Preamble: Misprints occur in 19 down clues. The correct letters spell out most of a quotation from a well-known TV series. Both 6-letter words in the specific episode’s title are to be removed, the first word appearing in a scatter of cells in the right half of the grid, the second scattered in the left half. Substitutions must be made in these 12 cells creating 12 thematic items which must be highlighted (a total of 76 cells).
Off to a cracking start, which is usually a bad sign. 22a, 18a, 28a, 19d (though I couldn’t quite justify it), 24a, 2d, 1a, 4d, 1d all fell like nine pins.
Pretty soon I had almost all the top half done and, therefore the first few letters of the quotation, it’s looking like I’M A DOCTOR … At this stage I hadn’t quite registered the preamble correctly and I thought that it stated something like, ” two six-letter-word series title” which made me think of FAWLTY TOWERS. I have mixed feelings about Fawlty Towers. I found some of the “slapstick” stuff left me cold but I remembered that there was one episode (series 2 episode 4) that featured the brilliant Geoffrey Palmer as a doctor. A quick trip to http://imdb.com followed by a revisit to the preamble confirmed that the episode was called The KIPPER and the CORPSE – there’s the two six-letter words! Another search through the quotes section confirmed Look, I’m a doctor. I’M A DOCTOR AND I WANT MY sausages!
The grid was now virtually full so I set about the next step, find the KIPPER and the CORPSE in the grid. Hang on though, there’s only one K and it’s not in the left hand side. D’uh – time to sort out my lefts and rights – you’d think I’d have the hang of that at my age! So, there’s the CORPSE in c12-b9-b8-a12-c4-c2 and there’s KIPPER in m7-j13-m5-j6-g5-l10.
As per the preamble, replacing the above letters reveals the following 12 sausages, just as the doctor ordered. And here they are:
| CORPSE | Sausage | Location | Number of cells |
| C | POLONY |
c12-h12 | 6 |
| O | WURST |
a9-e9 | 5 |
| R | BANGER |
b8-g8 | 6 |
| P | WEENY |
a9-a13 | 5 (minus 1 shared) = 4 |
| S | CHIPOLATA |
c4-k4 | 9 |
| E | PEPPERONI |
a2-i2 | 9 |
| KIPPER | |||
| K | SAVELOY |
k5-k11 | 7 |
| I | BALONEY |
g13-m13 | 7 |
| P | SNAGS |
m2-m6 | 5 |
| P | DRISHEEN |
c6-j6 | 8 |
| E | CHORIZO |
g5-g11 | 7 (minus 3 shared) = 4 |
| R | ZAMPONE |
g10-m10 | 7 (minus 1 shared) = 6 |
| Total | 76 |
I enjoyed this puzzle but I have to admit that the twelfth sausage (DRISHEEN) eluded me and I had to request help from a “phantom friend.”
Thanks a lot to Charybdis and apologies to fans of animated grids – blame Rio 2016 for stealing me of my time.
| Across |
||
| Clue |
Original entry |
Wordplay |
| 1 Like wretched Arab leader (5) |
ASSAD | AS (like)+SAD (wretched) |
| 6 Bellboy’s sick inside sack (7) |
PILLAGE | PAGE (bellboy) containing ILL (sick) |
| 10 An eye for a chick? (6) | PEEPER | (double def) |
| 11 A group of crustaceans – they might be cousins (7) |
ONISCUS | COUSINS (anag: they might be) |
| 14 The Old Plough by Devon river going back to outdoor seating (6) |
EXEDRA | ARD (old plough)+EXE (Devon river) rev: going back |
| 15 Drum beats beat (7) | CAPSTAN | CAPS (beats)+TAN (beat) |
| 16 Vessel’s condition shown by this at last (4) |
SHIP | thiS (at last)+HIP (condition) |
| 17 One rodent retreating into bracken (4) |
TARA | A (one)+RAT (rodent) |
| 18 No longer opposed to wild editor coming off sedative (6) |
SATIVE | SedATIVE (minus EDitor) |
| 20 Peter out with son’s not cold and relaxes (5) |
EASES | cEASE (peter out)+Son minus Cold |
| 22 Animal trapped in spin-drier (5) |
INDRI | spIN–DRIer (hidden: trapped in) |
| 24 This woman’s facing extreme pressure in Suffolk, perhaps (5) |
SHEEP | SHE (this woman)+EP (extreme pressure) |
| 26 What’s a very short word for Japanese fish? (3) |
AIS | Question: what is a very short word? Answer: A IS |
| 28 Newton’s weightless element? (4) |
NEON | NEwtON (minus WT: weight) |
| 31 Newcomer’s wanting Street Guide (6) |
RANGER | stRANGER (newcomer; minus STreet) |
| 34 Advance from spy writer like John le C (4) |
LEND | LEN D (Len Deighton: spy writer) |
| 35 Shot initially trapped by old Cole in defeat (5) |
WORST | Shot (initially) inside WORT (old cabbage: cole) |
| 36 Stir up countrified recipe essential for French dressing (4) |
ROIL | Recipe+OIL (essential for French dressing) |
| 38 Pluck conveyed by gamin with this letter (3) |
ESS | gaminESS (pluck) (though I can’t really find a way to reword the wordplay) |
