Hi everybody. Vismut has promised us a puzzle with a tidy finish …
The preamble:
Five clues lead to thematic answers which have strayed and must be entered elsewhere. Solvers must complete the thematic name (6,8) in the central row of someone from 31a who had NO BRAND. The thematic entry at 1d has wandered and strayed to another entry and must be returned to its correct position. The emptied entry should be completed with a thematic word to give a tidy finish. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended, and has all the information required under the theme’s surname, which is a headword; enumeration refers to entry lengths at clue numbers.
It took a while to locate the first of the thematic answers; with possibly half the grid filled I solved 19d, HEREFORD, which didn’t fit the grid. However, it did fit in the space for 37a so I could slot it in straight away. Then, looking at the clue for 37a and 19d in the grid, JERSEY satisfied both. So it seemed to be cattle which have strayed.
1d was surely COWS. Aha! That’s an anagram of 32d, SCOW (satisfying the information that 1d had both “wandered and strayed”). It took a little while to twig, but – of course! – the “tidy” replacement is NEAT!
Finally, in the grid the unclued entries could be completed: the someone from TEXAS who had NO BRAND is SAMUEL MAVERICK. As promised, Chambers gives us the information we need. The first definition of maverick is: A stray animal without an owner’s brand, esp a calf; Origin: Samuel Maverick (1803-70), Texas cattle-raiser. So as promised there’s no need to do further research, although I found his Wikipedia page worth a read (not least because I discovered the origin of gobbledegook).
Neat indeed – thanks Vismut!
| # | ANSWER | Clue with definition underlined |
| Explanation, with quoted indicators in italics and ANSWER letters in bold caps | ||
| Across | ||
| 1a | CHAP | Man locked in church a protestant (4) |
| Hidden in (locked in) churCH A Protestant | ||
| 4a | CAUTERISES | Burns wound tissue with care (10) |
| An anagram of (wound) TISSUE with CARE | ||
| 12a | OILS | Waterproof cloths and spades in ground brought back (4) |
| The S (spades) in SOIL (ground) is brought back to the end of the word | ||
| 13a | HIGHLAND (strayed to 2d) |
Wired network died in mountainous district (8) |
| HIGH (wired) + LAN (network) + D (died) | ||
| 15a | ENDS | Scraps degree in headless chickens (4) |
| D (degree) in hENS (chickens) without the first letter (headless …) | ||
| 16a | JERKIER | Comparatively twitchy queen replacing knight in jacket (7) |
| ER (queen) replacing N (knight) in JERKI[n] (jacket) | ||
| 17a | SHEND | Post about Henry’s ancient shame (5) |
| SEND (post) around (about) H (henry) | ||
| 21a | GLADDIE | Short flower from good wee boy (7) |
| G (good) + LADDIE (wee boy) | ||
| 23a | ENTÊTÉE | French girl’s infatuated when confused teen gets support (7) |
| An anagram of (confused) TEEN + TEE (support) | ||
| 25a | INDEXAL | Number 10 put separately into best example of list (7) |
| N (number) and X (10) put separately into IDEAL (best example) | ||
| 27a | LASSOCK | Short final bash for diminutive girl in Fife (7) |
| Omitting the last letter (short) LASt (final) + SOCK (bash) | ||
| 33a | GOGLETS | Little swine begin to hide religious Anglo-Indian water-coolers (7) |
| [pi]GLETS (little swine) in which GO (begin) is to replace (to hide) PI (religious) | ||
| 36a | MANY | Lots of blossom around far end of town (4) |
| MAY (blossom) around the last letter of (far end of) towN | ||
| 37a | JERSEY (strayed to 19d) |
Top judge agreed about revolutionary (8) |
| J (judge) + in reverse (… revolutionary) YES (agreed) and RE (about) | ||
| 38a | SOLO | Alone and thus depressed, we hear (4) |
| SO (thus) + LOW (depressed), sound-alike (we hear) | ||
| 39a | ENTERS INTO | Gets involved in engineer retentions (10, two words) |
| Make an anagram of (engineer) RETENTIONS | ||
| 40a | STEW | First ewe shows worry (4) |
| FirST EWe contains (shows) the answer | ||
