Hi everybody. I enjoyed this one and hope you did too.
The preamble:
There is a misprint in the definition in 14 clues. These misprints in clue order tell solvers the shape and colour of TWO DRAWINGS to be inserted from a central character to interact with two other characters. After initial grid-fill, one of the characters must be changed appropriately to represent the help given to her by a fourth character. Two sets of seven superfluous words in 14 other clues hint at the change. Solvers must highlight the four characters (all in straight lines). Shaded cells indicate the source material.
The misprints and extra words were all unambiguous (which is not always the case!) and I appreciated the tightness in the clueing. I finished the crossword before turning my attention to the endgame. The misprints gave:
GOLD LEAD ARROWS
At this stage I resisted the temptation to go online, armed with these and the source, Ovid. Instead I scanned straight lines in the grid in a hunt for some characters.
First I found CUPID, which explained the arrows! Clearly arrows would be fired from Cupid to two other characters. Next I spotted APOLLO, and looked straight across at the symmetrical diagonal where I found DAPHNE. Pleasingly, this formed an arrow shape in the grid. However, there was one more character to find.
At this point I went online to fill in the gaps and found the fourth character – Daphne’s father PENEUS.
The story of Apollo and Daphne, including Ovid’s version, is summarised here.
Our two drawings must therefore be the GOLD ARROW fired by Cupid to Apollo and the LEAD ARROW with which he shoots Daphne.
Daphne’s metamorphosis is mirrored in the grid, leaving real words.
DAPHNE -> LAUREL
After all this I very nearly forgot about all the extra words in the clues! They did not immediately seem connected, but after a little staring a couple of them suggested TREE. I barked up the wrong one for a while thinking that the others might suggest Daphne pre change, but eventually I twigged BAY. While the trees fell quite readily, I had to search a little harder for a couple of the bays, so I hope I have them right.
All in all, a satisfying hunt leading to a pleasing conclusion. Thanks Karla!
| Clue No | ANSWER | Clue with definition underlined | ||
| Explanation, with quoted indicators in italics and ANSWER letters in bold caps | ||||
| Across | ||||
| 1a | EVANESCE | Cocks on eastern church [window] vanish (8) | BAY window |
|
| VANES (cocks) by (on) E (eastern) + CE (church) | ||||
| 8a | SADE | [House] libertine Hebrew character (4) | TREE house |
|
| Double definition | ||||
| 11a | PERDU | Cheaper dumplings somewhat con[g]<c>ealed (5) | G | |
| Hidden in (… somewhat) cheaPER DUmplings | ||||
| 12a | UNEATEN | Still on Plat[o]<e>? Atypical of posh school, whimsically said (7) | O | |
| Sounds like (… said) UN-ETON (atypical of posh school, whimsically) | ||||
| 13a | STEEL | Metal water trenches locally retreated (5) | ||
| LEETS (water trenches locally) in reverse (retreated) | ||||
| 14a | SPAN | Ni[l]<n>e inches north after Spring (4) | L | |
| N (north) after SPA (spring) | ||||
| 16a | NOES | Against votes held by Genoese [family] (4) | family TREE |
|
| Hidden in (held by) GeNOESe | ||||
| 17a | IRIDIAN | Country nursing [sick] so-called dictator concerned with part of eye (7) | sick BAY |
|
| IRAN (country) holding (nursing) IDI (so-called dictator) | ||||
| 18a | MEAT | Got together to secure a [d]<m>eal? (4) | D | |
| MET (got together) around (to secure) A | ||||
| 21a | DRESSY | Elegant doctor enters surgery on vacation in series (6) | ||
