Skylark – third up in “Ladies’ Month”.
Preamble: A misprint in each of fifteen across clues should be corrected before solving; corrections spell a work made famous by a thematic individual. Each of eighteen down clues contains an extra letter, which should be removed before solving; these letters spell an associated phrase. The individual’s name, plus the titles of three related works, must be highlighted in the completed grid (50 cells in total).
38ac and 26dn are in Collins.
If you will indulge me briefly …
I made a start on the puzzle after being admitted for a planned op, and solved about half the clues before my escort to the anaesthetic room came (a combination of the clues being not too difficult and how long I waited). In the ward the next day, my prostate having been successfully removed, I finished the puzzle bar a couple of wordplays and one of the songs. I was back home that afternoon, and am on the way to a full recovery all being well. So guys, if you’re mid 60’s or older and peeing overnight more than usual, then contact your GP & get yourself checked out – you never know, it might save your life.
~ ~ ~
I found it easier to pick out the extra letters in the down clues than I did to identify the misprints/corrections in the across clues – more reverse-engineering with the latter than with the former. Having said that, once I had quite a few letters in “the work” and in “the phrase” the balance shifted since I’d heard of YOUR FEET’S TOO BIG, but had to make a stab at ONE NEVER KNOWS … only later completed with DO ONE?
The former is a song popularised by FATS WALLER, the American jazz pianist & singer, whose best-known compositions are AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ and HONEYSUCKLE ROSE. The song that completes the threesome is the lesser known BLACK AND BLUE.
As mentioned above, the clues weren’t really that tough (though it did take me a while to sort out the wordplay for 1a HONEYSUCKLE and for 15a PLASTIC FORCE). I assume that the title harks back to YOUR FEET’S TOO BIG {FW was an early exponent of the jazz style known as stride piano: see comment #10} and I note that FW was born on 21-May-1904, so would have been 119 years old at the weekend this puzzle was published. Thanks Skylark – I hope I managed to do justice to your efforts … put any oversights or omissions down to lingering effects of a general anaesthetic.
| No. | Clue | X | Answer | Wordplay |
| Across ✓[✗] | ||||
| 1 | Only y[K]en succeeded cutting hip shrub (11) | Y | HONEYSUCKLE | ONE (only) Y(en) S(ucceeded) in HUCKLE (hip) |
| 11 | Outside yard, go[e]ld unknown antelope (4) | O | ORYX | Y(ard) in OR (gold) X (unknown) |
| 12 | Pleasant rambler in ru[a]in seconds leaving France (8, 2 words) | U | ALL ROSES | ROSE (rambler) in FALL (ruin) S(econds) ¬ F(rance) |
| 13 | Turning, female inside r[t]ested fine Indian meatballs (6) | R | KOFTAS | F(emale) in SAT (rested) OK (fine) all< |
| 14 | Grumble f[y]ellow overshadows Oscar (4) | F | MOAN | MAN (fellow) around O(scar) |
| 15 | Almost glue[m] as probes set power of growth in animals (12, 2 words) | E | PLASTIC FORCE | STIC(k) (glue) FOR (as) in PLACE (set) |
| 16 | De[o]n crosses island, local’s next (5) | E | NEIST | NEST (den) around I(sland) |
| 18 | Northern fat[n]’s recalled incredibly brave person (4) | T | LION | N(orthern) OIL (fat) all< |
| 20 | Deposit forwarded contains American money (8) | SEDIMENT | SENT (forwarded) around DIME (American money) | |
| 23 | S[F]aint leaving portion daughter hurried (5) | S | HARED | SHARE (portion) ¬ S(aint) D(aughter) |
| 24 | T[P]otter losing area’s game in Australia (3) | T | SWY | SWAY (totter) ¬ A(rea) |
