“The answers to eight normal clues each provide the potential CONSEQUENCES for their respective entries. All other clues must have a letter removed prior to solving (always leaving real words) which, in clue order, provide the thematic reference (as cited in ODQ7). Read in grid order, the circled letters followed by the entry number of one of two thematic entries narrow down the reference material, which is further pinpointed by those two entries, as well as the sum of their entry numbers; the outlier is thematically numbered. Enumerations refer to grid entries. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
The thematic reference is THE SECOND BOOK OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, that is, Exodus. Adding the circled letters and information from the thematic entries, we have Exodus, CHAPTER 21, VERSE(s) TWENTY-FOUR and 25 (4 + 21). In the King James Version, they read:
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
In each case, the CONSEQUENCES of the normal clues are EYE, TOOTH, HAND, etc. They are to be replaced with synonyms (REGARD, CANINE, AUTHOR, etc.). The outlier, LIFE, is 23dn. Verse 23 reads:
And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life
By chance, I had recently watched an episode of Bergerac, ‘Root and Branch’, which features these verses. Needless to say, that didn’t help at all.
Notes
In 32ac, I assume that VIOLET is VI, but I do not see any such entry in Chambers. Also, I cannot parse 35ac, although I suspect it may have something to do with a word such as FOOTLING.
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Notation | |
|---|---|
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Homophone | “WORD” |
| Letter to be removed | Trent |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BING (Local pile) [around] URN (boiler) in conflagration (6) | BURNING/ARDENT | |
| 5 | Look at Y (axis) [in] E (European) E (base) (6) | EYE/REGARD | |
| T | 11 | [Trent] {BELTS WEAK}* gable’s cornerstone (9) | SKEW-TABLE |
| H | 12 | Hair {WET POST}* [swimming] (7) | TWO-STEP |
| E | 14 | Dine CHI (Greek character) [with] RM (bootees) (5) | CHIRM |
| S | 17 | Sections of sky [affected] COAsTS* (5) | OCTAS |
| E | 18 | TREPAN (Saw) G (grande) marine creature (7) | TREPANG |
| C | 19 | RA (Royal Artillery) P |
RAPTLY |
| O | 21 | Make familiar with diVERS oEdemas, [somewhat] (5) | VERSE |
| N | 23 | MORn* [unfolding] OF (aged) building covering (5) | M-ROOF |
| D | 24 | Crazy, {MAd INCA}* [revolted] (6) | MANIAC |
| B | 26 | EC (City) TO (against) ZO (bovine) A (American) providing many a blouse? (7) | ECTOZOA |
| O | 28 | Holiday in Rome – EST (is Roman) [captivated by] FA (Scotsman’s droop)? (5) | FESTA |
| O | 31 | Large orange [rolling] ONCE* [across] A (area) (5) | OCEAN |
| K | 32 | LIkE [following] RI (Rhode Island) VI (Violet) making outstanding artworks (7) | RILIEVI |
| O | 33 | {TARoT ACTOR}* [going off] pamphlet writer (9) | TRACTATOR |
| 34 | PRIEST* [blessed] band (6) | STRIPE/RIBBON | |
| 35 | Preposterous until out from base (6) | FOOT/CHOREE | |
| Down | |||
| 1 | H (HERO’s [first]) AND (with) help (6) | HAND/AUTHOR | |
| F | 2 | DS (Detective Sergeant) [absorbs] [most of] SOf |
DSOS |
| T | 3 | [Stacking] TENSE* high notes (5) | TENES |
| H | 4 | TWENTY (Score) FOUR (low-value chard) in folded sheet (10) | TWENTY-FOUR |
| E | 6 | A pope in E (Eastern) A (Australian) CH (church) (4) | EACH |
| O | 7 | A (One) LIZAR |
ALIZARI |
| L | 8 | [Befuddled] {R (rector) lEARN |
RERAN |
| 9 | Surgeon’s incision twisted and turned (6) | WOUND/DAMAGE | |
| D | 10 | {COLd WAR}* [revamped] San Francisco’s night tram once (6) | OWL-CAR |
| T | 13 | Firebug [inflamed] {A CANOPY tRIM}* (10) | PYROMANIAC |
| E | 15 | Pacific chiefs RAT (give information) [on] OO (Harris wool) with S (sonse) (6) | RATOOS |
| S | 16 | Cleared PEN (styles) in OED (dictionary) (6) | OPENED |
| T | 20 | POTHER (Choking fumets) [upon] B (second-class) edible plant (7, two words) | POT HERB |
| A | 22 | Once cultivated {SETa VIA}* [remixing] (6) | SATIVE |
| 23 | Body and soul of [revised] FILE*(6) | LIFE/MEMOIR | |
| 25 | Jag TOOT (to blow horn) H (hard) (6) | TOOTH/CANINE | |
| M | 27 | ACT (Dom) [among] CI (island group) desert plants (5) | CACTI |
| E | 28 | Crude [L (line) for F (female) in middle of] FIFTH (interval) (5) | FILTH |
| N | 29 | UN (Locally, none) [joining] CO (company) is remarkable in Ayr (4) | UNCO |
| T | 30 | S (Steven) ERR (to blunder) close up (4) | SERR |
| A | R | D | E | N | T | R | E | G | A | R | D |
| U | O | S | K | E | W | T | A | B | L | E | A |
| T | W | O | S | T | E | P | C | H | I | R | M |
| H | L | S | R | E | N | Y | H | O | Z | A | A |
| O | C | T | A | S | T | R | E | P | A | N | G |
| R | A | P | T | L | Y | O | V | E | R | S | E |
| M | R | O | O | F | F | M | A | N | I | A | C |
| E | C | T | O | Z | O | A | F | E | S | T | A |
| M | A | H | S | U | U | N | I | D | S | I | N |
| O | C | E | A | N | R | I | L | I | E | V | I |
| I | T | R | A | C | T | A | T | O | R | E | N |
| R | I | B | B | O | N | C | H | O | R | E | E |
I have good memories of two quite recent puzzles by Eclogue (one in this series and one elsewhere) and was expecting a similar meaty but solvable puzzle this time. I wasn’t disappointed, this puzzle being perhaps even trickier in some of its clues and in pinning down the theme.
The thematic design with the six-letter synonyms in the perimeter and the chapter-and-verse references in the grid was very neat. Of the thematic items I saw REGARD for ‘eye’ and CANINE for ‘tooth’ first, and got the others after reading the source indicated by the chapter and verse pointers in the grid.
There were some gems among the clues, like the definition ‘a pop’ for EACH in 6d
(I thought VI in 32a was an unindicated short form of Violet. In 35a, I had ‘preposterous’ meaning reversed, ‘until’ = TO, ‘from’ = OF, def. ‘base’.)
Thanks to Eclogue and Mister Sting.
Quite a complex solve for me, with the thematic entries proving elusive for quite a while. Even after identifying Exodus, the quote still took some time to spot (though, as often, it seemed obvious in retrospect) and I was confused about the “two thematic entries” until the penny dropped with a loud clang. Cleverly done by Eclogue and satisfying to work out.
In 32, I took Vi as short form of Violet the girl’s name and agree with Alan B about 35.
Thanks Eclogue and Mister Sting.