The grid is a graphic representation of a ’35 across’ (4). There’s a barred-off cell in the centre of the grid that has to be filled in, and a message composed of extra letters in the wordplay. There’s also a strong hint that we might have to draw a line of some sort.
Once we have crossing letters, 35ac tells us that the grid graphically represents a TOUR.
The extra letters spell TRACE ROUTE THROUGH THREE COUNTRIES TWENTY TWO CELLS.
A little bit of searching in the completed grid finds one country, which quickly leads to the others. In a narrow band running SW to NE, there are three countries: ITALY SWITZERLAND FRANCE; we are to trace a line representing a tour through these countries.
Filling in the empty cell (with a B), we see that these encircle MONT BLANC, revealing THE MAIN POINT of the puzzle.
I am particularly fond of grids that represent the theme graphically. The cluing in this puzzle was uniformly good. I haven’t had an difficultly parsing all of the clues. Thank you, Chalicea!
P.S. Childish, I know, but I’m still amused by ‘one existent but(t)’.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
EXISTENT = additional letter
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| T | 1 | EXTENSION TUBE | {ONE EXISTENT BUT}* [twisted] camera focusing device (13, two words) |
| R | 10 | CHROME STEEL | {SMELTERS’ CHOR ([unfinished] CHORE)}* [generating] alloy (11, two words) |
| A | 13 | TRACES | Vestiges of TRACEAS (TRACHEAS (windpipes) H (hospital) [removed]) (6) |
| C | 14 | TIMOUS | Seasonable <{SUIT (set of clothes) [taking in} COM (committee)} [on reflection] (6) |
| E | 15 | OON | {ONE O (old)}* [dilapidated] furnace in Lanark (3) |
| R | 16 | ZEA | RAZE* [rotten] grain crop (3) |
| O | 17 | AGAR | [In] archipelAGO, A Red seaweed (4) |
| U | 19 | BOO | BOUO (OBLOQUY OF) [occasionally] contemptuous expression (3) |
| T | 20 | DATARY | Office of papal court that makes DA (US prosecutor) [peculiarly] RATTY* (6) |
| E | 25 | FLIC | FELIC ([Half] FELICITATE) (to congratulate) French nark (4) |
| T | 26 | ATONER | Person eager for appeasement [unusually] TOERANT* (TOLERANT if L (left) [out]) (6) |
| H | 27 | WRACKS | Torments WR ([leaders] of WEARY REPORTERS); HACKS (journalistic drudges) (6) |
| R | 30 | OATS | RATS (Rodents) [after] O (ordinary) seeds (4) |
| O | 33 | SHANNY | S (Special) H (HOOK [primarily]) ANNOY (to tease) small fish (6) |
| U | 34 | OCA | [Nasty] SLUG* [removed from] [chewed-up] GLAUCOUS* plant (3) |
| 35 | TOUR | Unclued | |
| G | 36 | ARC | Curve of < [receding] CRAG (cliff) (3) |
| H | 38 | LOO | Love in Glasgow <HOOL ([mostly] HOOLY (carefully)) [returned] (3) [Note that ‘in Glasgow’ does double duty] |
| T | 40 | HRYVNA | H (HERTZ’s [beginning]) TRY (to test) [new] VAN* that’s ready overseas (6) |
| H | 42 | REMAIN | Be left behind [frolicking] {IN HAREM}* (6) |
| R | 44 | TRUE-HEARTED | {HUR ([Endlessly] HURT), RETREATED}* [foolishly] unwavering in devotion (11) |
| E | 45 | SKYSCRAPER ADS | SCRAPE (Difficult predicament) [after] SKY (commercial broadcaster) READS (reads) Internet publicity (13, two words) |
| Down | |||
| E | 1 | ECHT | Genuine Hessian ECHTE (FECHTER (fighter at Bannockburn), [with no limits]) (4) |
| C | 2 | X-HEIGHT | X (Variable) [structure of] IGHHITEC* ([essentially] LIGHT HI-TECH) typeface measurement (7) |
| O | 3 | TREMATODA | Parasitic worms < [giving rise to] ADO (fuss) [following] < [mounting] ROT [on] [lousy] MEAT* (9) |
| U | 4 | EON | Power from god UEON ([regularly appearing in] PURE SOUND) (3) |
| N | 5 | SENSOR | This may detect SENS (dead since) NO R (RESPONSE [at first]) (6) |
| T | 6 | OTTO | OTT (Too much) TO (in contact with) essential oil (4) |
| R | 7 | TEAN | TEAR (Rage) [accompanying] N (name) of Greek lyric poet (4) |
| I | 8 | BREERS | Appears above ground; [could become] BERRIES* (6) |
| E | 9 | ESSAYIST | Writer’s ES (letter) SAY (for example) I SET (composed to music) (8) |
| S | 11 | SPOOF | Parody of POOF (dismissive exclamation) [in] SS ([disheartened] SPELLS) (5) |
| T | 12 | SUBDEAN | {UNDA ([Unlimited] SUNDAY) BEST}* [arranged] for cleric’s deputy (7) |
| W | 18 | RAN ON | Continued RENOWN (fame) ([that’s A (acceptable) for E (Earl)] (5) |
| E | 21 | AIRCARS | AIR (PAIR (Mate) [with no P (pressure)]) CARES (minds) floating modes of transport (7) |
| N | 22 | T-CART | Old vehicle < RAN [up] [following] C ([first of] COMPETITORS) [in] TT (island race) (5) |
| T | 23 | ANCHOVETA | Small fish in ANCHO (chilli pepper)… V (very) ÉTAT (rank)! (9) |
| Y | 24 | MANSARDS | MAN’S (Worker’s) YARDS (beams) for sloping roofs (8) |
| T | 28 | KRUNKED | In the Everglades, excited KED (fly) [circling] TRUNK (body of animal) (7) |
| W | 29 | SHREIK | Wild scream once WHISKER*’s [tangled] (6) |
| O | 31 | SOOTH | OT ([Second couple seen in] BROTHEL) [in] SOHO (London’s nightclub district)? Indeed! (5) |
| C | 32 | SCHLEP | Stupid person’s [hopeless] SPELLCHECK* [lacking] ‘ELK’* [surprisingly]! (6) |
| E | 37 | OARS | Rows of O (ordinary) ARES (metric field measurements) (4) |
| L | 39 | ONER | Adept LONER (person who prefers to act on his own) (4) |
| L | 41 | ARDS | LARDS (Greases) ploughs (4) |
| S | 43 | ERR | SERR (Close the ranks of) sin (3) |
Mister Sting, I appreciated your blog. Like ours on Listen With Others, your EV ones don’t seem to attract a lot of responses but I am sure you have a following. It was a relief to me that this one was not considered ‘too easy’. The idea came to me when we were actually accompanying my son and his wife on their physical ‘Tour de Mont Blanc’ (we were in the car, meeting them at various stages) and were very ‘graphically’ aware of the massive heights that we were circling as we drove through the three countries.
Too easy.
I enjoyed this one and the PDM was a big hit. With the title I was flapping around with seas and oceans before the countries and the tunnel became apparent. I then wondered whether the ‘point’ was also an oblique reference to the nib of the pens of the same name. Indeed the shape in the grid could resemble a pen as well as a tunnel. Perhaps that would be considered too commercial for a theme, assuming there are certain restrictions there.
Some new words for me including the wonderful ‘krunked’
My thanks to Chalicea and Mister Sting.