“In 31 clues an extra letter must be removed before solving; in clue order, they apply to one of a pair, as does a phrase in the grid. Solvers must change the phrase to describe the second member of the pair (retaining/creating real-word crossing entries, one confirmed in Collins) and highlight six other words and phrases (47 cells), which also describe the person. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended, 35d is in Collins; one answer is an abbreviation; solvers should consult the original version of the work of CONTRASTS.”
The extra letters spell: A WORTHLESS CHECK / A TOTAL WRECK / A FLOP
These are lyrics from ‘You’re the Top’ by Cole Porter, and apply to the singer, who claims, “I’M THE BOTTOM”. This has to be changed to the titular phrase, and some of the various epithets of the ‘Top’ are to be highlighted.
Topping!
| Notation | |
|---|---|
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Homophone | “WORD” |
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1 | In a fluster, P |
FLAPPY |
| W | 5 | R (Wright) [divides] B (boron) [and] O (oxygen) [in] AMID (between) synthetic resin (7) | AMBROID |
| O | 10 | Rodent S (soon) [starts to] C |
SCIURINE |
| R | 12 | Brand S (singular) ASH (tree) (4) | SASH |
| T | 13 | Predicts FORAYS (raids) [besieging] E (Spain) S (stun) (8) | FORESAYS |
| 14 | SEAM Joint < [backing] {S (southern) ESSO (petrol supplier)}’s plants (9, two words) | SEA MOSSES | |
| H | 18 | BOT (Australian cadger) TOM (chat)’s base (6) | BOTTOM |
| L | 19 | < [Turning], {RAG (tease) US (Mel) [pursuing] DATE (romantic partner)’s sweetener (9) | DATE SUGAR |
| E | 21 | PA (Parent) [entertaining] IN (ate) out-of-date fruit (4) | PINA |
| S | 22 | TOSS (Slob)’s [behind] S (second) hillside (5) | STOSS |
| S | 23 | < [Recalled] LAM (beast)’s sickness in Paris (3) | MAL |
| C | 24 | LINE (Crank) [beside] N (navy) material (5) | LINEN |
| H | 26 | [Characters in] absURD hEels pointed to genealogists (4) | URDE |
| 27 | < MOR (Suffolk girl) [returning] ANCE (in Scotland once) [on the borders] R |
ROMANCERS | |
| E | 30 | OILERS (Sycophant’s) [after] B (British) poet (6) | BOILERS |
| C | 34 | American toothpaste PEPS (invigorates) O (old) Pict (9) | PEPSODENT |
| K | 36 | Awful situations INFER (conclude), NO (not so) |
INFERNOS |
| A | 37 | Pay < ETNA (amount in Sicily) [back] (4) | ANTE |
| 39 | [Intermittently] T |
CHORTLES | |
| T | 40 | {LAtER HO |
EARHOLE |
| 41 | Distinguish SEER (viewer), N (note) C (conservative)[’s intervening] (6) | SECERN | |
| Down | |||
| O | 1 | Agitated, FUSE (unite) D (good) S (society) [inside] (6) | FUSSED |
| T | 2 | LE (The French) [at first] tA |
LEA |
| A | 3 | Musician’s very A (advanced) [and] I (independent), [supporting] ASS (burka) (5) | ASSAI |
| L | 4 | PLOTS (Schemes) [covering] I (lone) guides (6) | PILOTS |
| W | 5 | A (Rural wit) and ROSE (paragon) appeared (5) | AROSE |
| R | 6 | M (Miller) IRE (fury)’s a problematic situation (4) | MIRE |
| E | 7 | In Glasgow receive stolen goods, RE (one) SET (collection) (5) | RESET |
| C | 8 | R (Republican) [leaving] O |
OVALTINE |
| K | 9 | ST (Saint) [in] DUMA (council) N (knew) key worker (7) | DUSTMAN |
| 11 | Authorised farm squatters in South Africa WON (caught) [entering] BY (near) |
BYWONERS | |
| 15 | M |
MMES | |
| A | 16 | [Forgetting] D (date), PAR |
PATRONNE |
| F | 17 | Trump’s fancy HUM (bumf) and OR (gold) (5) | HUMOR |
| 18 | < [Upset] { A (academy) [cutting] SLAB (viscous)} mineral (5) | BALAS | |
| 20 | Highly desirable TO (for) DIOR (French designer), [welcoming] {E (eastern) F (fellow)} (8, three words) | TO DIE FOR | |
| 22 | Grand < MI (note)[’s elevated] [in[ [vigorous] BLUES* (7) | SUBLIME | |
| L | 25 | Almost give up, I (Lisle) [overhead] froze (4) | ICED |
| 28 | Simpleton to improvise jazz (6) | NOODLE | |
| 29 | SEEN (Spotted) [grabbing] [the middle of] |
SATEEN | |
| 31 | Cling to LEE (sheltered side) CH (children) (5) | LEECH | |
| O | 32 | SORE (Irritated) [carrying] P (prince)’s cello (5) | SPORE |
| P | 33 | Paged think “SENSE” (suspect)[’s spoken] (5) | CENSE |
| 35 | < [Lifted] LONE (separate) organic chemical (4) | ENOL | |
| 38 | Incite < RAT (sneak) [standing up] (3) | TAR | |
Below is the completed grid (after the substitution).
| F | L | A | P | P | Y | A | M | B | R | O | I | D |
| U | E | S | C | I | U | R | I | N | E | V | B | U |
| S | A | S | H | L | F | O | R | E | S | A | Y | S |
| S | E | A | M | O | S | S | E | S | E | L | W | T |
| E | P | Y | O | U | R | E | T | H | E | T | O | P |
| D | A | T | E | S | U | G | A | R | P | I | N | A |
| S | T | O | S | S | M | A | L | L | I | N | E | N |
| U | R | D | E | R | O | M | A | N | C | E | R | S |
| B | O | I | L | E | R | S | S | O | E | C | S | A |
| L | N | E | E | P | E | P | S | O | D | E | N | T |
| I | N | F | E | R | N | O | S | D | A | N | T | E |
| M | E | O | C | H | O | R | T | L | E | S | A | E |
| E | A | R | H | O | L | E | S | E | C | E | R | N |
A gem of a puzzle. I liked the choice of theme, the way it was incorporated into a symmetrical grid, and the whole design including the pitch of the clues and the way into the theme with the extra letters. I picked up this puzzle when I got bogged down with another puzzle involving more complex clue manipulations, and although with some clues I spent longer finding the extra letters than getting the answers I had the patience to take this all the way.
I had all but three of the extra letters when I stopped to try and read what they said, and it was all very clear except for the word CHECK, where I had a couple of queries with the clues, but I had more then enough to look up the lyrics.
I completed this except for YOU’RE THE TOP, probably because I had found only THE BOTTOM, not I’M THE BOTTOM – perhaps influenced by the missing “I’M” from the extra letters.
Thanks to Skylark and Mister Sting.
A good fun puzzle. Solving went smoothly, then took some time to find the theme, which was unfamiliar to me. The words from extra letters suggested “dud” to me, so spent a while trying to make a Dudley Moore/Peter Cook theme work: should have just Googled worthless check etc. As it was, seeing I’m the bottom gave me my way in to a successful search. I had spotted Inferno’s Dante but hadn’t thought to pursue that odd phrasing so a nice PDM when that, and other elements, became apparent. An enjoyable bit of discovery all round. Thanks to Skylark and Mister Sting
I really enjoyed solving this puzzle which had some interesting uses of extra letters in the clues and in which the theme was well developed. Interestingly the original lyrics had MORE than was required to be highlighted in the grid.