Enigmatic Variations No. 1696: Airy by Chalicea

Hi everybody.  A bright and breezy one from Chalicea, who is always a breath of fresh air!

 

The preamble:

The wordplay of clues to four, seven, and eight-letter entries leads to an extra letter that is not required by the answer. In clue order these will guide solvers to an AIRY work whose seven-word title appears in the grid in a foreign language. Solvers must change nine letters, producing new real words, to show an English translation of the title. The circled letters will give further help.

 

As I solved the clues, the message started to form:

BWV ONE FIVE SIX BACH CANTATA

Because I concentrated on filling the grid and typing up all the parsing before paying attention to the endgame, I didn’t notice until the end that I’d mistranscribed some of the circles in the grid.  Once sorted, I could extract the further help:

SINFONIA ARIOSO

I wanted to avoid looking anything up if at all possible, so at this point spent a while scouring the grid (not scoring the grid, as I originally typed and only just spotted!) armed only with optimism and dim memories of GSCE German.  You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I had no luck!  Still, the setter had provided all the information needed, so I turned to my search engine of choice to find the AIRY work in the cloud.

BMW 156 is Johann Sebastian Bach’s Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe, a church cantata with six movements.  The first of these is the sinfonia (shown in the circled letters), the second is the chorale and aria (the AIRY work) which gives its name to the piece:

ICH STEH MIT EINEM FUß IM GRABE

Using SS for ß, this could now be found in the grid …

… and for the finishing touch, I just had to change nine letters (leaving real words as instructed) to show the English translation:

I STAND WITH ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE

I don’t believe it!  Awesome – thanks Chalicea!

 

From 9am there should be a setter’s blog here.

 

