Normally, I try to paraphrase the essential elements of the preamble. This week, it seemed far easier to reprint it word for word!
Solvers must identify and highlight the five-letter keyword from a METAPHOR in the unclued perimeter of the grid. An incomplete thematic sequence runs clockwise around the rest of the perimeter, starting to the left of the keyword and finishing to its right. Solvers must also identify the final element of this sequence by dealing appropriately with 11 cells (including the two highlighted) and ignoring the answers to two clues. Six entries are clued normally; each generates a single-letter clash that must be resolved thematically by changing the entries to become six thematic surnames. Clues are given in the normal order; Chambers Dictionary (2014) is recommended, and one answer is an abbreviation.
I found this quite a tricky solve, probably because I was suffering from the excesses of the Christmas festivities. Having the two clues which didn’t contribute to the diagram was another hold-up, as was initially solving the clue to 42ac as just LACE, rather than ENLACE. Eventually, I could see STAGE in the middle of the bottom row, SCHOOLBOY in the perimeter and BRANDY becoming BRANDO at 14ac. The theme was Jaques’s monlogue from As You Like It beginning “All the world’s a stage…” and lists the seven ages of man:
INFANT, SCHOLBOY, LOVER, SOLDIER, JUSTICE, PANTALOON.
That was six, with the seventh being described by the last four lines of the speech:
…Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Oblivion resulted in the TEETH, EYES (the two highlighted squares containing an O) and TASTE all being erased from the grid. EVERYTHING (the two clues to be ignored) had already effectively been erased. The six thematic entries all became actors:
Marlon BRANDO, David TENNANT, Patrick STEWART, Ronald COLMAN, Dame Edith EVANS and Jeremy IRONS
All in all, a very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks, Gaston.
Solving time: about 4 hours
Legend:
Definition in clue
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden
| ACROSS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Entry | Clue and Explanation | |
| 11 | VOODOO | See pair accomplish nothing magic nowadays V (see) OO (pair) DO (accomplish) O (nothing); the pair relates to a score of no runs in both innings of a cricket match — I think! |
|
| 12 | OBIA | Alumnus rejected fantastic old witchcraft OB (alumnus, old boy) AI< (fantastic, A1, backwards) |
|
| 13 | STOOPES | Bends down to put earth in ancient buckets STOOPS (bends down) containing E (earth) |
|
| 14 | BRANDY becomes BRANDO |
Make unknown spirit BRAND (make, n) Y (unknown) |
|
| 15 | PENNANT becomes TENNANT |
Yank trophy girl back in small flat ANN< (girl, back) in PENT (penthouse, abbr, flat) |
|
| 16 | STARE | Cowards running west and then east? Watch closely! RATS< (cowards, to the west/left) + E (east) |
|
| 18 | TWI | Quaint-sounding West African dialect Sounds like twee (quaint) |
|
| 20 | OVERSEAS | On active service, holding lines far away OAS (on active service) holding VERSE (lines) |
|
| 23 | LAIC | A vast number surrounding one who isn’t a professional LAC (vast number) surrounding A (one) |
|
| 25 | STANDOUTS | The man questions aloud those of exceptional ability STAN (the man) DOUTS (sounds like doubts) |
|
| 26 | HEEL | Follow ne’er-do-well? 2 meanings |
|
| 27 | KINGSHIP | Lost cause renounces evil, achieving royal status SINKING SHIP (lost cause) – SIN (evil) |
|
| 28 | CIG | Regularly clings to tab regular letters in ClInGs |
|
| 32 | ROMEO | City’s nothing as Quebec’s successor ROME (city) O (nothing); reference to phonetic alphabet |
|
| EVERY | See inside weird total V (see) in EERY (weird) |