| DoctoR EnterS SurgerY, removing the inner letters of each in turn (on vacation in series) | ||||
| 22a | PENEPLAIN | Worn surface spoilt pine panel (9) | ||
| An anagram of (spoilt) PINE PANEL | ||||
| 24a | PEER | Go along with introduction to rude Lord (4) | ||
| PEE (go) + the first letter of (introduction to) Rude | ||||
| 27a | EVE | Mostly fair and [l]<n>ight before event (3) | L | |
| Mostly EVEn (fair) | ||||
| 28a | OPTS | Makes a choice of Pinots cryptically (4) | ||
| P in OTS cryptically leads to the answer | ||||
| 29a | OVERTURNS | Reverses poorly disguised vessels (9) | ||
| OVERT (poorly disguised) + URNS (vessels) | ||||
| 30a | OOIDAL | Dial ‘00’ in a fluster to reach Oval (6) | ||
| DIAL ‘OO’ anagrammed (in a fluster) | ||||
| 32a | THIN | [E]<w>atery belonging to thee in the main (4) | E | |
| All but the last letter of (… in the main) THINe (belonging to thee) | ||||
| 35a | OCULATE | A clue to broadcast: ‘Like some potatoes, [Tiger]?’ (7) | Tiger BAY |
|
| A CLUE TO anagrammed (broadcast) | ||||
| 36a | MOPE | Aimlessly move daughter away from means of transport (4) | ||
| D (daughter) taken away from MOPE[d] (means of transport) | ||||
| 38a | LIRA | Old Italian cas[a]<h> girl discovered in city (4) | A | |
| gIRl without the outer letters (discovered) is in LA (city) | ||||
| 39a | APART | Father enters [botany] drawings separately (5) | Botany BAY |
|
| PA (father) goes inside (enters) ART (drawings) | ||||
| 40a | ZANTIOT | Greek islander in South Africa not carrying note (7) | ||
| ZA (South Africa) + NOT containing (carrying) TI (note) | ||||
| 41a | REVUE | [Christmas] Show 4 recalled, essentially replaced by 5 (5) | Christmas TREE |
|
| EU[l]ER (4 – 4d) back (recalled) with the middle letter changed to (essentially replaced by) V (5) | ||||
| 42a | I-SPY | Seeing [D]<g>ame regularly is soppy (4) | D | |
| Alternate letters of (regularly) Is SoPpY | ||||
| 43a | NEEDLESS | Section on bugs not required (8) | ||
| S (section) next to (on) NEEDLES (bugs) | ||||
| Down | ||||
| 1d | EPSOM | Order records after leapfrogging in town (5) | ||
| OM (order) with EPS (records) moved to the top (after leapfrogging) | ||||
| 2d | VETO | Professional standing on tail of merino gets ‘ba[a]<r>’ (4) | A | |
| VET (professional) standing on the last letter (tail) of merinO | ||||
| 3d | ARENA | [Watch] broken near American stadium (5) | BAYwatch | |
| An anagram of (broken) NEAR + A (American) | ||||
| 4d | EULER | Mathematician’s rubber hidden by royal (5) | ||
| ULE (rubber) inside (hidden by) ER (royal) | ||||
| 5d | SUSS | Find out former [bridge] partner moved from county (4) | BAY Bridge | |
| EX (former partner) taken from (moved from) SUSS[ex] (county) | ||||
| 6d | EN ARRIÈRE | Space on carriers limitless with English behind in France (9, two words) | ||
| EN (space) + cARRIERs without outer letters (limitless) + E (English) | ||||
| 7d | LENIENT | Not strict with Jock’s loan that is on books (7) | ||
| LEN (Jock’s loan) + IE (that is) + NT (books) | ||||
| 8d | SANDSPOUT | Mill pounds at small mass of swirling grains (9) | ||
| Make an anagram of (mill) POUNDS AT S (small) | ||||
| 9d | DECAYED | Rotte[r]<n> securing islet with legal transaction (7) | R | |
| CAY in (securing … with) DEED (legal transaction) | ||||
| 10d | ENSNARES | [Snake] traps being around part of kit (8) | TREE snake |
|
| ENS (being) around SNARE (part of kit) | ||||
| 15d | DISEUR | Entertainer in Parisian street actor James upset (6) | ||
| RUE (Parisian street) and SID (actor James) reversed (upset) | ||||
| 19d | TENSILITY | [Loading] tiny tiles altered stretchiness (9) | loading BAY |
