There are 60 clues, but there are only 42 spaces in the grid. What is the resolution to this problem?
A lot of cold solving is required for this puzzle, and a lot of the clues are on the hard side of fiendish. However, it gradually becomes clear that many of the clues have four-letter answers, which suggests a solution to the problem, namely that the 18 eight-letter grid entries involve pairs of four letter answers, such as HORN + PIPE, which gives HORNPIPE.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| ACOL | Natural system that’s AC (before food) O L (OR LATE [for starters]) |
| ADAR |
ÅSAR (Banks)’ [S (son) is D (daughter)] for more than a while in March |
| ADZE | Cutter [makes first two in DAZE (trance) change places] |
| AERO | A (Advanced) O (nothing) [without] ER (unknown quantity) of planes |
| AGES | PAGES (Faces) [losing P (power)] for a long time |
| AMAH | Tender M (money) [in] <{H (Hard) AA (Rock)} [that backfires] |
| AMP | HAMPER (Curtail) HER [going as a string] instrument to boost output |
| ANAL | BANALEST (Most trivial), [not in BEST (smartest clothing)] or attentive to detail |
| ANTI | ASHANTI (Ghanaian) [cutting ASH (tree)] con |
| BEAU | Long ago smart BEAK (schoolmaster) [gets AU (gold) for second half] |
| BRAS | Supports B (second rate) RAS (prince) |
| BUDS | BUYS (Obtains) [D (diamonds) for Y ([last of] MY)] pals |
| BUNIA | Indian trader is I (one) [in] BUNA (rubber) |
| CANY | C (See) ANY (some) wicker, perhaps |
| CHAL | C (Roughly) [60% of HALAL (slaughter)] is a person from the past |
| CUTS | [Taking one extreme to the other], SCUT (small person in some parts) makes shorter |
| DAIS | [Docked] DAISY (wild flower) in disused estate |
| DESK | Secretary‘s DECK (dress) [not C (coloured) but S ([primarily] SEXY)] |
| DISA | BLED (Ran) [from] DISABLED (immobilized) African flower |
| EARL | P ([Initially] PORTRAYING) EARL (this nobleman) [would be] PEARL (a prized model) |
| EMMA | Novel provided by MM (Frenchmen) [in] EA (local river) |
| EYES | [Finally] madE moneY despitE businesS studies |
| FOX | * Do [demolish] OXFORD* (University city) [without] ORD (ancient beginning) |
| GEUM | Sort of rose U (acceptable) [in] GEM (small type) |
| GREE | Regional win provided by [stunted] GREEK (Olympian) |
| HAIR | Musical MAIDEN [forsakes] MAIDENHAIR (flowerless plant) |
| HIZZ | Sound made by a disapproving Elizabethan audience HI (greeting) [pair of] puZZlers |
| HORN | Gore [mostly] HORS (outside) N (Norway) |
| HYPO | [Endless] HYPE (duplicity) O (over) needle |
| IDEA | IKEA (Swedish company) [drops K (krona) for D ([start of] DOLLAR)] plan |
| ILLS | DR (Doctor) [out of] DRILLS (procedures) for more than one ailment |
| IMPEL | Spur provided by I’M PELE (footballer [nearly] introducing himself) |
| ITAS | IS [required to guard] TA [middle of] hosTAge’s plans |
| LEAF | Pages [short] LEAK (wee) F (fellow) |
| LEAN | A [boring] LEN (cricketer Hutton) is low grade |
| LEKKED | [Endlessly] LEKKER (delightful in Durban), D (its capital) collected and presented |
| MAK | [K (King) ousting R (queen) in] <RAM (warship) [returning] to Scottish reach |
| MINI | MUM (Silence) [from] MINIMUM (smallest) computer |
| MONA | MONAD (God) [loses last] ape |
| NAIA | N ([At first] NOTHING) on GAIA (earth) [wanting G (good)] for snake |
| NIS | Dobby repleNIShed [bottles] |
| NODE | NOD (I) take E (Ecstasy) making joint |
| NUNCIO | Courier takes NU (Greek letter) to C (Cuba) [in] N (new) O (moon) |
| ONYX | NY (American city) [in] OX (local neat) stone |
| PART | POP ART (Lichtenstein work, perhaps) [abandons] PO (humourless) section |
| PASS | Beat P AS S [how ropier could be made rosier] |
| PAULI | This exclusion principle gives I (independence) after PAUL (catch) |
| PEAR | Conference, perhaps for P (quiet) EAR (listener) |
| PILL | PI (Irrational) L |
| PIPE | PIP (Star) needs E (energy) to play |
| PORT | Cover up with R (river) in POT (old borough) |
| RABBLE | DRABBLE (Pollute) [lead-free] contrivance for stirring molten metal |
| REAP | [Half of] FARE (payment) AP (apparently) in |
| SARD | Dark mineral is difficult for Eastenders |
| SETS | ET (Alien) [surrounded by] SS (military unit) goes down |
| SOPRA | Aida’s over revealing OP (work) [in] <ARS (classical art) [being recalled] |
| THAN | Conjunction seen when H (hospital) [is covered by] TAN (dust) |
| TYRO | Punk shifted for beginner |
| USES | Manipulates [seconds from pU nS tE rS ([pairs of] PUNSTERS)] |
| ZAPATA | ZAP (Correct) DATA (facts) [failing to start] floppy growth |
The completed grid (which I filled in one wild rush once I had HIZZ and ZAPATA), looks like this:
| H | O | R | N | P | I | P | E | D | A | I | S |
| I | D | E | A | A | N | A | L | E | M | M | A |
| Z | H | A | I | R | C | U | T | S | A | P | R |
| Z | A | P | A | T | A | L | E | K | K | E | D |
| A | M | P | M | I | N | I | P | I | L | L | O |
| N | A | E | O | T | Y | R | O | L | E | A | N |
| T | H | A | N | A | D | A | R | L | A | C | Y |
| I | B | R | A | S | S | E | T | S | F | O | X |
| N | U | N | C | I | O | R | A | B | B | L | E |
| O | N | I | H | Y | P | O | G | E | U | M | Y |
| D | I | S | A | G | R | E | E | A | D | Z | E |
| E | A | R | L | P | A | S | S | U | S | E | S |
I do enjoy this kind of ‘jigsaw’ crossword puzzle. This one was very tough…I think I had all but three or four cold solved before I dove in to attempt the grid. (That’s about three days of solving distilled into one sentence.)
One of the difficulties was determining which were the 5 and 6 letter words amongst a sea of 4s. Hizz and Zapata were my last two in as I worked my grid fill from bottom to top. There were a couple of nice alternatives / red herrings amongst the adjoined 8 letter words which I initially fell for.
I’ve only been doing EVs since late 2015 but this must rank amongst the toughest in that short period of time. Very enjoyable and very rewarding when that grid was fully populated.
My thanks to Nod for the tricky fare and Mister Sting for the blog. Great fun.