge – tougher than the gridfill, I thought.
Thanks to Brian Wildersome and mc_rapper67 for their help. As Brian points out, this puzzle is likely by Ifor.
One small point: 15ac has an unplanned misprint – the incorrect letter is absent.
I’m afraid I can’t parse 11dn.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
fate = incorrect letter
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SORT OF | Rather {SOFT OR}* [floppy] (6, two words) | |
| D | 5 | FOLIA | Leaves FOL (following) <AI |
| 9 | FORFAIRING -> FORFAITING |
Elderly perishing FOR (in quest of) FAIRING (free gift) (10) | |
| 10 | RELEASED | Allowed to go, let out again (8) | |
| 13 | BOON -> NOON |
Intimate favour (4) | |
| U | 14 | TACO | COAT* [constricted] wrapped food (4) |
| M | 15 | ENTASIS | TEN* [in spas,] AS IS (the way things stand casually) bulging in the middle (7) |
| 17 | ENURE -> EMURE |
Come into effect ERE (before) [receiving] NU (letter from abroad) (5) | |
| 18 | PRONE -> PROBE |
Homily once directed downward (5) | |
| 20 | SILIQUE | [Fresh] LIQUI |
|
| P | 22 | EMIT | <Time [Out back] issue (4) |
| 23 | SPAY -> SPAT |
Three-year-old animal YAPS (barks constantly) [when upset] | |
| 26 | PORTANCE | Linesmen’s carriage PORT (left) ACE (one) [outside] N ([terminus in] LONDON) | |
| 27 | PREVIOUSLY -> PRECIOUSLY |
PIOUSLY (Dutifully) [hugging] REV (familiar vicar) beforehand (10) | |
| Y | 28 | ELDIN | Fuel from Grangemouth [abandoned] LE |
| 29 | NISSES | Imaginary creatures <posSESSINg [preposterous] [bosoms] (6) | |
| Down | |||
| 1 | SORITES -> SPRITES |
SO (Very good) TRIES* [when resolving] sequential paradox (7) | |
| 2 | OFEX | Unregulated system for trading OF (in) EX (former partner) (4) | |
| D | 3 | TREMOR | Thrill of TR (transactions), having [shifted] MORE* [houses] (6) |
| I | 4 | FAST NEUTRON | High-energy particle FAST (unlikely to run) ON [after] TUNER*[‘s spooled] (11, two words) |
| G | 5 | FIENT | FIT (Suitable) [fathering] EN (space)? Definitely not in Glencoe (5) |
| I | 6 | LIPOSOME | {Mules’ OP (operation)}* [turned] [round] O (over) drug transport in a body (8) |
| 7 | INFO -> INGO |
FO |
|
| 8 | AGON -> AGIN |
Struggle W (with) [getting out of] WAGON (familiar car) (4) | |
| 11 | ALEE -> AKEE |
ALE (Festival that’s abandoned) [policing] E (ecstasy) in shelter (4) | |
| T | 12 | OCULATED | <CO (Company) [returning] {A (advance) LURED} [wickedly] with eyes (8) |
| 16 | SETTERS -> SETTEES |
People like me <RET (soften) [up] [in] SETS (groups) (7) | |
| 18 | PEST -> PEAT |
Troublemaker |
|
| 19 | REPASS | [Timeless] REPAS |
|
| 21 | QUOIN | Salient angle in [tricky] QU |
|
| 23 | SYPE -> SUPE |
FlimSY PEasant [clothes] soak through in some places (4) | |
| 24 | PURL -> PIRL |
Murmuring UR (hesitant noise when speaking) L (Latin) [after] P (priest) (4) | |
| 25 | SCYE | {C (Conservative) “YES”}* [affected] what Scottish members might push through (4) | |
15ac does have a misprint. As printed, the clue needs an anagram indicator which is lacking – “in spas,” makes no sense in this regard. As you say, the misprints are all adjacent letters to the correct letters when you look on a QWERTY keyboard. What letter is adjacent to the comma on a QWERTY keyboard, bearing in mind that there is a comma after the phrase “in spas”?
I thought this was an excellent puzzle from Ogit – pretty tricky, and worth solving just for the very clever misprint at 15ac. Of course, the puzzle wasn’t actually by Ogit. I reckon that it’s actually by Ifor, which can be obtained by looking at letters adjacent to Ogit on a keyboard. Ifor, if this indeed by you, then congratulations on an excellent puzzle!
This took a while, and then caused a smile! Nice puzzle and thanks for the blog Mister Sting.
I just put ‘FAT FINGER’ under the grid, didn’t think to embellish it.
What about those people who don’t use QWERTY keyboards?!
11D was AL_E (archaic for festival) around (policing) E.
There was a similar one in the Magpie a little under two years ago, although Ifor’s effort has nicely gone for ensuring real words in the final grid including the typos — and the use of the comma misprint is a nice extra touch as well!
I put FAT-FINGER under the grid using the dash from the title.
An interesting device and quite a challenge.
I enjoyed this but it took a little while for the penny to drop. Even then, tracking down the fat-finger amendments wasn’t straightforward. Previously / preciously was my last to drop. I think I simply wrote fat finger underneath the grid but cannot fully recall.
Many thanks Mister Sting for the blog and also to Brian@1 for highlighting some well crafted and hidden mechanisms by Ifor. I didn’t pick up on them. Lovely!
My shy friend Ogit has asked me to respond on his behalf, and in particular to thank blogger and subsequent commenters for unravelling his unfortunate tendency to fat-finger typing, realised some 28 times in various parts of what was published. He tells me that he’s delighted to see that the puzzle was well-received; in fact I’d go so far as to say that he’s quite beside himself.
Ifor