I found this very easy (for an Enigmatist!). Having read the instructions, it seemed logical to start with the down clues, which I did, and 1, 2, 3, 7, 11,17 and 28 went in quickly.
With P_Z_L_ it was clear that 1ac was going to be PUZZLE so that was entered and then my first pass through the across pairings gave 9 and 28 followed by 15, 25 and 12. These gave me enough checked letters to be able to solve and enter 4dn and 5dn, when it became clear that 4ac would be WOOD, to tally with the other across entries that I had.
So, the first part of the paired across clues had to be some sort of a PUZZLE and the second part a WOOD. It was plain sailing after that.
The instructions indicated that “In the seven paired across clues the wordplay for each of the required solutions is separated by a redundant word. These paired solutions have a common theme, not further defined, which is represented in the solution to 1,4 across (10). In sequence, the seven redundant words may be used to provide a two-word phrase that when applied to the down clues, which are normal, gives the location of 1,4 across.”
The redundant words in the across clues were:
InterregnaL
NegotiatE
IT
ThaT
IgnorE
AppeaR
LackS
Taking the first letter of each word, in order, followed by the last letter of each word gives the two-word phrase INITIAL LETTERS and applying this to the down clues (ie taking the first letter of each clue) reveals IN THE FOREST OF DEAN, the location of 1,4 across.
I have in fact been to Puzzlewood when camping in the Forest of Dean back in the mid ’70s. A very interesting, if eerie, place and well worth a visit if you are in the area (unless things have changed in the last 40 years). Thanks Enigmatist for an enjoyable puzzle, and for reminding me of a very pleasant summer holiday spent in the Forest of Dean followed by the New Forest.
Across
1,4 (See special instructions)
PUZZLEWOOD
8,9 Female abdicating, for our kingdom wants a king back, {interregnal} act again needs sorting (6;8)
KAKURO – [f]OR (female abdicating, for) UK (our kingdom) A K (a king) reversed (back)
CAATINGA – an anagram (needs sorting) of ACT AGAIN
10,12 Accordingly, services {negotiate} deal with film parts (7;7)
SORITES – SO (accordingly) RITES (services)
COPPICE – PIC (film) in (parts) COPE (deal with)
14,15 Rent hotel – after dramatist turns {it} black to go quickly (9;5)
LOGOGRIPH – RIP (rent) H (hotel) after GOGOL (dramatist) reversed (turns)
BRUSH – B (black) RUSH (to go quickly)
18,20 Regarding vehicle {that} bloke has turning up…four missing (5;9)
REBUS – RE (regarding) BUS (vehicle)
CHAPARRAL – CHAP (bloke) ARR[iv]AL (turning up…four missing)
23,25 Hint sheep {ignore}, closely followed by alien (7;7)
TANGRAM – TANG (hint) RAM (sheep)
THICKET – THICK (closely) ET (alien)
27,28 Swiss pancakes in a cricket club {appear} set back from others (8;6)
ACROSTIC – ROSTI (Swiss pancakes) in A CC (a cricket club)
FOREST – OF (from) reversed (set back) REST (others)
29,30 PM’s Broadcast {lacks} French style but includes a couple of questions (4;6)
MAZE – sounds like (broadcast) ‘May’s’ (PM’s)
MAQUIS – MAIS (French style but) around (includes) QU[estions] (a couple of questions)
Down
1 Itchy condition I take up with our GP, baffled about it (7)
PRURIGO – I R (take) reversed (up) in (with … about it) an anagram (baffled) of OUR GP
2 Noisy group of people, cross about nothing (3)
ZOO – ZO (cross) around (about) O (nothing)
3 The expert in franglais material? (4)
LACE – L’ACE (the expert in franglais)
4 “Henry after women” is a rumour (7)
WHISPER – H (Henry) after W (women) plus IS PER (a)
5 Extremely wild dog putting its head down (5)
ORGIC – CORGI (dog) with the first letter moved to the end (putting its head down)
6 For illustration, raised edging A & B (capital) (8)
GABORONE – EG (for illustration) reversed (raised) around (edging) A BORON (B)
7 Opulent abode sightseer on a motorboat apprehended from below (5)
