Skylark has two relatives for us to find, with one following in the other’s FOOTSTEPS…and a thematic perimeter…intriguing…
The preamble states that:
“In clue order, single extra letters to be removed from 24 clues before solving give an instruction regarding two relatives, one of whom followed in the other’s FOOTSTEPS. In clue order, single extra letters generated by the wordplay in 14 other clues describe the contents of the perimeter. Rearranging the unchecked letters in the outer perimeter gives: ROMANCED BY MAN’S MERLOT. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
As usual, a perimetral message means slightly fewer clues to parse and solve, and it also needs a few crossers to get it going. And for that, a bit of diving in to see what transpires…
I made quite good progress, although each clue had to be approached with two mindsets – is it in the set of 24 or the set of 14? (Three in fact, once I worked out that would leave one ‘normal’ clue…but I discounted that for initial solving purposes and assumed it would fall out of the mix eventually).
Even with quite a few crossers around the perimeter, not a lot was jumping out at me, but some of the extra letters were taking shape, including ‘SHADE…’ at the start, and then eventually ‘FORE….’. So we are probably to shade something, and with two relatives, their forenames are likely to be different – but maybe a shared surname? Around this time, I remembered the first rule of EV club – always check the diagonals, and taking shape down the leading diagonal had to be DICKENS, and then back down the other was CHARLES. So far, so within my literary boundaries, but I have to admit to not knowing his inevitably less famous great-granddaughter, MONICA, completing that diagonal.
So, we are to SHADE FORENAMES AND SURNAME (the 24), and around the perimeter should be TWO BOOKS BY EACH (the 14), leaving 26D as the normal clue!
Crossers with perimeter, once the names had been completed:
- DO_BE_A_DSO_C_B_LER_DR_A_H_RD_I_ESD_A_D_CTO_LI_Y
And again, the first and third were within my compass:
- DOMBEY AND SON and
- HARD TIMES
But I resorted to Wiki-oogling Monica’s oeuvre, rather than fighting with a cross-reference of the unchecked letters phrase from the preamble, to find:
- COBBLER’S DREAM and
- DEAR DOCTOR LILY
And there we have it – a wonderful piece of grid construction; a bit of education for your blogger; and a charming EV puzzle – around the middle of the EV scale of hardness, I would venture?
Not too many obscure (to me) words – YITE and BLINS were new to me – which was welcome, given the mind-bending going on with the different types of extra letters!
My thanks to Skylark for the diversion and edification, and I hope all is clear below…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Extra Letter
Removed / Generated |
Solution | Clue (definition underlined, extra letters in (bold))
Logic/Parsing (extra wordplay letters in (bold)) |
|
| 8 | S | YITE | Lovely item covering rural bird(s) (4)
hidden word in, i.e. covered by, ‘lovelY ITEm’ [‘yite’ being dialect for the yellowhammer] |
|
| 10 | H | SERAPH | Finally was(h) retired husband and trim angelic one (6)
S (final letter of waS(h)) + ERAPH (H – husband, plus PARE – trim, all retired) |
|
| 11 | A | CASH | (A)bash, rejecting right money (4)
C( |
|
| 12 | D | BICARB | One caught cutting spike(d) chemical compound (6)
B_ARB (spike(d)) around (cut by) IC (I – one, C – caught, cricket scoring notation) |
|
| 13 | E | IMP | Wicked spirit without leader, hop(e) (3)
( |
|
| 14 | F | WEAL | (F)ridge’s sound state (4)
double defn. – a WEAL can be a (f)ridge on the skin, from a lashing; and WEAL can refer to a sound or prosperous state – contraction of wealth, or commonwealth? |
|
| 16 | O | LANE | Pierce, missing Catholic’s g(o)ut (4)
LAN( |
|
| 19 | R | LEGAL | Allowed on a line(r) (5)
LEG (on side, in cricket) + A + L (line(r)) |
|
| 20 | E | BLINS | Stoppages for Ed, skipping end of Flak(e), winks (5)
BLIN(K)S – winks, missing K – end of flaK(e) [‘blin’ being Spenserian, i.e. for Ed, for stoppage/cessation] |
|
| 21 | N | ENDIVE | Regularly seen bar(n)’s vegetable (6)
EN (regular letters of sEeN) + DIVE (bar(n), insalubrious joint) |
|
| 22 | T | OFF ONES ROCKER | Bad tunes by AC/DC member, perhaps raving (13, three words)
OFF (bad) + (T)ONES (tunes) + ROCKER (AC/DC member, perhaps) |
|
| 25 | W | TEDIUM | Boredom recalling broad filling stomach (6)
T_UM (stomach) around (filled by) EDI(W) (wide, or broad, around) |
|
| 26 | A | BIPOD | Petty officer’s blocking tr(a)y, stand with two legs (5)
BI_D (tr(a)y) around (blocked by) PO (Petty Officer) |
|
| 28 | M | CARGO | Vehicle (m)overs carrying German load (5)
CAR (vehicle) + O ((m)overs, cricket notation), around (carrying) G (German) |
|
| 30 | E | WEED | Little glad(e)’s final unwanted plant (4)
WEE (little) + D (final letter of ‘glaD(e)’) |
|
| 32 | S | ANON | Clerical dignitary’s avoiding (s)cents in books soon (4)
