“All clues contain a misprint of one letter in the definition part. The correct letters in clue order give two suggestions as to the nature of the twelve unclued entries (the second of these suggestions proceeds to indicate why these particular entries might be BURNED OUT). Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; all entries are real words or phrases.”
The theme is MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN, which is both a JOE COCKER ALBUM and a NOEL COWARD NUMBER. They “go out in the midday sun”, and so might be BURNED OUT.
The “mad dogs” are anagrams, as set out below:
| Dog | Anagram |
| MESSAN | MANSES |
| CORGI | ORGIC |
| CAIRN | IN-CAR |
| POINTER | PROTEIN |
| SCOTTIE | COTTISE |
| SETTER | STREET |
| COLLIE | OCELLI |
| MERLE | MEREL |
| POMERANIAN | PRAENOMINA |
| SPANIEL | NEPALIS |
| POODLE | LOOPED |
| Notation | |
|---|---|
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Homophone | “WORD” |
| Misprint | fury |
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| J | 1 | Potential fury – L (Latin) V (verse) [is outwardly] TWEE (over-sentimental) (6) | TWELVE |
| O | 8 | LEADEN* [complex] tiled some time ago (6) | ANELED |
| E | 9 | True |
AKEE |
| C | 10 | O (Old) RATING (sailor) falling for mass attention (7) | ORATING |
| O | 11 | [Unusual] TERM* [covered by] PALE (‘whitish) thing often found in vases’ (8, two words) | PALM TREE |
| C | 14 | Spare of time, W (wife) HI (greeting) LE (the French) (5) | WHILE |
| K | 18 | Shady LOOS (poet’s reputation) [beginning to] E |
LOOSE |
| E | 19 | AMI (Parisian friend) [starts on] S |
AMISS |
| R | 23 | Hanging landscape OR (abandoned before) [entering] PANAMA (country) (8) | PANORAMA |
| A | 24 | [Peeled] |
ENTITLE |
| L | 26 | Representative poor NE (man’s born) [in] PAL (China) (5) | PANEL |
| B | 27 | Wig [beginning to] T |
TALL |
| U | 28 | [Heading for] A |
ADD-ONS |
| Down | |||
| M | 1 | Concerned with the value of deals, TROIC (Trojan) [clutches] [empty] P |
TROPHIC |
| N | 2 | [Unfulfilled] EAGE |
EAGLE |
| O | 3 | COVERT* [turning] in direction of racket (6) | VECTOR |
| E | 4 | Describing scalp of Karpov and others [bagged by] |
ELO |
| L | 5 | Vocal’s behind |
NATCH |
| C | 6 | Spots once crooked SKI (runner) VIE (contend in rivalry) (6) | SKIVIE |
| O | 7 | Fellow immediately S (succeeded), < [coming up] EUGE (well) (5) | SEGUE |
| W | 12 | Protective ditch which can be set in A (acreage) [surrounded by] MOT (trees on prairie) (4) | MOAT |
| A | 13 | Tehrs < [climbing] SPIR |
RIPS |
| R | 15 | REIN | |
| D | 16 | Rise about FOUR [F (fathoms) succumbing to T (surface tension)] (4) | TOUR |
| N | 17 | Accept being TT (dry) [in] TILE (hat) (6) | TITTLE |
| U | 19 | Grab A (associate) using WET (liquid) O (oxygen) (5) | AWETO |
| M | 20 | Call S (Saint) TILL (Peter from down under) (5) | STILL |
| B | 21 | Indian fowl BAL (balance) [on] TI (tree) (5) | BALTI |
| E | 22 | CAN (Is able to) TO (turn over) part of port’s output (5) | CANTO |
| R | 25 | [Skinned] |
ERA |
| T | W | E | L | V | E | M | A | N | S | E | S |
| R | P | A | N | E | L | E | D | A | K | E | E |
| O | R | G | I | C | O | R | A | T | I | N | G |
| P | A | L | M | T | R | E | E | C | V | G | U |
| H | E | E | O | O | I | L | W | H | I | L | E |
| I | N | C | A | R | P | R | O | T | E | I | N |
| C | O | T | T | I | S | E | L | O | O | S | E |
| A | M | I | S | S | B | I | O | U | C | H | P |
| W | I | T | T | P | A | N | O | R | A | M | A |
| E | N | T | I | T | L | E | P | A | N | E | L |
| T | A | L | L | S | T | R | E | E | T | N | I |
| O | C | E | L | L | I | A | D | D | O | N | S |
A neat use of the thematic phrase to produce an entertaining solve. The main challenge for me came with the lack of checkers due to the number of thematic entries, requiring more cold solving than usual. Even with the theme identified (corgi > orgic being my way in), the NW corner was stubborn, I think because the two dogs were obscure, to me at least. Thanks to Nudd for the challenge and the entertainment, and to Mister Sting for the review.
This turned out to be in many ways one of the most satisfying puzzles in the series this year.
As a crossword it worked out perfectly for me. I did not find it easy, but the quality of the clues was such that I managed to solve every one without needing any of the unclued entries to help me. I duly picked up all of the correct letters from the misprints.
ENGLISHMEN (from the Noel Coward song title) was the only sensible, relevant word I could enter at first, and it took longer than I care to admit to spot a couple of possibilities for ‘mad dogs’, namely, POODLE and COLLIE. The rest followed quite quickly after that. I liked PRAENOMINA best. I saw the possibility of that word there much earlier, also of OCELLI along the bottom, but of course failed to see any significance in them until the light dawned.
Last of all, I saw how Cocker (by Joe Cocker) fitted into all this.
Thanks to Nudd and Mister Sting..