“In each clue, one word must take flight before solving, replacing the escapee from the next clue (or first across clue from the last down clue). In clue order, initial letters of these words provide a relevant source and what must be amended to show VICINITIES (read cryptically), leaving all real words in the grid. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; 4dn is in Collins.”
The initial letters spell out JOSH CH TWENTY VV SEVEN AND EIGHT TWELVE CELLS IN SIX ENTRIES. I don’t personally know those particular verses off by heart. Apparently, they are as follows:
7 And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.
8 And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.
The bold words are the VICINITIES – the six cities of refuge. I can’t quite parse how the title works… possibly VI CITIES with IN/NI inside? Wikipedia tells me that they were places in which the perpetrators of accidental manslaughter could claim the right of asylum, but that doesn’t help me.
| Notation | |
|---|---|
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| J | 1 | In the sack, A B |
ABED |
| O | 4 | [Jumble of] {OLD SIDE}* [after] ME (the setter) put notes in order (9) | MELODISED |
| S | 10 | Mysteriously, |
EERILY |
| H | 12 | RE (About) |
REMOTE / RAMOTH |
| C | 15 | HundrED DICkens’ holding of Scandinavian books (5) | EDDIC |
| H | 16 | { |
AREG |
| T | 17 | [Heads of] L |
LAVER |
| W | 18 | [Dismissing] T (tons), <TALE (report) [backs] L (Latin) airline (4, two words) | EL AL |
| E | 19 | God of love‘s < SORE (wounded) [twisted] (4) | EROS |
| N | 20 | STIC |
STEARIC |
| T | 23 | SH (Quiet) O (nothing), T (tense) [following] CHE (revolutionary) ritual killer (7) | SHOCHET / SHECHEM |
| Y | 26 | Mistakes ERA (time) [over] RAT (traitor) (6) | ERRATA |
| V | 30 | ICE (Kill American) |
ICE AGE |
| V | 32 | AG (Attorney-general) [involved in] ABUSE (violation) for mangling of language (7) | ABUSAGE |
| S | 35 | CAR (Vehicle) PING (computing test) for fault-finding (7) | CARPING |
| E | 36 | Using the bow, [strange]ORCA* (4) | ARCO |
| V | 38 | [Exposed] |
ALME |
| E | 40 | TOCOS | |
| N | 41 | MIN |
MINA |
| A | 42 | S (Second) H (hospital) [nets] WAS (remained) for heavy blow (5) | SWASH |
| N | 43 | EURO (French ready) [to replace] A (area) in NAN (grandmother)’s cell (6) | NEURON / HEBRON |
| D | 44 | DR (Medic) |
DREADS |
| E | 45 | {TWICE SAY P (pee)}*, [outrageously]: not difficult at all (9) | EASY-PEASY |
| I | 46 | NAP (Game) [about] E (English) tide (4) | NEAP |
| Down | |||
| G | 1 | Without laughter, A ST (saint) [interrupting] GAELIC* [supply] (9) | AGELASTIC |
| H | 2 | BED (Plot for growing) ASH (tree): cover with dirt (6) | BEDASH / KEDESH |
| T | 3 | Less interesting DRI |
DRIER |
| T | 4 | [Heard] MIKE (Michael) ROAM (travel) little bit of resistance (7) | MICROHM |
| W | 5 | LIST (Tally) [around] YR (younger) poet (6) | LYRIST |
| E | 6 | OES (lain’s grandchildren) [arresting] REST (wait, killer in Greek myth (7) | ORESTES |
| L | 7 | Decorates IMP (elf) EARLS (nobles) (8) | IMPEARLS |
| V | 8 | [Cycling] OILS (paintings) land (4) | SOIL |
| E | 9 | DEAL | |
| C | 11 | L (Left) APSE (part of church) error (5) | LAPSE |
| E | 13 | [Case of] E |
EGGER |
| L | 14 | In STRAIT (narrow place), [opening moved to end] for properties (6) | TRAITS |
| L | 21 | [Left half of] RACAHOUT (acorn meal) perhaps worthless to Matthew? (4) | RACA |
| S | 22 | CADS (Rogues) [embroiling] ET (alien) HIP (in) learning arrangement (9) | CADETSHIP |
| I | 24 | [Some] sOVEReign deliveries (4) | OVER |
| N | 25 | EL (The Spanish) [in] CHAP (man) RY (tracks) religious district (8) | CHAPELRY |
| S | 27 | A [Most featured element of NAVAL ] [in] SCALE (scope) for parts of ear (6) | SCALAE |
| I | 28 | DEN (Study) and TINE (spike) constituent of teeth (7) | DENTINE |
| X | 29 | CURT (Blunt) SAY (identify) [on the radio] makes gesture of respect (7) | CURTSEY |
| E | 31 | Device is GO (attempt) [to include] [half] |
GISMO |
| N | 32 | AGED (Elderly) [accepting] N (note), A (accepted) to-do list (6) | AGENDA |
| T | 33 | Marketplace BAR (drinking establishment) [nurses] ZA (South Africa) (5) | BAZAR / BEZER |
| R | 34 | LAGS* [troubled] [about] OS (opening) tongue (6) | GLOSSA |
| I | 37 | [Regularly] C |
COWAN / GOLAN |
| E | 38 | [Third of] |
ACNE |
| S | 39 | MOUS |
MOUS |
| A | K | E | D | M | E | L | O | D | I | S | E | D |
| G | E | E | R | I | L | Y | R | A | M | O | T | H |
| E | D | D | I | C | A | R | E | G | P | I | R | A |
| L | E | V | E | R | P | I | S | G | E | L | A | L |
| A | S | E | R | O | S | S | T | E | A | R | I | C |
| S | H | E | C | H | E | M | E | R | R | A | T | A |
| T | S | V | H | M | D | S | C | L | C | S | D | |
| I | C | E | A | G | E | A | B | U | S | A | G | E |
| C | A | R | P | I | N | G | E | R | G | O | L | T |
| A | L | M | E | S | T | E | Z | T | O | C | O | S |
| C | A | O | L | M | I | N | E | S | L | A | S | H |
| H | E | B | R | O | N | D | R | E | A | D | S | I |
| E | A | S | Y | P | E | A | S | Y | N | E | A | P |
I had VICINITIES as:
“VI CITIES taking IN”
For some reason I guessed very early on that cities might be involved and once I got to JOSH CH this was confirmed.
A fun puzzle and as a bonus the cities are ‘correctly’ located on the west or east side of the Jordan river (ie, the middle of the grid).
Thank you both!