11 clues which contain a thematic word with its position in the clue defining a letter in the answer used. THis shows in the gird a character whose previous condition made them look lame – if the letters of LAME are reused further on. Swap a pair of non matching thematic items to find a 13 cell character in a straight line after a small grid entry.
Well that really does not make sense until something is in the grid – even then it took some time. The extra words all had a footwear theme – Shoes.
M(12ac) A (13ac) R (2dn) G (3dn) E(5dn) R(6dn) Y(19dn) appears in rows 2 to 5 with the letters defined then E(24ac) N(29ac) W(33dn) L(30dn) which if you add the letters of LAME gives MEANWELL.
Margery Meanwell a character from the history of little good two shoes which becomes visible swapping SANDAL and BROGUE to show GOODY TWO SHOES in the leading diagonal and LITTLE in 40ac to complete the shading.
The preamble made sense in the end and quite a surreal puzzle, in my opinion but all perfectly fair. Thanks Vismut
Key: * anagram; DD double definition; Rev reversed
Across
1 Included in weighing butter (3)
Hidden weiGHIng = GHI
3 They run through tries again, Exeter’s first and last special (10)
rehears (tries again) + er (exeter first and last) + s (special) = REHEARSERS
10 Penny off quantities of medicine for some original Americans (6)
dosages (quantities of medicine) – d (penny) = OSAGES
12 JELLY assortments containing mango essentially for old cheeky girls (6)
n (mango essentially) in mixes (assortments) = MINXES
13 Boat TRAINER that could be Barbados pride (6)
DD SANDAL
14 More than one evergreen soap star briefly gets cast (7)
(soap sta)* = SAPOTAS
16 Born scoundrel’s Irish accent (6)
b (born) + rogue (scoundrel) = BROGUE
20 Poet’s metallic flower, one left to bury English (7)
severn (flower) swapping il (one left) for first e = SILVERN
21 Sheds storing a thousand Ecstasy boxes (7)
casts (sheds) around k (thousand) + e (ecstasy) = CASKETS
23 Attacked democratic man shortly going from right to left (6)
Rev. demo + male – o – e = LAMMED
24 Daffodil TIE perhaps, stripes don’t stop here! (11, two words)
Yellow (daffodil) + lines (stripes) = YELLOW LINES
26 Stab short adult antelope (6)
impale (stab) – e (short) + a (adult) = IMPALA
27 Wakes up space traveller circling sun and Pluto ultimately (7, two words)
comet(space traveller) Around s (sun) + o (Pluto ultimately)
29 CLOG most open veins at wound (7)
(veins at)* = NAIVEST
34 Be natural to that girl after hot date’s ending (6)
her (that girl) after in (hot) + e (date’s ending) = INHERE
36 Tango exercises in Strictly’s first run more difficult (7)
tee (Tango) + pe (exercises) in S (strictly’s) first + r (run) = STEEPER
37 Contracted film in Hollywood’s sure-fire winner (6)
shoot (film) – t + in = SHOOIN
39 Fine wood covering cases of venerable native exporter (6)
VenerablE NativE ExporteR = VENEER
40 Small drunk talked oddly (6)
lit (drunk) + TaLkEd = LITTLE
41 Bias defeats second learner excluded after homework (10)
prep (hoemwork) + losses (defeats) – l = PREPOSSESS
42 Some cut out thoughtful words (3)
(some – e)* = OMS
Down
1 Wind from spinach coming up (3)
Rev. sag(spinach) = GAS
2 Last to finish, OXFORD rower showing age (4)
h (last to finish) + oar (rower) = HOAR
3 Highland’s angry black MULE leaving mark following resistance (5)
badge(mark) – b (black) after r (resistance) = RADGE
4 Conceals from poet, beautiful lady’s name forgotten (5)
Helen’s (beautiful lady’s) – n (name) = HELES
5 Inferior ship’s top PLIMSOLL line removed including European letters (5)
less (inferior) – l (line) + s (ship’s top) around e (European) = ESSES
6 Terrible aroma with PUMP problem inside Texan city (8)
(aroma)* around ill (problem) = AMARILLO
7 Drifter starts to sing Never and That Hurts! (4)
sn (starts to sing never) + ow (that hurts) = SNOW
8 Stuffing T-rex tremendous climax (7)
Hidden t-rEX TREMEndous = EXTREME
9 Nurse supports georgia’s busts again (9)
rear (nurse) + rests(supports) = REARRESTS
11 Casually kisses 7 unfinished gargoyles on vacation (5)
sno (7 unfinished) + gs (gargoyles on vacation) = SNOGS
15 Singular men load bats and African animal (8, two words)
s(singular) + (men load)* = SAND MOLE
16 Supports missing end of class, having book for lecturer (8)
lacking (missing) + s (end of class) swapping b for l = BACKINGS
17 He ignored mad Michael’s demands (6)
(michaels – he)* = CLAIMS
18 Cash dispenser staff blocking wages deduction rule (9)
mast(staff) in PAYE (wages deduction) + r (rule) = PAYMASTER
19 SLIPPER shouted, incontinent elderly leaking river (6)
(elderly – r)* = YELLED
22 These might pop up by flowers (8)
to (by) + asters (flowers) = TOASTERS
25 Regularly tempting Leonie when taking place on Globe’s top table (7)
tEmPtInG lEoNiE = EPIGENE
28 Awfully toxic coming out of new school exit, those that have passed are there (5)
(school exit – toxic)* = SHEOL
30 Sir Chris Hoy’s SNEAKER strips wheels (5)
DD TIRLS
31 Careful look from Glaswegian tourist abandoning hill base (5)
visitor (tourist) – tor (hill) + e (base) = VISIE
32 Hosts supply drinks (5)
(hosts)* = SHOTS
33 LOAFER with earache on vacation has quiet cry (4)
w(with) + ee (earache on vacation) = p (quiet) = WEEP
35 Thong from SA that is found in room (4)
ie (that is) in rm (room) = RIEM
38 Scandi goblin is not old (3)
DD NIS
I thought I’d thank you for your blog Twencelas. I enjoyed it.