| Down | ||
| 2d | DEXTER (strayed to 22d) |
Spectator’s left no second base in Devon’s capital city (8) |
| Devon’s capital + EX[e]TER (city), in which there is no second E (base) | ||
| 3d | ALDEA | Clipped tree area in Spanish hamlet (5) |
| ALDEr (tree) having removed the last letter (… clipped) + A (area) | ||
| 5d | AO DAI | A zip aid designed for tunic (5, two words) |
| A + O (zip) + AID anagrammed (designed) | ||
| 6d | UNSEEMLY | Employ Emily regardless of one note inside bad form (8) |
| USE (employ) and EM[i]LY without I (regardless of one) with N (note) inside | ||
| 7d | EHED | Ambassador interrupting journalist said “what’s that?” (4) |
| HE (ambassador) going into (interrupting) ED (journalist) | ||
| 8d | IRK | Weary Vismut runs kilometre (3) |
| I (Vismut) + R (runs) + K (kilometre) | ||
| 9d | SNIFT | Casual hands reflected with time to blow off steam (5) |
| FINS (casual hands) reversed (reflected) + T (time) | ||
| 10d | EWE | Less topped and tailed sheep (3) |
| fEWEr (less) removing first and last letters (topped and tailed) | ||
| 11d | STREEK | Cut-off road on Kirkpatrick stretch north of the border (6) |
| Without the last letter (cut-off) STREEt (road) + K (Kirkpatrick) | ||
| 14d | ORATES | Nasty toerags ignoring first of GOAT’s talks (6) |
| An anagram of (nasty) TOERA[g]S omitting (ignoring) the first of Goat | ||
| 15d | ENDUES | Invests with banks in Eindhoven with charges added (6) |
| Outer letters of (banks in) EindhoveN + DUES (charges) | ||
| 18d | SEA LEMON | Marine mammal team down regularly to see main resident (8, two words) |
| SEAL (marine mammal) + tEaM dOwN regularly | ||
| 19d | HEREFORD (strayed to 37a) |
That man embarrassed gathering for City (6) |
| HE (that man) + RED (embarrassed) taking in (gathering) FOR | ||
| 20d | PECCABLE | Croquet club stopping exercises on the ball likely to go wrong (8) |
| CC (croquet club) inside (stopping) PE (exercises) and ABLE (on the ball) | ||
| 22d | LONGHORN (strayed to 13a) |
Remote heartless rhino squashed beetle (6) |
| LONG (remote) + RHiNO without its middle letter (heartless …) anagrammed (squashed) | ||
| 24d | SINGLE | Individual close to marbles Elgin collected (6) |
| The last letter of (close to) marbleS + ELGIN anagrammed (collected) | ||
| 26d | DIGHT | Equip old lodge outside of Havant (5) |
| DIG (lodge) + outer letters of (outside of) HavanT | ||
| 28d | APART | Aloof cat heading off to eat little fish (5) |
| Removing the first letter (… heading off) cAT taking in (to eat) PAR (little fish) | ||
| 29d | OX-BOT | Bit of cowpox, bothersome blight of cattle (5) |
| A bit of cowpOX, BOThersome | ||
| 30d | UTES | Native Americans mounted united uprising (4) |
| SET (mounted) and U (united) all reversed (uprising) | ||
| 32d | SCOW (becomes NEAT) |
Lower unfinished boat (4) |
| SCOWl (lower) without the last letter (unfinished) | ||
| 34d | OWN | Enjoy today cycling (3) |
| NOW (today) cycling round | ||
| 35d | LEE | Shelter from endless rain and snow (3) |
| Without outer letters (endless) sLEEt (rain and snow) | ||
All round fun!
Thanks Vismut and Kitty!
Thanks Google and Wiki as ever!
thanks V and K! i missed the final SCOW -> NEAT step but otherwise a very neat puzzle
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. Lovely overall design, fair clues and a very nice endgame. I didn’t know the origin of maverick so this was a perfect solving experience for me: entertaining and informative. The neat finish raised a smile.
Thanks Vismut and Kitty.
Thanks for the blog Kitty, very enjoyable and thanks to KVa, Ilan Caron and NH for your kind comments too. Always good to get some feedback on these puzzles, I know all the setters appreciate it.
Thanks Vismut for dropping by. The standards of this puzzle as well as the blog are quite high. Notwithstanding that, if the puzzle is made available online with interactive features (like G, Indy and FT), it will reach more people (esp. the younger lot), I feel. In any case, that’s for the editor to decide.