Welcome to the new year everyone. Tops and tails has 8 clues with wordplay having an extra letter and these need to be rearranged to show something connecting 6 unclued down answers – comprising two overlapping words.
Pretty straightforward it was – a pleasant introduction to the new year
The extra letters could be rearranged to MERMAIDS which neatly have tops of women and tails of fish – hence the unclued downs are women’s names merged with fish.
In normal clue order:
SIAN / ANCHOVY
AILSA / SALMON
YASMIN/ MINNOW
NATASHA/ SHARK
ISABEL/ BELUGA
ELEANOR/ ORFE
And that was that – neat, tidy and very pleasing. Thanks Piccadily
Key: * anagram, DD double definition; Rev. Reversed ; Underline definition
ACROSS
1 Writer erases working about close of day (7)
(erases + y)* = ESSAYER
6 Obstruct pasture being used for grain (6)
bar (obstruct) + ley (pasture) = BARLEY
M 9 Part of plant sadly misspelt with only one S (6)
(mispelt)* = STIPEL
10 Good health in New Zealand leads to knight in armour overcoming Russian adversary (6)
leads to knight in armour overcoming Russian adversary = KIAORA
I 11 Part of group is to list weapons (7)
Hidden grouP IS TO LISt = PISTOLS
12 Confusing names, I start to accept memory loss (7)
(names + I + a)* = AMNESIA
S 13 Place in Massachusetts miles east of mud volcano (5)
salse (mud volcano) + m (miles) = SALEM
E 15 Diplomacy expert used between Trinidad and Tobago (4)
ace (expert) in TT = TACT
16 Soul of a bird returned (5)
Rev a mina (bird) = ANIMA
17 Needing pound, Miles refurbished house informally (4)
(miles – l)* = SEMI
A 19 Trench beside a stream (3)
sap (trench) + a = SPA
R 20 Blast of little duration (4)
DD short (little duration) = SHOT
21 Some jostled outside entrance to private racecourse (5)
(some)* around p = EPSOM
D 23 Cook bread for biblical character (4)
Do (cook) + nan (bread) = ONAN
24 Vile house demolished: I use detached shed (5)
(vile house – i – use)* = HOVEL
26 Old note gypsies brought back for ladies’ man (7)
Rev o(old) + so (note) + roma (gypsies) = AMOROSO
27 Dried fruit, present for auditor (7)
Homonym of current (present) = CURRANT
28 Deny government replacing 160 needing asylum (6)
refute(deny) swapping g (government) for t (160) = REFUGE
M 29 Sporty fans met Edberg possibly (6)
(met fans)* = STEFAN
30 Asian finding peace at last in holy book (6)
Koran (holy book) around e (peace at last) = KOREAN
31 Weaving threads, most laborious (7)
(threads)* = HARDEST
DOWN
2 Opening church shows courage (7)
stoma (opening) + ch (church) = STOMACH
3 Primate holding tame animal: it exhibits desire for food (8)
ape (primate) Around pet (tame animal) + it = APPETITE
4 Lines up awl in Peebles (5)
(lines)* = ELSIN
5 Artist volunteers to depict antipodean tree (4)
Ra (artist) + Ta (volunteers) = RATA
7 Regularly treats Ethiopian prince (3)
tReAtS = RAS
8 Piece of poetry, not very Irish (4)
verse (piece of poetry) – v (very) = ERSE
10 Indian dish of water cock containing last of marjoram (5)
kora( water cock) around m (last of marjoram) = KORMA
14 Classified rogue asteroids (all but one) (8)
(asteroids – i)* = ASSORTED
18 Mama is ailing, ingesting sulphur, producing unwholesome airs (7)
(mama + is)* around = MIASMAS
19 Coil long slender stalk (5)
DD SPIRE
22 Parts of ruminants: some pass gas endlessly (5)
sOMe pASs gAs = OMASA
25 Printed picture over star sign (4)
o (over) + leo (star sign) = OLEO
26 Chief magistrate of ancient Athens not working (4)
archon (magistrate – Athens) – on (no working) = ARCH
27 It signals beginning of action or beginning of quest (3)
DD CUE
I rather enjoyed this despite the fact that the instructions included the requirement to make an anagram of the extra letters rather than allowing us to read them in sequence. (Hiding the key or pointer via an anagram effectively requires that all and only the correct letters are found, whereas a hidden instruction, for example. would be less demanding.)
I solved all the clues except 19a, and, ignoring the anagram, I took advantage of the good checking ratio of the unclued Down lights to fill in some overlapping sea creatures and female names. From the seven extra letters I had collected I could then see that the theme-word MERMAIDS could be formed, and that fact enabled me to go back to 19a SPA, solve it and pick up the missing A. A perfectly formed crossword after all (and I now know that ‘sap’ is a trench and ‘spa’ is a stream)!
The theme was implemented very neatly in a symmetrical grid and contributed to an interesting and entertaining puzzle.
Thanks to Piccadilly and twencelas.
A fun solve. No doubt deliberately, the across clues were mostly generous, helpful as the number of down thematic entries meant cross-checking was less than usual. I had a full grid before I worked out the theme word, at which point the down thematics yielded quite quickly and made the cleverness of the title apparent. Thanks to Piccadilly for the entertainment and to twencelas for the blog.
For the first time I made serious inroads into an ev crossword.although not completing it ,I. Feel more confident in tackling another one! Thanks to the setter and blogs.
Enjoyed puzzle – can usually solve Piccadilly efforts. Had to guess the spa/sap one. Liked the over-lapping and the title.
Thanks Piccadilly and twencelas.