“In 27 clues an extra letter (always in the wordplay part) must be discarded before solving, thereby completing most of A PROCESS OF ELIMINATION; another to be eliminated must be removed from the grid. The finisher must be revealed by replacing an appropriate word (six cells). The theme must be highlighted in the grid, apart from the 1st, 5th and 14th (last) letters. Finally, the two parts must be linked by adding a bar and then both parts embellished (in the solver’s own style) to depict the finisher. All changes leave real words; Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Well, I loved this one (not that I haven’t loved others!).
The theme was the RAINHILL TRIALS, in which five locomotives ran: PERSERVERANCE, NOVELTY, CYCLOPED, SANS PAREIL (to be removed from the grid), and ROCKET (to replace WINNER). Following the preamble directions gives a picture of the finisher.
Unfortunately, I cannot parse 38ac or 3dn.
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Notation | |
|---|---|
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Homophone | “WORD” |
| Letter to be removed | pleading |
| Cells to be altered | WEAVERS |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Join up with < DECCA (navigator) [returning] to E (Spain) (6) | ACCEDE | |
| P | 6 | Birds [mostly] AVERS |
WEAVERS |
| 12 | CL |
CLARINI | |
| E | 13 | Whitish |
LIGHT |
| R | 14 | Slang CANT (word meaning learn) (4) | CANT |
| 15 | More ingenious [doctor] TREATIN |
NATTIER | |
| S | 16 | Shabby TWO (braces) [found in] O (old) URN (vessel) (7) | OUTWORN |
| E | 18 | Nerve STEE |
STEEL |
| V | 19 | Machine [returned] < TO (Vat) [on] ROB (bag) (5) | ROBOT |
| E | 20 | SEES (Calls one) [comprehending] L (Latin) Monica? (5) | SELES |
| 21 | Yields from R |
RENDERS | |
| R | 23 | SPARE | |
| 27 | NASTILY* [disposed]? On the contrary (7) | SAINTLY | |
| A | 30 | TE ( |
TEEND |
| N | 31 | B ([What’s initiated] B |
BLEAR |
| 32 | Smells from US |
ODORS | |
| C | 35 | [With RR (two crooks), TRIES* [to explode] incendiary (7) | STIRRER |
| 36 | Careless, < GEN (low-down), [flipping] LIG (idle) E (European) (7) | NEGLIGE | |
| E | 37 | Enthusiastic about |
INTO |
| 38 | Reduce ex wife’s exhausting expenditure (5) | DRAIN | |
| N | 39 | Inexperienced ILL (band); |
ILL-SEEN |
| O | 40 | MoAN* [about] [dons] ESSE (being) all together in The Sorbonne (7, two words) | EN MASSE |
| 41 | Words spoken quietly AS (when) [encountering] IDES (fish) (6) | ASIDES | |
| Down | |||
| 1 | ACC (Accompanied) [by] |
ACCOASTS | |
| V | 2 | Articles CLAUS (Santa perhaps) [vends in] |
CLAUSES |
| E | 3 | Ceases to stock parasitic tree yielding special fibre (7) | CANTALA |
| 4 | Bit of turf DIV (fool) [shortened] OT |
DIVOT | |
| L | 5 | Access EN (nurse) [by] TREE (bell?) (6) | ENTREE |
| T | 7 | One who facilitates tEN |
ENABLER |
| Y | 8 | {TEN EARLy}* [crackers] [for] plant community (7) | ALTERNE |
| 9 | Means of protection [used by] |
EGIS | |
| C | 10 | RHETOR | |
| 11 | TRUST (Hope) [to have S (sun) higher] [for] parade (5) | STRUT | |
| 17 | People BO (smell) DI |
BODIES | |
| Y | 18 | {[Almost] SENS |
SENNAS |
| 22 | These smooth SA |
SADIRONS | |
| C | 23 | S [Fourth of] PATSY TRAINS (Cline’s) tunes (7) | STRAINS |
| L | 24 | PL (Place) O (lover) [gets] HUGS* [that’s developed] wrinkles (7) | PLOUGHS |
| O | 25 | D (Good) [to support] LEAR (king) [and] NE (not out of date) academic (7) | LEARNED |
| 26 | Infatuated French [wanting R (king)], ENTE |
