Serpent is a recent recruit [within the last two years] to the Inquisitor stable of setters and this is his fourth offering.
The preamble stated "From the answer to each clue, one letter must be omitted, wherever it occurs, before entry in the grid. Definitions and word lengths refer to full answers; subsidiary indications to mutilated forms entered. In clue order, omitted letters suggest the solution to one of the unclued entries which, in turn, will enable the solver to complete the grid. Unchecked / mutually checked letters of unclued entries could make NUANCED BANANA SAUCE FROM SPAIN”.
This was fairly standard preamble stuff, so I just dived in hoping to make some sense of the omitted letters as the solve progressed. I got going in the top left hand corner and built steadily from there.
A couple of the unclued entries began to look like names – the ones at 10 down and the lower one in the right hand column, but I couldn’t make any links early on.
The penny drop moment came when I began to see JOEY and CHANDLER emerging from the missing letters in the acrosses. Then the allusion from the title kicked in as the phrase ‘a TOAST to ABSENT FRIENDS‘ entered my mind. From there I was able to deduce all the missing letters and fill in the unclued entry at row 1. I had a odd collection of letters developing in the bottom row with blank K blank O blank R blank at the right hand end looking particularly challenging. I didn’t make the link to the play ABSENT FRIENDS as quickly as I should have but eventually everything fell into place.
The missing letters spelled out ROSS, JOEY, CHANDLER, MONICA, RACHEL and PHOEBE who were the leading characters in the long running TV series FRIENDS. No new episodes are being made so we can consider them all to be ABSENT FRIENDS. In reality they are not all that ABSENT as you can find reruns of episodes on a wide range of Freeview or satellite channels any day of the week.
ABSENT FRIENDS is the unclued entry at row 1. There is a play of the same name written by ALAN AYCKBOURN and he forms the entry in the bottom row. The remaining unclued entries [from left to right, top to bottom], EVELYN, JOHN, MARGE, DIANA, PAUL and COLIN are all characters in AYCKBOURN‘s play.
Looking at the unchecked and mutually checked letters in the unclued entries, again going left to tight, top to bottom,we find ASENFINSMORNDEPACUAAANACBUN [27 letters] which can indeed be rearranged to form NUANCED BANANA SAUCE FROM SPAIN
The clues were not too intransigent though I did get into a mess for a while when I had LUINS [LUPINS] at 23 across for a while.
The final grid looked like this:
The title was TOAST, which as mentioned above relates to a TOAST to ABSENT FRIENDS.
I have constructed the detailed blog below in a slightly different layout from normal to give the definition and the omitted letter before going on to the wordplay for the mutilated entry.
| Across | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. |
Clue |
Answer from definition |
Letter |
Wordplay |
Entry |
|
6
|
Contend with relocation that doesn’t begin before survey (8)
|
OVERVIEW (general survey)
|
R
|
MOVE (relocation) excluding the first letter [that doesn’t begin] M + VIE (contend) + W (with) OVE VIE W |
OVEVIEW
|
|
8
|
Facilitate ‘name’ replacing amateur to make one count? (7) |
ENNOBLE (elevate to the ranks of the nobility by, for example making someone a COUNT)
|
O
|
