“In ten of the across clues, an incorrect letter has pushed out the correct one; in 17 of the down clues a letter has walked away from the clue. In clue order, these incorrect and missing letters spell out some thematic names. The proliferation, unexpected appearance and (in one case) mutation of INVADERS must be dealt with so that four titular motifs and an associated thematic name can be seen (making new real-word crossing entries, including a city name). Unchecked letters in the perimeter, before any adjustments, might make CHAFF OR IDIOM. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
OK, hands up who initially tried to make something from the correct letters… Just me?
The theme turns out to be John Wyndham. Or, more exactly, JOHN Wyndham PARKES LUCAS BEYNON HARRIS.
The endgame – specifically, the final grid before the changes – took me a little while to figure out. We have a proliferation of TRIFFIDS, unexpected appearances of a MIDWICH CUCKOO and KRAKEN WAKES, and a mutation in the form of a CHRYSALID. Making the necessary changes gives the four titular motifs.
That said, there is meant to be ‘an associated thematic name’, which must be WYNDHAM, and one of the crossing entries is meant to be a city name…
Ahh. It’s at 11ac, with the city being GAYA.
Well, I escaped alive and with all my limbs intact, which is more than can be said for many of the victims in Wyndham’s stories. Additionally, having recently read The Trouble With Lichen, The Chrysalids, and The Kraken Waves, this puzzle inspired me to start The Midwich Cuckoos.
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Homophone | “WORD” |
| Extra letter/Misprint | word |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | South African monitors I (India) < [bringing back] {SAN (bushman) AUG (month)} (7) | IGUANAS | |
| 9 | Diver‘s ART (craft) [in] DE (Delaware) R (river) (6) | DARTER | |
| 10 | MALI (Indian gardener), [source of] Cider made from apple juice (5) | MALIC | |
| J | 11 | Rack’s [lead] IF (on condition that) F (loud) phrase played repeatedly (4) | RIFF |
| O | 14 | Dandy herB [finally] [beside] EAU (local drainage channel) (4) | BEAU |
| H | 15 | Fords MODE (way) and [evacuated] L |
MODEL TS |
| N | 16 | Pessimistic CLANCY* [at sea] [bearing] I (island) (7) | CYNICAL |
| 17 | Scottish form of sick < KIDS (children) [coming back], [skipping D (day) for E (English)] (4) | SEIK | |
| 19 | Mexican descendant [introducing N (name) for G (gourde)] in CHICA |
CHICANO | |
| 21 | Cockatoo CORE (heart) L (lecturer) L (left) A (associate) (7) | CORELLA | |
| P | 23 | lan’s fearsome airgUN COacher [hides] (4) | UNCO |
| A | 25 | Flying display sees AI (first class) HORS |
AIRSHOW |
| R | 27 | CARROT (Incentive) [trapping] YC (young conservatives) babe in this (8) | CARRYCOT |
| K | 30 | < ASK (Inquire) [about] R (rand) despot (4) | KSAR |
| E | 31 | A [short] RAK |
ARAK |
| S | 32 | Without jack, JOTTER (one quickly putting down) animal (5) | OTTER |
| 34 | [Unfilled] R |
RHAPHE | |
| 36 | Javan programs usually see APPLES (fruit) [over] T (time) (7) | APPLETS | |
| Down | |||
| L | 1 | Surfacing with clods, F (fellow) [clad with] TURING (code-breaker) (7) | TURFING |
| U | 2 | [Crazy] |
RAT |
| C | 3 | F (Force) ST (Street) [abandoning] A |
FARID |
| A | 4 | IT (The one) to get A (are) palm (3) | ITA |
| S | 5 | LET (Allowed) [into] DEE (river) to get strike out (6) | DELETE |
| 7 | Goddess has GrAnItA [now and again] (4) | GAIA | |
| B | 8 | B (BAss) {I gain}* [cycling] [around] S (Sweden) encouraging in one way (7) | BIASING |
| E | 12 | < COD (Tease) [sent up] for short physician (3) | DOC |
| Y | 13 | T (Tense) |
TELIA |
| N | 15 | Scrap E (Eastern) [down] in EMIT (shed) (4) | MITE |
| O | 18 | MOAN* [stirred] [endless] STIC |
MONASTIC |
