Warm greetings to you all from a sunny London, where I have landed myself in comfortable air-conditioned lodgings for a long weekend. Purr!
Stick Insect has relatively recently added blocked puzzles to his repertoire, setting Toughie crosswords in the same paper. I’ve really enjoyed those, so was pleased to have the opportunity to see him in action in his natural habitat. I wasn’t disappointed. Thanks, Stick Insect!
The preamble reads:
Every clue contains an additional letter which must be removed before solving, leaving real words. Read in clue order following the title, these letters indicate a demand that led to THE END. This demand must be followed in the grid, leaving real words. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.
I don’t need to add any of my customary waffle about the solving process. The title plus extra letters spell out:
THE END OF EVERY SPEECH MADE IN ROME’S SENATE BY CATO THE ELDER
So, Carthago delenda est, or Carthage must be destroyed.
Mission: find Carthage. Destroy Carthage. Done — and done.
| Clue No | ANSWER (final grid entry) |
Clue with [letter to be removed] and definition | Letter |
| Explanation | |||
| Across | |||
| 2a | KRAALS | Corrals westbound bird, catching one s[o]on (6) | O |
| The reversal of (westbound) LARK (bird) containing (catching) A (one), then S (son) | |||
| 7a | TASSE | [F]eats performed about singular piece of armour (5) | F |
| EATS anagrammed (performed) around (about) S (singular) | |||
| 11a | LIAR | After reflection, b[e]ar producer of falsehoods (4) | E |
| Reversal of (after reflection) RAIL (bar) | |||
| 12a | FOOTIER | Meaner local is perturbing trio of E[V] (7) | V |
| This dialect word for (… local) meaner is an anagram of (perturbing) TRIO OF E | |||
| 14a | ONCE ONE |
[E]at any time drink’s taken cold (4) | E |
| ONE (drink, as in a quick one) contains (‘s taken) C (cold) | |||
| 15a | T-BONE | Bet on changing st[r]eak (5) | R |
| BET ON, anagrammed (changing) | |||
| 17a | SAKAI SAKI |
New Zealand food[y] follows South African tribesman (5) | Y |
| KAI (New Zealand word for food) follows SA (South African. I can only find SA in Chambers as South Africa, but SOED gives South African also) | |||
| 18a | TERNES | Rotated in bunsen, re[s]trained covers with metal (6) | S |
| The answer is found reversed (rotated) in bunSEN RETrained | |||
| 19a | TERRAS TERAS |
Took exam about preserving s[p]in in rock (6) | P |
| SAT (took exam) reversed (about), containing (preserving) ERR (sin) | |||
| 20a | RED ANTS REDANS |
Insects coming from fortifications surrounding [E]ton (7, two words) | E |
| REDANS (fortifications) surrounding T (ton) | |||
| 24a | AURAS | Gold br[e]ast uncovered in occult emanations (5) | E |
| AU (gold), then bRASt without the outer letters (uncovered) | |||
| 25a | IN ALT | International [c]hides a learner ecstatically (5, two words) | C |
| INT (international) contains (hides) A + L (learner) | |||
| 27a | SHAMANS SAMANS |
Cooked has[h] strengthens medicine men (7) | H |
| An anagram of (cooked) HAS, plus MANS (strengthens) | |||
| 31a | DUALLY DULLY |
Insensibly grabs [m]ace in two ways (6) | M |
| DULLY (insensibly) contains (grabs) A (ace) | |||
| 33a | WARIER | Battle that is by re[a]ctor is more cautious (6) | A |
| A charade of WAR (battle), IE (that is), and R (rector) | |||
| 34a | EGGER EGER |
German follows For[d] example to become collector (5) | D |
| GER (German) follows EG (for example) to become a collector of eggs | |||
| 36a | CHIAO | Bit of Chinese once h[e]ard in greeting (5) | E |
| Old spelling of (… once) JIAO (bit of Chinese, monetary unit of China). H (hard, of pencil leads) goes in CIAO (greeting) | |||
| 37a | IONS INS |
Tur[i]n tin adding oxygen and iodine particles (4) | I |
| Reverse (turn) the combination of SN (Sn, tin), O (oxygen) and I (iodine) | |||
| 38a | REVERED | Highly regarded revolutionary [n]ever breaks (7) | N |
| RED (revolutionary), which EVER is inserted into (breaks) | |||
| 39a | DIME | Ma[r]ine follows gods for coin (4) | R |
| ME (Maine) follows DI (di or dei, gods, Latin) | |||
| 40a | DREES | Scottish bears g[o]od to relocate in their enclosures (5) | O |
| RE (also Ra, ancient Egyptian sun-god) moved in (to relocate in) REEDS (Scottish enclosures) | |||
| 41a | RESEDA | Pale green colour s[m]eared about (6) | M |
| SEARED, anagrammed (about) | |||
| Down | |||
| 1d | CLOSER | Narrower credit constrains former reputation and l[e]ast of shame (6) | E |
| CR (credit) contains (constrains) LOS (former — obsolete — reputation) and the last letter of shamE | |||
| 3d | RACKED RAKED |
Tormented king’s [s]in went quickly (6) | S |
| K (king) is in RACED (went quickly) | |||
| 4d | AREA ARE |
Unit of land appears twice in region[s] (4) | S |
| ARE (unit of land, 100 sq m) appears in full, and then appears again in its abbreviated form, A | |||
