Enigmatic Variations No. 1331: Alternative to a Beer by Charybdis

Is there such a thing as an ALTERNATIVE TO A BEER? Shurely just shomething to precede/follow/accompany/complement?…

The preamble states that:

“In ALTERNATIVE TO A BEER?, a theme word (4) must be written below the grid. Three synonyms can be traced through the diagram, beginning with all of 30dn and continuing clockwise to form a symmetrical schematic illustration which must be highlighted. The first synonym might be rather loosely suggested by the title, the second defines 2dn, and the third is paralleled by 14, 41. The theme word itself begins a series (also suggested by the title) which continues with 36, 27 and 9 in that order.”

First thought was that – for once – there are no extra letters in wordplay, or extra words in clues, and it isn’t a carte blanche…so several layers of possible difficulty have been peeled from this EV onion – will it still make me cry?

Also from a look at the grid and number of clues there are a lot of shorter words – nothing more than a (7). And a black cell in the middle, so only 168 rather than 169 cells to fill!

On a first cold solving run, UPROAR jumped out at me pretty quickly, and quite a few followed in short order. My notes indicate that after 20-odd minutes I had ‘most of’ the normally clued entries done, giving several crossers on the unclued/thematics.

Some closer re-reading of the preamble followed, to make sure I hadn’t missed anything obvious. 30D (C?C??O) was probably CUCKOO, and some general meandering anti-clockwise from the bottom of that yielded CUCKOO PINT, which is a variety of ARUM – so ‘A RUM’ could be an alternative to a beer. And a cuckoo is an alternative nest occupant, a pint could be a beer, so CUCKOO PINT can be suggested by the title as well.

Continuing anti-clockwise, and using the prescribed symmetricality, I soon had LORDS AND LADIES and WAKE ROBIN – both synonyms/varieties of ARUM – and all making an appropriate lily shape. Nice construction!

The other connections – also all symmetrical – fell into place with PEERS (lords and ladies) and RISE LARK (wake robin – are larks and robins closely related?)

The last bit – the series – took a little longer to piece together but a forehead-slapping realisation came when A RUM could be followed by BE (B) GIN, SEA (C) PORT and DE (D) CIDER to form the basis of a reasonable night out, with the risk of a hangover from all that mixing!

I found this a nice, quirky, relatively gentle(?) solve (gentleness much appreciated as a blogger in a busy week!), combining two of my favourite hobbies – alcohol and crosswords, or should that be the other way round?… Thanks to Charybdis, and hopefully other solvers enjoyed the pub crawl as well, with no nasty hangovers…

