“In accordance with the state of the unclued HATER before and after a cryptic HATER, three down clues need a pair of consecutive letters omitted and 12 across clues need a letter to be added before solving; these letters give a source. Solvers must change the HATER to the source of scorn, making a word of a personal message to solvers. Finally, a cryptic HATER should be applied to four down entries to reveal the message (four across entries to be highlighted). All entries are real words or phrases at every stage.”
Did anyone else initially think the unclued HATER was THE FRENCH?
Every second across clue needs an extra letter. The affected down clues are also pleasingly symmetric, and appropriately include the middle clue. The “cryptic HATER” is “change of heart”. The three down clues have the “heart” removed from one word, and the additional letters in the across clues all go to the “heart” of words.
These extra letters give THEODOR SEUSS GEISEL, better known as Dr. Seuss.
So far as I know, there is no significant conflict between the French and Dr. Seuss. However, there is (or was) between THE GRINCH and CHRISTMAS in ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ (1957)!
Finally, we change the “heart” of four down entries and highlight the message revealed: MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM PROXIMAL.
There are a lot of pleasing clues here, involving an arctic plain, polar bears, and the ‘remove letters from a longer anagram to find the answer’ trick (5dn) that I enjoy very much. Also, as a Scot, it’s also nice to have a “Scottish” word (outwith) that we actually use!
| Notation | |
|---|---|
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Added/removed letter(s) | ship |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| T | 1 | Poet’s opposed to {GATS IN}* [rum] (6) | GAINST |
| 7 | Like great belt < {ON OZ (Australian)} [going round] ID (Idaho) (6) | ZONOID | |
| H | 12 | Tiddly MI |
MINI |
| 13 | FORTUNE (Much money) R->L [changing hands] [to acquire] K (Kelvin)’s traditional song (8, two words) | FOLK TUNE | |
| E | 14 | Stiff hair [scraggy] MULE [head in] N |
FRENULUM |
| 15 | That’s going to T (Thailand), [boarding] ILL (with difficulty) (4) | IT’LL | |
| O | 16 | Coastal city A (associate) [with] CRE |
ACRE |
| 17 | Mate is very old indeed (5) | MARRY | |
| D | 18 | Idiot TT (teetotaller) [hurdling] WI |
TWIT |
| 19 | Preserve M (member) of < LAB (research facility) [turning] [in] EM (space) (6) | EMBALM | |
| O | 22 | T (Troy) [to leave] < ELEC |
CELEB |
| 24 | [Sample of] enchilADAS TRAnsported to the stars (7, two words) | AD ASTRA | |
| R | 29 | ACE (Card representing one) TATE (gallery) showing film (7) | ACETATE |
| 32 | [Half-heartedly] < WOB |
ELBOW | |
| S | 34 | Retreat from W (west) [on] |
UNDRAW |
| 37 | Relax [after] |
EASE | |
| E | 38 | GU (Islander’s viol) [beside] [bowels of] |
GUAVA |
| 40 | Small boat < {L (left) WAY (route)} [to the west] (4) | YAWL | |
| U | 41 | [Misusing] ROMP* for concert (4) | PROM |
| 42 | Wasteful DIG (excavation) [distressed] POLAR* [bears] (8) | PRODIGAL | |
| S | 43 | Wandering around |
ERRANTRY |
| 44 | Anorak REND (split) [after odd characters exchange places] (4) | NERD | |
| S | 45 | Organic compound {IN |
LYSINE |
| 46 | UR (I’m not sure) GENT (well-to-do fellow) is earnest (6) | URGENT | |
| Down | |||
| 2 | AIR (Broadcast) [discussed] “CREWE” (Cheshire town)’s high-flying team (7) | AIRCREW | |
| GE | 3 | I (Current) REgeNT* [terribly] passive (5) | INERT |
| 4 | [Erected] < {EVEN (flat) IN} H (Hungary)’s ancient city (7) | NINEVEH | |
| 5 | DINERS* [served with such foam might be] UNIMPRESSED* (5) | SPUME | |
| 6 | [Auditor’s] “FOR” (beneficial to) figure (4) | FOUR | |
| 8 | OAKY (Firm) [lowering] A fine (4) | OKAY | |
| 9 | Mac’s peripheral to OUTWIT (fox) H |
OUTWITH | |
| 10 | IN (Cool) |
INLIER | |
| 11 | Splitting mouth DELT (muscle) A (accepted) (5) | DELTA | |
