Two straight lines – straight clues but four identical quadrants for the 4 sets of clues to go into. Two words to be highlighted in the end – in two straight lines
Relatively straight forward clues and with each quadrant having the same layout, the fitting of the answers into subsequent quadrants did become easier once you realised the patterns to look for in the answers
The problem then became – which quadrant should be used for which set of clues. I spotted Vertical first to define the right hand side once I saw the Diagonal.
Set B in top left, Set D top right, Set A bottom left and Set C top right giving a final layout that reveals VERTICAL and DIAGONAL as the 2 straight lines to highlight orientated as you would expect:
And that was that – a well executed theme that did exactly what it said on the tin
Thanks Piccadilly
Key: * anagram; DD double definition; Underline definition; Rev. reversed
Set A
* Contralto interrupts drink to goddess (6)
c(contralto) in ale to = ALECTO
* Spearman raged uncontrollably (5)
(raged)* = EDGAR
* Having estates in Austrian province and East Germany (6)
land(Austrian province) + e(east) + D (Germany) = LANDED
* Sprawls languidly on large luxury steamer initially (5)
Languidly On Large Luxury Steamer = LOLLS
* Upper-class doctor in US city taking radius of lower back (6)
u (upper-class) + mb (doctor) in LA (Us city) + r (radius) = LUMBAR
* Speak affectedly of maiden in church (5)
m (maiden) + in + ce (church) = MINCE
* Some poets idolise returning lyricist (5)
Rev. hdden poeTS IDOlise = ODIST
* Flier’s exclamation of encouragement from Spanish outside South American city (6)
ole (exclamation of encouragement from Spanish) around Rio (SA city) = ORIOLE
* Tense men meeting member of clergy (6)
past (tense) + or (men) = PASTOR
* Afternoon nap is over before teas served (6)
Rev. is + (teas)* = SIESTA
* Indian princess in Ukraine provides name for Aphrodite (6)
rani (Indian prncess) in Ua (Ukraine) = URANIA
Set B
* Famous boxer older: not good excuse for failure (5)
ali (famous boxer) + big (older) = ALIBI
* As starter for picnic I see savoury jelly (5)
As + Picnic + I + c (see) = ASPIC
* A university in test turned out to be shrewd (6)
a + u (university) in (test)* = ASTUTE
* My soul reborn at last, something devoted to God (6)
Cor (my) + ba (soul) + reborn at last = CORBAN
* Glen I’d scoured providing fuel for Scots (6)
(Glen I’d)* ELDING
* Travelling salesman or rep back circling Dallas regularly (6)
Rev. Rep around DaLlAs = PEDLAR
* Alcohol store arranged by lecturer (6)
(store)* + l = STEROL
* Supply sulphur and eucalyptus for royal house (6)
S(sulphur) + Tuart (eucalyptus) = STUART
* Find fault with an old snare (6)
trap (find fault with) + an = TRAPAN
* Attempting, with no end of energy, to locate English town (5)
trying (attempting) – y = TRING
* Revolutionary toured destroying Eastern style of architecture (5)
(toured – e)* + TUDOR
Set C
* Dam set back in a canal (6)
Rev. in a + cut (canal) = ANICUT
* Name a poisonous plant (5)
Call (name) + a = CALLA
* Graduate with filling of gold inserted starts to resume showing teeth (6)
MA (graduate) around gold – gd + rs (starts to resume showing) = MOLARS
* Letter from overseas has paragraph about origin of hybrid water lily (6)
nu (letter from overseas) + par (paragraph) around h (origin of hybrid) = NUPHAR
* Love unaltered fertile place (5)
o (love) + as is (unaltered) = OASIS
* Parliamentarian lacking in gumption prepared for ejection (6)
(gumption – mp)* = OUTING
* Numerical calculators damaged, without clout in parts (6)
(calculators – clout)* = SCALAR
* Swimming, pee as circumventing a thresher shark (6, two words)
(pee as)* around a = SEA APE
* Earl held by sailors rages (5)
e (earl) in tars (sailors) = TEARS
* Papal office censored name from Tirana broadcast (5)
(Tirana – n)* = TIARA
* International organisation US once controlled (6)
(US once)* = UNESCO
Set D
* Atria rebuilt somewhere near Nagasaki (5)
(Atria)* = ARITA
* Turn aside seeing topless cave art (5)
cave – c + art – a = AVERT
* Coca invigorated around fifty-one making cloth (6)
(coca)* around li (fifty-one) = CALICO
* Create acrobatic position for dancer (6)
(create)* = ECARTE
* Shackleton, perhaps, having no time for birds (5)
Ernest (Shackleton) – = ERNES
* Sandarac tree found in outskirts of huge African city (6)
arar (Sandarac tree) in Huge – ug (outskirts) = HARARE
* Recurring musical phrases German chap included in manuscript (6)
Otto (German chap) in ms (manuscript) = MOTTOS
* Musical not recorded in Oregon (6)
live (not recorded) in Or (Oregon) = OLIVER
* Quickly redesign poster (6)
(poster)* = PRESTO
* Rogues swindle banks in Paris (6)
scam (swindle) in ps (banks in Paris) SCAMPS
* Jostle in seaside resort beneath sun (5)
s(sun) + Hove (seaside resort) = SHOVE
Thanks for the puzzle and the blog! I thought this was very accessible until… faced with 4!=24 permuations of the four sub-puzzles. Needs must so figured out how to copy/paste in a Google Doc table — and something on the DIAGONAL appeared
(minor typo correction: “lande(Austrian provinces) + D (Germany) = LANDED” should be “land(Austrian provinces) + E (East) + D (Germany) = LANDED”
On my run through all the clues I solved only six or seven in each quadrant, but, taking each set in turn, I found that I had enough in each of them to fit the pieces together and complete it correctly.
After completing Sets A and B I noticed DIAG in a diagonal of Set B, and I guessed then that Set B probably belonged in the NW. I was going to work on Set C next anyway, and I saw the possibility of having OASIS and OUTING crossing in the top left corner, giving me the ‘O’ of DIAGONAL, and when that set was complete I could form a diagonal ‘straight line’ going SE. With only two arrangements now possible it was easy to find the other word, VERTICAL, and complete the jigsaw. A satisfying result
Thanks to Piccadilly and twencelas.
Thanks Ilan @1 was using my German to pluralise something that wasn’t. Have corrected it.
A gentle bit of entertainment. Finding vertical was reasonably swift but diagonal took longer – spent a while hunting for synonyms of horizontal. Thanks Piccadilly and twencelas.
I approached this in a similar vein to Ilan Caron, although I was more old-school (Excel, although I did consider just cutting up my working copy and moving things around manually). I typed up the initial grid, wrote some formulae/did a bit of manual work to do the 24 permutations…then found the DIAGONAL/VERTICAL in the 16th.
A relatively gentle workout, but enjoyable and an interesting device – thanks to setter and blogger.
I enjoyed it very much. Have not seen the 4 in one device before. Thanks Piccadilly and twencelas.