| 25 | Coo[w]l touching Pope’s short cape (5) | O | FANON | FAN (cool) ON (touching) |
| 27 | Before, suggest Dina’s regularly forgotten aversion to food (8) | APOSITIA | A (ante, before) POSIT (suggest) (D)I(n)A | |
| 30 | Whisk yokel’s slo[a]w (4) | O | LASH | double definition |
| 34 | Ed’s lifted Independent from Rayner, perhaps (5) | LEFTE | LEFTIE (Rayner, perhaps: ref. Angela R., currently Deputy Leader of the Labour Party) ¬ I(ndependent) | |
| 35 | Sad welcoming Miss with b[l]ass exhibiting bruising (12) | B | BLACK-AND-BLUE | BLUE (sad) around LACK (miss) AND (with) B(ass) |
| 36 | Posh artist following Japanese laws (4) | JURA | U (posh) RA (artist) after J(apanese) | |
| 37 | River vessel’s sti[u]ck by French water (6) | I | BATEAU | BAT (stick) EAU (water, Fr) |
| 38 | Wrongly depict g[b]rief fog outside (8) | G | MISPAINT | PAIN (grief) in MIST (fog) |
| 39 | Ordinary vase belonging to us in the countryside (4) | OURN | O(rdinary) URN (vase) | |
| 40 | Being bad, remain in Michigan plundering (11) | MISBEHAVING | BE (remain) in MI (Michigan) SHAVING (plundering) | |
| Down {extra} | ||||
| 1 | Ho{o}t allowing overacting (6) | O | HOKING | H(ot) OK’ING (allowing) |
| 2 | Amid unlimited so{n}ar secures float used in minesweeping (7) | N | OROPESA | (s)OA(r) around ROPES (secures) |
| 3 | Jock’s fit of hysterics about t{e}as? Senior raptures (8) | E | EXTASIES | EXIES (fit of hysterics, Scot) around TAS |
| 4 | Hamper Ade se{n}t after first of yoghurts fermented (7) | N | YEASTED | [ADE SET]* after Y(oghurts) |
| 5 | Within ampul miniature tree’s sticky emission (5) | ULMIN | (amp)UL MIN(iature) | |
| 6 | College to secure sit{e} in St Andrews (5) | E | CLOCK | C(ollege) LOCK (secure) |
| 7 | Food manufacturer’s strong wrapping paper (5) | KRAFT | double definition | |
| 8 | Upset milk payment keeps {V}icky initially hungry (8) | V | ESURIENT | USE< (milk) RENT (payment) around I(cky) |
| 9 | Will’s rustic holds we{e}d in the middle to light up (6) | E | BEACON | BACON (rustic, Shakessp) around (w)E(d) |
| 10 | {R}are perfume’s going up (6) | R | ASCENT | A(re) SCENT (perfume) |
| 17 | Interjection to attract attention stops drunk forgetting boo{k} in the end (4) | K | PSST | [STOPS]* ¬ (bo)O |
| 19 | In favour of soprano section interrupting end’s dullness (8) | PROSAISM | PRO (in favour of) S(oprano) S(ection) in AIM (end) | |
| 21 | Bornean tribe member di{n}ed on ox (4) | N | DYAK | D(ied) YAK (ox) |
| 22 | Hebrew’s congratulations puzzle p{o}et losing energy crossing Thailand (8) | O | MAZELTOV | MAZE (puzzle) LOVE (pet) ¬ E(nergy) around T (Thailand) |
| 25 | Scholar in slip beginning to {w}ant trimming (7) | W | FALBALA | BA (scholar) in FALL (slip) A(nt) |
| 26 | Get more pay than exposed Liberal avoiding {s}train (7) | S | OUTEARN | OUT (exposed) LEARN (train) ¬ L(iberal) |
| 27 | Standing, note{d} rubbish society scrapbooks (6) | D | ALBUMS | LA< (note) BUM (rubbish) S(ociety) |
| 28 | Weak all{o}y cover (6) | O | PALLID | PAL (ally) LID (cover) |
| 29 | To live star bo{o}gie’s centrepiece celebrated in tune of old (6) | O | BESUNG | BE (live) SUN (star) (bo)G(ie) |
| 31 | Ba{n}gs upset university replacing 100 seabirds (5) | N | SKUAS | SACKS< (bags) with U(niversity) replacing C (100) |
| 32 | Native American’s absent, in bed (5) | CARIB | A(bsent) in CRIB (bed) | |
| 33 | Not once supporting pe{e}r is senseless (5) | E | INANE | NE (not, obs) after IN A (per) |
A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle, best in a while, but perhaps more importantly… All the best HolyGhost for a full recovery – going far above and beyond with today’s blog under the circumstances.
