Hello! The wonderful thing about Tigga, is … well, answers in the comments!
The preamble reads:
In SOUNDCLASH, across and down answers clash in 12 cells; solvers must select the letters that produce only real words. Possible ambiguity in one case will be resolved by ensuring adherence to the theme. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.
So, I could start solving as normal, just bearing in mind that checkers might not be right. It took just two clashes — PEELITE/YANKER and MADAM/RODEO — for me to notice that in the options which left real words in the grid, the changed entries became words in the NATO alphabet. Job done … well, apart from solving the remaining clues. Not trivial, by any means, but a little more relaxing than I’ve been used to in previous EVs. A lovely change, and in a busy week I was grateful not to have too bumpy a ride.
The possible ambiguity mentioned in the preamble is the BREEM/DIKE intersection, as BREED and MIKE are both real words. While not needed in the solution, I’ve highlighted below the clashes and their sound resolutions — in suitably loud clashing colours.
Thanks, Tigga, for the fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! You had me at Lima Oscar Yankee Romeo!
| Clue No | ANSWER (with CLASH) GRID ENTRY (if different) |
Clue with definition |
| Explanation | ||
| Across | ||
| 1a | FAST BOWLER | Fixed style of hat for sportsman recognised for quick action (10, two words) |
| FAST (fixed) plus BOWLER (style of hat) | ||
| 10a | LAMA LIMA |
Some acclamation for spiritual leader (4) |
| Some accLAMAtion | ||
| 12a | PUPA PAPA |
Small seal on a chrysalis, say (4) |
| PUP (small seal) followed by (on) A (from the clue) | ||
| 13a | AKENE | Fruit taken after starter’s removed before first of entremets (5) |
| [t]AKEN without the first letter (after starter’s removed) goes before the first letter of Entremets. Variant spelling of achene | ||
| 14a | NINEPIN | Reduction ultimately in energy and power in type of bowling (7) |
| The concatenation of the last letter of (… ultimately) reductioN, IN (from the clue), E (energy) and P (power), and the other IN from the clue | ||
| 15a | MIDGET | Very small biting insect finally caught (6) |
| MIDGE (biting insect) + the last letter of (finally) caughT | ||
| 16a | SKANK | Sloped away, embracing king in dance (5) |
| SANK (sloped away) containing (embracing) K (king). A type of dance | ||
| 19a | DIKE MIKE |
English lad returning to make wall in Scotland (4) |
| E (English) + KID (lad) reversed (returned) | ||
| 20a | GOLD GOLF |
Group of antique precious metal articles (4) |
| G (group) with OLD (antique) | ||
| 23a | PEELITE | Sport with select group for erstwhile Conservative supporter (7) |
| PE (Physical Education, sport) with ELITE (select group) | ||
| 24a | VAGUELY | Surprisingly value guy, not posh, in an absent-minded way (7) |
| An anagram of (surprisingly) VALUE G[u]Y without U (not posh) | ||
| 26a | OTTO | Too much old essential oil (4) |
| OTT (over the top, too much) + O (old) | ||
| 28a | CUES | Crossword hints lecturer dropped for letters (4) |
| C[l]UES (crossword hints) without L (lecturer dropped). The spelling of Qs | ||
| 33a | CARET | Heed start of text for sign locating insertion point (5) |
| CARE (heed) plus the first letter of (start of) Text | ||
| 34a | CARDIO | Expression of triumph follows eccentric character’s exercise (6) |
| IO (interjection expressing joy or triumph or grief) goes after (follows) CARD (eccentric character) | ||
| 35a | TRIARCH | Ruler’s cunningly rich art (7) |
| An anagram of (… cunningly) RICH ART | ||
| 36a | MADAM | Frenzied morning, one way or another for brothel keeper (5) |
| MAD (Frenzied) + AM (morning), written either forwards or backwards (one way or another) | ||
| 37a | OU AY | Roué says endlessly ‘O yes’ in Holyrood (4, two words) |
| [r]OU[é] [s]AY[s] without outer letters (endlessly) | ||
| 38a | VICE | Unusually place old winding stair (4) |
| Double definition: a rare word for place, or an obsolete word for a winding stair | ||
| 39a | NEXT DOOR TO | Very nearly translated text on rood (10, three words) |
