“Each clue contains an extra word that must be removed before solving. In clue order, these words contribute letters to a phrase in one of two ways; in eight cases the first and last letters are used and in the remainder the position of the word within the clue indicates the position of the required letter within that word. This phrase identifies the eight unclued entries and solvers must highlight two clued entries that were, in the first instance, associated with them. Contents of the grey cells can be arranged to give what was WANTED which must be written below the grid. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
The extra words give THE TWO MOST SUCCESSFUL OUTLAWS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WEST.
These are not, it transpires, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, or anyone like that. They are HANNIBAL HEYES and JEDEDIAH “Kid” CURRY, alias JOSHUA SMITH and THADDEUS JONES of ALIAS SMITH AND JONES, initially played by Pete DUEL and Ben MURPHY.
I’ve never seen it. Have you – and is it any good?
Apparently, they WANTED an AMNESTY. I’ve no idea if they got one.
I found most of these clues on the easy side (as I’ve said before, that is not a criticism). However, my favourite was one that I found a little trickier – 20 down. Which was your favourite clue?
| Notation | |
|---|---|
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Homophone | “WORD” |
| Extra word | frosts |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| T | 6 |
Before [some of] <
|
CORAM |
| H | 10 | ORGAN (Newspaper maybe) [beginning to] slightly A |
ORGANA |
| E | 12 | PER (A) really U (united) country (4) | PERU |
| T | 13 | GLEI | |
| W | 14 | Scatter rarely used FL |
FLURR |
| O | 15 | [Listened to] “EAGER” foolishly (excited) bore (4) | EGER |
| M | 16 | WEE (Crofter’s small), damaging, [mostly] VIL |
WEEVIL |
| OS | 18 | EARDROP | |
| T | 19 | Like Marmite, M (mark) |
MALTY |
| S | 22 | Instrument maker {SWEATY IN}* stressful [exercises] (8) | STEINWAY |
| UC | 24 | Study of food consumption {IS unhygienic – I DETECT}* [disorganised] (9) | DIETETICS |
| CE | 30 | R (Take) [in] ACE (expert pilot) [on] D (day) Concorde landed (5) | ACRED |
| SS | 33 | < TONS (Many) seafarers [about] TIE (to oblige) midshipman (7) | SNOTTIE |
| F | 34 | Thatcher, RE (about) [to finally] |
REEDER |
| U | 35 | Poultry‘s H (hard), lousy ENS (existence) (4) | HENS |
| L | 36 | Function “ROLL” (to get underway) nicely [we hear] (4) | ROLE |
| O | 37 | USED | |
| U | 38 | [With less P (pressure)], [moulded] useful |
STELAR |
| TL | 39 | Fools tell |
ASSES |
| Down | |||
| A | 1 |
HOG (Village part-time vegetable store) WASH (to bear investigation)? Nonsense (7)
|
HOGWASH |
| W | 2 | CH (Clearing house) [leaves] |
ARLES |
| S | 3 | Natural simplicities of thought {INVITE adverse SEA}* [changes} (9) | NAIVETIES |
| IN | 4 | Indian BAST (matting) [includes] ALL (everything) that’s used to make bed (7) | BALLAST |
| T | 5 | Instrument’s strange shape |
LYRATE |
| H | 7 | Again produce REG (number of cars) [on] old-fashioned ROW (line) (6) | REGROW |
| E | 8 | ELA |
AREOLATE |
| H | 9 | [Lifted] < RUM (odd), P (soft), [extremely] fleshy, H |
MURPHY |
| I | 11 | Struggle “DUAL” (to give carriageway a beneficial extra lane) [announced] (4) | DUEL |
| ST | 17 | Woman‘s subsequent NIDE (brood no longer) [cycling] (4) | ENID |
| OR | 20 | What other |
UNCOVERED |
| Y | 21 | Gentle character KEEN* [to be involved] [in] birthday MESS (medley) (8) | MEEKNESS |
| O | 23 | Outrageously, [the majority of] TEA |
TEA |
| F | 25 | May, perhaps, [move] EASTER* chiefly [to embrace] [end of MARCH] (7) | THERESA |
| T | 26 |
Trim, stupid Glaswegian [upset] < DONS (fellows) (4)
|
SNOD |
| H | 27 | Moneylenders SURER (more dependable) [in] South US (America) (7) | USURERS |
| E | 28 | D (Dutch) < SENOR (gentleman) dreadfully [raised] lazy individuals (6) | DRONES |
| W | 29 | ICI EST (Lorraine’s wording for answer here is) most hostile (6) | ICIEST |
| E | 30 | Greek mountain‘s |
ATHOS |
| S | 31 | R (Right) EYE (to regard) questionable Australian paediatrician (4) | REYE |
| T | 32 | [Interminably] BELAUD (praise) attractive archipelago (5) | BELAU |
| H | A | N | N | I | B | A | L | C | O | R | A | M |
| O | R | G | A | N | A | D | Y | U | P | E | R | U |
| G | L | E | I | F | L | U | R | R | E | G | E | R |
| W | E | E | V | I | L | E | A | R | D | R | O | P |
| A | S | N | E | M | A | L | T | Y | U | O | L | H |
| S | M | I | T | H | S | T | E | I | N | W | A | Y |
| H | E | D | I | E | T | E | T | I | C | S | T | U |
| J | E | D | E | D | I | A | H | J | O | N | E | S |
| O | K | R | S | A | C | R | E | D | V | O | B | U |
| S | N | O | T | T | I | E | R | E | E | D | E | R |
| H | E | N | S | H | E | Y | E | S | R | O | L | E |
| U | S | E | D | O | S | E | S | T | E | L | A | R |
| A | S | S | E | S | T | H | A | D | D | E | U | S |
AMNESTY
Thanks Kruger and Mister Sting. A theme that featured elsewhere earlier in the year, if I recall correctly. Like you, I’ve never seen the show. Sounds a bit like the A-Team from what I could gather from a quick read when looking for the names.
20d (UNCOVERED) was indeed very good, and I needed most of the crossing letters before I was able to work it out. 22a (STEINWAY) also took me ages to get and made me smile when the penny dropped.
A very minor point with the explanation of 30d that I happened to notice: I think that the original word was BATHOS, rather than Pathos.