Apologies for the tardiness of this review. Had a little bit of electrical work to do. Which if you have been following the election campaign is about as factual as most of the words being spoken to secure our votes.
The honest answer is poor planning on my part. My head was a week out from the rest of society and Friday night was for parental duties, Saturday morning for looking after parents duties and lunchtime because television rule football these days !! Any chance of your vote for being honest.
Anyway a real treat from Ifor this week. A nice simple theme covering a subject that was readily taught in my schooldays, but these days of consumer safety standards is less familiar to many of the younger generation.
A baffling preamble, but as ever – solve the clues and the pennies will start to drop. Three cells with three letters to be blacked out and 4 initially empty cells to be filled. Then some peculiar connections to be made.
The penny dropped reasonably quickly when I found three answers with PIN in them which were too long for their destinations. Symmetrically position too, PINTAILS, SPINATE and TENPINS. The missing letters from the wordplay were either E, L or N – Earth, Live or Neutral (Green, Brown or Blue being the colours). The theme itself was wiring a plug. As to the four blank squares in 12 down – Don’t forget the FUSE. The lines coming from the N,E,L in the middle of 39 across to their relevant PIN with the live going via the FUSE of course! Wiring should be neat.
Many thanks Ifor – I do hope most people still can wire a plug.
Key:
Underline – definition; * anagram; DD double definition; — empty cell; Rev. reversed; Coloured letters are thematic in one of 4 ways
Across
1 Former poet’s behind American tower (5)
A(American) + rear (tower) = AREAR
8 Extra newscast shot, but not with accuracy (9)
Ex (extra) + (newscast – w)* = EXACTNESS
9 Accepted carriage on the way back, out of consideration (5)
A(accepted) + Rev. trap (carriage) = APART
11 Immoderate result rapidly absorbed (5)
Hidden resULT RApidly = ULTRA
13 Finished legal seizure of goods making a man mad (4)
(a man)* = NAAM
15 Tender driving organisation to retain independence (3)
AA (driving organisation) around I (independence) = AIA
16 Emphasis not staying the same with promotion of hard drug (4)
Emphasis – as is (not staying the same) moving h (hard) = HEMP
18 Elizabethan stock of children’s pedigree was sometimes rejected (5)
Rev. pEdIgReE wAs (sometimes) = AERIE
19 Harrow as it was in the year before school’s opening (5)
A(in the year) + a (before) + s (school’s opening) = AL-AS
21 Shut up outside when acting rude (7)
Pent (shut up) around as + a (acting) = PEASANT
24 Lost castaway backing bottles (5, two words)
Rev. hidden cASTAway = AT SEA
27 Crust controversially gobbled (5)
Hidden controverSIALly = SI-AL
28 Emptiness in whichever contemptible individual is included (7)
in + any (whichever) around nit (contemptible individual) = INANITY
29 Optics of Scotch leave bar toilet after being broken (3)
Leave – lav*(toilet) = EEN
30 Contrary tot hiding lost coin in roof (7)
Rev. dram (tot) around as (coin) = MANSARD
31 Brood about irritating racket (3)
Rev. nid (brood) = DIN
32 Athlete’s heading to doctor with instep spiked (5)
(a + instep)* = SPINATE
34 Target group cut after tax returns (5)
Rev. snip (cut) + net (tax) = TENPINS
36 One who draws level (4)
DD TIER
37 A right to leave opening across designated plot of land (3)
1ac (AREAR) – a – r (right) = ARE
38 Genuine comeback of the boxing clubs (4)
Rev. the around c (clubs) = ECHT
39 Food poisoning; almost taken short in panic, soils potty (13)
(almost – t)* + (soils)* = SALMONELLOSIS
Down
1 Prize-winner of a lottery elevated to completely heartless elite (7)
A + Rev. draw (lottery) + ee (completely heartless elite) = AWARDEE
2 Changing ends of tube, bent clear of the waste pipe (6)
(clear – e + t)* = RECTAL
3 Widow’s stipend, once universal and originally appearing every year (6)
Ann (widow’s stipend) + u (universal) + a (originally appearing) = ANNUAL
4 Member of team rescuing antipodean tree in ditch near Wellington (7)
Elm (tree) in rean (ditch – Somerset) = REELMAN
5 Short trial in the morning, later than ten (4)
Am (in the morning) after x (ten) = EXAM
6 Grouse recovered from tailspin (6)
(tailspin) = PINTAILS
7 Baltic tribesman fought several bears when going North (4)
Rev. Hidden fougHT SEveral = ESTH
10 Lump of glass is inserted into standard ring (7)
Par (standard) + is + o (ring) = PARISON
12 Tidy up before Dad gets in (7)
Hidden befoRE Dad = RE—-D
14 Feeling at ease is beginning to have hiccups (9)
(at ease is + h)* = AESTHESIA
17 Spiritual teacher in ashram sent greeting, embracing one (9)
(ashram)* + hi (greeting) around I (one) = MAHARISHI
18 Collected fragments of obsessive sect that’s reformed (8)
anal (obsessive) + (sect)* = ANALECTS
20 Type of alkaline soil in single bags (8)
Solo (single) + nets (bags) = SOLONETS
22 Garden spiders are nesting in space around basement (6)
a (are) in area (space around basement) = ARANEA
23 Fly aeroplane on vacation to take in island in large vessel (6)
Ae (aeroplane on vacation) around vat (large vessel) around I (island) = AVIATE
25 Orange dye’s answer to getting fake tan inside (6)
A (answer) + to around (tan)* = ANATTO
26 Make certain of runs when batting (6)
(runs)* = ENSURE
27 Dublin’s stream of the poor, left to languish for the second time (6)
Street (of the poor) replacing second t with l (left) = STREEL
33 Weapon’s fate when sheath’s scratched (3)
Karma(fate) – ka = ARM
35 Ace having dropped old language (3)
One(ace) moving o to end = NEO
Splendid puzzle, as you would expect from Ifor. I spent a long time convinced that the theme was something to so with pinball before the penny dropped.
Can I confirm that the single cell to be highlighted was the first letter of 3 down – 3A being the amperage of a red fuse?
@Cruciverbophile – Apologies completely missed that bit from the above. Red is 3A in the UK so that is my take also
Thanks for that twenceslas. I also forgot to thank you for the blog, which was ill-mannered of me. Consider yourself doubly thanked now!
Not particularly apropos the puzzle itself, I was told that the colours of wires in a plug were chosen for very specific reasons.
BLue begins with BL and so goes at the Bottom Left, BRown begins with BR and so goes at the Bottom Right. The remaining one goes in the remaining place.
I agree that this was an excellent puzzle. I’m only just adding EV to my solving list, having been back to Listener and Inquisitor most of the year now. What a great way to start! A simple idea superbly executed. Despite the PINs it took a while for the first penny to drop. It was following E, L and N routes, wondering what colours they should be when PINs and grid shape hit me. Second PDM was thinking about where holes in plug would be and spotted FUSE. The use of REFUSED was a nice touch.
Thanks as always to blogger and commenters. Skinny – that’s new to me, and if it’s not actually true it deserves to be. I wonder – in (say) ten years’ time will it still be possible to buy a plug and wire it, or will H&S have decided that the potential for harm is too great?
Enjoyed this one Ifor, many thanks, though I do not know how to wire a plug and can’t really claim to be part of the younger generation either.