ENABLE (facilitate) with N (name) replacing A (amateur) ENNBLE |
ENNBLE |
|
10
|
She ridicules love he invested in younger person (6)
|
JOSHER (one [male, or in this case, female] who ridicules)
|
S
|
(O [zero; love score in tennis] + HE) contained in (invested in) JR (junior; used to identify a younger persion) J (O HE) R |
JOHER |
|
11
|
Maybe Crystal’s content and Edmund’s pleased to drop dead (8)
|
GLASSFUL (descriptive of the contents of a crystal tumbler of glass when full)
|
S
|
GLADFUL (Spenserian [Edmund’s] word for pleased) excluding (to drop) D (dead) GLAFUL |
GLAFUL |
| 12 | Shocked to find ‘army officer’ abbreviated in dictionary (6) | JOLTED (shocked) |
J
|
LT (abbreviation for Lieutenant [army office]) contained in (in) OED (Oxford English Dictionary) O (LT) ED |
OLTED |
|
14
|
Cause of infection in men lacking marrow bones (7)
|
MONILIA (a fungus contributing to a disease of the mouth and the digestive tract in birds, animals and man)
|
O
|
MEN excluding the middle letter (lacking marrow) E + ILIA (plural of a bone forming part of the larger hip bone) MN ILIA |
MNILIA
|
|
15
|
Perhaps lead redevelopment of Thames Valley, else upset to be excluded (10, 2 words)
|
HEAVY METAL (lead is a METAL and it is HEAVY)
|
E
|
Anagram of (redevelopment of) THAMES VALLEY excluding (to be excluded) ELSE HAVY MTAL* |
HAVY MTAL
|
|
17
|
Recording featuring popular woman (5)
|
CINDY (woman’s name)
|
Y
|
CD (compact disc; recording) containing (featuring) IN (popular) C (IN) D |
CIND
|
|
20
|
Year’s number one tennis player is a somewhat robotic character (6)
|
CYBORG (robot made of biological and machine components; somewhat robotic character)
|
C
|
Y (first letter of [number one] YEAR) + BORG (reference Bjorn BORG [born 1956], Swedish tennis player, former No 1 in the world)
|
YBORG
|
|
22
|
Internet protocol written in programming language having two aspects (8)
|
BIPHASIC (having two phases or aspects)
|
H
|
IP (Internet Protocol) contained in (written in) BASIC (simple computer programming language) B (IP) ASIC |
BIPASIC
|
|
23
|
Plants manufacturing insulin internally (6)
|
INULAS (plant of the genus Inula of the Compositae, including the elecampane I. helenium)
|
A
|
Anagram of (manufacturing) INSUL (the central letters of [internally] INSULIN)
|
INULS
|
|
24
|
The smell of flipping polecats when they’re young! (5)
|
STINK (smell)
|
N
|
KITS (young polecats) reversed (flipping) STIK< |
STIK
|
|
27
|
Excessive flow of turbulent air disrupts O’Hare (9)
|
DIARRHOEA (excessive flow of anything) |
D
|
Anagram of (turbulent) AIR + an anagram of (disrupts) O’HARE IAR* RHOEA* |
IARRHOEA
|
|
29
|
Staff sent back detailed examination of wood (7)
|
NEMORAL (of a wood or grove)
|
L
|
MEN (staff) reversed (sent back) + ORAL (examination) excluding the final letter (de-tailed) NEM< ORA |
NEMORA
|
|
30
|
Copper uses street name for cannabis (6, 2 words)
|
SET POT (a fixed boiler or copper [vessel])
|
E
|
ST (street) + POT (informal term for the drug cannabis in any of its forms)
|
STPOT
|
|
31
|
Drunk, knocked about outside Monument, massively stoned (7)
|
TRILITH (form of megalithic monument consisting of two upright stones supporting another lying crosswise; monument massively stoned)
|
R
|
HIT (knocked) reversed (about) containing (outside) LIT (drunk) TI (LIT) H< |
TILITH
|
|
32
|
Allowed gunmen to twirl weapon (6)
|
MARTEL (medieval hammer-like weapon with a pointed head.)