||
| 35 | STEWARD becomes STEWART |
College caterer putting dish on plough STEW (dish) + ARD (plough, n) |
|
| 38 | COLMAR becomes COLMAN |
Defile and damage dilapidated fan COL (defile) + MAR (damage) |
|
| 40 | TOTARAS | Girl returns to count first trees SARA< (girl, returned) with TOT (count) first |
|
| 41 | DENT | Sour back has no rugby damage TURNED< (sour, back) – RU (rugby) |
|
| 42 | ENLACE | Tie the knot in the French church EN LA (in the, French) CE (church) |
|
| DOWN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Entry | Clue and Explanation | |
| 1 | OMBRE | Game in which man goes topless (h)OMBRE (man, topless) |
|
| 2 | EVANG becomes EVANS |
Briefly campaigning earnestly to have grand part of church erected (G (grand) NAVE (part of church))< |
|
| 3 | ROOD | Cross threshold on the way up DOOR< (threshhold, up) |
|
| 4 | SOSO | Only average, and being included makes one an unpopular type containing AND gives So-AND-SO (unpopular type) |
|
| 5 | LOTE | See Consumers’ Association leaving out-of-date fruit LOCATE (see) – CA (Consumers’ Association); out-of-date = archaic |
|
| 6 | DOONA | Party happening with a duvet in Perth DO (party) ON (happening) + A |
|
| 7 | TRONS becomes IRONS |
King enters very many marketplaces in Scotland R (king) in TONS (very many) |
|
| 8 | EXPAT | School leave granted quietly for second English person living abroad EXEAT (school leave granted) with P (quietly) for second E (English) |
|
| 9 | REEN | Bath’s ditch a yard north REE (yard) N (north) |
|
| 10 | SIAMESE | Enough said about Gaston being a cat! SESE (enough said) about I AM (Gaston being) |
|
| 13 | STRADIOTS | Good men going back and forth outside to communicate with horsemen ST ST< (saints, good men, back and forth) outside RADIO (to communicate with) |
|
| 17 | TSAR | Sailor takes on board singular leader TAR (sailor) holding S (singular) |
|
| 19 | WI-FI | Means of transmitting poem in Caribbean nation IF (poem by Rudyard Kipling) in WI (West Indies) |
|
| 21 | VLEI | Live rough in American swamp LIVE* |
|
| 22 | EUGE | Announced “Solver is a goddess”? Bravo! EU GE (sounds like “you Ge” (goddess)) |
|
| 24 | ASHAMED | Embarrassed when introducing amateur newspaperman AS (when) + HAM (amateur) ED (newspaperman) |
|
| 29 | GET ON | Agree to proceed? 2 meanings |
|
| 30 | SWAMI | Religious instructor exercised before one SWAM (exercised) + I (one) |
|
| 31 | CARES | Alarms without special afflictions SCARES (alarms) – S (special) |
|
| THING | Bad night problem NIGHT* |
||
| 33 | OLDEN | Age that’s perfect, not good GOLDEN (perfect) – G (good) |
|
| 34 | PANTO | Move camera for Christmas highlight? PAN (move camera) TO (for) |
|
| 36 | TOFF | Bad time at first for snappy dresser OFF (bad) with T (time) at first |
|
| 37 | RANT | Artist books storm RA (artist) NT (books, New Testament) |
|
| 38 | CRAG | Daniel maybe loses current point CRAIG (Daniel maybe, actor) – I (current) |
|
| 39 | ONCE | Former Conservative is part of unit C (Conservative) in ONE (unit) |
|
Thanks, Dave. I always like a crossword such as this that makes me revisit a poem or a piece of literature. My problems were that I had never heard of the actor Colman and it was a while before I got PANTO because I hate it and it’s anything but a highlight for me.
I enjoyed this and was lucky enough to pick up on the theme without too much gnashing of teeth, with memories of the BBC’s 400th anniversary Shakespeare celebrations still fresh in the mind. I was in two minds whether to highlight or remove the items, and ended up removing as per Dave, thus taking ‘sans’ literally. I’d never heard of Ronald Colman until reading the blog, I was thinking Olivia!
Thanks to Gaston for the fun and Dave for the blog