Enigmatic Variations No. 1655: Assertion by Skylark

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ASSERTION anagrammatises to ‘arsonites’, ‘notarises’, ‘rosinates’ and ‘senoritas’…which one is Senorita Skylark maybe leading us towards?…

(An addition to the rules of EV Club: ‘always check the title, in case it is an anagram of something relevant…’)

The preamble states that:

“In each clue there is an extra letter, which must be removed before solving. In order, these give two instructions: the second refers to an ASSERTION by the subject. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”

Short and sweet – my modus operandi with this sort of setup is to start solving and await the ‘instructions’.

I was away from home and printer, so I solved it on my iPad, scribbling with the iPencil on a screenshot of the puzzle – useful for undoing mistakes, but not as flexible and tactile as a printout and pencil/eraser…

Anyway, progress came, in fits and starts, with some of the removed letters starting to take shape, and the grid starting to fill. I seemed to get most traction in the bottom half of the grid, and the last few removed letters seemed to be giving ‘…R?SHING IN’ – and as ‘any fule no’, there is a quotation about ‘…fools rush in where angels fear to tread…’.

But this didn’t help, as this fule didn’t know the provenance of the quotation, and it wasn’t until the first few removed letters gave me ‘SHADE POET…’ that I remembered one of the cardinal rules of EV Club: ‘always check the diagonals‘. And there on the leading diagonal was ALEXANDER POPE – who Professor Go-Ogle assures me is the source of the ‘rushing fools’ quotation, or ASSERTION.

It only remained to spot that FOOLS appears as a clued answer, and the second instruction/assertion eventually revealed itself as ‘CAUTIOUS ONE MUST REPLACE THOSE RUSHING IN’. So a cautious ANGEL replaces those rushing FOOLS, leaving real words all round and a completed grid:

 

A neat and educational puzzle – I will forever associate Senor Pope with that quotation – and my thanks to Senorita Skylark. (Looking forward to seeing you in York in a few weeks’ time…)

 

Across
Clue No Removed Letters Solution / Entry Clue (definition underlined, removed letter bold)

Logic/Parsing
1 S ANTIMACASSARS Mascara stains, stripping protective covers for seats (13)

anag, i.e. tripping, of MASCARA STAINS
10 H SLALOM Seth loses time during crash in tactical race (6)

SLA_M (crash) around LO(T) (set, losing T – time)
12 A SCHOUT Cuba‘s reported Dutch town officer (6)

homophone, i.e. reported – depending on your accent/dialect, SCOUT (cub) can sound like SCHOUT (Dutch municipal officer, pronounced ‘skowt’)
13 D SEELIER Recognise lean driver’s no longer happier (7)

SEE (recognise) + LIE (lean) + R (river)
14 E ERNE Crane‘s behind feeding before eagle (4)

ER_E (before) around (fed by) N (last letter, or behind, of craN)
15 P CON Ignoring prank, accompany prisoner (3)

CON(SORT) – accompany, ignoring SORT – rank
17 O FOOLS / ANGEL Fruit puddings and soaps (5)

double defn – a FOOL can be a fruit pudding; and a FOOL can be a saphead, or sap
19 E GAIT German small island’s peace (4)

G (German) + AIT (small island)
21 T AGLEAM Glowing working, age malt (6)

anag, i.e. working, of AGE MAL(T)
23 C NEATEN Old cox regularly being tidy (6)

NEAT (archaic, i.e. old, for ox) + EN (regular letters from ‘bEiNg’
26 A UNCOORDINATED Clumsy, uncovered hiding gold, astound Glaswegian (13)

UNCO_ATED (uncovered) around OR (heraldry, golden yellow) + DIN (stound, Scottish, hence Glaswegian, can mean din)
29 U EGOIST Self-centred individual‘s endless pout cutting patronage by Tesla (6)

EG_IS (protection, patronage, variation on aegis) around (cut into by) O (pOt, endless), plus T (tesla, SI unit)
31 T EDDAIC Joint in French company reverts on ancient Scandinavian books (6)

CI_E (compagnie, French company) around ADD (join) = CIADDE, all reversed, or reverted, to give EDDAIC
32 I ERRS Mistakes ruins covered by bitter vetch (4)

ER_S (bitter vetch) around (covering) R (runs, cricket notation)
35 O EDEMA Missing end of beano, European returned to cure dropsy (5)

E (European) + DEMA (amend, or cure, returned and missing N – end of beaN)(?)
38 U GAM Georgia and Samuel in middle school (3)

GA (Georgia, the US state, not the country) + M (middle of saMel)
39 S ERED Scent after earl ploughed once (4)

