The 3rd of September’s easier clued EV’s is from Piccadilly. All clues are normal, but grid entry requires letter removal and insertion in the perimeter to spell out four-letter words which combine to produce eight letter words.
As to easier – I’m not too sure it was. Maybe I just wasn’t on Piccadilly’s wavelength but I wouldn’t have classed this as on the easy side – certainly the clues were not overly accessible in my opinion, though there were a reasonable number of anagrams (which can be a good starting point for any puzzle). I’m sure the large number of obscure words and definitions will have reduced the number successfully completing it – the dropping of letters from the entries meant even the easy clues required harder clues to be solved before they could be entered. Not a gripe I would normally have, but in light of this months objective for the puzzle, I felt the need to comment. The editor will have seen if the entries are up, down or at a similar level. 13dn was a lovely clue.
Back to the puzzle – once the extra letters started to form around the perimeter the four letter words that could be combined to 8 letter ones with their adjacent neighbours were
TURN OVER HEAD SHOT SILK WORM WOOD WORK SHOP TALK SHOW DOWN TURN etc.
And that was that.
Thanks Piccadilly – one very much for word lovers. Personally I love the ones with more hidden in the final grid, but that is just my taste. That was what got me into these puzzles, reading the independent magazine in the nineties and marvelling at the solutions to the puzzles, aspiring one day to be able to get to that final step through the mire of the clues. It took quite some time to get there and my joy is with the magical PDM when the compiler’s hidden device reveals itself. Maybe something to consider would be an easier clued puzzle with a more complex end game? One for the logical puzzler to savour.
Key: * anagram; rev. reversed; DD double definition; underline – definition
Across
1 Is not able to sell by auction (4)
DD CANT
5 A thin leg excited former heir apparent (8)
(A thin leg)* = ATHELING
11 Sounded weary, regular letters not reciprocated (6)
sOuNdEd WeArY (regular) = ONE-WAY
12 Garage finally, after a month, all right to clean eg engine (6)
Dec (month) + ok (fine) + e (garage finally) = DECOKE
14 Villein first to capture aquatic mammal (6)
C (first to capture) + otter (aquatic mammal) = COTTER
16 Language used in calypso thoughtlessly (5)
Hidden calypSO THOughtlessly = SOTHO
17 The drum’s torn badly: it might be noisy (12)
(the drums torn)* = THUNDERSTORM
18 Entered to win ten pounds (8, two words)
(to win ten)* = WENT INTO
20 I sort out rare bits of statues (5)
(I sort)* = TORSI
21 Almost free, sane, and ready for action (11)
Open (free) – n + rational (sane) = OPERATIONAL
25 Herb, once your mate, on vacation (5)
Thy (your) + me (mate on vacation) = THYME
26 Cowboy introducing tailless deer to South African pastoral tableland (8)
Buck(deer) – k + karoo (South African pastoral tableland) = BUCKAROO
28 The old car was abandoned somewhere in Yorkshire (12, two words)
(the old car was)* = CASTLE HOWARD
31 One non-drinker enters Kentucky to find Jack (5)
I (one) + tt (non-drinker) in Ky (Kentucky) = KITTY
33 Essential school class one left (6)
Form (school classs) + a (onbe) + l (left) = FORMAL
35 Textile fibre could be palest (6)
(palest)* = STAPLE
36 Witch-hazel gradually returned, hiding Scott’s dell (6)
Rev. hidden witch-hazEL GRADually = DARGLE
37 Something bought from caller aroused Estella to ecstasy (8)
(Estella)* + e (ecstasy) = TELESALE
38 A medley of leguminous trees? Not quite (4)
Mesquites (leguminous trees) – quite = MESS
Down
1 Part of ploughshare awful to clue, right? (7)
(to clue) + r (right) = COULTER
2 Stock farm resolved anarchy, expelling a Yankee (5)
(anarchy – ay)* = RANCH
3 Red wine knight brought into festival (4)
N(knight) in Tet (festival) = TENT
4 Old Bill up north showing police truncheon (5)
Rev.[ o (old) + tab (bill) ] n (north) = BATON
6 Time to return incomplete and damaged part of lathe (6)
(t + return – n)* = TURRET
7 Press chief making men follow unusual diet (6)
(diet)* + OR (men) = EDITOR
8 Drunkard Henry swallowed by lion, African country revealed (7)
Sot (drunkard) + h (henry) in Leo (lion) = LESOTHO
9 Finishes off retsina again: Greek patriarch is cross (4)