( |
|
| 33 | O | GEAR | Turn attention to harness (4)
G(O) (go, turn) + EAR (attention) |
|
| 34 | A | DRIERS | (A)verse to shun controller’s tumblers (6)
DRI( |
|
| 35 | N | REND | Knight’s wearing scarlet spli(n)t (4)
RE_D (scarlet) around (worn by) N (knight, chess notation, as K = king!) |
|
| 36 | D | CERIUM | Element shattered Maurice, (d)are to go (6)
anag, i.e. shattered, of M( |
|
| 37 | S | ACTA | Discretion ignoring (s)tare at beginning, accepted official proceedings (4)
( |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Extra Letter
Removed / Generated |
Solution | Clue (definition underlined, extra letters in (bold))
Logic/Parsing (extra wordplay letters in (bold)) |
|
| 1 | B | OILMAN | JR Ewing, say, to be hot on island (6)
(B)OIL (be hot) + MAN (Isle of Man) |
|
| 2 | O | BEAK | Odd characters in boozer ask for bill (4)
odd numbered letters from ‘Bo(O)zEr AsK’ |
|
| 3 | U | EISWEIN | Sweet drink that is raised is new, Ma(u)d (7)
EI (i.e., id est, that is, raised) + SWEIN (anag, i.e. ma(u)d, of IS NEW) |
|
| 4 | R | ASIANS | C(r)ony no longer welcoming lan’s Indians, perhaps (6)
AS_S (c(r)ony, obsolete for dupe/fool, or ass) around (welcoming) IAN |
|
| 5 | O | DRILL | Bore island dividing rum (5)
DR(O)LL (rum, odd) around (divided by) I (island) |
|
| 6 | K | SACRED COW | Reputedly perfect institution fired despicable person in Sydney, keeping rule (9, two words)
SAC(K)_ED (fired) around (keeping) R (rule), plus COW (Australian, i.e. in Sydney, slang for despicable person) |
|
| 7 | S | OPAL | Picked up stage make-up, ring and gemstone (4)
(S)LAP (stage paint, makeup) + O (ring, circular letter) all reversed, or picked up, to give OPAL |
|
| 9 | N | THE ENEMY | You once year(n) to support chaps overturning Satan (8, two words)
THE_E (you, once) + NEM (men, chaps, overturning) + Y (year(n)) |
|
| 15 | B | RAVE | Daring to speak with enthusiasm (4)
subtractive double defn – (B)RAVE can mean daring; and to RAVE (about) can be to speak with enthusiasm) |
|
| 17 | A | ELOIGNERS | So reeling (a)ground old transporters (9)
anag, i.e. (a)ground, of SO REELING |
|
| 18 | Y | AERIFORM | Overturned oxygen fuel held by host is gaseous (8)
A_RM(Y) (host, multitude) around (holding) ERIFO (O – oxygen, FIRE – fuel, overturned) |
|
| 23 | E | FEAT | Exploit English, drawn into inevitable destiny (4)
F_AT(E) (inevitable destiny) around (drawing in) E (English) |
|
| 24 | A | OPEN-END | Began admitting sodium is not closely defined (7)
OPEN_E_D (began) around (admitting) N(A) (Na, sodium) |
|
| 26 | BON AMI | Lover‘s goods note (6, two words)
BON_A (Latin, goods) + MI (note, as in do-re-mi…) |
||
| 27 | M | HEALTH | Prime Minister protecting real(m), ultimately, for wellbeing (6)
HEA_TH (Edward Heath, former UK PM) around (protecting) L (ultimate letter of ‘reaL(m)’) |
|
| 29 | C | OWRIE | Shell is shabby in Aberdeen (5)
subtractive double defn – (C)OWRIE is a type of shell; and OWRIE, a variant of ‘ourie’, is a Scottish word, i.e. in Aberdeen, for shabby) |
|
| 31 | E | LIED | Told untruth: worked steadily, quitting pip(e) at last (4)
( |
|
| 33 | H | GNAR | Snarl, upset recipe to fix (4)
R (Latin, recipe, take) + (H)ANG (fix, as in hang a picture) – all upset to give GNAR |
|
Thank you for the lovely blog, mc_rapper67.
I first discovered One Pair of Hands and My Turn to Make the Tea, both by Monica Dickens, as an undergraduate, and really enjoyed both. Grid constraints were such that I couldn’t get either round the perimeter, nor either of my favourites by Charles Dickens, but Hard Times worked well for me.
Good, middle-of-the-road EV fun, thank you!
I also followed the first rule of EV club to discover DICKENS, first CHARLES then MONICA with whom I can’t say I was familiar.
I also found the double device mechanism tricky as it always bamboozles the head when you have to keep both options open – but it does make it interesting.
Many thanks both.
Very enjoyable
Love discovering new words. Agree with Arnold. Double device plays havoc with the memory at 90 years old
Thanks for the comments and feedback so far – much appreciated as usual, especially to Skylark for popping in, and for your kind words…
arnold at #2 – looks like you had a similar solving experience to me.
Norma at #3 – nice to see a new name, not sure if you’ve commented on the EVs before, but glad you enjoyed this one, and I just hope I am still solving EVs at 90 – assuming the series is still going…and that I make it that far!
I enjoyed this puzzle with its unambiguous endgame, and it was nice to be reminded about Monica Dickens. I have read quite a few of her books in years gone by, though not the two on the perimeter here. I am particularly fond of the three ‘semi-autobiographical’ novels, especially My Turn to Make the Tea; the tone of her other novels varies considerably, with one or two being – like her great-grandfather’s house – quite bleak.