| 40 Backing for un-extreme incredible bashi-bazouk, perhaps? (5) |
NIZAM | aMAZINg (no extremes; rev: backing) |
| 41 A tiny passage from extravagant opera after cutback (4) |
PORE | OPERa (having been cut; anag: extravagant) |
| 42 Vacillate after swapping D for E – one or the other (6) |
EITHER | dITHER (D changed to E) |
| 44 P, 16th letter of alphabet? You might do this with a check in Webster’s (5, two words) |
PAY IN (A check is the same as a cheque as per Webster’s – an American dictionary) |
P+AYIN (16th letter of Hebrew alphabet) |
| 46 Army officer has railway removed next to unknown foreign settlement (6) |
COLONY | COLONel (minus EL (railway)+Y (unknown) |
| 47 Discharge as employee finally gets sacked (5) |
EGEST | employeE (finally)+GETS (anag: sacked) |
| 48 ‘Goodbye’ after three leave centre in chaos and Spenser’s moved away (4) |
YGOE | GOodbYE (minus middle three letters; anag: in chaos) |
| 49 By leaving far end of waiting room we get to pitch (3) |
LOB | LOBby (waiting room; BY leaving) |
| 50 Parisian elder seen around lake that’s narrow at top and widening evenly (5) |
A-LINE | AINE (Parisian elder) containing Lake |
| Down |
||||
| Clue |
Misprint |
Generated letter |
Original entry |
Wordplay |
| 1 Inability to stomach drunk infiltrating group of would-be teetotallers (7) |
drUnk->drInk | I |
APEPSIA | PEPSI (drink) inside AA (would be teetotallers) |
| 2 Section still in existence making old Italian honey (7) |
Honey->Money |
M |
SEXTANT | Section+EXTANT (still in existence) |
| 3 Maybe in error city square gets letters (4) |
SEES | Square+EES (letters) | ||
| 4 Energy put into motivating and getting truce from the outset (8) |
trUce->trAce | A |
DERIVING | Energy inside DRIVING (motivating) |
| 5 One source of oil is good with another (9) |
RAPESEED | gRAPESEED (source of oil; minus Good) | ||
| 6 Zante’s little cape covered in excrement (4) |
Zante->Dante | D |
POCO | POO (excrement) containing Cape |
| 7 Stories about pep and special fat-busting enzymes (7) |
pEp->pOp | O |
LIPASES | LIES (stories) containing PA (pop) and Special |
| 8 Minutes spent sat with adult (4) |
Sat->Cat |
C |
ACTA | CAT (anag: spent)+Adult |
| 9 Projector piece is screening a botched raid (8) |
proJector->proTector | T |
GUARDIAN | GUN (piece) containing A and RAID (anag: botched) |
| 12 Nurse’s wing providing drain (4) |
nUrse->nOrse | O |
NALA | Nurse+ALA (wing) |
| 13 Uplifting cinematic shots suddenly bleak (4) |
bLeak->bReak | R |
SNAP | PANS (cinematic shots; rev: uplifting) |
| 19 Surrounding areas free of envy mostly for such clubs (5) |
IRONS | envIRONS (surrounding area; minus ENVy (mostly)) | ||
| 21 A drink from Japan for him (4) |
Him->Aim |
A |
SAKE | SAKE (Japanese drink) |
| 23 Attention-grabbing daughter and son loved odes (5) |
oDes->oNes | N |
DEARS | Daughter and Son containing EAR (attention) |
| 25 Cross hornet creature follows Charybdis covered in gore – this is the limit! (7) |
horneT->horneD | D |
HORIZON | ZO (cross horned creature) follows I (Charybdis:the setter) contained in HORN (gore) |
| 27 End study in a flat spin? Such haste is rare in Scotland (8) |
SUDDENTY | END STUDY (anag: in a flat spin) | ||
| 29 A flock – fine with sauce (4) |
flOck->flIck | I |
FLIP | Fine+LIP (sauce) |
| 30 Swaying with soprano’s tear-jerker (6) |
SWEEPY | Soprano+WEEPY (tear-jerker) | ||
| 31 Run out and garble making flowery perfume (6) |
Garble-Warble |
W |
ROSING | RO (run out)+SING (warble) |
| 32 Finn McCool’s beloved Nan has yen to go on ice (6) |
Ice->Ace |
A |
GRANYA | GRAN (nan)+Yen+Ace |
| 33 Leap on firm member over railroad (6) |
leaP-leaN | N |
COMPEL | COmpany (firm)+MP (member)+EL (railroad) |
| 37 Around most of drowned valley, a form of sea life (5) |
lifE->lifT | T |
ARISE | RIa (drowned valley; mostly) inside SEA (anag: a form of) |
| 39 A fit for hose? (4) | SHOE | SHOE (anag) I think this is one of those &lit clues that I never really understand. The “?” indicates the anagram. |
||
| 40 After top is broken off, chide little Helen … (4) |
chiDe->chiMe | M |
NELL | kNELL (chime; minus first letter) |
| 43 … Joel is almost cross (3) | joeL->joeY | Y |
ROO | ROOd (cross; almost) |
| 45 Longing for old gold and silver coins (3) |
YEN | Double def. YEN are old silver and gold coins | ||
That ‘C’ of ‘CHORIZO’ is in neither the right half nor the left half of the grid, as the preamble requires – or arguably it is in both.
