The POTPOURRI in question in EV1243 is, the preamble tells us, made up of seven ingredients (a further one is ‘controversially omitted’).
This was a tricky one – one of the clues even referencing Saffron Monsoon from Ab Fab!
The ‘seven ingredients of a singular dish’ are PORK PIE, CABBAGE, BACON, SALMON, EGGS, POTATOES, and PEAS. The ‘ingredient controversially omitted from the concoction’ is the WATER-RAT offered up by Montmorency as his contribution to the Irish stew.
The theme is from ‘Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)’, and ‘[t]he identities of the the consumers of this POTPOURRI’ – the three titular men, J, GEORGE, and HARRIS – are found on the leading diagonal and are to be highlighted.
Unfortunately, I can’t parse 20 across or 33 down. (In fact, I *did* parse 20 across, but the blog didn’t update! Thank you, though, to Phil R and mc_rapper67)
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
bare, backing = omitted letters
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JAGUAR | {G [Wee drap o’] GUID JURA’, A}* [fluid] ounce (6) | |
| 6 | CORSET | R (Romeo) [trapped by] [twisted] TESCO* undergarment (6) | |
| 10 | IGUANA | I GU (fiddle) A (about) with N (new) A ([lead for] ANTIQUATED) monitor (6) | |
| 11 | ALMONER | Late benefactor L (left) MONE ([great deal of] MONEY (cash)) [stuffed into] AR ([sides of] ARMCHAIR) (7) | |
| 12 | DEBACLE | DEB (Girl coming out) with LACE* [pants] in farce (7) | |
| 13 | ABASE | A BAS (A BASS (Fish) [letting one go]) E ([close to] KATE) Humble (5) | |
| 15 | GIRO | Support payment <RIG (to fix) [twisted] O (zip) (4) | |
| 16 | AMBITS | [Retiring] G ([Head of] GEOMETRY) GAMBITS (offers to surrender) compasses (6) | |
| 17 | GROANS | Passes on beef R (recipe) [prepared] {ON GAS}* [rings] (6) | |
| 19 | ECOLOGY | E (English) COY (company) [holding] LOG (record) for environmental research (7) | |
| 20 | PROWL | Sneak around POOL (pond) ROW (bank) [driving out] OO (ducks) (5) | |
| POR | 22 | CONS | More than one sporting ICON’S (hero’s) [avoiding] I ([centrepiece in] RIO) (4) |
| KPI | 24 | BEERY | Often seek pin full of ale, EER (always) BY (alongside) [bottles] (5) |
| ECAB | 26 | SILL | With S ([piece of] STRING) I’LL (one’s going to) tie cable underneath window perhaps (4) |
| BAG | 28 | ASSAI | When developing airbags, very ASS (stupid) AI (AUDI (German car maker) [forgets central pair]) (5) |
| EBAC | 30 | OHMS LAW | L (Liberal) SHOWMA* (SHOWMAN, [mainly]) [bare, backing] description of electric relationship (7, two words) |
| 34 | CRAVAT | <[Knocked back] VAR (VODKA AND RUM [primarily]), [stopping] CAT (to throw up) in handkerchief (6) | |
| 35 | EYEFUL | [What could make] {YOU FEEL}* [excited] [when wanting] O (love)? (6) | |
| ONS | 37 | RITE | It may be appropriate to consult RE (about) [holding] IT (congress) (4) |
| ALMO | 38 | CARRY | Cover coal most of CAR (T (time) [having left] CART (wagon)) [on] RY (railway) (5) |
| NEG | 39 | DIETARY | Members of large institutions negate this <RATE (row) [about] [boring] DIY (amateur assembly) (7) |
| GSPOT | 40 | APROPOS | Rag spotted as being fit PRO (for) [spreading] SOAP* [around] (7) |
| ATO | 41 | AENEID | A (Active) <DIENE (organic compound) [recurrently] seen in one of several old tomatoes (6) |
| ESP | 42 | PAYNIM | Early pages Pan {PI ([originally] PUBLISHED INCLUDE) MANY}* [blunders] (6) |
| EAS | 43 | TRADES | I (One) [abandoning] TIRADES (lectures) is engaged in treason? (6) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | JINGLE | Song from J (Jack) INGLE (Scott’s friend) (6) | |