Ends of retsinA agaiN greeK patriarcH = ANKH
10 Hollow ironstone nodules, rough edges with nothing inside (6)
(edges)* around o (nothing) = GEODES
13 Crosby perhaps runs down person investigating death (7)
Crooner(Crosby perhaps) moving r (run down) = CORONER
15 European nut in V&A displays stringed instrument (5)
E (European) + en (nut) in V&A = VEENA
19 The postgraduate volunteers to provide subjects for discussion (7)
The + ma (post graduate) + ta (volunteers) = THEMATA
22 Misspelling ‘perseity’ I ignored what keyboard operator does next (7)
(perseity – i)* = RETYPES
23 Pick the sore endlessly: this might ooze from it (5)
pICk tHe sORe endlessly = ICHOR
24 Prince followed by many lackeys (7)
P (prince) + oodles(many) = POODLES
25 Bureaucrat sadly past it (6)
(past it)* = TAPIST
26 More than one man in Scotland vomits across loch (6)
Bokes (Scotland vomits) around l (loch) = BLOKES
27 UEFA not active in game league finds deplorable (6)
UEFA – a (active) in RU (game) + l (league) = RUEFUL
29 Reverse side of coin without king or queen, perhaps (5)
Wo (without) + man (king or queen perhaps) = WOMAN
30 Registers actors’ parts on air (5)
Homonym of roles = ROLLS
32 Starts to take on the extra burden (4)
Starts to Take On The Extra = TOTE
34 Old artist, no saint, in the ascendant (4)
Rev. Degas (old artist) – s (saint) = AGED
Agreed, twencelas. The new solvers commenting on the hints on Big Dave’s site didn’t think this was particularly easy as one of the ‘September’ easier ones, especially with the need to understand about those series of four letters that could combine into eights. However, as you also say, the joy of the p.d.m. is what gives the EV crosswords that extra pleasure for solvers. We liked the CROONER becoming a CORONER too. Many thanks for the blog.
I didn’t think this was all that easy either, but still enjoyed it. Labelling a puzzle “easy” can lower expectations so that it seems more difficult than it is, perhaps!
Well, I found this progressed quite steadily from the top left to the bottom right, where I got temporarily stuck on two or three clues before completing the puzzle. CASTLE HOWARD was a fairly late entry too. (A fellow-solver thought it should be CATHEDRAL SOW, that unfamiliar porcine mascot in York Minster.)
One benefit to the solver of this particular kind of thematic design is that every solved clue contributes to the perimeter text, allowing almost the whole perimeter to be filled.
I very much liked the way the eight-letter words overlapped all the way round. I didn’t know that ‘head shot’ was actually a thing, but it’s in the dictionary. And ‘shot silk’ was new to me too.
Thanks to Piccadilly for the puzzle and twencelas for the blog.
The promise of a few easier puzzles in September has tempted me into giving the EV a go. So far so good, although I have no idea where this one sits on the typical EV difficulty scale. I began by solving as many clues as possible without reference to the grid. Then, with all but six answers in hand and armed with a pencil, I began filling the grid attempting to remove letters in a way that allowed intersecting answers to fit. With most of my six outstanding answers clustered in the SW of the grid that part of the solve became a word equivalent of sudoku, with several squares narrowed down to only a pair of letters. Some trawling through Chambers to check likely candidate words, aided by the preamble’s statement that the outer rows and columns had to form a sequence of four-letter words, eventually yielded a complete and fully-parsed grid with sensible words around the perimeter. Several clues produced smiles, with 11a, 15a, 38a, 4d, and 24d worth special mention. Thanks to Piccadilly for some fine entertainment and to twencelas for the blog.
I enjoyed this (despite temporarily disappearing down a WORMHOLE in the SE corner). Possibly not as straightforward as others during this month, but we’ve seen a range of puzzle types that I hope will have drawn newcomers in, and perhaps prepared them for whatever stiffer challenges the editor has in mind for the next few weeks.
Cleverly constructed perimeter and some carefully placed ambiguities in the letters to be moved, making for an entertaining challenge. Creating a grid with entries to deliver the right moving letters was quite a feat, so my hat off to Piccadilly.