|
| TINY TILES anagrammed (altered) | ||||
| 20d | ELEVATION | Si[r]<d>e’s joy receiving this abbreviated puzzle (9) | R | |
| ELATION (joy) receiving EV (this abbreviated puzzle) | ||||
| 22d | PAOLOZZI | Last letter twice in oil OAP fixed for sculptor (8) | ||
| ZZ (last letter twice) in an anagram of (… fixed) OIL OAP | ||||
| 23d | NOT OUT | Number to contact ticket seller is still in [trunk] (6, two words) | TREE trunk |
|
| NO (number) + TOUT (ticket seller) | ||||
| 25d | EPOCHAS | Six army hands initially manage lifting ancient t[o]<i>mes (7) | O | |
| Six Army Hands initially and COPE (manage) in reverse (lifting) | ||||
| 26d | PODALIC | Part of expo Dali curated to do with feet (7) | ||
| Hidden in (part of) exPO DALI Curated | ||||
| 31d | HOARD | [W]<s>ave of paddle captured in high definition (5) | W | |
| OAR (paddle) captured in HD (high definition) | ||||
| 33d | HEAVE | Lift bulky [frog] ultimately lacking energy (5) | TREE frog |
|
| HEAVy (bulky) without the last letter (ultimately lacking) + E (energy) | ||||
| 34d | NOTES | Marks from attack repulsed [surgeon] (5) | TREE surgeon |
|
| SET TO (attack) reversed (repulsed) | ||||
| 36d | MADE | Furious over bottom of blouse being crea[s]<t>ed (4) | S | |
| MAD (furious) before (over) the bottom of blousE | ||||
| 37d | URUS | Wise people erasing grand beast from history (4) | ||
| [g]URUS (wise people) erasing G (grand) | ||||
Yes, very enjoyable (and colourful) all around, thanks to both Karla and Kitty. I did not think of ‘bay’ as the second synonym, however, and left that part unsolved.
Enjoyable and educational! Thanks to Karla and Kitty (NB. There is also a setters blog here, with some background on the puzzle’s creation…)
Well done to Kitty on the extra words – I also completely forgot about them until the end, and decided they weren’t necessary for submission so I conserved a few brain cells for later use.
I did spend a while looking for arrow-related words to follow from Cupid to the targets, but in the end decided that ‘drawings’ gave us free licence to use all of our artistic ability (i.e. none, in my case!)
Thanks, mc. Usually I only look at that site on Fridays for Mr K’s blogs, but make exceptions sometimes.
I liked the “drawings” being arrows drawn from the bow – a nice touch.
I too forgot about those 14 superfluous words: signalled as a ‘hint’, but the hint was not needed once the Ovid myth had been identified by other means. But they remain a neat bonus: thanks to Karla for contriving them and to Kitty for elucidating – and to both for creating another attractive grid.
Enjoyed this although it took me a while to get to the theme, having been misled by EVE sitting in the middle of the grid. Thought the endgame was very neat though, as was the double-entendre title.
Like others though I never understood the significance of the additional words and gave up having found 10 or so.
Hello all, thank you for contributing and thanks Kitty for the thorough blog. I did wonder about the superfluous words. Even prior to submission, I nearly pruned them out. But in the end, I thought they might add something to the solving experience and/or provide confirmation of the end-game.
A lovely afternoon in York today for the Radix Auditorium presentation, congrats to Ian Hickman. And thanks to John, Jane and Tess for organising. Also present was Ian Simpson who (with Richard Heald) gives us the ‘Square Routes’ challenge, to be found above the Listener solution in the Saturday Times every weekend. It’s seriously addictive and therefore highly recommended.