| N | 19 | Ductile materials from CL (Sri Lanka)? AY (Indeed) S (son) (5) | CLAYS |
| 20 | [Starts to] Choke On Seeing The price (4) | COST | |
| H | 22 | [Fantastic] PRAISE* [about] H (hour) dog (7) | SHAR-PEI |
| A | 24 | [Second to A |
CRATCH |
| R | 26 | Riding crop R (runs) O (over) Delinquent[‘s top] (3) | ROD |
| R | 28 | CARP (Find fault with) [heart in] machInery joints (5) | CARPI |
| I | 29 | < [First pairs from] {THe AByssinian} [up] to get some money (4) | BAHT |
| S | 33 | [All S (spades) taken from] |
EAT |
| 35 | Male chauvinist A (accepted) L (liberal) F (female) (3) | ALF | |
Before changes:
| M | T | R | I | F | F | I | D | |||
| I | G | U | A | N | A | S | T | E | B | |
| D | A | R | T | E | R | M | A | L | I | C |
| R | I | F | F | D | I | T | B | E | A | U |
| I | A | I | M | O | D | E | L | T | S | C |
| C | Y | N | I | C | A | L | S | E | I | K |
| H | M | G | T | C | H | I | C | A | N | O |
| C | O | R | E | L | L | A | O | S | G | O |
| U | N | C | O | A | I | R | S | H | O | W |
| C | A | R | R | Y | C | O | T | A | B | A |
| K | S | A | R | S | A | D | A | R | A | K |
| O | T | T | E | R | R | H | A | P | H | E |
| O | I | C | A | A | P | P | L | E | T | S |
| C | H | T | R | I | F | F | I | D |
After changes:
| M | T | R | I | F | F | I | D | |||
| I | G | U | A | N | A | S | T | E | B | |
| D | A | R | T | E | R | M | A | L | I | K |
| W | Y | N | D | H | A | M | B | E | A | R |
| I | A | I | M | O | D | E | L | T | S | A |
| C | Y | N | I | C | A | L | S | E | I | K |
| H | M | G | T | C | H | I | C | A | N | E |
| C | O | R | E | L | L | A | O | S | G | N |
| U | N | C | O | A | I | R | S | H | O | W |
| C | A | R | R | Y | C | O | T | A | B | A |
| K | S | A | R | S | A | D | A | R | A | K |
| O | T | T | E | R | R | H | A | P | H | E |
| O | I | C | A | A | P | P | L | E | T | S |
| C | H | R | Y | S | A | L | I | D |
Thanks to Vismut for the fun puzzle and Mister Sting for the blog. I was relieved to see that my final grid matched yours – I wasn’t entirely sure whether anything more needed doing to the perimeter (particularly the top row, which was unchanged).
I made the same mistake about reading the corrected letters from the Across clues – it was only when I had finished that I saw the light 🙁
I’ve only read the Day of the Triffids and really ought to try some of Wyndham’s others.
Thank you both…should the answer to 31a be arak? I didn’t get the changes to the final grid, so thank you for that! I suppose it should have been obvious from 11a having to be altered and the superfluous ch at the bottom: but I didn’t find the instructions very clear….
Thanks for the blog Mister Sting. I hope you enjoy the Midwich Cuckoos, possibly the most disturbing of his books.
Seymour @2
Yes, it should – I’ve changed it. Well spotted!
Many thanks for a very entertaining puzzle, Vismut. And great blog, Mister Sting. Now I want to watch the Village of the Damned again and to read Wyndham for the first time.
Re 30 across, it isn’t the first time I come across KSAR as a solution to the clue “Despot” in an EV.
It always leaves me puzzled (appropriately so), since every online dictionary I use define ksar as a fortified village, a granary, a village with a granary. None of them mention a despot. I don’t own the full Chambers dictionary. I use the on-line word wizard and the crossword dictionary my wife kindly offered me on my birthday. So I may be missing something. They give czar, tsar or tzar under the heading “despot”, but no mention of ksar, even as an alternative spelling.
Ksar is an alternative spelling of Tsar in Chambers Manu, but not any of those other things as far as I can see. Christmas is coming up soon, perhaps a subtle hint or two to your obviously generous wife might yield a copy of Chambers 🙂