Hi everyone. Skylark invites us to play in a world of shadows …
The preamble:
Single extra letters in each of 36 clues spell out words spoken in a work. Completing the comment should guide solvers to find and highlight five SHADOWS (37 cells) according to the speaker. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.
A nice simple introduction, and a solve which didn’t present too many problems for me – except in having to look up the singular of 21a and re-form the plural to find the answer, which otherwise didn’t appear to exist.
The words spelled from extra letters were:
I AM FEAR’D IN FIELD AND TOWN: GOBLIN, LEAD THEM …
and, completing the comment:
… UP AND DOWN
This came to me in a dream. Or rather, (via an internet search,) A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck speaks these words and if we solvers follow our guide UP AND DOWN we find characters from the play, or “SHADOWS” as Puck refers to them (“according to the speaker”). I was surprised to find PUCK himself there twice, but he is appropriately going both UP AND DOWN.
Not much more to say, so I’ll just quote from Puck’s closing speech:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream …
Not a weak theme at all, this! Thanks, Skylark!
| # | ANSWER | Clue with definition underlined | |
| Explanation, with quoted indicators in italics and ANSWER letters in bold caps | |||
| Across | |||
| 1a | POMADE | Pos[i]t getting bananas for Lambert’s hair treatment (6) | I |
| PO[l]E (post) with MAD (bananas) in place of (for) L (Lambert) | |||
| 6a | TASTES | P[a]lace brooded about choices (6) | A |
| SET (place) and SAT (brooded) reversed (about) | |||
| 10a | SILENI | Woodland gods almost hushed first of [m]ice (6) | M |
| Without the last letter (almost) SILENt (hushed) + the first letter of Ice | |||
| 11a | ASTRUT | [F]ace prop, protruding once (6) | F |
| A (ace) + STRUT (prop) | |||
| 12a | CASEMAN | Cover ch[e]ap compositor (7) | E |
| CASE (cover) + MAN (chap) | |||
| 13a | RIDE | Sp[a]in expel English (4) | A |
| RID (expel) + E (English) | |||
| 17a | TEIN | In retirement, b[r]ag acquiring current money of Eurasian land (4) | R |
| Backwards (in retirement), NET (bag) acquiring I (current) | |||
| 18a | EPISTLES | Valuable fibres Peru’s sent back before letters (8) | |
| ISTLES (valuable fibres); PE (Peru)’s reversed (sent back) earlier (before) | |||
| 19a | ALOFT | [D]over accepted gallery in hall (5) | D |
| A (accepted) + LOFT (gallery in hall) | |||
| 20a | RIMER | Elderly poet, Pa[i]ge, leaves first reading book (5) | I |
| P (page) leaves [p]RIMER (first reading book) | |||
| 21a | E-LAS | Notes puzzle’s ending with brief hi[n]t (4) | N |
| PuzzlE’s ending + LASh (hit) without its last letter (… brief) | |||
| 24a | DISCOED | Forgetting rubles, [f]etched after princess danced (7) | F |
| Without R (forgetting rubles), SCO[r]ED (etched) after DI (princess) | |||
| 27a | DUES | Charges soprano replacing tenor in song for two (4) | |
| S (soprano) replacing T (tenor) in DUE[t] (song for two) | |||
| 30a | LISLE | Marr[i]ed I sell cotton yarn (5) | I |
| Anagrammed (marred), I SELL | |||
| 32a | ÅRHUS | Scar[e] hustlers covering historic Danish city (5) | E |
| ScAR HUStlers is covering the answer | |||
| 33a | SERENATA | Mostly calm at finish of harmonica[l] pastoral tune (8) | L |
| Mostly SERENe (calm) + AT + finish of harmonicA | |||
| 34a | PASS | Positive when son change[d] (4) | D |
| P (positive) + AS (when) + S (son) | |||
| 36a | GLAD | Pleased lecturer entering ancient ro[a]d (4) | A |
| L (lecturer) entering GAD (ancient rod) | |||
| 37a | SCANDIC | Finnish perhaps inspect hero[n] returning (7) | N |
| SCAN (inspect) + CID (hero) backwards (returning) | |||
| 38a | ENTICE | Lead astray earl, fine[d] taking in Thailand (6) | D |
| E (earl) + NICE (fine) taking in T (Thailand) | |||
| 39a | EARNED | Wise rejecting last of sal[t] acquired (6) | T |
| [l]EARNED (wise) ousting (rejecting) the last letter of saL | |||
| 40a | RESTER | One who st[o]ops runs by chemical compound (6) | O |
