The puzzle comes in the form of an old-style treasure map with ‘cryptic’ instructions. Buccaneers, cutlasses, captains, pirates, and booty are among the various apparently thematic elements that appear in the clues, but will they help us find the treasure or will Cap’n Gown’s hoard prove elusive?
A very pleasant grid-fill. I’m always impressed when the setter succeeds in filling the grid without recourse to buckets of ‘exotic’ words.
1dn, SALIENT, which is ‘on the west coast [LHS of the grid]’, includes ALIENT, which is A ‘rocky’ INLET. The T does double duty, with THE OLD ROAD leading in a winding route across the grid/island to A TREE. LA (look) is ‘down and across’ from this, and once one ‘starts to dig’ (replaces the T of LATEN with a D), GOLD/DUST appears in seven cells.
Unfortunately, I can’t quite parse 35 across.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SHRIFT | Confession of old R (BUCCANEER), [finally] discovered [wearing] SHIFT (woman’s undergarment) (6) |
| 5 | CAITIFF | Past Cape, I TIFF (row) [after] A scoundrel (7) |
| 10 | AEON | |
| 11 | MASSACRE | A (One) S (SAILOR’s [face) [suffering] SCAR* [in] ME (Middle East) carnage (8) |
| 13 | CLASSY | Stylish CUTLASS [striking] CUT (blow) [in] CY (Cyprus) (6) |
| 14 | IDEAL | I (One) DEAL (plank)’s just perfect (5) |
| 15 | DECOR | {CREW DO}* [without] W and [changing] scenery (5) |
| 16 | EARRING | RARE* [rum] IN G (gallons) is what every pirate’s expected to have (7) |
| 18 | RIALTO | [Drunk] RATION L (left) [for] N (Navy) in part of Venice (6) |
| 20 | PALER | PEARL* [supply] found in lighter (5) |
| 21 | WERE | Used to be [anchored in] |
| 23 | THRUST | Press TRUST (charge) when H (HOOK’s [capital]) [is pinched] (6) |
| 25 | DRAPER | R (Take) [aboard] [dishevelled] PADRE*, a man of the cloth (6) |
| 28 | HELP | A hand’s < [lying back in] |
| 30 | KOALA | Bear down under KIDD’S ORDERS, ATTACKING LUGGER ASTERN [initially] (5) |
| 33 | PROPER | Appropriate PROPERTY (possessions), [eschewing] TY ([extremes of] THUGGERY) (6) |
| 35 | NAPPERS | NAP (Steal) a taste of sailor’s kippers and beans? (7) |
| 36 | COULD | Was able to COD (fish) [around] [middle of] GULF (5) |
| 38 | TRAIT | Characteristic of first two pieces of eight found in Treasure Island (5) |
| 39 | PILE-UP | P (PIRATES’ [leader]) UP (high) [when rounding] ILE (French island), resulting in major collision (6) |
| 40 | FORENOON | F (Following) O (old) R (rule), < NO ONE (nobody) [going astern] in the late morning (8) |
| 41 | SOAR | Rise up, S ([heading for] SKIPPER) with OAR (blade) (4) |
| 42 | EPERGNE | [Wearing] GREEN* [pants], P |
| 43 | BEETLE | Hurry BE (to remain) with FLEET*, [missing] F (fellow) [badly] (6) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SALIENT | SALT (Sailor) [keeps] LIEN (right), [not] L (left) – that’s important (7) |
| 2 | HEADACHE | Problem HE’D (he had) [capturing] A |
| 3 | ROVERS | Pirates no longer [involved in] contROVERSy (6) |
| 4 | FILLIPS | PHILLIPS (Captain Mark possibly) [reported] getting shots in arm (7) |
| 5 | CAST | Found CASTAWAY (one who’s been shipwrecked) [wasting] AWAY (4) |
| 6 | ASSURED | Made certain SS (ship) [covered in] AU (gold) [will be pursued by] RED (squadron of British fleet) (7) |
| 7 | TAKEAWAY | KEA (In New Zealand, parrot) [occupying] TAWA (tree) Y ([close to] BAY) makes a handy meal (8) |
