“28 clues contain a surplus word, which should be removed before solving. In clue order, the first letters give one person’s accusation, whilst the final letters spell out much of another’s rebuttal, which is continued as pairs of surplus words in three other clues. In the remaining 10 clues, an extra letter must be removed before solving (leaving real words): in clue order, these specify the final contents of the shaded cells. The CONFLICT has affected the initial grid, resulting in clashes in seven cells to be resolved in favour of the letters making real words and names. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended”
The extra letters spell out STAGE NAMES.
The accusation of ANDREW PREVIEW (André Previn) was “YOU ARE PLAYING ALL THE WRONG NOTES!” and ERIC MORECAMBE’s rebuttal was, of course, “I AM PLAYING ALL THE RIGHT NOTES, BUT NOT NECESSARILY IN THE RIGHT ORDER.”
The chosen and unchosen letters in the clashes are, appropriately enough, notes (the letters A to G).
You can watch the “conflict” here.
An enjoyable theme, well executed. What’s not to like?
21ac
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Deleted word/letter | Yemeni/smart |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Y I | 9 | [Outwardly] A |
FIACRE |
| s | 10 | Elder Parisian’s [initially] sM |
AÎNÉ |
| O M | 11 | FARERS (Aged travellers) [grabbing] [most of] RI |
FARRIERS |
| U P | 12 | Sufficient upkeep < [backing] F (fine) FUN (sport) (4) | NUFF |
| 15 | Reveal TIN (can) [almost] CAL |
TINCAL | |
| t | 16 | Sesame and B |
BENI |
| a | 17 | MORA (Game) [hiding] [heart of] |
MOIRA |
| E A | 19 | [Losing] E (energy), GOT (received) [in] LIN |
LINGOTS |
| P Y | 20 | Paltry COST (price), [switching last two] animal shelters (4) | COTS |
| g | 21 | {URgES P |
SERPULITE |
| L I | 25 | ElegANT Lorelei Amuses [holding] mammal (4) | ANTA |
| A N | 26 | HE-MAN (Macho guy) [carrying] OS (outsize) Australian firefighter (7) | HOSEMAN |
| e | 28 | Mean B (British) LOKE (private road in countryside) (5) | BLOKE |
| Y G | 29 | E (Spain) [following] GAT (American young gun)’s channel (4) | GATE |
| I A | 30 | CU (Copper) and RIAL (royal person), Isabella, regarding provincial senate (6) | CURIAL |
| N L | 34 | O (Circle) novel [within] ROM (Romany man)’s space (4) | ROOM |
| G L | 35 | {I DOODLE}* [frenetically] [about] General H (Hospital)’s laziness once (8) | IDLEHOOD |
| A T | 36 | RILL | |
| n | 37 | Occupy E (eastern) N |
ENGAGE |
| L H | 38 | Compassionate [hiding] HEART (bottle), TENDERED (offered) lunch (13) | TENDER-HEARTED |
| Down | |||
| L E | 1 | E (English) love FABLE (story) [including] F (feminine) senior is expressible (7) | EFFABLE |
| T R | 2 | Trailer [broadcast] “FAIR” (fine) food for the table (4) | FARE |
| a | 3 | Elderly recognise Elizabethan drama (4) | WEET |
| H I | 4 | Haiti PAR (parish briefly) VIS (power) church’s portico (6) | PARVIS |
| E G | 5 | < [Raised] ARTS (skills) [during] [brief] ROL |
ROSTRAL |
| W H | 6 | Waspish V (verse), AUNT (female relative)’s boast (5) | VAUNT |
| R T | 7 | Resent {GANNET [treated with] FETA}*, spoilt child in Paris (10, two words) | ENFANT GÂTÉ |
| O N | 8 | Wooded rural areas, D (daughter), open [in] WEALS (prosperous states) (6) | WEALDS |
| NOT NECESSARILY |
13 | {GUINE |
SEIGNEURIE |
| N O | 14 | Ed’s joined Novello < [raising] EDIT (amendment) (4) | TIDE |
| m | 18 | Morag’s dear champ (3) | JOE |
| IN THE | 21 | ST |
STY |
| e | 22 | Friendlier LIe[’s welcomed by] PALE (dim) |
PALLIER |
| s | 23 | African cereal grass < |
TEFF |
| G T | 24 | Grant massaged Bill interrupting joint date (7) | KNEADED |
| N E | 25 | Watch chain’s ALERT (sharp), note, [framing] B (baron) (6) | ALBERT |
| O S | 26 | Oldies HOW (that) < HAD (owned) [upright] seat on elephant’s back (6) | HOWDAH |
| T B | 27 | D (Dutch) tub [supporting] VIOL (instrument) bard’s put in small bottle (5) | VIOLD |
| RIGHT ORDER | 31 | Right, order FLEE |
FLEE |
| E U | 32 | Asian money Esau accepted for Indian army (4) | SENA |
| S T | 33 | O (Love) student [wearing] CAT (jazz fan)’s jacket (4) | COAT |
| A | N | D | R | E | W | P | R | E | V | I | E | W |
| F | I | A | C | R | E | A | O | R | A | I | N | E |
| F | A | R | R | I | E | R | S | N | U | F | F | A |
| A | S | E | T | C | T | V | T | I | N | C | A | L |
| B | E | N | I | M | O | I | R | E | T | J | N | D |
| L | I | N | G | O | T | S | A | W | C | O | T | S |
| E | G | S | E | R | P | U | L | I | T | E | G | K |
| A | N | T | A | E | A | H | O | S | E | M | A | N |
| L | E | Y | V | C | L | O | K | E | F | A | T | E |
| B | U | R | I | A | L | W | F | S | F | C | E | A |
| E | R | O | O | M | I | D | L | E | H | O | O | D |
| R | I | L | L | B | E | A | E | N | G | A | G | E |
| T | E | N | D | E | R | H | E | A | R | T | E | D |
Thanks Skylark and MS for an enjoyable challenge. If I’m not mistaken, same theme in a very recent Listener…
A great theme well executed, although I found it pretty tricky to get to the end given all the necessary changes.
I had clocked the fact that the ‘winning’ clashes were all notes, but not that the ‘losing’ ones were too – very impressive!
Thanks so much for the blog, Mister Sting, and to Arnold and Ilan Caron for your feedback.
Yes, Ilan Caron, you’re spot on about the recent Listener, which caused me to groan when I saw it, and probably some solvers to groan at mine too.
As Wendy Cope so nearly wrote …
“You wait for a year or two,
Then as soon as one setter has an idea
Two or three others do too.”
Jo (Skylark)
@3Jo Welch: If it’s any consolation, I liked this one better. No groaning here. I could not parse TEFF so I thank Mr Sting for that explanation and the others. As he said, what’s not to like?
Thank you, ub, very kind of you to let me know you enjoyed it. I enjoyed composing it too.
Jo (Skylark)