| An anagram of (translated) TEXT ON ROOD | ||
| Down | ||
| 1d | FLAME | Force implausible vigour of thought (5) |
| F (force) + LAME (weak, implausible) | ||
| 2d | AIKIDO | First rate hoax over form of self-defence (6) |
| A charade of AI (first rate), KID (hoax) and O (over) | ||
| 3d | MANGO TANGO |
Fruit among nuts (5) |
| An anagram (… nuts) of AMONG | ||
| 4d | BREEM | Lake once rising under black fish (5) |
| MEER (lake once: obsolete spelling of mere) reversed (rising) under B (black) | ||
| 5d | WHISKER WHISKEY |
Beat queen a small amount (7) |
| WHISK (beat) + ER (queen) | ||
| 6d | LINSEED | Told untruth about regularly noisome source of oil (7) |
| LIED (told untruth) around (about) regular letters of (regularly) NoiSomE | ||
| 7d | RAPACITY | Censure American urban area for aggressive greed (8) |
| A charade of RAP (censure), A (American) and CITY (urban area) | ||
| 8d | SPINET | Music maker’s tuning peg kept by troupe (6) |
| PIN (tuning peg) inside (kept by) SET (troupe) | ||
| 9d | YANKER YANKEE |
Perth’s whopper, confused yarn about gutted kokanee (6) |
| An anagram of (confused) YARN around (about) K[okane]E without its inner letters (gutted). Scottish word for a big lie | ||
| 11d | ANTI | Against Italian wine losing life force (4) |
| (Nothing to do with Asti!) [chi]ANTI losing chi (life force) | ||
| 17d | MILO KILO |
Salamander turning up consuming last of Masai drought-resistant cereal (4) |
| OLM is a salamander; it’s reversed (turning up) containing (consuming) the last letter of MasaI. One of the names of sorghum | ||
| 18d | ALGERIAN | African accommodated in laager (8) |
| An anagram of (accommodated) IN LAAGER | ||
| 21d | FUSE | Unite following custom (4) |
| F (following) + USE (custom) | ||
| 22d | RECTRIX | Female governor contrariwise now and then, interrupting king (7) |
| Regular letters of (… now and then) ConTraRiwIse inside (interrupting) REX (king) | ||
| 23d | PLUMCOT | Tangled clump to set up producing hybrid tree (7) |
| An anagram of (tangled) CLUMP followed by the reversal of (… set up) TO (from the clue) | ||
| 24d | LICTOR VICTOR |
Preposterous nonsense pursuing endlessly smooth?tongued court official (6) |
| The reversal of (preposterous) ROT (nonsense) after (pursuing) [s]LIC[k] (smooth-tongued) without its outer letters (endlessly). A Roman official | ||
| 25d | ALARUM | Ancient danger warning in the style of droll fellow in times gone by (6) |
| A LA (in the style of) plus RUM (archaic: a strange or droll person) | ||
| 27d | TRIACT | Oddly turgid performance taking off in three directions? (6) |
| Odd letters of (oddly) TuRgId + ACT (performance). Three-rayed | ||
| 29d | ECCO ECHO |
Here’s heart of theory about carbon copies (4) |
| The central letters of (heart of) thEOry around (about) CC: two copies of the chemical symbol for carbon, C | ||
| 30d | SAMBO | While upset, mob deployed form of wrestling (5) |
| AS (while) reversed (upset) and MOB, anagrammed (deployed). A type of Russian wrestling based on judo | ||
| 31d | BRAVE BRAVO |
Fearlessly face British uninhibited party (5) |
| B (British) + RAVE (wild, uninhibited party) | ||
| 32d | RODEO ROMEO |
Lacking involved art, toreador turns up in cowboy exhibition (5) |
| Without (lacking) the interlaced (involved) ART, [T]O[R]E[A]DOR is reversed (turns up) | ||
Great fun to compile, too. Thanks Kitty for that vibrant blog – I loved the clashing colours and it was kind of you not to point out a careless setter error. It’s great to have you as an EV blogger.
Thank you Tigga, I really enjoyed this crossword. I sorted out several of the clashes without spotting the theme and only realised after solving “bravo” The only clue I cannot sort out is 4d; the fish is spelt bream not breem.
Pentomino, the Breem/Bream will be what the setter is referring to in his post.
This was a lovely crossword – quite neat and no gimmicks.
Yes indeed – apologies for the very fishy spelling of the bream. There is a rather obscure word BREEM and I used it without a careful Chambers check. I hope it didn’t cause trouble for solvers.