Hi all.
The preamble:
Five pairs of answers clash in a single cell, in ways that cannot be uniquely resolved. Letters from across answers, read left to right, spell one name, those from down answers another. The names will guide solvers to replace each clash with the same thematic symbol, and they must then highlight what they are being DIRECTed to see. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.
A short intro from me this week, no waffle needed. Filling the grid went smoothly enough, and the resulting DIRECTion was nice and clear.
Across clashes spell: DUBHE
Down clashes spell: MERAK
An internet search revealed these are the former names of the stars Alpha Ursae Majoris and Beta Ursae Majoris. These stars together point towards the North Star, POLARIS …
… as do the the cells containing the clashes. Elegantly done. Thanks Kcit!
| Clue No | ANSWER | Clue with definition underlined |
| Explanation, with quoted indicators in italics and ANSWER letters in bold caps | ||
| Across | ||
| 1a | RASSE | Small carnivore about to corner goose (5) |
| RE (about) surrounding (to corner) ASS (goose) | ||
| 5a | RIBOSE | I start to barf, tucking into pink sugar (6) |
| I + the first letter of (start to) Barf going inside (tucking into) ROSE (pink) | ||
| 10a | EDIT | Change in text engaged interest in extreme instances (4) |
| Outer letters of (… in extreme instances) EngageD InteresT | ||
| 11a | CARES | Is affectionate embrace curtailed? (5) |
| CARESs (embrace) without the last letter (curtailed) | ||
| 12a | DEPART | Backsliding trustee took off, making exit (6) |
| In reverse (backsliding) TR (trustee) and APED (took off) | ||
| 13a | ONSET | Start working with constituency after one’s ousted (5) |
| ON (working) + SE[a]T (constituency) after A is removed (after one’s ousted) | ||
| 15a | E’ER | Parliamentarian ceding power for eternity? (3) |
| [p]EER (parliamentarian) giving up (ceding) P (power) | ||
| 16a | PULU | Silky stuff’s attraction, mostly universal (4) |
| PULl (attraction) mostly + U (universal) | ||
| 17a | TEF | No longer bring back this African cereal (3) |
| FET (no longer bring) reversed (back) | ||
| 18a | HIDE | Observation post fell (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 19a | WEISSMULLER | Swimmer rules swim, active round both sides of lake (11) |
| An anagram of (… active) RULES SWIM round both sides of LakE | ||
| 22a | EXPO | Retired naval officer producing show (4) |
| EX PO (retired naval officer – petty officer) | ||
| 24a | TIP | End tram strike, definitely (3) |
| Three definitions | ||
| 26a | ILEA | I take command, mostly showing some guts (4) |
| I + LEAd (take command) without the last letter (mostly) | ||
| 29a | OBA | African leader having three types of blood? (3) |
| Three blood types O, B and A | ||
| 32a | DELOS | God’s birthplace only God’s recalled (5) |
| The reversal of (recalled) SOLE (only) and D (deus, God) | ||
| 33a | ICE MAN | Hired killer’s statement of capability keeping me revolted? (6, two words) |
| I CAN (statement of capability) containing (keeping) ME reversed (revolted) | ||
| 34a | IDOLS | Popular figures one day heading off on vacation (5) |
| I (one) + D (day) + the first letter removed in (heading off on) hOLS (vacation) | ||
| 35a | TENT | Source of blast overwhelming English part of campsite (4) |
| TNT (source of blast) surrounding (overwhelming) E (English) | ||
| 36a | CUPOLA | Vault offering drink – finished tucking in? (6) |
| COLA (drink) with UP (finished) going inside (tucking in) | ||
| 37a | RISKY | Like many young animals, not initially hairy (5) |
| fRISKY (like many young animals) without the first letter (not initially) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1d | REDIP | Democrat, enthralled by rise in support, to drop again (5) |
| D (Democrat) inside (enthralled by) the reversal of (rise in) PIER (support) | ||
| 2d | AMEN | Expression of agreement to change after Department’s cut (4) |
| AMEN[d] (to change) on removal of D (after Department’s cut) | ||
| 3d | STATES | Countries? Figures to include Spain (6) |
| STATS (figures) containing (to include) E (Spain) | ||
| 4d | EGRET | Plume for one concerned with end of ornament (5) |
| EG (for one) + RE (concerned with) + the last letter of (end of) ornamenT | ||
| 5d | RATE | Old plane short of constant speed (4) |
| [c]RATE (old plane) without (short of) C (constant) | ||
| 6d | BANDA | African hut in the first group? (5) |
| BAND A (the first group?) | ||
| 7d | ORSEILLE | Red shade is still picked up in heraldic border (8) |
| Going upwards (… picked up) LIES (is still) in ORLE (heraldic border) | ||
| 8d | SKEP | Small store neglecting an English source of honey (4) |
| S (small) + KE[e]P (store) without (neglecting) an E (English) | ||
| 9d | ESTHER | Parisian is present seeing off latest European Queen (6) |
| EST (Parisian is) + HERe (present) ejecting (seeing off) the second (latest) E (European) | ||
| 11d | CORFU | Mediterranean venue caught on with sports governing body (5) |
| C (caught) + O’ (on) + RFU (sports governing body) | ||
| 14d | FLIP-FLOP | Go crazy over turkey with repeated flapping (8) |
| FLIP (go crazy) over FLOP (turkey) | ||
| 19d | WENDIC | I’d not once upheld entering ‘lav for ‘Slav’ (6) |
| I’D and NE (not once) reversed (upheld) going inside (entering) WC (lav) | ||
| 20d | STOSS | Singular pitch indicating slope under glacier (5) |
| S (singular) + TOSS (pitch) | ||
| 21d | LIGETI | Latin pair about to appreciate Hungarian composer (6) |
| L (Latin) + II (pair) around (about) GET (to appreciate) | ||
| 23d | OVOLO | Vegetarian giving up pretence to show distinctive shape (5) |
| OVO–L[act]O (vegetarian) deleting (giving up) ACT (pretence) | ||
| 25d | PACER | Horse, one in pair (5) |
| ACE (one) in PR (pair) | ||
| 27d | AUNTY | Jack hiding from cheerful friend of mother’s? (5) |
| J (Jack) is not seen in (hiding from) [j]AUNTY (cheerful) | ||
| 28d | BEDU | Arab qualified teacher, going to university (4) |
| BED (qualified teacher) + U (university) | ||
| 30d | RIGA | European city area overseen by doctor (4) |
| A (area) underneath (overseen by) RIG (doctor) | ||
| 31d | YANK | Gas enveloping North American (4) |
| YAK (gas) enveloping N (north) | ||
I got a bit stuck in the NE corner, with just DUB.. and MER.. to show for the two names, but I guessed the mirror symmetry of the five clashes and soon resolved that corner and completed those names – which I had never come across before.
Enough of that waffle. This was a super puzzle that seemed to take less time than usual (partly because of the relatively small grid, perhaps). The clues were excellent and called to mind two previous puzzles by this setter this year which I also very much enjoyed. My paltry knowledge of astronomical names has now increased by two (I already knew Polaris).
Thanks to Kcit for the puzzle and to Kitty for the succinct blog.
There’s a setter’s blog at http://phionline.net.nz/setters-blogs/carte-blanche-a-trois-and-directors/. One blog for three puzzles, as it happens!