I too found the Across clues a bit tougher than the Downs for extracting the required letters. In the end I had four letters missing, causing the words FEET’S and DO ONE to be incomplete and indecipherable. Fortunately, everything came out with an online search. I didn’t know BLACK AND BLUE, so that one had to be found and confirmed. I fell into the trap of highlighting the whole of MISBEHAVING and then having to correct that mistake after counting too many highlighted cells.
Many thanks to Skylark for an interesting puzzle, and to HG for solving and blogging it in challenging circumstances.
[HG, I wish you all the very best in your recovery. I underwent a different procedure and am now just about half way through my course of radiotherapy – which I’m pleased to say allows normal life to go on around the short sessions.]
For once I sussed this.Lovely theme and thanks for blog
I didn’t attempt the puzzle; this is just to wish HG a speedy and successful convalescence. As Jon says, the blog is the usual thorough exposition and definitely above and beyond the call of duty.
This one echoes Gila’s sentiment (IQ 1798) to a T: some fairly tough clues but a neat end-game (I only needed to look up B&B to confirm). A pleasant contrast to:
* last week where I still cannot make sense of the grid modifications despite completing the clues and finding the quote and knowing all about Venn diagrams.
* 1800, where it was possible to produce a winnable grid without (like me) having the foggiest why D was thematic and hence being unable to find the (unnecessary) thematic pair of adjectives. So, a pointless end-game, which, to me, is definitely silly.
Sorry for the tirade. Thanks to Skylark, for a great puzzle and to HG for producing his usual solid report despite the circumstances. I wish him a speedy and full recovery.
Another DNF recorded by me, as due to sudden illness of an elderly relative meant that I was forced to put the grid down and attend to more important things. Nevertheless a fine puzzle with some excellent clues. Holy Ghost – Above and beyond the call of duty, Sir … I home that you’re well on the road to recovery very soon.
Like Alan B @2, I was nonplussed by the numbers, misled by the impulse towards correct spelling. A nice challenge with a welcome, simple endgame – one of the few where no online research was required. Thanks to Skylark; and best wishes to Holy Ghost.
I would put this in the averagely enjoyable category. I always find it bamboozling having two different mechanisms for Across and Down misprints, as it’s tricky to keep straight in my head which one’s which. Then the clues took a while and I was only mildly interested in the subject matter, though at least listening to a couple of the tunes was educational!
Glad to have done it though, so thank you. And speedy recovery to HG.
Firstly, we hope you have a speedy recovery HolyGhost.
We enjoyed the puzzle but unlike Neil+Hunter, we did need some online research to complete it.
Alan B – we hope your radiotherapy is going well too. Reading your comment made us realise that we made an error at the end. We failed to count the shaded cells. Had we done so, we hopefully would have noticed that we had shaded in the superfluous G!
Thanks to Skylark and best wishes to HolyGhost and Alan B.
I enjoyed this puzzle very much. With regards to the title, I suspect it refers to Fats Waller’s piano-playing style, commonly known as ‘Stride’ piano. See ‘Mrs Mills’ for possibly our most famous exponent.
RC Tomlinson @10: your info re stride piano now acknowledged in the blog – thanks.
Thanks HolyGhost — I am a big fan of the Inquisitor,