| 5d | ASTIR ASTI |
Lively wine precedes hint of [e]ructation (5) | E |
| ASTI (wine) precedes the first letter of (hint of) Ructation | |||
| 6d | SOOTS | Many left out after so[n] smears with dirt (5) | N |
| [l]OTS (many) without L (left out) after SO (from the clue) | |||
| 7d | TONED | Slightly t[a]inted denial spun by Spenser (5) | A |
| NOT (denial) reversed (spun) next to (by) ED (Edmund Spenser) | |||
| 8d | SIGNER | S[t]eal tenor away, right for one communicating without sound (6) | T |
| SIGNE[t](seal) without T (tenor away) + R (right) | |||
| 9d | SENECAN | S[e]en acne breaking out about native tribe (7) | E |
| SEN ACNE anagrammed (breaking out) | |||
| 10d | ERASES | Destroys [b]ears with change of heart and letter (6) | B |
| EARS with the middle two letters swapped around (with change of heart) and ES (letter S) | |||
| 13d | TERGUM | Soak up smear[y] back (6) | Y |
| RET (soak) reversed (up, in a down answer) + GUM (smear) | |||
| 16d | BOATS BOAS |
Beset by flying mammals, [c]over vessels (5) | C |
| Inside (beset by) BATS (flying mammals), we have O (over) | |||
| 21d | ENGAGED | Committed to political action, [A]run’s adherent of Charles I (7) | A |
| ENGAGÉ (committed to political action) + R (run) | |||
| 22d | ALLICE | Even[t] with cool fish (6) | T |
| ALL (even) with ICE (cool) | |||
| 23d | SHURA SURA |
S[o]ap around hot body in Afghanistan (5) | O |
| SURA (sap) around H (hot) | |||
| 25d | INWARD | In the mind, [t]win worked plough (6) | T |
| WIN anagrammed (worked) + ARD (plough) | |||
| 26d | ARRIVE | Get to Perth’s s[h]ame: about bishop, I see (6) | H |
| AE (Perth’s same, Scots word for same) around (about) RR (Bishop), I (from the clue), and V (vide, see, Latin) | |||
| 28d | ALGOID ALGID |
Confusing goal: di[e] back like seaweed (6) | E |
| An anagram of (confusing) GOAL, then DI (from the clue) reversed (back) | |||
| 29d | SARSEN | [E]space follows search and rescue society to reach stone block (6) | E |
| EN (printer’s space) follows SAR (search and rescue) plus S (society) | |||
| 30d | LEHRS | Ovens sel[l] all over the place, including Croatia (5) | L |
| SEL anagrammed (all over the place) containing (including) HR (Croatia, IVR, from Hrvatska) | |||
| 31d | DRIER | Maybe motorcyclist not verse[d] for more TT? (5) | D |
| DRI[v]ER (maybe motorcyclist) with no (not) V (verse) | |||
| 32d | AEONS EONS |
Bacchae: on[e] scene involves huge amounts of time (5) | E |
| BacchAE ON Scene includes (involves) the answer | |||
| 35d | GIDE IDE |
French writer [R]on discharged by Israeli judge (4) | R |
| ON removed from (discharged by) GIDE[ON] (Israeli judge) | |||
What a shame that this excellent analysis of a decent puzzle has had no comments so far. It’s a good thing that we’re spared the ill-mannered rants of some of the contributors to the Guardian threads, but it’s hard to understand why such an accomplished write-up of a good puzzle has so far been ignored. Here’s a thumbs-up from me, but I fear that won’t count for very much 🙁
Thanks, cruciverbophile. I totally agree with everything you say! I enjoyed this puzzle and thought it was all very deftly done.
I don’t know why EV threads get so little response, but I’ve often not commented myself as so-one else has – it’d feel like having a conversation in a totally empty room.
Kitty, thanks for the excellent blog.
Thanks, cruciverbophile and Caran. Rest assured, your comments mean plenty!
I knew when I started not too expect many comments on EV blogs. It’s not a big deal for my part, just a bit of a “meh” when there are none at all, but I do think it’s a shame for the setter. Still, I know lurkers do read and appreciate the blogs. Similarly, setters know that there are solvers quietly solving and enjoying the puzzles.
I’m also not a stranger to failing to comment on puzzles I’ve solved. I try to, but there are several reasons (which I won’t bore you with here) why I often don’t. (When I’ve visited the blogs on those occasions, I have to say that any comments about it being a shame there aren’t more comments make me feel rather guilty!)
Maybe there is a way to get more solvers commenting. In the meantime, I’m happy to value quality over quantity. 🙂
Thanks Kitty for the review and to cruciverbophile and Caran for commenting. It’s much appreciated and I’m glad you enjoyed the puzzle.
I enjoyed this very much, as I do most weeks with the EV. I didn’t know till just now that this site covered the EV.
This week’s puzzle was also brilliant, but I nearly gave up on it as it required far too much cold solving for my liking. After all it is supposed to be a CROSSword! I was persuaded to persevere by helpful comments on Crossword Help Forum and AnswerBank, and was very glad I did. Thanks to all the enthusiasts who contribute to these sites.