#	ANSWER	Clue with definition underlined
		Explanation, with quoted indicators in italics and ANSWER letters in bold caps
Across
2a	CHEST	About old request for treasury (5)
		C (about) + HEST (old request)
13a	CLAM	Caught innocent soul, very reticent individual (4)	B
		C (caught) + LAM[B] (innocent soul)
14a	TALEA	Story about recurring rhythmic pattern in old-fashioned motets (5)
		TALE (story) + A (about)
15a	ACHE	Desire American quid of tobacco, say (4)	W
		A (American) + CHE[W] (quid of tobacco, say)
16a	TAMPER	Have corrupt dealings with time for power, violent blow with nothing lost (6)
		With T (time) in place of (for) P (power), [p]AMPER[o] (violent blow) with O (nothing) lost
17a	DANTE	Initially donated advance payment for poet (5)
		Initially Donated + ANTE (advance payment)
18a	ARAR	African tree in Harvard unrestrained (4)	V
		Without outer letters (… unrestrained) hAR[V]ARd
20a	VERDERER	Royal forest official concerning deer, including rearing centrally (8)	O
		[O]VER (concerning) + DEER including the middle letter of (… centrally) reaRing
21a	LIVIDER	Left drive-in sadly more irate (7)	N
		L (left) + DRIVE–I[N] anagrammed (sadly)
22a	TYRANT	Bully’s hollow thundery bombast (6)
		Missing inner letters (hollow) ThunderY + RANT (bombast)
24a	ANASARCA	Dubiously arcane as a type of dropsy (8)	E
		Anagrammed (dubiously) ARCAN[E] AS A
25a	BYRES	Neat houses near reserve (5)
		BY (near) + RES. (reserve)
26a	NEMNS	No longer identifies chaps around nuclear ship (5)
		MEN (chaps) reversed (around) + NS (nuclear ship)
27a	FUSS	Very loud United States finally pointless turmoil (4)	F
		F[F] (very loud) + US (United States) + finally pointlesS
29a	ROTS	Decomposes social uprisings (4)	I
		R[I]OTS (social uprisings)
31a	GIRNIER	More snarly local cop cast out in ludicrous overpricing (7)	V
		An anagram of (… cast) COP taken out of an anagram of (ludicrous) [o][V]ER[p]RI[c]ING
32a	OVIST	In part Asimov is theoretically one believing in egg’s potential (5)
		In part AsimOV IS Theoretically
35a	LEARNER	Lecturer to be paid for services before beginner (7)	E
		L (lecturer) + EARN (to be paid for services) + ER[E] (before)
36a	DIATOMS	Algae declared to be coming back on male cats (7)	S
		[S]AID (declared) reversed (to be coming back) + TOMS (male cats)
40a	COBRIC	Company with trustworthy person, mostly, serpentinely venomous (6)
		CO (company) with BRICk (trustworthy person), mostly
41a	NEBELS	Northern bills admitting the Spanish instruments (6)
		NEBS (northern bills) admitting EL (the, Spanish)
42a	WEDS	Team recalled after leader of women marries (4)	I
		S[I]DE (team) backwards (recalled) after the first letter of (leader of) Women
44a	NOTA	Backs negative vote on contribution to state revenue (4)	X
		NO (negative vote) + TA[X] (contribution to state revenue)
45a	ISOMERISE	I become hostile about any change resulting in same formula but different structure (9)
		I and RISE (become hostile) around (about) SOME (any)
46a	GRABEN	Lay hands on heart of Edenic rift valley (6)
		GRAB (lay hands on) + the centre of (heart of) edENic
Down
1d	ICTAL	Violently dictatorial but not exceptionally adroit concerning seizure (5)
		An anagram of (violently) [di]CT[ator]IAL omitting (but not) an anagram of (exceptionally) ADROIT
2d	CLARINI	Trumps abnormal brilliance discounting eastern learner (7)	B
		An anagram of (abnormal) [B]RIL[l]IANC[e] discounting E (eastern) and L (learner)
3d	EMPRISES	Base scheme of layout increases dangerous undertakings, once (8)	A
		E (base) + M[A]P (scheme of layout) + RISES (increases)
4d	STEPDAME	Father’s wife of yore (not my mother!) came after daughter with pets turned up (8)	C
		[C]AME after the reversal of (… turned up) D (daughter) with PETS
5d	TAR	Sailor subverted notorious deserter of his vessel (3)
		Overturned (subverted) RAT (notorious deserter of his vessel)
6d	ELDER	Celt uncovered the German ancestor (5)
		Without outer letters (… uncovered) cELt + DER (the, German)
7d	HEAR	Get wind of home circle with no surface tension (4)	H
		HEAR[t][H] (home circle) with no T (surface tension)
8d	DANDY	Smart sloop-like vessel (5)
		Double definition
9d	MATER	Mother’s partner – right? (5)
		MATE (partner) + R (right)
10d	ICER	Cake decorator found in rosticceria (4)	C
		The answer is found in rostIC[C]ERia
11d	THRENE	Cardinal introducing northern bard’s song of lamentation (6)
		THREE (cardinal) taking in (introducing) N (northern)
12d	HEART-STRICKEN	Extremely dismayed mixing tar thickeners (13)
		We are anagramming (mixing) TAR THICKENERS
19d	AVANTI	Backing characters in explicit naval instruction to advance (6)
		Part of the reversal of (backing characters in) explicIT NAVAl
20d	VERNAL	Every one hale, boundlessly fresh and youthful in verse (6)
		Missing outer letters (… boundlessly), eVERy oNe hALe
22d	TAFIA	Thanks! (lifting first class fine rum) (5)
		TA (thanks) + going upwards (lifting) AI (first class) and F (fine)
23d	ARSIER	Relatively uncooperative nocturnal East-Indian monkeys lacking limits (6)
		Without outer letters (… lacking limits), tARSIERs (nocturnal East-Indian monkeys)
24d	AERODYNE	Heavier-than-air machine, regarding aircraft energy, any model essentially on the up (8)	A
		AERO (regarding aircraft) + reversal of (… on the up) E (energy), [A]NY and moDel essentially
25d	BURROWER	Very fast ride with oar, one delves deeply (8)	N
		BUR[N] (very fast ride) + ROWER (oar)
28d	HÉRISSÉ	Somewhat inherits sensitivity, being bristly (7)	T
		Somewhat inHERI[T]S SEnsitivity
30d	OVIBOS	Old, very independent black outsize Arctic ox (6)
		O (old), V (very), I (independent), B (black) and OS (outsize)
33d	STEAM	Spirit of special squad (5)
		S (special) + TEAM (squad)
34d	TOBIT	In one direction penetrated Apocryphal book (5)
		TO (in one direction) + BIT (penetrated)
37d	ANTI	Some fanatical person opposed to anything (4)	A
		Some fAN[A]TIcal
38d	MESH	Network in gamest horse-trade (4)	T
		The answer is in gaMES[T] Horse-trade
39d	SLOE	Crushed aloes and blackthorn fruit (4)	A
		An anagram of (crushed) [A]LOES
43d	DIB	Raised offer for fish (3)
		Reversed (raised) BID (offer)