Ten answers need a reality check but otherwise normal clues from Opsimath.
The ten that needed a reality check were all authors real names.
- 1ac Sapper becomes (H. C.) McNeile
- 23ac (Alexander) Kent becomes (Douglas) Reeman
- 26ac (Anthony) Burgess becomes (John Burgess) Wilson
- 43ac (Ruth) Rendell becomes (Barbara) Vine
- 1dn Saki becomes (H H) Munro
- 6dn (O) Henry becomes (William Sydney) Porter
- 17dn (George) Orwell becomes (Eric) Blair
- 20dn (CS) Forester becomes (Cecil Louis Troughton) Smith
- 28dn (Nevil) Shute becomes (Nevil Shute) Norway
- 32dn (Edgar) Box becomes (Gore) Vidal
All author’s pseudonyms replaced with their real names for the reality check
Thanks Opsimath for an easy-ish puzzle and educational too
Usual thanks also to MC rapper for the electronic transcription.
DD Double definition; * anagram; Rev. reversed; underline is definition
Across
1 Vital juice for a trench digger (7)
sap (vital juice) + per (a) = SAPPER
6 Plain woman in Dallas? Not in Paris (6)
Pam (woman in Dallas) + pas (not in Paris) = PAMPAS
11 Prickly thing you told Luthor, perhaps (4)
u(you told) + Lex (Luthor perhaps) = ULEX
12 Salzburg lad sees Aussie in market (6)
Oz (Aussie) in mart (market) = MOZART
13 Training of dog letter untrue, ridiculous (7)
r (dog letter) + (untrue)* = NURTURE
14 Roof replaced over learner? Rather the opposite (5)
(roof)* around l(learner) = FLOOR
15 Replants new trees for son (9)
(trees for + s)* = REFORESTS
19 Confectioner loses hot pulpy fruit (8)
Sweetshop (confectioner) – h(hot) = SWEETSOP
22 Examination of adult height (6, two words)
a (adult) + level(height) = A LEVEL
23 Scots knew this was used for leaping ditches in Ayr (6)
DD KENT
24 Cooking, I dice seasonal dish (13, two words)
(i dice seasonal)* = SALADE NICOISE
26 Freeman of Duisburg, Essen (6)
Hidden DuisBURG ESSen = BURGESS
29 Vehicle number for group of firms (6)
car(vehicle) + tel(number) = CARTEL
30 Candied roots having energy so dissipated (8)
(energy so)* = ERYNGOES
35 Jazz violinist upset apple girl (9)
(apple girl)* = GRAPPELLI
38 Poirot, perhaps, looking back after losing case and wealth (5)
Rev. Hercule(Poirot perhaps) – He (cas) = LUCRE
39 Fix road missing third strip of iron (7)
Nail (fix) + road – a (missing third = NAILROD
40 Venice maniac hides killer (6, two words)
Hidden venICE MANiac = ICE MAN
41 Girl returned some falsies (4)
Rev. hidden fALSIes = ISLA
42 Stylish wine in Seychelles (6)
port(wine) in sy (seychelles) = SPORTY
43 Very popular European grape producer (7)
v(very) + in + e(european) = VINE
Down
1 Alcoholic drink made from shark oil, oddly (5)
ShArK oIl = SAKI
2 Guiding thread here! (4)
DD CLUE
3 Praise former tax cut (5)
ex (former) + toll (tax) – l = EXTOL
4 l end run injured and put in tomb (7)
(I end run)* = INURNED
5 Previously, teaching the French about their gold (4)
le (The French) around or (gold) = LORE
6 Female railway unit (6)
hen (female) + ry (railway) = HENRY
7 Ester set up two Greek characters, one half-cut (6)
Rev. eta + lamdha (two greek characters) – dha = MALATE
8 Power line for front of ship (4)
p(power) + row(line) = PROW
9 Skunk found in first eleven (4)
a to k (first eleven) = ATOK
10 Her plans scattered bits of shell (8)
(erplans)* = SHRAPNEL
16 Bird on the tide in British port (7)
swan (bird) + sea(on the tide) = SWANSEA
17 Suffolk river or spring (5)
or + well (spring) = ORWELL
18 Judge measure of length unknown for sweet dessert (5)
j(judge) + ell(measure of length) + y (unknown) = JELLY
20 Bum steer for woodsman (5)
(steer for)* = FORESTER
21 Fertile spots French settlers start to exit South (5)
oas (French settlers) + e s (starts to exit South) = OASES
22 No less than a dandy and Norse god (8, three words)
a swell (dandy) + as (Norse god) = AS WELL AS
25 Sea snake in CIA navy (7)
asp(snake) in CIA + n (navy) = CASPIAN
27 Noisy person having runny nose with empty roar (6)
(nose + rr(empty roar))* = SNORER
28 Closed top of enormous waterfall (6)
shut(closed) + e (top of enormous) = SHUTE
31 lron cover for cat (5)
Fe(iron) + lid(cover) = FELID
32 Bad smell by pigeonhole (5)
bo(bad smell) + x (by) = BOX
33 Who, in France, quietly makes clever remark? (4)
qui(who in France) + p (quietly) = QUIP
34 Here we are, prosecco experts overlooked (4)
prosecco – pros (experts) = ECCO
36 By the leave of step (4)
DD PACE
37 Dangle puppet initially reduced by 90%? (4)
doll(puppet) swapping d for l (500 to 50) = LOLL
I posted a comment in the early hours of Thursday, and it appeared, but has since inexplicably vanished. Maybe some hidden offensive element caused it to be censored [cf Paul’s discussion, in his great centenary book celebrating the history of crosswords, of the failure of the online publicity campaign for the town of Scunthorpe]. Anyway, I will try again. It seems important to keep up the traffic, in support of what still seems to be a ‘poor relation’ within the world of puzzles, attracting few comments on this busy site.
Inspired by the meticulous work both of setters and of bloggers, I am getting into the rhythm of tackling the EV every week, aiming to finish it on Sunday afternoon, or at least to crack the theme, ready to finish off, and submit, early in the week. As Mister Sting suggests, this was relatively easy by EV standards, enablng a Sunday finish.
I doubt if I was alone in finding a way in via Orwell/Blair. Then came Shute/Norway, and it was downhill from there, with some help from Google. Many thanks to Mr S, and of course to Opsimath – and to the ten authors, for making the whole construction possible.
see above – apologies to twencelas for getting the blogger’s name wrong. Not sure how this happened…
Thanks quenbarrow – no offence taken. Can’t see any sign of your comment being censored so maybe it lost its way from your machine to here. All comments are most welcome – even those referencing Scunthorpe
There are two blogs for this crossword and quenbarrow’s first comment is in the other one
Thanks crypticsue – It’s my turn to blog as I understand it – every 4th one – but two blogs are better than none