“Three related unclued entries all suggest how ten answers must be modified before entry. In the completed grid, solvers must highlight five words (suitably disposed, 38 cells in total, all confirmed by Chambers) which have a DIFFERENT RELATION to one of the unclued entries. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; all entries are real words or names.”
| Notation | |
|---|---|
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Unmodified/modified entry | EELS/SEEL |
There weren’t a lot of gimmes (26ac was one – at least for me), there were a few misleading “put x inside y” indicators (e.g. 10ac, 42ac), and there were a number of unusual words. Still, the setter didn’t “double up” on these – or at least not as much is sometimes the case (where the construction, the answer, and/or the constituent parts are difficult).
I doubt that many solvers were surprised by the method of entry of the ten modified answers. It was nice that the anagrams were all real words.
The three unclued entries were easy enough to guess with a few letters: BATS, BANANAS, and CRACKERS. But to which would the five words have this DIFFERENT RELATION?
I noticed that all of the modifications were in the down clues, but apart from that I was rather slow on the uptake. The ten anagrams are, (in retrospect) obviously, in five columns. The five words each span two of the anagrams (including at least one letter that has moved from the original word). They are the names of five bats – suitably hanging upside down.
The PDM was rather lovely. Our five pendulous bat friends are (L to R) BARBASTEL, NOCTULE, SEROTINE, SPECTRE, and LEISLER. All but the penultimate are native to the UK, which has 18 native species of bat. The non-native, better known as the spectral bat (Vampyrum spectrum), is a carnivorous leaf-nosed bat found in parts of the Americas.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plants bearing substantial fruit and edible tubers (5) | COCOS |
| 5 | Rough BARK (vessel)’s {ALL (quite) P (quiet)} [within] (8) | BALLPARK |
| 10 | D (Delta) AREA (region) [harbours] waders (5) | ARDEA |
| 11 | DRIES (Prohibitionists) [gathering] EA |
DEARIES |
| 14 | Lower |
ABASE |
| 15 | Girl <{LETS (prevents) [outdated] ALE (beer) [bottles]} [being returned] (7) | ESTELLA |
| 16 | [In the end], |
SNEE |
| 17 | Prickly shrub’s EBB (decline) [in] N (north) UK (country of ours) (6) | NEBBUK |
| 20 | O (Old) DIC |
ODIC |
| 21 | < [Repellent] TOTS (mites) [besetting] A (Australian) mammal (5) | STOAT |
| 22 | Aged companion AT (occupied in) < [wheeling] {RED (Balmoral’s rubbish) NET (bag)} (8) | ATTENDER |
| 23 | South American capital |
ASUNCIÓN |
| 26 | [Synthetic] PEARL* [forming] partitions in shepherd’s purse? (5) | REPLA |
| 29 | Japanese poem < [recalling] {A KAW (bird’s cry)} (4) | WAKA |
| 32 | Relaxed and |
ATONIC |
| 34 | Oil producer‘s < {MEN (ships) [circumnavigating] E (earth)} [westwards] (4) | NEEM |
| 38 | Divinities ARE* [enigmatic] [in] ODES (works of Horace?) (7) | OREADES |
| 39 | EMURE | |
| 40 | Plans [crossing |
MAPS OUT |
| 41 | Foam < [backing] UPS (lifts) [frame of] M |
SPUME |
| 42 | Difficult ABUSE (to misrepresent) STR (straight) [lines] (8) | ABSTRUSE |
| 43 | Big bucks E (earls) [spent in] STAG |
STAGS |
| Down | ||
| 1 | {W |
CHAINSAW |
| 2 | CRAM (Hastily learn) B (book) O (of) rhyme (6) | CRAMBO |
| 3 | Ancient oath |
ODSO |
| 4 | EELS/SEEL | |
| 6 | DIA |
DIANE/ADENI |
| 7 | Sail LATE (dead) [close to] |
LATEEN/LA TÈNE |
| 8 | [Farthingless] |
AILED |
| 9 | < ASK (Inquire) [about] |
KSAR |
| 10 | [Opening of] ENQUIRY [into] BLAT (German newspaper)’s complaint (5) | BLEAT/ABLET |
| 12 | {E (European) J (judge), ONE} [breaking} R (rule) O (over) brutal slaughter of beasts (7) | REJONEO |
| 13 | Out-of-date vinegar IS [consumed by] EEL (swimmer) (5) | EISEL/ELSIE |
| 18 | Pin money in LA (4) | KAIL |
| 19 | One Spitfire’s [reckless] A |
ETNA |
| 24 | < {[In] SA (South Africa), BAR (advocates)} [rearing] horses (5) | ARABS/SABRA |
| 25 | COR (Homer) DON (put on) ring (6) | CORDON/CONDOR |
| 27 | Spirit NE (born) [in] PUMA (mountain hunter) (6) | PNEUMA |
| 28 | TIER (Story) [about] |
TILER/LITRE |
| 30 | Holds on to S (spades) [after] < PEEK (sly glance) [towards North] (5) | KEEPS |
| 31 | [Wanting entry], |
TRESS/RESTS |
| 33 | Intoxicating plant juice < [uplifted] AMOS (prophet) (4) | SOMA |
| 35 | Deliberate M |
MUSE |
| 36 | C |
PECS/CEPS |
| 37 | MUST (New wine) [promoting] S (son)’s obscene conversation? (4) | SMUT |
| C | O | C | O | S | B | A | L | L | P | A | R | K |
| H | A | R | D | E | A | D | E | A | R | I | E | S |
| A | B | A | S | E | T | E | S | T | E | L | L | A |
| I | L | M | O | L | S | N | E | E | J | E | S | R |
| N | E | B | B | U | K | I | E | N | O | D | I | C |
| S | T | O | A | T | A | T | T | E | N | D | E | R |
| A | S | U | N | C | I | O | N | R | E | P | L | A |
| W | A | K | A | O | L | R | A | T | O | N | I | C |
| S | B | E | N | N | E | E | M | C | S | E | T | K |
| O | R | E | A | D | E | S | U | E | M | U | R | E |
| M | A | P | S | O | U | T | S | P | U | M | E | R |
| A | B | S | T | R | U | S | E | S | T | A | G | S |
An excellent puzzle. What I appreciated most were the clues, made all the more challenging by having to modify ten of the answers, and the grid design, of which the symmetrical placement of those ten answers was a noteworthy feature.
The endgame would have been difficult if I hadn’t noticed NOCTULE upside down in the grid – clearly pointing to BATS. Two other bats quickly followed: BARBASTEL and SEROTINE. After a vain search for other creatures, I used my imagination and decided to highlight BASE/BALL and BANANAS, both of which match BATS in two DIFFERENT ways and contribute to a total of 38 cells. I suspected there was a better alternative, and indeed there was. I have never heard of the bat species Spectre or Leisler.
A DNF, then, for me, but a very enjoyable one.
Thanks to Hedge-sparrow and Mister Sting.
Thank you, Mister Sting, for the excellent blog, and to you, Alan B, for your kind comment – I’m very glad you enjoyed the puzzle even though you weren’t quite able to complete the end-game. I’ve had one or two other comments privately, and it seems solvers generally found the puzzle to be quite a bit harder than I thought it was. I don’t find it very easy to judge the difficulty of puzzles I create, and clearly my judgement in this case was a bit awry – sorry about that. But anyway, I’m glad it still gave some enjoyment.