I found this pretty challenging (=difficult), though really interesting, and certainly would not have finished it without computer aids! (My favourite is a little program I’ve had for many years called “Puzzlex”.)
We had to omit a letter, wherever and however often it occurred, from each across answer. We then had to treat the down answers according to the first sentence of a quote, the second sentence of which resulted from the omitted letters.
The first action was to find out how many letters were omitted from each across clue and write down the actual grid length by each clue. This helped as there were sometimes two or three occurrences of the same letter to be removed.
I did’nt get the quotation until I had nearly finished the puzzle. Why is it that the bottom right hand corner seems to be where one starts, giving the last words of any quotation, rather than the first? Anyway the word DARK (more likely than dank, dick or duck!) seemed to be in evidence at the end of the quote, and an internet search yielded nothing useful. (I failed to look up “dark” in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations which would have helped considerably. This proves that one should not become over-reliant on the internet!!)
EARPHONES, CRESTON (q.v.), LEAPERS and GARDA pointed to DRAY reversed for 37D and I found the extraordinary GANOIN for 30D by assuming it was also reversed. I continued in the assumption that Down clues were upside down, and, after finding a number of the Down answers, eventually got sufficient letters from the Across clues to identify the quote. “I DON’T WANT TO GO HOME IN THE DARK” by O. Henry. The previous sentence in the quote is “TURN UP THE LIGHTS.” which is the instruction to enter them reversed and the title Oh! refers to the author.
Even with this knowledge I still had a number of questions about wordplay (all now resolved) and was held up by having Barabbas as my Biblical character in 43A instead of Barnabas! This puzzle balances some pretty easy clues in 1126 and 1127. There were a lot of unfamiliar words and unusual meanings, and the omission of a letter in the grid entry is intrinsically difficult. All’s fair . . . though!
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue | Omission | Grid | Answer | Wordplay for grid entry – Definition for answer |
| 1 | I | NLET | INLET | (a)N(d) + LET (give power to) – an arm (e.g. of a river) |
| 4 | D | EOAN | DEODAND | Of dawn – personal chattel causing accidental death |
| 7 | O | DNATR | DONATOR | D(utch) + NAT + R – presenter |
| 12 | N | EURO | NEURON | A wallaroo (large kangaroo) – a cell |
| 13 | T | GLEEY | GLEETY | GLEY (clay) round base E – covered with viscous transparent stuff! |
| 15 | W | KELA | KWELA | KA round EL – South African folk jazz |
| 16 | A | ENTMED | ENTAMED | [TEN]* + MED – Shakesperian word for subdued |
| 17 | N | ICHE | NICHE | IE round CH(aplain) – Chambers has niche in the definition of tabernacle |
| 18 | T | PALMEE | PALMETTE | PE(ru) round ALME – a palm-leaf ornament |
| 19 | T | LAWCOUR | LAW-COURT | [COUL(d) WAR]* – hall of justice |
| 21 | O | CRLLA | COROLLA | CR + LL (lines) + A |
| 23 | G | UESTBEER | GUEST BEER | [BRUTE SEE(n)]* – ale that’s not normally available |
| 25 | O | NNNIES | NONNIES | N(a)NNIES – meaningless words |
| 26 | H | ANUKKA | HANUKKA | A + N (knight) replaces P in PUKKA – Jewish festival |
| 28 | O | EARPHNES | EARPHONES | [SHEEP RAN]* – we hear through them |
| 32 | M | ETEOR | METEOR | ETE (French for summer) + O(ver) + R(iver) – luminous (see Chambers) |
| 34 | E | STNCILD | STENCILED | [CLINT’S D]* – American version of stencilled |
| 36 | I | CHCORY | CHICORY | CH(eck) + O in CRY (report) – a plant (growth?) |
| 38 | N | ULIE | UNLINE | U(niform) + LIE (press in Chambers) – to remove the lining from |
| 39 | T | CRESON | CRESTON | [C NOSER]* – a rocky outcrop – is this a rock edge? |
| 40 | H | SLEP | SHLEP | SLEP(t) – a Yiddish nobody |
| 41 | E | LAPRS | LEAPERS | R in LAPS – Arkle and Red Rum were leapers (steeplechasers) |
| 42 | D | EBUG | DEBUG | EG round BU – remove bug from program |
| 43 | A | BRNBS | BARNABAS | B(orn) + R (king) + (a)N(d) + B + S(aint) – Biblical character |
| 44 | R | GADA | GARDA | GAD + A – Irish policeman |
| 45 | K | ROAU | ROKKAKU | (A)R(e)O(p)A(g)U(s) – a Japanese fighting kite |
| Down | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LINEN | Underwear – LINE + N(avy) |
| 2 | NOWHERE | Out of the running – [HER NEW O]* |
| 3 | OCELOT | Cat – O(nly) + C(hild) + TOLE (lure) reversed |
| 4 | HELOTAGE | Slavery – [THE GAOL]* + E(nforced) |
| 5 | POLO | Game – PO(op deck) + LO |
| 6 | SPLEEN | Organ – [SLEEP N(oisy)]* |
| 8 | BRETON | Hat – BR(own) + ETON |
| 9 | LEMMA | Heading – L + EMMA |
| 10 | LIKELIEST | Most promising – IKE LIES in LT |
| 11 | MARAUDER | Pirate – [A MURDER A]* |
| 14 | PERSEVERATE | A condition in which actions are repeated – anagram of REPRESENTATIVE MALE with AILMENT removed i.e. [REPRESEATVE ]* |
| 20 | RURITANIA | Land of “The Prisoner of Zenda”, a romance – RU + TITANIA with R(un) replacing T(he) |
| 22 | BUCKEENS | Impoverished Irish youths – BUCKS round (s)EEN |
| 24 | ASSONANT | In correspondence – A + S(pecial) + SON + ANT |
| 27 | OBELISK | Needle – IS in [BLOKE]* |
| 29 | BISHOP | Man on board – BISH + PO(-faced) reversed |
| 30 | GANOIN | A layer on scales – O NAG reversed (of carp back) + IN (in season in Chambers) |
| 31 | RELUCT | Hold back – RE + [CUT]* round L |
| 33 | NIECE | Relative – NICE round E (Spain) |
| 35 | UGGED | Intensely disliked – (p)UG + GED |
| 37 | DRAY | Wooden sledge – D(eserted) + RAY (Charles) |
Twigged that down answers had to be entered upwards after solving just 5 or 6 clues – GUEST BEER & PALMETTE across, BRETON, SPLEEN & LIKELIEST down (up).
The wordplay in the across clues was often more illuminating than the definition, but I soon had enough omitted letter to guess the quote and check it out – and then the other missing letters that were thus revealed enabled me to figure out the other defined words, e.g. the entry at 45a is ROAU, the answer with 3 K’s missing, so looked at ROK…