Sorry this one’s late! Apparently I hadn’t set it to publish automatically.
This puzzle was not only difficult, it was intentionally crafted to be difficult! For example, the first sentence of the preamble is ‘Some entries are one letter shorter than the available space in the grid.’ It turns out that those entries are the ones whose spaces include a cell in the outer border, and the extra letters are those in the border. One could have made that clear in the preamble, but it’s one extra challenge in a puzzle not short of them.
A lot of the clues are tough, too, often coupling obscure or oblique definitions with similarly complex subsidiary indications. Occasionally, this presents problems: I wasn’t alone in entering CON (half of CONNOR) for 6 down, and on numerous occasions I had a likely candidate for entry, but couldn’t figure out why it was the correct answer.
The additional words in clues provided definitions of words that were to be combined to give the following mythical/ideal/otherwise non-existent places:
LEMUR + IA
ATL + ANTIS
SHAM + BH + ALA
AVAL + ON
LYON + ESSE
ELD + ORA + DO
PA + I + TITI
Unfortunately, I cannot figure out 8ac (UNITED?), and (thank you, Brian!) I do not understand how ‘mammal’ gives UTOP in 15ac. (thank you, nmsindy, Phil R and Tony!)
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
SEAMED/mammal = extra letter/word to be removed
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 | EDITED | Poet’s equipped DI (princess) with TED (spread) (6) |
| 9 | SEAMED | SEAM (Welding) requires, E ([at the outset], ELBOW) grease (6) |
| 11 | MANGLERS | Rods? ANGLE (Frame of snooker) with RS (two characters after cue) (8) |
| 13 | PROMO | Front of PRO (brass) M (MONKEY[‘s head]) (5) |
| 15 | SI UNITS [LEMUR/IA] | Second mammal or mole perhaps, {SIT IN SU ([endless] SUN)}* [around] Iowa (7, two words) |
| 17 | RHONE | [Trim] HONEY (sugar) pine in places (5) |
| 19 | MADRASA | Ruby’s DRAMAS (scenes) [moving] MA (mother) (7) |
| 20 | DAMN [ATL/ANTIS] | Teachers utter curses DAM (to block) N (nationalist) objectors (4) |
| 21 | NISI | ANIS (Fliers) A (are) [leaving] seemingly friendly creature (4) |
| 22 | ASEXUALITY | EX (Former) U (unionist) ALIT (landed) [in] SY (Seychelles) gets desire (10) |
| 25 | THYRSE [SHAM/BH] | Shoddy staff from SE (south?eastern) Belize [following] THY (your old) R (recipe) (6) |
| 27 | MOOI | Low CH (Church) [cutting] MOOCH (loaf)… [on the contrary] (4) |
| 28 | LISLES | Is expanded ISLE (ISTLE (fibre) [missing core]) S (section)? (6) |
| 30 | PARPENT | Stone mural made by ARP (abstract artist) [in] PEN (US jail) (7) |
| 32 | ASLOPE | Tip SLOP (to wash away) E (earth) (6) |
| 35 | BIHARI | < (Returning) {RAH (RAHU (demon) [almost]) IB (in the same place)}: Indian place (6) |
| 37 | NEOLITH | O (Ordinary) [breaking] [ground] TILE* with H (hard) tool (7) |
| 38 | VARAN | Measure V (volume) A (in front of) RA (group of stars) (5) |
| 39 | CUPOLA [ALA] | Vault’s wing UP (completely) [covered by] COLA (tree) (6) |
| 40 | ERGO | Sandy area’s <GRE ([practically] GREY (bleak)) [looking back] (4) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | OINK | [Uncovered] DINKY (fine) stationery item (4) |
| 2 | EELS | Golfer’s M (FORM [finally]) [lost within] ELMS (trees) (4) |
| 3 | SDEIGN | Lower oneself [to narrate] DANE (Hamlet)? (6) |
| 4 | SCRUMPLE | C (See) MP (someone crossing the floor) [interrupting) RULE (dash) for raffle (8) |
| 5 | LEPIDOTE | Mineral EP (record) I DOT (mark) with E (energy) (8) |
| 6 | ART | Trick [chopping] ARTHUR (man) [in half] (4) |
| 7 | REMISSION | [Liquid] {IE (that is) [merged with] SIMON’S}* discharge (9) |
| 10 | MOSAIC [AVAL/ON] | Grandfatherly MO (way of working) on SAIC (vessel) against complex design (6) |
| 12 | GENA [LYON/ESSE] | Herald GEN (information) being A (accepted) as cheek (4) |
| 14 | CHASTISERS | One who fixes C (canine) HAS (holds) I (one) [filling] for < [lifted] REST (bridge)? (10) |
| 16 | NAZI [ELD] | Senility perhaps, SA NAZIR (official in India) [drops] R (rupees) (4) |
| 18 | EMURE [ORA/DO] | Mouths shut up once DEMURE (sober) party [fails to start] (5) |
| 21 | NYMPHAEA | These may be apparent alongside hymen? (8) |
| 23 | XYLOL [PA] | Father XY (axes) LOL ([first half of] LOLITA (novel)) hydrocarbon (5) |
| 24 | ASSET [I/TITI] | Strength from one monkey AS (when) SET (determined) (5) |
| 26 | CABALA | CABALLÉ (Opera singer) [neglects] LE (the French) intrigue (6) |
| 29 | SLOTH | Tracks bar’s opening time (5) |
| 31 | RIVAL | Brae’s cleft’s PRIVATE [passage] (5) |
| 33 | PIUM | PI (Symbol) U (united) more musically (4) |
| 34 | PHOH | PO (This caught urine) [outside] H (hotel) – yuck, no longer (4) |
| 36 | RAGA | Tease BRAG (bull), [wanting] B (bravo)! (4) |
I believe 8ac is DITED: DI (princess) + TED (spread).
Looking at solution, I think the mammal in 15A may be LEMUR with thematic answer LEMURIA. I did not tackle this puzzle.
This was indeed a tricky one. It took some time before I twigged that the outer border was to be left blank and after that it was a slow grid fill. Some tough clues, with the bottom half slightly ‘easier’ than the top for me. Lemuria was what I had for 15a, being entered vertically from the top left cell of the outer border if I recall
A toughie ! Many thanks to Shark and Mister Sting.
PS I started to subscribe to the Telegraph crossword website (given the online only Christmas Day puzzle). The downloadable EV PDFs don’t have the address to which submissions are to be sent. It’s a minor thing but if anyone reads this from the powers that be it’d be a welcome addition.
It has to be LEMURIA rather than UTOPIA because otherwise there aren’t 5 overlapping answers in the perimeter, as mentioned in the preamble.
Phil R, if you go to the FAQ you will find ‘how do I submit my EV entry?’ in those. It gives you the address and tells you to send the puzzle with its name and number.