| 2 | GUERDONS | Wages GUER (GUERRE (war in France) RE (over) [abducted]) DONS (noblemen) (8) | |
| 3 | ANAEROBIC | [Being otherwise], {I CAN BEAR}* [to take in] O (oxygen) (9) | |
| 4 | RACE | ERICA*[‘s bust] [bouncing] I (in) short streak (4) | |
| WA | 5 | GALWAY | City <LAG (lining) [up] Y (ROONEY) [at last]) (6) |
| 6 | CLEANER | Daily Express initially probing serious indiscretion with no end of snooping (7) | |
| 7 | ROBBERS | R (Queen) BB (bees) [in] [rambling] ROSE* could be stingers (7) | |
| 8 | SNAIL | It’s SN (SERVED NIGHTLY [for starters]) [with] AIL (garlic at Maxim’s) (5) | |
| 9 | TRESS | BUTTRESS (Prop), BUT [wanting] to become a lock (5) | |
| 12 | DISCO | Dance banD IS COrrupting [nurses] (5) | |
| TE | 14 | STEW | SW (SAW (Spotted), [lacking] A) boil (4) |
| 18 | SPYMASTER | {M’S PART? YES}*, [possibly] (9) | |
| 21 | OIL-FIRED | E (English) [besieged in] [novel] {FOIL RAID}*, [dropping] A burning liquid (8) | |
| 23 | SAFFRON | Monsoon maybe [starting] {OFF RANS (RAINS I (India)[‘s been denied])}* (7) | |
| 25 | EARLDOM | [It could make] {ME A LORD}* (7) | |
| 27 | LAITY | X (Times) [leaving] LAXITY (neglect of discipline and looseness in morals) for the People (5) | |
| 29 | SOYA | Brown dressing [bizarrely] {AS OY (TONY [after the ‘odd couple’ fall out])}* (4) | |
| 30 | OAFISH | O (TORNADO [largely dismissed]) [by] A FISH (TV weatherman) suggests bungling (6) | |
| 31 | WIELDS | WELDS (Fuses) I [installed] to make lifts ready to use (6) | |
| 32 | RECAP | <{P (Priest) ACE (one) R (runs)} [over] is run over again (5) | |
| RR | 33 | DERRY | Down DEY (WE [plucked from] DEWEY (duck that appeared animated)) (5) |
| AT | 36 | MEAT | ME (MEN (Ships) [docked]) in Turkey? (4) |
An enjoyable but pretty tough workout. My way in was via the down clues when water rat started to take shap….combined with the diagonal looking like a promising source of info.
Very nice clues with some of the hidden parts of the ingredients really well concealed. I had to reverse solve a few of them after the grid was full for completeness.
Regarding 20a PROWL – I could/not parse either
Regarding 33D. This was my last in and I’m still unsure if it’s correct. I had DE(RR)Y – Dewey being the animated duck with ‘we’ removed, the definition being down? Chambers indicates an Australian feeling of resentment (probably from the old refrain derry down)
Thanks to Mister Sting for the blog and Ranunculus for the puzzle. Great fun looking for the hidden ingredients and a good workout.
Agree that this was enjoyable and tough! Thanks to setter and blogger.
At first I just saw ‘George Harris’ in the diagonal, Go-ogled this and came up with a character from the film ‘Layer cake’, and thought these might be the ingredients for said cake!
Agree with Phil R on parsing of 33D. I don’t think I even thought about 20A at the time, as the first 4 letters were crossing. After staring at it for a while now, it looks like:
P(OO)L (pond) with ROW (bank) replacing (driving out) OO (ducks).
Thanks everyone. When I ‘re-solved’ the puzzle at the proof stage I realised that it was tougher than I had originally thought.
By the way, there were a couple of additional hints to the theme in there – the four down entries with letters omitted from the wordplay were ‘Galway stew” and “Derry meat”, and the preamble stated that the consumers were to be found ‘in a row’…