Hello, and welcome to EV 40 squared. We are always in good hands with proXimal.
The preamble:
A letter must be reinstated in each of 43 clues. The same letter that has been reinstated must replace one of the letters in the answer before entry. In clue order, the original letters which have been replaced spell out what should replace two entries. Word COUNT refers to answers; all entries are real words or phrases at every stage. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.
I really liked the way the message was generated: a very neat variation on some familiar devices. The clues were not the easiest to solve (and it was not the wisest move on my part to leave this puzzle until the last minute!) so I made good use of the message to help. Happily, with more than an inkling of what it would be about I had enough of this nice and early to be able to fill in the gaps. The normal clues marked the word breaks, which is always pleasing (although not surprising, knowing the setter). We find that what should replace two entries is:
THE NUMBER OF ENIGMATIC VARIATIONS PUZZLES TO DATE
It didn’t take too long to find these two entries (15a and 37a) and change them to:
SIXTEEN HUNDRED
– leaving real words in the grid, as required. I then had to turn my attention back to the clues, especially the NE and SW corners, but it all came together satisfyingly. Many thanks proXimal!
| Clue No | ANSWER (INITIAL GRID ENTRY) |
Clue with definition underlined | |
| Explanation, with quoted indicators in italics and ANSWER letters in bold caps | |||
| Across | |||
| 3a | POSTNATAL POSTNASAL |
<S>Take new article left at back after delivery (9) | T |
| POST (stake) + N (new) + A (article) + the reversal of (… back) L (left) and AT | |||
| 11a | HALLOW TALLOW |
Make holy <t>hat everybody should wear (6) | H |
| HOW (that), which ALL (everybody) should go inside (should wear) | |||
| 12a | STREAM STROAM |
Energy to maintain run fl<o>at out (6) | E |
| STEAM (energy) containing (to maintain) R (run) | |||
| 13a | ARIDNESS | Dry state of cured sardines (8) | |
| An anagram of (cured) SARDINES | |||
| 14a | DARN DARI |
Mend broken handrail released from Ha<i>’s grip (4) | N |
| An anagram of (broken) hANDRail without the surrounding HAIL (released from Hail’s grip) | |||
| 15a | PUTTERS PITTERS |
Clubs pla<i>n to occupy vacant plots (7) | U |
| UTTER (plain) inside (to occupy) PlotS without the inner letters (vacant …) | |||
| 16a | INFLAME INFLATE |
Heat a<t> home with fine material (7) | M |
| IN (at home) + F (fine) + LAMÉ (material) | |||
| 18a | BLUE SLUE |
Eton sportsman boa<s>ted, we’re told (4) | B |
| BLEW (boasted), homophone (we’re told) | |||
| 20a | NÉVÉS NEVUS |
Snowy fields spied surrounding vat<u> to the west (5) | E |
| SEEN (spied) surrounding V (vatu), reversed (to the west) | |||
| 22a | AERIER AERIES |
Picked up <s>pace becoming more visionary in verse (6) | R |
| Sounds like (picked up) AREA (space) | |||
| 23a | GRIM | Unpleasant gerbil regularly scratched master (4) | |
| GeRbIl removing alternate letters (regularly scratched) + M (master) | |||
| 24a | STENO STEND |
US typist Kirsten on hol<d>s (5) | O |
| KirSTEN On holds the answer | |||
| 25a | FELT MELT |
Fellow scrubbing dull ti<m>e’s soft fabric (4) | F |
| FEL[low] deleting (scrubbing) LOW (dull) + T (time) | |||
| 27a | MENACE | Stick around entertained by massive empty threat (6) | |
| CANE (stick) backwards (around) inside (entertained by) MassivE without its inner letters (empty) | |||
| 30a | MINER MINOR |
Av<o>id daughter of bodyguard one digs (5) | E |
| Omit the D from (avoid daughter of) MIN[d]ER (bodyguard) | |||
| 32a | OXEN OXER |
Cattle exchange returning in Wo<r>king (4) | N |
| The reversal of (… returning) EX (exchange) in ON (working) | |||
| 34a | INSNARE ENSNARE |
Ben<e>t sinner acting oddly (7) | I |
| An anagram of (… oddly) SINNER and A (acting) | |||
| 37a | GUN DECK SUN DECK |
Battery was on that floor of French club<s> covered in goop (7, two words) | G |
| DE (of, French) and C (clubs) covered in GUNK (goop) | |||
| 39a | GLUM GLUG |
<G>All uranium depleted down (4) | M |
| GalL and UraniuM without inner letters (depleted) | |||
| 40a | THERIACA THERIACS |
I reach at <s>pongy old antidote (8) | A |
| I REACH AT anagrammed (spongy) | |||
| 41a | ÉTRIER EERIER |
End of final<e> test for climbing aid (6) | T |
| The last letter of (end of) finalE + TRIER (test) | |||
| 42a | BUNGIE BUNGLE |
P<l>ug starts to ingest elastic and rubber (6) | I |
| BUNG (plug) + the first letters of (starts to) Ingest Elastic | |||
| 43a | CORE TIMES FORETIMES |
Un<f>it cites more fixed working hours (9, two words) | C |
| An anagram of (unfit) CITES MORE | |||
| Down | |||
| 1d | STAVING STARING |
D<r>iving off short elevated platform having consumed French wine (7) | V |
| Without the last letter (short) STAGe (elevated platform) around (having consumed) VIN (French wine) | |||
| 2d | MARINA MARINE |
Hood’s girl has not<e> taken up berthing place for boat (6) | A |
| MARIAN (Hood’s girl) with raised (has … taken up) N (note) | |||
| 3d | PRIM PLIM |
Perhaps like governess ha<l>ving primates (4) | R |