|
M
|
(LET [‘allowed] + RA [Royal Artillery]) all reversed (to twirl)
|
ARTEL
|
|
33
|
Caretakermanager finally on time following start of the new year (7) |
JANITOR (caretaker)
|
O
|
JAN I (1st January – start of the new year) + T (time) + R (last letter of [finally] MANAGER)
|
JANITR
|
|
34
|
Bats force fed live meat (9)
|
CORN BEEF (preserved salted beef: meat)
|
N
|
Anagram of (bats) FORCE containing (fed) BE (live) COR (BE) EF* |
COR BEEF
|
| Down | |||||
| No. |
Clue |
Answer from definition | Letter | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Taxi returns without you from Paris, prematurely ending camp (7)
|
BIVOUAC (makeshift camp)
|
I |
CAB (taxi) reversed (returns) containing (without; outside) VOUS (French for you) excluding the final letter (prematurely ending) S B (VOU) AC< |
BVOUAC |
|
2
|
Three lines by half-cut writer and poet (6)
|
TERCET (group of three lines that rhyme together or are associated by rhyme with an adjacent set of three)
|
C |
TER (the three letters remaining in WRITER when the first three [of six; half] WRI are cut) + ET (the two letters remaining in POET when the first two [of four; half) PO are cut TER ET |
TERET |
|
3
|
Wood the French King’s besieging, wanting kingdom (9)
|
REALMLESS (without [wanting] a REALM [kingdom])
|
A
|
RS (Rex; King, in the plural to give Rs) containing (besieging) (ELM [tree; wood] + LES [one of the French forms of the]) R (ELM LES) S |
RELMLESS
|
|
4
|
Helen Fielding nurtures poet’s flame (6) |
ENFIRE (Spenserian [poet’s] word meaning to set on fire or inflame)
|
R
|
ENFIE (hidden word in [nurtures] HELEN FIELDING)
|
ENFIE |
|
5
|
Those who waste time of doctors left to rest inside (8)
|
DALLIERS (people who waste time by idleness or trifling)
|
A
|
(L [left] + LIE [to rest]) contained in (inside) DRS (doctors) D (L LIE) RS |
DLLIERS
|
|
7
|
Base deity embodies essence of evil and source of disease (9)
|
ECHOVIRUS (any of a group of viruses which can cause respiratory and intestinal diseases and meningitis (Enteric Cytopathogenic Human Orphan virus])
|
C
|
E (base of natural logarithms) + (HORUS [Egyptian sun god] containing (embodies) VI [central letters of {essence of} EVIL]) E HO (VI) RUS |
EHOVIRUS |
|
9
|
Overprotective relative is padding walls of nursery (8)
|
NANNYISH (overprotective)
|
H
|
NY (first and last letters of [walls of]] NURSERY) contained in (padding) (NAN [grandmother; relative] + IS) NAN (NY) IS |
NANNYIS
|
|
13
|
Leads from digital amplifier transmit audio bits and save record collection on computer (8)
|
DATABASE (organised collection of informations and files on a computer)
|
E
|
DATABAS (first letters of [leads from] DIGITAL AMPLIFIER TRANSMIT AUDIO BITS AND SAVE)
|
DATABAS |
|
16
|
You heard I bet too wildly in gambling game (10)
|
BOUILLOTTE (gambling card game resembling poker)
|
L
|
Anagram of (wildly) U [sounds like [heard] YOU] and I BET TOO BOUIOTTE* |
BOUIOTTE |
|
18
|
Discourage one intervening repeatedly in doctor’s case right? (8)
|
DISPIRIT (discourage)
|
P
|
I forming every second letter (intervening in) within the four otherwise consecutive letters (DS [the outer letters of [case] DOCTOR and RT [right]) DISIRIT |
DISIRIT |
| 19 | American trial supports state that’s withdrawn old lady’s treatment of illness in Hackney? (9) |
HIPPIATRY (relating to the treatment of the diseases of horses. HACKNEY can be defined as a horse for general use especially for hire or a horse with a high-stepping action, bred to draw light carriages) |
H |
MISSISIPPI ([American] State) excluding (that’s withdrawn) MISSIS (lady of the house; wife; old lady) + A (American) + TRY (trial) IPPI A TRY |
IPPIATRY |
|
21
|
Newton assumed nitrogen discharged aluminium to form element (8)
|
NONMETAL (an element that is not a METAL)
|
O
|
N (letter representing [assumed] newton, SI unit of force) + N (chemical syumbol for nnitrogen) + MET (discharged) + AL (chemical symbol for aluminium)
|
NNMETAL
|
|
25
|
Instrument similar to the guitar or fiddle or both (7)
|
THEORBO (large double-necked bass lute, the second neck carrying bass strings)
|
E
|
Anagram of (fiddle) OR BOTH THORBO* |
THORBO
|
|
26
|
Brewed drink from fizzy Greek wine without success (7, 2 words)
|
KEG BEER (any of various types of beer kept in and served from pressurized KEGs; brewed drink)
|
B
|
Anagram of (fizzy) GREEK and WINE excluding (without) WIN (success)
|
KEG EER |
|
28
|
Ate again with the intention of tucking into fabulous bird (6)
|
RETOOK (ate again)
|
E
|
TO (with the intention of) contained in (tucking into) ROK (variant spelling of ROC [an enormous bird described in Arabian legend, strong enough to carry off an elephant]; fabulous bird) R (TO) OK |
RTOOK
|
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