Pick A LETTER, any letter, says Piccadilly – there’s 26 of them to choose from!
The (fairly complex) preamble states that:
“For each clue, A LETTER must be omitted from the answer wherever it occurs and placed at either end of the row/column; the leftmost/uppermost omitted letters are to be placed in the leftmost/uppermost cell in the row/column. Definitions in clues refer to the full answer, while wordplay and the number in brackets refer to the grid entry. The three unclued answers have something in common and are treated in the same way as clued answers. The perimeter cells, reading clockwise from top left, spell out (with reference to one unclued answer) what must be entered in the central cell. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; contents of the three shaded cells confirm the source material.”
The ‘move one letter to the perimeter’ device is quite a regular sight, but the three unclued entries and the highlighted and barred off cells add an extra level to this puzzle.
I dabbled with this on the Sunday evening of publication, and then focussed on it on the train to and from work on the Monday. My solving notes indicate that by the time I got to work I had ‘most of the top half ‘of the grid – including what was probably an unclued ‘EZRA’ – making me wonder if we were looking at something biblical, or Ezra Pound – could the three highlighted letters be L, S and D??
By the time I got home – so two hours of travelling, but about an hour of focussed solving – I had the perimeter, and what I thought was everything except 23D and the central letter. However, it turned out I had compromised 23D by assuming 25A was (I)SAAC – another biblical name(?!)…
So I spent a good while trying to parse 23D with ?CRASD – the RAS was the prince, and an SCD is a Doctor of Science – which could be a post-graduate degree – so it had to be composite of SCRASD interspersed with 1/2/3 or more E’s…but I couldn’t find anything to match this pattern, let alone anything linked to Scottish dialect for ‘flatter’.
Given the likely biblical connotations of the names TITUS, EZRA and ISAAC I had an educated guess that the central letter might be J, to make up KJV – King James Version – with the other two shaded letters. But I still couldn’t explain 23D.
And what about the perimeter?! ‘LETTER NOT APPEARING IN ELEVEN (EZRA) SEVEN (MOUSSAKA) TWENTY-ONE (DEALER)’. But there are loads of letters that don’t appear in those three words. So, maybe it is Roman numerals – XI, VII and XXI. But that leaves L, C and D (at least) that don’t appear….
At this point, I resigned myself to not completing this for submission, and posting an incomplete blog, asking for help. So I put the puzzle aside, but kept coming back to it to see if my subconscious had worked anything out in the meantime. A few Wiki-oogle searches for EZRA, TITUS, ISAAC and ‘letters’ didn’t throw up anything of significance…until I almost accidentally tripped over a search for EZRA and LETTER and KJV – to discover that there is a paragraph (7:21) in the Book of Ezra which uses all the letters of the alphabet apart from ‘J’:
“And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily…”
(So ‘seven’ and ‘twenty-one’ had nothing to do with ‘moussaka dealers’ – another interesting Go-ogle search! – but instead gave a geeky fact that Suzie Dent herself would be proud of!)
And at some point I revisited ISAAC/SCD and post-graduate qualifications to come up with PHD and the possibility of ISAIAH – which led me to PHRASED for flattery and – finally! – a completed grid…just in time for submission, and saving this blogger’s blushes:
(NB. I am guessing TITUS and ISAIAH are there because they are associated with biblical letters/epistles, in keeping with the theme and as some gentle distraction?)
Many thanks to Piccadilly for a multi-level and educational puzzle – lots of enjoyment in solving, and then in picking through the parsing to produce the blog. Some nice clue readings, and several clever ‘subtractive double definitions’ (if that isn’t a technical cruciverbal term already, then hopefully it is now!).
I trust all is clear below, and I haven’t missed any more subtleties…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Entry | Clue (definition underlined) / Logic/Parsing (wordplay leads to adjusted entry, not original solution) |
|
| 1 | ENCIRCLE | NCIRCL | Go around Catholic clubs separately in Northern Ireland (6) / N_IR_L (Northern Ireland) interrupted separately by C (Catholic) and C (clubs) |
|
| 5 | LIMPET | LIMET | Lecturer I encountered is someone hard to get rid of (5) / L (lecturer) + I + MET (encountered) |
|
| 9 | ABUNA | ABUA | Ethiopian patriarch Abdullah rejecting Delilah, oddly (4) / AB( |
|
| 10 | PLEASURE | LEASURE | Open country certain to provide recreation (7) / LEA (meadow, open country) + SURE (certain) |
|
| 13 | OSWALD | SWALD | Boy rejected rules to meet daughter (5) / SWAL (laws, or rules, rejected, or reversed) + D (daughter) |
|
| 14 | SNEEZE | SNZ | Thebes, Aswan, Suez – last places to find cold symptom (3) / last letters of ‘thebeS aswaN, sueZ |
|
| 15 | GWILYM | GWILM | Welshman giving Wilma embraces (5) / hidden word in, i.e. embraced by, ‘givinG WILMa |
