Enigmatic Variations No. 1692: Anonymous by Ifor

Hello!  This week it’s A-for-Anonymous …

 

The preamble:

Clues are in normal order, with enumerations referring to answer lengths. In each of two adjacent cells, two entries overlap by their non-matching first and last letters. Both letter-pairs must be entered in an order that allows completion of the single entry crossing these cells. The two cells must be barred off as a pair, appropriately highlighted, and the ANONYMOUS entry thus created (10, 4) named under the grid. No other bars are to be shown. Its circumscribing letters comprise a thematic surname; its letters must be carried away (as the named individual wished) and separately deposited prior to solving in ten of the clues to normally-entered across entries. All changes to grid and clues create new words. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.

 

After reading the preamble a couple of times I felt like I knew what I was doing.  It seemed a bit strange for letters to move away from the grid and into the clues before I’d found those answers, but doubtless it would be thematically appropriate.  For now it was just a case of inserting letters into some across clues – nothing scary about that.  The only thing to be wary of would be the two cells in which answers overlap.

The second across answer went in quickly, which steadied the nerves!  It also seemed pretty certain that it would be in the first row of the grid with 8 letters.  (The irregular shape of the grid really helped with the jigsaw, not least because the first two down entries had to go where they did.)

I made good progress with across answers, then found BARRACOUTAS which slotted nicely into position.  But TARNISHED had to come out and now didn’t seem to fit.  What seemed like a problem proved to be the opposite, however, because after a bit of playing I managed to identify a good candidate for the pair of cells containing two letters.  I found that they matched the letters I had already worked out; furthermore isolating the surrounding cells left NO, PIC and SHED in the grid – real words, as required.  Perfect.

Progress from then on was nice and smooth, the only slight hold up being that I managed to put STUSHIE in the wrong place and had to move it.

The name emerged gradually in the grid and from the letters added to across clues:

WAINWRIGHT

It didn’t take too long to discover online that Alfred WAINWRIGHT, creator of famous Lake District guidebooks, had his ashes scatted in INNOMINATE TARN.

Now the rough shape of the grid made sense, not to mention the title of the puzzle.  All that remained was to scatter WAINWRIGHT (along with bars and clue numbers) from the final grid and add the “ANONYMOUS entry” below it:

               INNOMINATE TARN        

Not a walk in the park, but a perfect trek for intrepid EV solvers.  Thanks Ifor!

 

(I have retained the bars and clue numbers I inserted for ease of reference below.)

#	ANSWER	Clue with definition underlined
		Explanation, with quoted indicators in italics and ANSWER letters in bold caps
Across
5a	PAROL	Recce party dismissing time of <t>old evidence (5)	T
		PA[t]ROL (recce party) dismissing T (time)
7a	BALADINE	Theatrical dance<r> live, interrupted by a boy at home (8)	R
		BE (live) with insertion of (interrupted by) A, LAD (boy) and IN (at home)
8a	SPRAT	S<w>immer like herring, part boiled after sousing at first (5)	W
		PART anagrammed (boiled) after Sousing at first
13a	SURREAL	Like a d<w>am labourers constructed after objection is overturned and dismissed (7)	W
		LA[bo]URERS anagrammed (constructed) after OB (objection) is reversed and deleted (overturned and dismissed)
14a	TREES	Maybe con<i>fers extremes without leaving and spending money (5)	I
		[ex]TRE[m]ES, EX (without) leaving and removing (spending) M (money)
15a	AGAIN	Further, instead of ignoring call for silence (5)
		AGAIN[st] (instead of) without (ignoring) ST (call for silence)
16a	WRASSES	Lost tax returns behind order of raw fish (7)
		SESS (lost tax) reverses (returns) after (behind) an anagram (order) of RAW
18a	PICA	Craving for food, typically cramps (4)
		Hidden: tyPICAlly confines (cramps) the answer
20a	TARNISHED	Impaired, as error’s returned in translated thread (9)
		SIN (error)’s reversed (returned) in an anagram of (translated) THREAD
23a	NOWT	Nothing that’s casual in the present tense (4)
		NOW (in the present) + T (tense)
25a	RYE	Grain twisted to the ears (3)
		Sounds like (… to the ears) WRY (twisted)
26a	UTOPIST	One c<h>asing perfection, as opposite is originally tempting (7)	H
		UT (as) + OP (opposite) + IS + the first letter of (originally) Tempting
28a	RATTED	Sa<n>g treated after base fails badly (6)	N
		An anagram of (… badly) TR[e]ATED after E (base) leaves (fails)
29a	UNASSISTED	A<i>d-free broadcast isn’t as used (10)	I
		An anagram of (broadcast) ISN’T AS USED
30a	STUSHIE	Scots <a>do use this all over the place (7)	A
		USE THIS anagrammed (all over the place)
31a	MEAN	Man<g>y grumble at Holyrood (4)	G
		Double definition
Down
1d	DRILL RIG	Platform exercise repeatedly missing one line upset girl (8, two words)
		Without an L (… missing one line) DRIL[l] (exercise repeatedly) + backwards (upset) GIRL
2d	SONATA	Musical arrangement of very good national anthem’s first part (6)
		SO (very good) + NAT (national) + Anthem’s first part
3d	BARRACOUTAS	Fish rocky coast south of Hebridean island, keeping up at the front (11)
		An anagram of (rocky) COAST under (south of) BARRA (Hebridean island) containing (keeping) the first letter of (… at the front) Up
4d	ALAR	Carcinogenic treatment of malaria missing fragmented target on the rise (4)
		[m]ALAR[ia] missing in two parts (fragmented) AIM (target) reversed (on the rise)
5d	PATENT	Long-suffering, abandoning one lying open (6)
		PAT[i]ENT (long-suffering) abandoning I (one)
6d	LEER	Prize heartlessly sly glance (4)
		LEvER (prize) without the central letter (heartlessly)
9d	PUG	Boxer originally getting up after keeling over (3)
		The first letter of (originally) Getting and UP reversed (after keeling over)
10d	LAWN	Behold shroud of woven linen (4)
		LA (behold) + the outer letters of (shroud of) WoveN
11d	DESERTS	Trees shed extremely distorted leaves (7)
		An anagram of (… distorted) TREES with SheD extremely
12d	NEEDY	Will’s necessary, interrupting nominee dying (5)
		It’s inside (interrupting) nomiNEE DYing
15d	APE	Copy opening half of brief outline (3)
		The opening half of APErçu (brief outline)
17d	SEE	Realise aspirin relieves headaches in seconds (3)
		Second letters of (… in seconds) aSpirin rElieves hEadaches
19d	INFANT	Child actually caught out about name (6)
		IN FA[c]T (actually) with C (caught) removed (out) around (about) N (name)
20d	ATTEST	Most profitable folio disregarded manifest (6)
		[f]ATTEST (most profitable) with F (folio) disregarded
21d	RHODIUM	Skin in rash? Blame metal in catalysts (7)
		The outer letters of (skin in) RasH + ODIUM (blame)
22d	SPILTH	Excess overflows backing up onto emptied trench (6)
		LIPS (overflows) backing up + TrencH without the inner letters (emptied …)
24d	OSSEIN	Basis of bone regularly possessed on wearing (6)
		Alternate letters of (regularly) pOsSeSsEd + IN (wearing)
27d	POSSE	Power denies soprano’s ascending bars (5)
		In reverse (… ascending) deniES SOPrano’s surrounds (bars) the answer