E (earl) + RED (a red cent)
40 O PRONAOS Vestibule in front of temple tenor’s left promptly, being replaced by alto soon (7)

PRON(T)(A)O (promptly, losing T – tenor – for A – alto) + S (son)
41 N SAVING Frugal drudging without linen (6)

S(L)AVING – drudging, without L – line
42 E SYRUPS At last Faye entering kicks out rejected wigs for EastEnders (6)

S_RUPS (spurs, or kicks out, rejected) around (entered by) Y (last letter of faY)
43 M STREET THEATRE External entertainment troubled them, set retreat (13, two words)

anag, i.e. troubled, of THE(M) SET RETREAT
Down
Clue No Removed Letters Solution / Entry Clue (definition underlined, removed letter bold)

Logic/Parsing
1 U ASHCAN Hot inside, Paul stripped to check bin (6)

A (pAl, stripped) + S_CAN (check) around H (hot)
2 S TAENIACIDE Escorted, I start east to get worm-killing substance (10)

TAEN (ta’en, contraction of taken, or escorted) + I + ACID (tart) + E (east)
3 T ILEX Spoilt example covers shrub (4)

hidden word in, i.e. hidden by, ‘spoIL(T) EXample’)
4 R AMID Among stupid race, upset (4)

DIM (stupid) + A (ace), all upset to give AMID
5 E CLEFTS / CLEATS Abandoned in copse on vacation, cracks (6)

C_S (CopS(e), vacated) around LEFT (abandoned)
6 P SCOOGING / SCOGGING Sheltering in Scotland Government gasp, finally murmuring softly outside (8)

S (final letter of gaS) + COO_ING (murmuring softy) around (outside) G (government)
7 L SHELLS / SHEELS Plods beginning to subdue commotions (6)

S (beginning of Subdue) + HELLS (commotions)
8 A RUNT Haunt tense little pig (4)

RUN (hunt) + T (tense)
9 C STEAMED Craving meats, editor cooked (7)

STEAM (anag, i.e. raving, of MEATS) + ED (editor)
11 E OLLA Completely over elevated poet (4)

ALL (completely) + O (over, cricket notation), all elevated to give OLLA
16 T OPENED Topless gent and disruptive adolescent spoke out (6)

(D)OPE (gen, or info/dope, topless) + NED (disruptive adolescent)
18 H SETTING OUT / LETTING OUT Displaying hat in tartan pattern with relish (10, two words)

SETT (tartan pattern) + IN (at) + G_OUT (relish, taste)
20 O INRO Nationalist in hoard’s raised medicine case (4)

IRO(N) (hard) raising N (nationalist) can give INRO
22 S AVESTA Birds briefly stab scriptures (6)

AVES (classification of birds) + TA(B) (tab, briefly)
24 E EOLIENNE Press in English bases shunning Marie Claire’s good material (8)

E (English) + (B)O_NNE (French, feminine, i.e. Marie Claire’s, for good, shunned by B – bass) around LIE (press)
25 R PIER Start to ride within a promenade (4)

P_ER (a, as in for each) around I (start to Ide)
26 U USELESS Treat suave poor (7)

USE (treat, behave towards) + LESS (save, unless)
27 S WADDIE Bundle of banknotes: send cowboy (6)

WAD (bundle of bank notes) + DIE (end)
28 H LEARNT Was informed whin’s in Lithuania (6)

L_T (Lithuania, IVR) around EARN (win)
30 I TAMISE Gentile welcoming Iceland’s thin woollen fabric (6)

TAM_E (gentle) around (welcoming) IS (Iceland, IVR)
33 N RENY Old-fashioned to refuse most of revenue, yearn (4)

REN(T) (most of rent, or revenue) + Y (year)
34 G BRAT Young rascal‘s grand blocking racket (4)

B_AT (racket) around (blocked by) R (rand)
36 I BOSH Chief cut short hard riot (4)

BOS(S) (chief, cut short) + H (hard)
37 N PARA Accepted hint to pick up Turkish coin (4)

A (accepted) + RAP (hit), all picked up to give PARA

2 comments on “Enigmatic Variations No. 1655: Assertion by Skylark”

  1. Looking forward to seeing you too, mc_rapper67, and thank you for such an entertaining blog.
    (This fule too was unaware of the coiner of the quotation until I checked).

    (Love my new handle Senorita Skylark)

  2. I really enjoyed solving this puzzle. I thought it was very well-crafted, had some ingenious clues,some entertaining clues and didn’t reveal too much too soon. I did, however, take off one mark for ‘that’ diagonal and another for the (to me a little too common) instruction to S H A D E…

    Thanks for the excellent blog – and the excellent puzzle.

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