ENTETEE | |
| P | 28 | A L (pLANNER’s [front]) DERN (doorpost, local) made from wood (6) | ALDERN |
| 29 | ROT (Bull) [on] |
ROTULA | |
| E | 31 | From German volumes A C D E F G, B UND E (the two missing)? (5) | BUNDE |
| D | 33 | RAILS (Bards) [relocating A (are)] ready overseas (5) | RIALS |
| 34 | < MAGO |
OGAM | |
Here is the grid before changes:
| A | C | C | E | D | E | W | E | A | V | E | R | S |
| C | L | A | R | I | N | I | N | L | I | G | H | T |
| C | A | N | T | V | T | N | A | T | T | I | E | R |
| O | U | T | W | O | R | N | B | E | B | S | T | U |
| A | S | A | S | T | E | E | L | R | O | B | O | T |
| S | E | L | E | S | E | R | E | N | D | E | R | S |
| T | S | A | N | S | P | A | R | E | I | L | E | A |
| S | A | I | N | T | L | Y | R | T | E | E | N | D |
| B | L | E | A | R | O | D | O | R | S | A | T | I |
| U | D | O | S | A | U | S | T | I | R | R | E | R |
| N | E | G | L | I | G | E | U | A | I | N | T | O |
| D | R | A | I | N | H | I | L | L | S | E | E | N |
| E | N | M | A | S | S | E | A | S | I | D | E | S |
And after:
Thanks, Mister Sting, and Wan.
I filled the grid and got the gist, but failed on the ‘stylish embellishment’ – I never was any good at art…very impressed with Mister Sting’s effort!
I had 38A as DRA(W) IN – reduce, ex ‘W’ (wife)
And 3D as C_A (c(e)ases) around (S)ANTAL – parasitic tree, yielding S (special)
Ha! Here was me thinking I’d have time to update 3dn, which I’d worked out (I didn’t figure out 38ac)… But you were too fast for me!
I thought this was a good crossword (although parsing was a bit of a luxury with a few of the clues), but I had no idea what the theme was about, the first two words of the message making no connection in my mind. RAINHILL and TRIALS was there ‘in plain sight’, but I did not see them! If there was a pointer to the theme, then I missed it.
I too got the gist and knew the intent was to draw a train diagram but the preamble tripped me up. Although Mister Sting has a fine illustration, I don’t see how a bar was added in the crossword sense, nor did I figure out how to use that bar to connect two parts, because the thematic area appeared to have three parts given the unshaded H and the ‘Rocket’ insertion. And I did not understand at the time why three thematic cells would be unshaded. I probably overthought this but if someone would care to point out what the added bar meant and where it went, it would satisfy my by-now-idle curiosity. Thanks to Wan and Mister Sting.
I had managed to parse 3D but I didn’t manage 38A – although it had to be DRAIN to make RAINHILL.
@ub at 4. I added a bar at the bottom of the cell with the H of RAINHILL reducing (P)LOUGHS to (P)LOUGH.
In my diagram that appears as the coupling between the engine and the tender of the ROCKET.
I felt I could have done better with my diagram of a train and Mister Sting’s excellent diagram confirms that.
That is a brilliant sketch, Mister Sting. Thanks very much for taking the time to do it. I have been very fortunate as I also received a lovely sketch from Hedge-sparrow when he kindly tested the puzzle.
Very best
Wan
I failed on this one. Got the grid filled and removed sans pareil, and highlighted the Rocket shaped thematic competition (a nice idea) but couldn’t see where to make the appropriate replacement. Having seen the solution, I think I was being overly dense; a good puzzle which I’m sorry I didn’t finish properly. Thanks Wan and Mister Sting.