I spent a fair time thinking of Fedoras and Sydney Olympics and wondering if that strikingly obvious sausage was yet another red herring (or kipper, perhaps). I highlighted it in the end, but was not certain that another obscure sausage wasn’t lurking on the right somewhere.
Phew, the first one I have got anywhere near finishing for a while. After spelling ‘I’m a doctor…’ but getting a bit stuck I resorted to the internet and convinced myself that the theme was Star Trek thanks to a website about a running catchphrase ‘I’m a doctor, not a …’ (http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/I%27m_a_doctor,_not_a…). I then started looking for things like ‘Phaser’ in the grid. Thanks to Terrier for steering me away from that and back to the correct theme.
Good to have the explanation for 44a. Clever stuff!
Cheers Charybdis & Kenmac
Another pleasant stroll down memory lane … with help, as usual, from G. I was also moved to find a YouTube clip of the famous dog on That’s Life saying “sausages !”
What puzzled me sorely at the end, though, was only being able to find 75 cells to be highlighted. I had noted that all the different varieties of sausage, were shown in their singular form, even PEPPERONI, according to my Chambers. I therefore assumed that the 76th. cell was either the S after PEPPERONI, or the S after SNAG, and luckily chose the latter, as the original Italian word was actually a plural.
One of my favourite sausages of all time is Krakowska … years ago we could get it locally when supermarkets were catering for hundreds of skilled Poles helping to build our new shopping centre, but no longer. And pre-war, I remember Loom’s delicious beef and tomato sausages.
Thanks for the comments ad especally for the blog and the amazing tables, Kenmac.
I think more work went into that than writing the puzzle! 🙂
That line from Fawlty Towers always tickled me; glad to have made something cruciverbal out of it.
A fairly quick gridfill for us, but much grid staring ensued before the PDM. I had a suspicion that “FT” might be the TV series as the title comprises 2 x 6-letter words and it seemed plausible that they might replace the key words from the episode title, but the quote didn’t jump out at us and we had to identify all the misprints and google it to confirm the initial hunch. Then we spent a lot of time looking for items/names related to the series and to that particular episode. It seemed certain that “sausages” must be amongst them and it was only when we finally ruled that out that we realised that we should be looking for synonyms, at which point PEPPERONI, CHIPOLATA and CHORIZO became very obvious. We had to resort to “Bradford’s” for three of them and DRISHEEN was the last one to fall.
Thanks to Charybdis for a very enjoyable puzzle and, like Kippax, I am grateful to kenmac for the full explanation of 44a.
Really enjoyed this one despite not getting two of the sausages, Drisheen and Snags. Even proud of myself for remembering a Ria as a drowned valley from my O-level geography !
A link (excuse the thematic pun) is that I devoured Fawlty Towers avidly during my O-level year. I remember thinking how the devil did they get away with it because I’m sure it used to be screened on Sunday nights ?
Many thanks Charybdis for a fun puzzle and to kenmac for the excelent blog
Always fun to be reminded of Fawlty Towers, and an enjoyable solve (the Len Deighton clue made me smile). In the end, it came down to a wordsearch, and raised the question, for me, of how long do you want to spend searching for words you’ve never heard of, that are mis-spelt? I retired at six.
Completely agree about the Len D clue. Big smile when I cracked that one!
Very hard to dig out the last few (ZAMPONE, DRISHEEN, and SNAGS) without being able to perform a full-text search for “sausage”, so a lot of time was spent guessing then checking headwords. (And no internet access for ages, so getting to Fawlty Towers also took quite a while, plus the collective memory of half a dozen of us in the minibus driving along dirt roads.)
Murray Glover @3: Chambers indicates that the Australian slang term is usually SNAGS, plural.
Belated thanks to setter & blogger.