| 13 | Ardour NCO (officer) [expended in] FLAMENCO (dance) (5) | FLAME | |
| 14 | {A (Advanced) SCI (science)} [adopted by] FA (sporting body)’s board (6) | FASCIA | |
| 20 | More uncovered when [hearing] “BEARER” (messenger) (5) | BARER | |
| IS | 21 | Passage’s |
LANE |
| 23 | Head scriBE ANalysed [pens] (4) | BEAN | |
| 25 | [Messed up] { |
AS WELL | |
| 26 | TENORS (General runs) [holding] S (section) for stretchers (7) | TENSORS | |
| 27 | Purifying CLAG (sticky mass sometimes) [covering] {Y (yard) IN (at home)} (7) | CLAYING | |
| 28 | Prohibit FORWAR |
FORWARN | |
| 30 | C (Constant) HARRY (plunder) related to fuel (6) | CHARRY | |
| 31 | Vegetable EL (the Spanish) [left out of] SAVELOY (sausage) (5) | SAVOY | |
| 33 | Drive off and RE (on) with |
REPEL | |
| 35 | WAD (Stuff material into) ER (queen)’s boot (5) | WADER | |
| 36 | [Redoubled] E (energy) in RAGE (overwhelming desire) for millet (5) | RAGEE | |
| EL | 38 | GINN | |
| 39 | Veteran Cockney rogue < {YR (younger) RA (soldiers)} [upset] (4) | ARRY | |
| G | A | I | N | S | T | F | Z | O | N | O | I | D |
| M | I | N | I | P | F | O | L | K | T | U | N | E |
| F | R | E | N | U | L | U | M | A | I | T | L | L |
| A | C | R | E | M | A | R | R | Y | T | W | I | T |
| S | R | T | V | E | M | B | A | L | M | I | E | A |
| C | E | L | E | B | E | A | D | A | S | T | R | A |
| I | W | T | H | E | G | R | I | N | C | H | F | S |
| A | C | E | T | A | T | E | S | E | L | B | O | W |
| R | H | N | U | N | D | R | A | W | A | R | R | E |
| E | A | S | E | G | U | A | V | A | Y | A | W | L |
| P | R | O | M | I | P | R | O | D | I | G | A | L |
| E | R | R | A | N | T | R | Y | E | N | E | R | D |
| L | Y | S | I | N | E | Y | U | R | G | E | N | T |
Before
| G | A | I | N | S | T | F | Z | O | N | O | I | D |
| M | I | N | I | P | F | O | L | K | T | U | N | E |
| F | R | E | N | U | L | U | M | A | I | T | L | L |
| A | C | R | E | M | E | R | R | Y | T | W | I | T |
| S | R | T | V | E | M | B | A | L | M | I | E | A |
| C | E | L | E | B | E | A | D | A | S | T | R | A |
| I | W | C | H | R | I | S | T | M | A | S | F | S |
| A | C | E | T | A | T | E | S | E | L | B | O | W |
| R | H | N | U | N | D | R | A | W | A | R | R | E |
| E | A | S | E | G | U | A | V | A | Y | A | W | L |
| F | R | O | M | I | P | R | O | X | I | M | A | L |
| E | R | R | A | N | T | R | Y | E | N | E | R | D |
| L | Y | S | I | N | E | Y | U | R | G | E | N | T |
After
A strange title but a worthy puzzle, with excellent clues and an interesting theme (although I did not get to see all of it). I got my first whiff of the theme when I had ??E?R?N?H across the middle, as I saw it could be THE GRINCH. From the clues I got HEDORSEUSS/GEISEL, which was two letters short, but the name SEUSS was clearly a match for The Grinch. I looked up the correct name in full and went back to the two clues that I had not parsed properly.
I could see how to make CHRISTMAS in place of THE GRINCH, but the final instruction was not clear enough for me to identify the other required changes. (I did change MARRY to MERRY, but that was all I could see.)
Thanks to proXimal and Mister Sting.
There is a setter’s blog for this crossword here: https://bigdave44.com/2024/01/04/ev-1622-setters-blog/#more-190621
I had a pretty full grid but a couple of errors escaped me and prevented me from getting to the endgame I saw the Grinch but not the changes required but I am not as familiar with Seuss as proXimal, my reading for nephew and niece leapt from the very hungry caterpillar to Harry Potter far too quickly
Thanks to proXimal and Mister Sting
I did originally pencil in THE FRENCH, thinking we were into some sort of historical us v them battle or war!…
Superbly constructed and clued, as one would expect. And ProXimal even contrived an excellent clue for IT’LL, which I’ve always regarded as the bane of any setter’s life.