| 8 | ICICLE | I (One) [starts to] CLEAR INBOARD and CHUCKS LITTER ETC in freezing water (6) |
| 9 | FEAR | Worry F (fellow)’s [replacing first bit of] REAR (booty) (4) |
| 11 | MANNA | Delicious food NA (not available) [on] MAN (ship)? [Quite the reverse]! (5) |
| 12 | RIOT | PARROT’s [not] PAR (standard) – [keeping] I (one) constitutes indulgence (4) |
| 17 | GLEAN | Pick up A N (new), [superior] [artificial] LEG* (5) |
| 19 | SUPPLIER | One provides SUP (drink) [prior to] PERIL* [on the rocks] (8) |
| 22 | REPRISAL | Recapture P (SHIP [finally]), R (resistance) [limited by] [empty] R |
| 24 | TORSION | RISOTTO* [encountered at sea] with T (PARROT’s [tail]) [left out] for N (new) twist (7) |
| 26 | RAPTURE | PUT* [out] [in] RARE (unusual) transport (7) |
| 27 | RESTORE | Give back REST (remainder) of OR (gold) and E ([third of] EMERALDS) (7) |
| 29 | LOUVRE | {OVER [middle of] |
| 31 | LATEN | |
| 32 | TEAPOT | [Most of] TEAM (band working together) POT (to bag) a vessel containing drink (6) |
| 34 | RORO | <{OR (Men) [receiving] [unlimited] |
| 36 | CAFE | Place to eat C |
| 37 | FLOE | FOE (Enemy)’s L (left) [trapped in] ice field (4) |
The completed grid (with the relevant parts indicates in bold/gold), looks like this:
| S | H | R | I | F | T | C | A | I | T | I | F | F |
| A | E | O | N | I | M | A | S | S | A | C | R | E |
| L | A | V | C | L | A | S | S | Y | K | I | I | A |
| I | D | E | A | L | N | T | U | D | E | C | O | R |
| E | A | R | R | I | N | G | R | I | A | L | T | O |
| N | C | S | S | P | A | L | E | R | W | E | R | E |
| T | H | R | U | S | T | E | D | R | A | P | E | R |
| H | E | L | P | K | O | A | L | A | Y | T | P | E |
| P | R | O | P | E | R | N | A | P | P | E | R | S |
| C | O | U | L | D | S | F | D | T | R | A | I | T |
| A | R | V | I | P | I | L | E | U | P | P | S | O |
| F | O | R | E | N | O | O | N | R | S | O | A | R |
| E | P | E | R | G | N | E | B | E | E | T | L | E |
A quite straightforward grid fill, but following the instructions and making the necessary adjustment to get the treasure took about as long again. Lots of fun to be had along the way, though. Getting all the thematic material in the clues was a very nice touch.
Thanks for the explanation, Mr Sting – I found the ‘rocky inlet’ and ‘the old road’, but the rest was far too obscure – I was looking for the name of a tree, rather than literally ‘A TREE’…and I was looking for an X marking a spot…but an X couldn’t just be seven cells…hey ho…
35A: NAP (steal) + PER (a, as in ‘for each’, ‘two a penny’) + S (taste, or first letter, of Sailors)- NAPPER being doubly defined as someone having a KIP, but also slang for ‘the head’, or the BEAN.
(And thanks to Ranunculus for the challenge…you win this time…grrr…)
I found an ALDER tree growing upwards through the last D of the old road.
Actually, I spent most of two weeks looking and Mother P’ng’n found the ALDER for me.
The changed D (start to dig) is directly under that.
‘ALDER’ is confirmed by the published solution…looks like the rest of us were barking up the wrong tree!
I’m afraid I found this very frustrating. Solved all the clues in pretty quick time and also saw the “rocky inlet” … then nothing.
Some of these puzzle denouements are, in my opinion, becoming far too elaborate/obscure. But I still thank Ranunculus and Mr Sting for the challenge and excellent blog – I did enjoy the initial solve until despair set in!