“Extra words in some clues are synonyms for different words which each form a square in the grid within which a circle, touching all sides, must be drawn. In 14 other clues the wordplay gives one incorrect letter. Read from the grid the correct letters name an IMMUTABLE character. Read in clue order, the incorrect letters indicate what colour to fill the grid and how many circles to fill with what colour. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
The correct letters name PANTHERA PARDUS, the leopard. The incorrect letters give YELLOW, SIX, BLACK. The six extra words are synonyms for words that are anagrams of SPOT. Put all of that together and you get something like what I’ve shown in the picture below.
I thought that this was a lovely idea, well executed. It’s tricky to come up with workable ideas for these puzzles that aren’t hackneyed, but Vismut did it. The ‘incorrect letter from wordplay’ is relatively uncommon too, if I’m not mistaken.
All in all, the kind of puzzle you show people who don’t do these to show them how good they are.
Let me know in the comments what you thought of it.
| Notation | |
|---|---|
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Homophone | “WORD” |
| Correct/Incorrect letter | A/Y |
| Extra word/synonym | Picks/OPTS |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 5 | RYVE (Very windy), N (navy) DUCK (lower) sailcloth (9) | RAVENDUCK |
| 11 | SAYERS (Those announcing) [fencing] TOURNAMENT’s [foremost] durable competitors (7) | STAYERS | |
| 12 | Crush p (page) [in] [foreign] NOTES* (6, two words) | STEP ON | |
| N | 14 | A Y (Yankee) MARE (horse) [carrying] A Bolivian today (7) | AYMARAN |
| T | 15 | Bob CURLS (rolls) Y (yard) (6) | CURTSY |
| 16 | Light GAP (window) [frames] SLAM (smash) (7, two words) | GAS LAMP | |
| H | 17 | [Merry] REALM*, Muslim’s sacred place (5) | HAREM |
| 18 | Pensive poets {LEG (stage) I (international)} [restricted by] EASTS (directions) (9) | ELEGIASTS | |
| OPTS | 20 | Picks L (fifty) [to hide in] [odd] NICHES* [hosting] {TT (dry) R (run)} for military defence (10, two words) | SLIT TRENCH |
| 22 | ONS |
ONST | |
| 25 | Sung poems from OD |
ODES | |
| A | 27 | CO (County) [redeployed] TROOP* [stopped by] <SAD (low) [rotating] bridge (10) | CAPODASTRO |
| A | 32 | Old involved in carrying G (good) [steaming] {STEW TO}* RY (railway) (9) | GESTATORY |
| R | 34 | AIRED | |
| POTS | 35 | Mineral pans FEL |
FELSPAR |
| 37 | [Nervous] {VE DAY}* [guards] T (tense) and colouring (6, two words) | VAT DYE | |
| U | 38 | Head down for heralds IRAN (once Persia) [welcomes] IN (popular) |
URINANT |
| 39 | {O (Zero) GAS (idle chat)} [about] ME (Vismut) in the concluding letters (6) | OMEGAS | |
| 40 | Musician’s heavy N (note) [in] [rocking] TAPES* [end of] |
PESANTE | |
| POST | 41 | FIRM (Company) stake [retaining] [cycling] STORE (shop)’s (9) | FIRESTORM |
| Down | |||
| 1 | [RAN (Stood) out for SA (it)] in O |
OSAGES | |
| P | 2 | {LYNX [with] [unlimited] |
PTYALIN |
| 3 | SEL (Scottish ego) [supports] DAM (mother) before young girl (6) | DAMSEL | |
| 4 | Bovine G |
GYAL | |
| 5 | {[Stripped] |
RERAILED | |
| STOP | 6 | Prevent [B (Bachelor) becoming MA (Master of Arts) in one Semitic language] or another (7) | ARAMAIC |
| 7 | Bill’s pay EST (is French) [holding] CO (company) (5) | ESCOT | |
| 8 | Reduce maximum capacity classifications of DER (German article) ATE (consumed) (6) | DERATE | |
| E | 9 | Regularly |
UPTREND |
| 10 | TesCO’S SClair [boxes] function (5) | COSEC | |
| TOPS | 13 | Deities caps [initially] N |
NYMPHS |
| 19 | S (Special) TOSS (pitch) feature facing glacier (5) | STOSS | |
| R | 21 | Support of the country L (left) URALS (mountain range) [crossing] I (one) M (motorway) (8) | RURALISM |
| 22 | Book OCT (month): A (accepted) [first couple of] VO |
OCTAVO | |
| P | 23 | Cooked RAREST* [O (duck]’s stuffing] better (7) | SPORTER |
| 24 | UTTERER | ||
| 26 | ERR (Mistake) ANTS (six-footers) for adventurous knights (7) | ERRANTS | |
| D | 28 | Jittery ON (regarding) ECG (heart condition diagnostic) E (echo) (6, two words) | ON EDGE |
| 29 | MOP (Hiring fair) [by] A [hollow] N |
MOPANE | |
| SPOT | 30 | [Wild] |
SYRTES |
| 31 |
MIA-MI
|
MIAMI | |
| S | 33 | Discharge, EG (say), E (Earl) K |
EGEST |
| 36 | Ancient cobbler in Perth casually < [flipping] BANS (curses) (4) | SNAB | |
GRID BEFORE ENDGAME:
| O | P | D | G | R | A | V | E | N | D | U | C | K |
| S | T | A | Y | E | R | S | S | T | E | P | O | N |
| A | Y | M | A | R | A | N | C | U | R | T | S | Y |
| G | A | S | L | A | M | P | O | H | A | R | E | M |
| E | L | E | G | I | A | S | T | S | T | E | C | P |
| S | I | L | S | L | I | T | T | R | E | N | C | H |
| O | N | S | T | E | C | O | U | U | O | D | E | S |
| C | A | P | O | D | A | S | T | R | O | M | R | S |
| T | M | O | N | G | E | S | T | A | T | O | R | Y |
| A | I | R | E | D | G | F | E | L | S | P | A | R |
| V | A | T | D | Y | E | U | R | I | N | A | N | T |
| O | M | E | G | A | S | P | E | S | A | N | T | E |
| F | I | R | E | S | T | O | R | M | B | E | S | S |
GRID AFTER ENDGAME:
Yes, it was an excellent puzzle. I eventually managed to fill the grid and work out what was required. But I’m afraid I react badly when the final instruction is to colour parts – or, in this case, all – of the grid. If I wanted to do colouring, I harrumph, I would get a colouring book, not a crossword. On top of which, I do the puzzle in the paper and don’t have a set of crayons or coloured highlighters. There, got that off my chest. It’s not as though I want to compete for a fountain pen anyway.
Thanks for the blog Mr Sting. I’m glad you liked this puzzle.
Hector, I’m also an artist, I’m afraid colouring in is what I do 🙂