A central area that needs letters to move to the top/bottom/ left or right and the wordplay and then something else to consider with the normal clues.
Some relatively straight forward clues with only a small number of trickier ones.
Filling the grid revealed JOHNNY (top) PONYBOY (left), SODAPOP (right) and DALLAS (bottom). Which meant nothing to me, so the great google was required to identify The Outsiders by S.E Hinton as this week’s theme.
What to make of the normal clues based on the Outsiders theme – well first and last letters spelt the message to complete the puzzle. SHADE THE LAST NAME OF THE AUTHOR IN THE GRID. the author’s name appearing in the penultimate column of the completed grid HINTON
Thanks Gila an educational and fun puzzle.
Key:
Rev. reverse; * anagram; DD Double definition; Underline definition
Column 1 – letters to move to top/bottom row or left/right side
Column 2 – 1st and last letters of normal clues
| Across | ||
| SH | 1 Start to feast, then show proof of having the biggest stomach (7) | |
| F (start to feast) + attest (show proof of) = FATTEST | ||
| AD | 6 An instrument made from extremely corrosive steel dissolved (7) | |
| (ce (extremely corrosive) + steel)* = CELESTE | ||
| P | 12 Accepted housing payment from Mum and Dad (7) | |
| a (accepted) + rental (housing payment) = ARENTAL pARENTAL | ||
| S | 13 Free lunch with limitless beer? It’s a fallacy! (7) | |
| (lunch + ee)* = ELENCHU ELENCHUs | ||
| O | 14 Forest boss somehow drew almost all the time (7) | |
| (drew)* + ever (all of the time) – r = WDREEVE WoodREEVE | ||
| O | 16 Empty hotel takes time to warm and dry (5) | |
| H (hotel) + t(time) + air (to warm and dry) = HTAIR HoTAIR | ||
| N D | 17 Saunter with an earl now and then (4) | |
| w (with) + a + EaRl (now and then) = WAER WAndER | ||
| Y A | 18 Exalt and move others with content of pure hymn (14, four words) | |
| lift up (exalt) + (others)* around ur (content of pure) = LIFT UP OUR HERTS LIFT UP yOUR HEaRTS | ||
| B P | 23 Slaver is travelling west to enter Egypt (4) | |
| Rev. is in Et (Egypt) = ESIT bESpIT | ||
| O O | 28 Targets often blocked by resistance fighters in Spain (5) | |
| TaRgEtS around r (resistance) = TRERS ToRERoS | ||
| O | 29 Frantic entries arriving late (7) | |
| (entries)* = SERTINE SERoTINE | ||
| Y | 30 Writer’s thesis – at its heart – set forth words in the manner of Milton (7) | |
| es (thesis at it’s heart) + saist (sets forth in words in the manner of Milton) = ESSAIST ESSAyIST | ||
| P | 31 When swimming, release fishing equipment (7) | |
| (release)* = EELSEAR EELSpEAR | ||
| ET | 32 Extremely abridged final section of recipe includes a beer that’s left to ferment (7, two words) | |
| really (extremely) – y + e (final section of recipe) around a = REAL ALE | ||
| HE | 33 Horticultural equipment badly encased in pine? (7) | |
| ill (badly) in tree (pine) = TREILLE | ||
| DOWN | ||
| LA | 1 Light grey and a little bit of white seen in the tail-fluke of an orca? (4) | |
| w (bit of white) in fan (tail-fluke of an orca?) = FAWN | ||
| ST | 2 Surprising raid captures Republican Irish leader at one point (5) | |
| (raid)* around r(republican) = ARDRI | ||
| NA | 3 Name of territory on the westernmost tip of Montana (4) | |
| ter (territory) on m (tip of Montana) = TERM | ||
| J D | 4 Parisian fountain frequently let up when full of leaves (5, two words) | |
| lEt Up aroud tea (leaves) = ET EAU jET d’EAU | ||
| O | 5 American relish is chiefly spicy and very red (4) | |
| chiefly (i.e. first of) spicy and very red = SAVR SAVoR | ||
| N | 7 Distraught First Lady gets left inside (4) | |
| Eve (first lady) around l (left) = ELVE ELVEn | ||
| ME | 8 Make earnest requests of nurse after nurse! (7) | |
| En (nurse) + treat (nurse) = ENTREAT | ||
| OF | 9 Outer edges of schooner getting caught on a reef (4) | |
| sr (outer edges of schooner) around c(caught) + a = SCAR | ||
| TH | 10 To reduce thickness, aim to get rid of a bit of girth (4) | |
| DD THIN | ||
| EA | 11 Ecstasy and wraps of other uppers dealt out for cash in Ibiza (5) | |
| E (ecstasy) + (orus)* [wraps of OtheR UpperS = EUROS | ||
| N L | 13 Old Greek letter and French boxes put in a strongroom (5) | |
| et (and French) around vau (old Greek letter) = EVAUT EnVAUlT | ||
| UT | 15 Unrest in Tehran principally leads to delight (7) | |
| (Tehran + l)* = ENTHRAL | ||
| H L | 17 One believing in complete systems without initially investigating Smuts’ theories (5) | |
| wo(without) + ist (initially investigating Smuts’ theories) = WOIST = WhOlIST | ||
| HO | 18 Hang around, having failed to get one’s first ‘L’ in Chicago? (5) | |
| loiter (hang around) – o (one’s first) = LITER | ||
| YS | 19 Broad, flat sticks deprive horse racing fence of depth (5) | |
| hurdle (horse racing fence) – d (depth) = HURLE HURLEys | ||
| RI | 20 Re: the sound quality – at the beginning, the organ notes are lo-fi (5) | |
| The Organ Notes Are Lo-fi = TONAL | ||
| NT | 21 No tense is evident in succinct Celtic dialect (4) | |
| terse (succinct) – t (tense) = ERSE | ||
| HE | 22 Hill formed as part of some sandstone? (4) | |
| Hidden soME SAndstone = MESA | ||
| A | 24 Small island is the source of material for making rope (4) | |
| S(small) + isl (island) = SISL SISaL | ||
| A | 25 One who recognises an edible shell (4, two words) | |
| DD SEER SeA EaR | ||
| GR | 26 German city – one featuring in Moonraker? (4) | |
| DD KIEL (Actor in Moonraker) | ||
| ID | 27 In this circumstance, a guy occasionally cried (4) | |
| he (a guy) + cRiEd = HERE | ||
This was a little bit of a toughie for me. Got there in the end, like the blogger I needed Google as The Outsiders was not on my cultural radar at all. Some very nice clues from Gila, all with flowing surfaces. I couldn’t parse the Moonraker clue at 26D so my thanks for clearing that up. Thanks as ever to blogger and setter for the write-up and the fun.
Educational and fun sums this one up for me too. Glad I’m not the only one who had to google the names to identify the theme (and understand KIEL).
Thanks Gila and twencelas.
10D is also THING (aim) – G (a bit of girth) so partially &lit.
Put me on the list of people who had to google the names.