| The answer is found by halving PRIMates | |||
| 4d | IONIA SONIA |
Ancient coastal area: <s>ample region l adore (5) | I |
| Take some of (sample) regION I Adore | |||
| 5d | NEATER NESTER |
Comparatively elegant knight, one <s>wallowing (6) | A |
| N (knight) + EATER (one swallowing) | |||
| 6d | ASSET ASSES |
Occasionally lament girdling <s>hip for strength (5) | T |
| Regular letters of (occasionally) lAmEnT surrounding (girdling) SS (ship) | |||
| 7d | STEINED STERNED |
Bee<r> container evacuated, emptied and lined with stone (7) | I |
| STEIN (beer container) + EvacuateD without the inner letters (emptied). (Alternatively, evacuated, EmptieD) | |||
| 8d | LOON LOAN |
Diving bird shaking wings in <a>rising from shallow lake (4) | O |
| We are removing the outer letters of (shaking wings in) ArisinG from L[ag]OON (shallow lake) | |||
| 9d | MANQUÉ MARQUE |
Never fulfilling potential, woman questioned cove<r>s (6) | N |
| WoMAN QUEstioned covers the answer | |||
| 10d | ASIDES AMIDES |
Assistants <m>asking soprano for private words (6) | S |
| AIDES (assistants) around (masking) S (soprano) | |||
| 15d | PLUM | Pruned large tree (4) | |
| Without the last letter (pruned), PLUMp (large) | |||
| 17d | TOPE TOTE |
Ten<t> at circus north of Spain regularly drink hard (4) | P |
| TOP (tent at circus) above (north of) E (Spain) | |||
| 19d | LIEU LIEN |
Place maybe ge<n>ts reported (4) | U |
| Sounds like (… reported) LOO (maybe gents) | |||
| 21d | ZINE VINE |
E<v>ery head of zombie is nastily embellishing specialist publication (4) | Z |
| The initials of each of (every head of) Zombie Is Nastily Embellishing | |||
| 22d | AZAN ANAN |
Answer crazy <n>early call to prayer (4) | Z |
| A (answer) + ZANy (crazy) without the last letter (nearly) | |||
| 24d | SCALPER SCAUPER |
Mis<u>sed parcel’s instrument for surgeon (7) | L |
| An anagram of (misused) PARCEL’S | |||
| 25d | MINE MINK |
My people from Kent s<k>inned – proXimal’s upset (4) | E |
| kENt without outer letters (skinned) and I’M (proXimal’s) reversed (upset) | |||
| 26d | TRESSES TRESSEL |
Locks Nazi guards fitted in <l>arches, perhaps (7) | S |
| SS (Nazi guards) inside (fitted in) TREES (larches perhaps) | |||
| 27d | MONGER | Dealer in bar area with case of Erdinger (6) | |
| [a]MONG (in) except for (bar) A (area) + the outer letters of (case of) ErdingeR | |||
| 28d | EXITED EXILED |
Left co<l>t in warm shed (6) | T |
| C (colt) in EX[c]ITED (warm) is discarded (shed) | |||
| 29d | RED-HOT RED HAT |
Extreme nonsense about editor le<a>d to hatred (6) | O |
| ROT (nonsense) around (about) ED (editor) and the first letter of (lead to) Hatred | |||
| 31d | ORACLE | Circular letter restored clear authority (6) | |
| O (circular letter) + an anagram of (restored) CLEAR | |||
| 33d | ANDRÉ ANTRE |
Frenchman with <t>ails of particular type (5) | D |
| AND (with) + the last letters of (tails of) particulaR typE | |||
| 35d | SCRAM SCRUM |
Leave after concealing rogue’s deb<u>t in fraud (5) | A |
| Rogue’s first letter (debut) put inside (after concealing … in) SCAM (fraud) | |||
| 36d | TURF SURF |
Upside-down, I <s>kipped in something like strawberry patch (4) | T |
| I is removed from (skipped in) FRU[i]T (something like strawberry), written upwards in the grid (… upside down) | |||
| 38d | SAGE SAGS |
Rever<s>ed, say, like person of wisdom (4) | E |
| Reversed, EG (say) and AS (like) | |||
Just read the blog today. No idea why there is no comment so far. Maybe not many try this puzzle.
The concept looks very interesting and also there seems to be a proportionate increase in the difficulty level over the routine cryptic puzzles.
Thanks, Kitty for such a lovely blog!
KVa..This puzzle only appears in the paper, you cannot access it on line anymore which has cut the number of people even attempting the EV dramatically. It is also put into a tiny space in the paper, so I suspect others don’t even see it let alone have a go at it.
The Sunday Telegraph has made a couple of attempts already to stop it’s publication altogether which would be a real shame. No doubt they would replace it with another easier to produce, dumbing down sudoku or some such. I don’t get the impression that the ST rates the intelligence of its readers as very high.
Thanks, Getbacktome for your detailed response.
Not happy that I can’t access the puzzle online. Nothing can be done.
Thanks again.
Hi KVa, Getbacktome. I am very grumpy about this, although I don’t (now excepted!) grumble any more because it is pointless. Blogging is made much harder and more error-prone as we have to work from an image from PressReader (or in cases when they have had gremlins, a copy from the dead tree version).
There’s no other choice when blogging, but it affects my casual solving too: I’m most likely to choose a Listener or Inquisitor puzzle when browsing the barreds for a puzzle to do.
If you would like a copy of any EV, I hear some kind soul posts them on The Answerbank; alternatively you can email me at kittyxwds (at) outlook (dot) com 🙂
Noted Kitty. Will check The Answerbank and if I don’t find any EV there, I will write to you.
Thanks very much!