| R (runs) by ESTER (chemical compound) | |||
| 41a | STIR UP | Incite over-fastidious reversing, moving Sierra to rear (6, two words) | |
| PURIST (over-fastidious) reversing, after moving S to the end (moving Sierra to rear) | |||
| Down | |||
| 1d | PUCKERED | Mischievous sprite beginning to [w]ear scarlet clothes, wrinkled (8) | W |
| PUCK (mischievous sprite) + the first letter of (beginning to) Ear + RED (scarlet clothes) | |||
| 2d | MISAIM | Badly direct mail, oddly south and north, reserving first couple of s[n]acks (6) | N |
| Two copies of the odd letters of (… oddly) MaIl, first going down (south) and then up (north), taking in (reserving) the first couple of SAcks | |||
| 3d | DEME | Greek township’s [g]listening, believe (4) | G |
| Sounds like (listening) DEEM (believe) | |||
| 4d | ENABLE | Give strength to upset Helen, losing coat crossing c[o]urse (6) | O |
| Upwards (upset), hELEn removing outer letters (losing coat) around (crossing) BAN (curse) | |||
| 5d | WINTER CRESSES | Rectresses [b]in weak scrappy plants (13, two words) | B |
| An anagram of (… scrappy) RECTRESSES IN W (weak) | |||
| 6d | TAKES TO | Becomes fond of p[l]ay for end’s cut short (7, two words) | L |
| TAKE (pay for) + STOp (end) which is cut short | |||
| 7d | ASCIAN | Inhabitant of torrid zone’s enlarged cells, pla[i]ner in the centre (6) | I |
| ASCI (enlarged cells) + plANer in the centre | |||
| 8d | TRIFOLY | Lift or year[n] to shift ornament with three lobes for Browning (7) | N |
| An anagram of (… to shift) LIFT OR Y (year) | |||
| 9d | STEPT | Pa[l]s, tense, no longer walked (5) | L |
| STEP (pas) + T (tense) | |||
| 14d | DEFAULTS | Excellent cellars, five missed failings (8) | |
| DEF (excellent) + [v]AULTS (cellars), V (five) missed | |||
| 15d | EPIDURAL | Record one bor[e] finally cutting double anaesthetic injection (8) | E |
| EP (record) + I (one) + boR finally inside (cutting) DUAL (double) | |||
| 16d | USED | Unionist, declared to Milton, exercised (4) | |
| U (Unionist) + SED (declared to Milton) | |||
| 22d | SNEAK-CUP | Skulker dramatically for[a]ged cake in tin on high (8) | A |
| Anagram of (forged) CAKE in SN (tin) on UP (high) | |||
| 23d | REHEATS | Again warms she[d] up and dines (7) | D |
| HER (she) reversed (up) + EATS (dines) | |||
| 25d | SASSIER | More impertinent idiot inside [t]ires bouncing (7) | T |
| ASS (idiot) inside an anagram of (… bouncing) IRES | |||
| 26d | DING | Ring Ian’s to surpass (4) | |
| Two definitions | |||
| 28d | USANCE | [H]one for editor once in Edinburgh Will’s interest (6) | H |
| US (one for editor) + ANCE (once in Edinburgh) | |||
| 29d | FRACAS | Uproar lifting veil over uncovered h[e]ad (6) | E |
| Going upwards (lifting) SCARF (veil) around (over) hAd without its outer letters (uncovered …) | |||
| 31d | SANDER | Sound close to far[m] stocking Dutch fish (6) | M |
| SANE (sound) and the last letter of (close to) faR containing (stocking) D (Dutch) | |||
| 32d | ANGER | Enrage financial backer changing sides (5) | |
| ANGE[l] (financial backer) changing sides – from L (left) to R (right) | |||
| 35d | HART | Hotel trade male deer (4) | |
| H (hotel) + ART (trade) | |||
What a delight this puzzle was! The clues were a good mixture, not all of the extra letters jumped out immediately and the thematic elements all came together very well. I panicked slightly when I saw the two Pucks, then smiled at the ingenuity of that, the ups and downs.
This was interesting. Another solver pointed out how a good many of the clues had surfaces that made little or no sense and I looked again at them and had to agree. It reminded me that in themed puzzles I am more likely to see the clues merely as words and letters on paper that need to be decoded, sometimes adding or subtracting or changing letters. The clues in daily puzzles are more likely to amaze or amuse me. That did not detract from my satisfaction at finishing this puzzle. But it reminded me that I should salute all setters who spend extra time polishing clues to give good surfaces!