Across
Clue No	Solution / Entry	Clue (definition underlined) / Logic/Parsing
3	UPROAR	Rowing boat caught in margins of underwater turbulence (6) / U_R (marginal letters of UnderweaR) around (catching) PROA (Malay rowing boat)
7	MISDO	To some extent the reverse of good simply is to act wrongly (5) / reversed hidden word, i.e. ‘to some extent the reverse of”, in ‘goOD SIMply’
11	AERIAL	Above ground like main road out of outskirts of Rajkot (6) / A(RT)ERIAL (like main road) without (out of) RT (the out0skirting letters of RajkoT)
12	DUDEEN	Fop with little space for pipe (6) / DUDE (fop) + EN (little space, printing)
13	MEDEA	Charybdis’s mostly beloved enchantress (5) / ME (Charybdis, the setter) + DEA(R) (most of beloved, dear)
14	RISE	Thematic deduction (4) / Thematic deduction
15	ACE	A church service (3) / A + CE (Church of England)
16	NEWT	Fresh tip of tail for this creature? (4) / NEW (fresh) + T (tip, or first letter) of Tail)
19	OSSIAN	A legendary poet, East German one (6) / OSSI (East German) + AN (one)
20	ISOLDE	Fair Celtic girl has aged with eccentricity (6) / IS OLD (has aged) + E (eccentricity, of a conic section, maths)
21	OUTSTAY	In Scotland, why yes, on odd occasions to sit in is to visit too long (7) / OU_AY (Scottish, why yes) around ST (SiT, odd letters, on odd occasions)
25	WAES	Income cut to the core means lots of misery for Ed (4) / WA(G)ES (income, with central letter, or core, cut)
27	SIDER	Advocate free rides (5) / anag, i.e. free, of RIDES
28	CHAIR	Chronicles to communicate a professor’s position (5) / CH (Chronicles) + AIR (to communicate)
29	NERD	Not who you’d want in dinner dates? (4) / hidden word in ‘dinNER Dates’
30	CHICKEN	What she produces includes white and yellow (7) / &lit-ish/CD – what she (a CHICKEN) might produce (eggs) include a white bit (albumen) and a yellow bit (yolk)
33	TAOIST	He should know the way to stain cut wood (6) / anag, i.e. wood, alternative definition of mad/furious, of TO + STAI(N) (cut short)
35	AMOEBA	A boa might struggle with me, a tiny animal (6) / anag, i.e. might struggle, of A BOA + ME
38	ECCE	Look back and forth (4) / palindromic indication – ECCE (look) is the backwards and forwards (forth)
40	MOT	Cruise perhaps is over – travelworthiness report required (3) / TOM Cruise backwards gives MOT – travelworthiness report
41	LARK	Thematic deduction (4) / Thematic deduction
42	SMOGS	Special cats – it’s hard to see when they’re around (5) / S (special) + MOGS (cats)
43	BRONZE	This medal right at the end would be very good for Australia (6) / BRONZE (medal) with R moved to the end = BONZER (very good, Australian slang)
44	RABBIE	Burns perhaps resulting from Jewish leader touching end of candle (6) / RABBI (Jewish leader) + E (last letter of candlE)
45	STOAI	I sat idling around round colonnades (5) / ST_AI (anag, i.e. idling, of I SAT) around O (round letter)
46	PONIES	Moutans, not European, in Florida keys perhaps? (6) / P(E)ONIES – moutans are peonies, without E – European – gives PONIES – pony = key or crib in the US, i.e. Florida)
Down
Clue No	Solution / Entry	Clue (definition underlined) / Logic/Parsing
1	BAMBOO	Hum to show disapproval and get the cane (6) / BAM (hum, cheat or hoax) + BOO (show disapproval)
2	PEERS	Thematic deduction (5) / Thematic deduction
3	URDE	This is illustrating a number of points in murder (4) / hidden word in ‘mURDEr’
4	PIERIS	Support small isolated area for cabbage-whites (6) / PIER (support) + IS (abbreviated, or small, island, or isolated area)
5	OLDEN	Rare age, most favourable though not good at first (5) / (G)OLDEN (most favourable, without G – good – at first)
6	AIRWAY	Heading off for lead-in to green broadcasting channel (6) / (F)AIRWAY (golf, lead-in area before the green) wothout F (heading letter off)
7	MUSES	Contemplates a thousand applications (5) / M (a thousand, Roman numeral) + USES (applications)
8	IDEA	Cycling PA’s brainwave (4) / (A)IDE (personal assistant) with A cycling to the end = IDEA
9	DECIDER	Thematic deduction (7) / Thematic deduction
10	ONENESS	Single state reportedly conquered cape (7) / ONE (homophone, i.e. reportedly, of WON, conquered) + NESS (cape, headland)
16	NATES	After leaving Party, donates booty (5) / (DO)NATES withut DO – party
17	TITCH	Insulting word for a girl child, a small one (5) / TIT (insulting, derogatory, word for a young woman) + CH (child)
18	GLAIK	Good indeed! – one king in Dougal’s old puzzle-game (5) / G (good) + LA (see!, behold!, indeed!) + I (one) + K (king)
22	TIROL	I can be seen in endless saunter in mountain area (5) / (S)T_ROL(L) (saunter, endlessly) around I
23	ARETE	Second bit of rain to soak earth in mountain’s edge (5) / A (second letter of rAin) + RET (soak) + E (earth)
24	CHIME	Ring bells for that chap in church (5) / C_E (Chruch of England, again) around HIM (that man)
26	ENTOMBS	Mob sent out puts body in sepulchre (7) / anag, i.e. out, of MOB SENT
27	SEAPORT	Thematic deduction (7) / Thematic deduction
31	COOMBE	Wow! An award for the valley (6) / COO (wow) + MBE (Member of the British Empire, an award)
30	CUCKOO	Thematic deduction (6) / Thematic deduction
32	NAUSEA	New academy restricts an operation for queasiness (6) / N_A (N – new, plus A – academy) around (restricting) A USE (an operation)
34	SWAZI	Hindu mystic gives away money for unknown Africans (5) / SWA(M)I (Hindu mystic) swapping (giving away) M – money – for Z – unknown, mathematics)
35	ACORN	A small hard growth in fruit (5) / A + CORN (hard growth()
37	ULNA	A bone left in Stubbs’s collection? (4) / U_NA (Una Stubbs’, actress’, collection of letters) around L (left)
39	ROBS	Mugs for fruit syrups (4) / double defn, to ROB can be to mug someone; and a ROB can be a fruit syrup

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