Half of the clues have an extra letter coming from the wordplay, and the other half have an extra letter in the clue itself. The former ‘spell out an interpretation to be placed on the grid. The latter ‘spell out what must be highlighted in the completed grid, and why five of the 17 cells involved must be distinguished from the other 12.’ The completed grid will also have ‘a thematic comment that identifies the distinguishing feature’.
How very curious.
The ‘interpretation’ is MIDDLE VERTICAL IS MIRROR. The content to be highlighted/distinguishing feature are FOUR NAMES – ONE IS A VAMPIRE.
The leading diagonal has the ‘thematic comment’, reading as it does NO REFLECTION.
Sure enough, we see NONA, LIAM, and ROSA reflected on the first, seventh, and eleventh rows. PETER appears on the ninth row, but has no reflection – he is the vampire!
This was a fun puzzle, and won approbation even from non-cruciverbalists.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
NON-ARMY/bounce = omitted letter
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| M | 1 | NONARY | NON-ARMY (Avoiding military) arrayed in nines? (6) |
| F | 5 | XOANON | Old statue – X (Kiss) O ([Head of] FOX) – ANON (by unknown artist) (6) |
| I | 10 | AOUDAD | Resident of Moorish land A AID (help) [when adopting] OUD (Arab instrument) (6) |
| D | 11 | OVIEDO | Spanish city VIED (contended) [in] DO (the same) O (round) (6) |
| O | 12 | TARZAN | TAR (Sailor) ZAN ([almost] ZANY (cracked)), giving moan in jungle (6) |
| U | 15 | BEREFT | BERET (Something about bounce) [keeping] F (FIELDER [initially]) deprived (6) |
| R | 17 | FEER | FEE (Wagers) R (Rector) will have long-standing companion (4) |
| D | 19 | RHUM | Former name of island RD (road) with HUM (distant sound of traffic?) (4) |
| L | 20 | FORD | F (Fellow) LORD (nobleman), a rival to Falstaff? (4) |
| N | 21 | OGAM | O (Love) GAM (pond) identified in ancient text (4) |
| A | 23 | AERIALS | < {LAIR (Dean), [in] SEA (the main),} [backed] transmitters (7) |
| E | 28 | WEBMAIL | WEE (Little) BAIL (security) [about] M (money) and items sent electronically (7) |
| M | 29 | OSLO | LO (Seem) [to go to far side of] OS (very large) city (4) |
| V | 30 | AESC | Sound of cat? AVES (Birds) C ([start to] CREATE) |
| E | 32 | PERT | Insolent PET (tantrum) [about] R (rune) (4) |
| E | 35 | RIAS | [Most of] < {SE |
| S | 38 | USER ID | US (Sour team) < [backing] DIRE (desperate) way to access computer (6, two words) |
| O | 39 | TORINO | TO (Shout’s) RIN (RING (reverberation), [endless]) O (over) Italian city (6) |
| R | 40 | ROSACE | Window ROS ([nearly] ROSE (elevated)) [beside] ACER (maple tree) (6) |
| T | 41 | PHASOR | Electrical line HAS [to enter] PORT (computer connection) (6) |
| N | 42 | SATEEN | Adolescent chasing nit for material (6) |
| I | 43 | MODERN | Recent DIE (decline) [occuring in] MORN (early part of day) (6) |
| Down | |||
| C | 1 | NATURAL | Unregenerate CUR (scoundrel) [found in] NATAL (part of South Africa) (7) |
| E | 2 | NURTURAL | < {LA (The French) RUT (course) RUN (least)} [upset], as regards training (8) |
| A | 3 | ADZE | It’s used to cut A DAZE (baffle) (4) |
| I | 4 | RAAF | [Leaders of] IRATE AMERICANS ARE FAULTING Commonwealth military (4) |
| L | 6 | OVERDUB | Add words to O (old) VERB (part of speech) [about] DUL ([E (English) avoiding] DUEL (fight)) (7) |
| S | 7 | AIRCON | AIR (Slay) CON (opponent) – it’ll improve your surroundings (6) |
| A | 8 | NE’ER | < RE (Area) [upset] [after] NE (ONE’s [heading off])? At no time (4) |
| I | 9 | NOTE | Observe NILOTE (riparian dweller) [casting] L (line) (4) |
| S | 13 | ATHEISES | Expresses disbelief in AS (god) I [mentioned in] THESES (dissertations) (8) |
| V | 14 | NEO | Close asteroid‘s N (name) EO ([starts to] VEX OBSERVERS) (3) |
| A | 16 | FLATIRON | NY building FLAN ([mostly] FLANK (awing)) TIRO (new arrival) [that’s entered] (8) |
| M | 18 | ERSE | Irish MERSE |
| I | 22 | GRAECISE | GI (US soldier), with [exaggerated] CARE*, IS E ([beginning to] EMULTATE) and follow a European style (8) |
| M | 24 | AVARICE | Desire V (very) [fresh] AIR* [when entering] ACE (prom) (7) |
| R | 25 | LWEI | Ready for African L (Lake) to get WEIR (dam) (4) |
| P | 26 | ALTHORN | Instrument {TH ([starts with] THE HIGGS) (A (particle) LORN (once lost) [in circulation]) (7) |
| R | 27 | MOERAE | MORE (Increasing) RAE (RAGE (anger) [not G (good)]) in controllers of one’s destiny (6) |
| I | 31 | SAT | Found a plaice < AS (when) [picking up] T (NET [finally]) (3) |
| O | 33 | PURS | Makes like cats no longer – POURS (makes like cats and dogs) (4) |
| R | 34 | TEST | < SET (Brand) [promoted] with T (limited-time) trial (4) |
| E | 36 | SOHO | SO (Well) HO (holed), prompting long-distance call once (4) |
| R | 37 | TRAD | < [Rising] DR (doctor) [keeping] < [up] ART (skill) of the old customs (4) |
There is a setter’s blog about the puzzle at
http://phionline.net.nz/enigmatic-variations-no-1239-whats-at-stake/
A nice puzzle that I was surprised hadn’t been done before. I found it fairly tricky to keep track of the different clue types and was so pleased that the setter hadn’t decided to include more thematic material (I was expecting garlic and crosses to turn up at some point). Oh, and for me the puzzle definitely wins the award for “Title of the Year”. Brilliant!