|
| 16 | TESSERA | TESSER | Doctor resets password (6) / anag, i.e. doctor, of RESETS |
|
| 17 | TIGHTS | IGHS | Some cash given back for legwear (4) / reversed hidden word, i.e. ‘some’ and ‘back’, in ‘caSH GIven’ |
|
| 19 | BUSTARDS | BUSTADS | Vigorous dust-baths avoided by most of the birds (7) / anag, i.e. vigorous, of DUSTBA( |
|
| 24 | NANTUCKET | ATUCKET | Distressed teak cut in location off New England coast (7) / anag, i.e. distressed, of TEAK CUT |
|
| 25 | ISAIAH | SAAH | See preamble (4) / Thematic deduction – not ISAAC/SAAC…! |
|
| 26 | EGGSHELL | GGSHLL | Grand German quietly heads for Limoges, loving porcelain (6) / G (grand) + G (German) + SH (quiet!) + LL (first letters, or heads, of Limoges Loving) |
|
| 29 | LANTERN | LATER | Less advanced source of light (5) / subtractive double defn. – LANTERN is a source of light; and LATER could be ‘less advanced’ |
|
| 30 | WILL | ILL | Choose badly (3) / subtractive double defn. – to WILL could be to choose; and ILL can be ‘badly’ |
|
| 31 | GARIAL | ARIAL | Reptile makes a den to the west (5) / A + RIAL (lair, or den, reversed, or ‘to the west’) |
|
| 33 | BOTTLED UP | BOLED UP | Quaint old pub, hosting earl, replenished stock behind bar (7, two words) / BOL_D UP (anag, i.e. quaint, of OLD PUB) around (hosting) E (earl) |
|
| 34 | TOPIS | TOPS | Covers hats (4) / another subtractive double defn.! – TOPIS are a type of hat; and TOPS can be covers |
|
| 35 | VENDEE | VEDEE | Regularly defend heavy backing for buyer (5) / reversed, or backing, regular letters from ‘dEfEnD hEaVy’ |
|
| 36 | NOSEBAND | OSEBAD | Bone bead fashioned for part of harness (6) / OS (bone) + EBAD (anag, i.e. fasioned, of BEAD) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Entry | Clue (definition underlined) / Logic/Parsing (wordplay leads to adjusted entry, not original solution) |
|
| 1 | NARGILE | NARGIE | Pipe wearing out loses bit of water (6) / anag, i.e. out, of ( |
|
| 2 | TITUS | IUS | See preamble (3) / Thematic deduction |
|
| 3 | TRAWLS | RAWLS | With these nets he could supply whalers (5) / subtractive anagram, i.e. could supply, of W( |
|
| 4 | CLAMBAKE | CLAMBAK | American’s picnic in Alaska – cold meat served first (7) / C (cold) + LAMB (meat) + AK (Alaska) |
|
| 5 | LARDER | LADE | Take cargo aboard, and a stock of provisions (4) / subtractive double defn. – to LADE is to take cargo on board; and a LARDER is a stock of provisions |
|
| 6 | INSISTS | ISISTS | Firmly maintains Egyptian goddess ousted daughter of Zeus from ancient city (6) / ISIS (Egyptian goddess) + T( |
|
| 7 | MOUSSAKA | MUSSAKA | Greek dish of bananas elevated spirits when swallowed (7) / MUS_A (the banana genus) around (swallowing) SAK (kas, or Egyptian souls/spirits, elevated) |
|
| 8 | TERNE | ERNE | Alloy with a smidgin of gold could become green (4) / subtractive anagram, i.e. could become, of ( |
|
| 11 | EZRA | EZR | See preamble (3) / Thematic deduction |
|
| 12 | NEWGATE | NWGAT | Badly want leader of gang inside prison (5) / NW_AT (anag, i.e. badly, of WANT) around G (first letter, or ;leader, of Gang) |
|
| 18 | HOUSELLED | HOUSLLD | Administered Eucharist to disturbed soul in empty hospital ward, finally (7) / H_L (empty HospitaL) around OUSL (anag, i.e. disturbed, of SOUL), plus D (final letter of warD) |
|
| 20 | SWEETLIPS | SWTLIPS | Fish moves quietly around edges of waterfront (7) / S_LIPS (moves quietly) around WT (edges, or outer letters, of WaterfronT) |
|
| 21 | DEALER | DEAER | Trader accepted among suppliers of venison (5) / DE_ER (suppliers, albeit unwillingly!, of venison) around A (accepted) |
|
| 22 | SUCHNESSES | UCHNEE | Qualities once seen in university hence restored (6) / U (university) + CHNEE (anag, i.e. restored, of HENCE) |
|
| 23 | PHRASED | PHRASD | Glaswegian flattered prince sporting postgraduate qualification (6) / PH_D (postgraduate qualification) around RAS (Ethiopian prince) |
|
| 25 | SAVATE | SAATE | A method of fighting developed at sea (5) / anag, i.e. developed, of AT SEA |
|
| 26 | GIBE | GIB | Taunt a discarded tomcat (3) / subtractive double defn. – to GIBE is to taunt; and a GIB is obsolete, i.e. discarded, for a tomcat |
|
| 27 | GLOVE | GLOE | Box, good moves to the head – using this? (4) / LO( |
|
| 28 | LADEN | LADE | Burdened stableman with last of manure (4) / LAD (stableman) + E (last letter of manure!) |
|
| 32 | LOBE | LOB | Timber wolf in the Rockies lacking end part of ear (3) / LOB( |
|
Good blog mc. I was with you in trying to understand EZRA MOUSSAKA DEALER before the penny dropped.
A good challenge from Piccadilly and the geeky fact was a welcome bonus.
In the days when the Guinness records book contained a section on words and language this was a perennial entry. Very enjoyable puzzle, I thought, with the thematic idea cleverly utilised.
Thanks for the comments/feedback – and glad to know I wasn’t the only one, Cap’n’ P’ng’n!
NB. I have noticed that there are only two Js in the clues – ‘rejecting’ in 9A and ‘rejected’ in 13A… If these had been replaced by non-J words – maybe ‘ignoring’ and ‘reversed'(?) – the clues would have matched the thematic text!…