MANOR – hidden (apprehended) reversal (from below) in ‘sightseeR ON A Motorboat’
11 Receiver’s name and make (4)
EARN – EAR (receiver) N (name)
13 Eccentric has post-surgery moonfish (5)
OPAHS – an anagram (eccentric) of HAS after (post) OP (surgery)
16 Shark perhaps smiles, dropping money in post (3,5)
SEA BEAST – BEA[m]S (smiles, dropping money) in SEAT (post)
17 Take seconds out of time up to the Asian city (4)
IPOH – the second letters of (take seconds out of) [t]I[me] [u]P [t]O [t]H[e]
19 Old, old flames you very nearly dumped prepare for a show of hands? (7)
UNGLOVE – [yo]UNG LOVE (old, old flames) with yo[u] (you very nearly) removed (dumped)
21 French horn adorned in ruby and rose vinyl? (7)
RECORDS – COR (French horn) in (adorned in) REDS (ruby and rose)
22 Devilfish given by our kind territorials (5)
MANTA – MAN (our kind) TA (territorials)
24 European out on wicked bender upset port (5)
ACCRA – AC[e] (European out on wicked) plus ARC (bender) reversed (upset)
26 A chairman too aloof to begin proceedings? (4)
ACTA – A plus the first letters (to begin) of C[hairmen] T[oo] A[loof]
28 Nasty infection reportedly transmitted through the air (3)
FLU – sounds like (reportedly) ‘flew’ (transmitted through the air)
Lovely puzzle and well blogged-I loved the neatness of the layout.
I agree that this was easier than I had feared for an Enigmatist; the special instructions led me to spot the initial letters in the down clues before I had identified all the redundant words in the across clues, and that in turn helped me to find Puzzlewood.
Thanks Gaufrid. This wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be from seeing the name of the setter, and even after a first pass through the clues. But the Z in 1a was a bit of a give-away, and it all finished quite quickly.
19d was my last entry. Does “old, old flames” equate to YOUNGLOVE? I suppose it does if you look at it from the perspective of an “old” person.
Otherwise an excellent puzzle, I liked the A & B in 6d.
As usual, got completely stuck after getting a few in (including PUZZLE and KAKURO, though) and set it aside. Then one miserable day, feeling tired, decided to go back to bed for the afternoon and took the puzzle with me. Heartened by finding the only possible anagram,CAATINGA, is an actual word, I went on to polish it off. Didn’t actually notice LETTERS formed by the last letters of the redundant words, but INITIAL was enough to give me In The Forest of Dean. Never did parse the initial AC of ACCRA, so thanks for that, Gaufrid.
I really needed the explanations here this month! I got about five down clues, and a few more from the wordplay (which I didn’t write in because I didn’t recognise the words, and failed to find matching definitions online).
I did get 1,4 though, having spotted the message in the down clues and looked up places of interest in the Forest! That should have helped me with the acrosses, but I just couldn’t do it.
Thanks Enigmatist for a good puzzle (despite my failure to complete it) and to Gaufrid for much-needed parsings.
Thanks for the blog. I can’t say we found this easy, but certainly easier than the combination of ‘Enigma’ and ‘Genius’ might suggest!
The theme took a while to realise, having never heard of this FoD attraction, and of course there were the expected crop of obscurities to contend with – SORITES, LOGOGRIPH, CAATINGA were all new, as was GABORONE, less excusably.
The latter made me wonder about a Spooner clue based on an Alistair MacLean novel – “The Nuns of Gaborone”. Or not…
Many thanks to Enigmatist for a little nostalgia – I lived just down the road as a child.
Also to Gaufrid for a concise and clear blog.
One query – why is R = TAKE ?
il principe dell’oscurità @7
R is the abbreviation for recipe which is the Latin for take. It is/used to be used on doctors’ prescriptions and the like.
Thank you for that – I’d taken the “I’d take” together and assumed Inland Revenue.