Line Management by Phi
Answers clash in five cells (which must be left blank and shaded). The clashing letters spell out locations associated with today’s date, and with the unclued 4ac and 40, arranged in broadly accurate geographical relationship. Wordplay in all other clues yields a letter not entered in the grid; in clue order these spell four further associations with 4ac and 40. Numbers in brackets give cells available, while ‘2 words’ refers to the full answer. Most dictionaries do not list the common phrase at 35.
“Associated with today’s date” was, of course, extremely helpful. Today’s date being September 27th. Although, at first, I was convinced it was The Rosetta Stone that we were looking for. It turned out not to be as we’ll see below.
The northeast corner started to fill quite early on so I had a tentative look to see if I could find a match for _OCO_O_IO_ and lo and behold, I found LOCOMOTION. The likelihood of locomotion being linked to Rosetta Stone was remote. So I went back to Wikipedia and managed to find that the Stockton and Darlington Railway was officially opened on 27 September 1825.
I found the west side quite tough and I managed to confuse myself by entering ANTAS instead of ANTAE for 21a, which caused problems in 4d. But all came good in the end.
And 40a eventually made itself clear as STEPHENSON. I think that the majority of people have heard of George Stephenson and even though I didn’t read it in depth, the Wikipedia article makes several references to Stephenson.
The five cells with clashes were always going to be problematic. I expected there to be a two-letter clash but it turns out that more letters were involved. Despite Phi telling us to leave the cells blank, I’ve shown the two component parts in the grid.
They are:
| Ref | Across | Down | Entry | ||
| a1 | 1 | SHIL | 1 | DON | SHILDON |
| e9 | 36 | LINGTON | 28 | DAR | DARLINGTON |
| h9 | 37 | RM | 20 | YA | YARM |
| k8 | 35 | CLIFFE | 19 | EAGLES | EAGLESCLIFFE |
| n6 | 25 | STOCK | 13 | TON | STOCKTON |
All of which can be found on this map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockton_and_Darlington_Railway#/media/File:Stockton_&_Darlington_Railway_with_today’s_lines.svg. And as Phi promised, they’re roughly in the right place geographically.
Now on to the extra letters, they generate HOPE, EXPERIMENT, CHITTAPRAT and ROYAL GEORGE, all of which can be found in the Wikipedia entry.
The title kind of speaks for itself.
That’s that then. Nice enjoyable puzzle which was a little tricky in places. Thanks Phi for the entertainment.
| Across | Entry | Extra | Wordplay | |
| 1 Vessel going round loch – it is watery there (4) | (SHIL)PIT | SHIP (vessel) around Loch+IT | ||
| 4 See preamble | LOCOMOTION | (unclued) | ||
| 11 ‘Spenser’s easy’ uncivilised person denied at last (5) | EATHE | H |
HEATHE[n] (uncivilsed person; minus last letter) | |
| 12 Former company behind cricket match is suggesting departure (6) | EXODIC | O |
EX (former)+ODI (cricket match: One Day International)+COmpany | |
| 14 Marine creatures in spray, cavorting with glee around far end of rocks (9, 2 words) | GREY SEALS | P |
IN SPRAY GLEE (anag: around)+[rock]S (end of) | |
| 15 English require backing for garden (4) | EDEN | E |
English+NEED (require; rev: backing) | |
| 16 Phonetic symbol, a possibly brilliant one (4) | AGMA | E |
A+GEM (possibly brilliant)+A (one) | |
| 18 Nobleman, losing head, backed intercourse in earnest (5) | ARLES | X |
[e]ARL (nobleman; minus first letter)+SEX (intercourse; rev: backed) | |
| 19 Number of spectators having doctor worried (4) | GATE | P |
GP (doctor)+ATE (worried) | |
| 20 Excellent thing seen around large area, part of London (7) | CHELSEA | E |
Large inside CHEEESE (excellent thing)+Area | |
| 21 Door features are located behind an opening in terrace (5) | ANTAE | R |
AN+T[errace] (opening)+ARE | |
| 23 Fix to follow American obsessive (4) | ANAL | I |
American+NAIL (fix) | |
| 25 Weed surrounding dilapidated farmstead after farm offloaded farm equipment (5) | DEAD(STOCK) | DOCK (weed) around [farm]STEAD (anag: delapidated) | ||
| 26 Old couple in pursuit of drinks and curative plant (7) | GINSENG | M |
GINS (drinks)+MENG (old couple) | |
| 32 First couple of Teamsters brought in to operate trucks down under (4) | UTES | E |
TE[amsters] (first couple) inside USE (operate) | |
| 33 Forward generally losing heart regarding grass-like stuff (5) | SEDGY | N |
SEND (forward)+G[enerall]Y (losing heart) | |
| 35 Chlorine, if supplied, say, rolled over coastal feature (4, 2 words) | (CLIFF E)DGE | CL (chlorine)+IF+FED (supplied)+EG (say; rev: rolled over) | ||
| 36 On good terms with grand fashionable types in New Zealand city (4) | WEL(LINGTON) | WELL IN (on good terms with)+Grand+TON (fashionable types) | ||
| 37 Arrangements supporting nothing in church service (9) | FO(RM)ATION | FOR (supporting)+MATIN (church service) containing O (nothing) | ||
| 38 Sediment, one with calcium compound like quartz (6) | SILICA | T |
SILT (sediment)+I (one)+CAlcium | |
| 39 Small bird covered in highbrow lecture (5) | OWLET | C |
highbrOW LECTure (hidden: covered) | |
| 40 See preamble | STEPHENSON | (unclued) | ||
| 41 German writer’s vital nature (4) | ESSE | H |
HESSE (German writer) Hermann Hesse |
|
| Down | ||||
| 1 Finished celebration not completed in Irish county (5) | (DON)EGAL | DONE (finished)+GAL[a] (celebration; not completed) | ||
| 2 Plaster: mate gets only 50% (5) | PARGE | I |
PAIR (mate)+GE[ts] (50%) | |
| 3 It’s a riddle offered by some local things (5) | ITEMS | T |
IT+TEMS (sieve: riddle) I’m not overly happy with my explanation. |
|
| 4 French writer, male, coming into shelter (6, or 6, 2 words) | LESAGE LE SAGE |
T |
LEE (shelter) around STAG (male) | |
| 5 Old American cheers criminal code in old Chicago? (6) | OMERTA | A |
Old+AMERican+TA (cheers) | |
| 6 Looking less healthy, supporting firm supplying fuel (7) | COALING | P |
COmpany (firm)+PALING looking less healthy | |
| 7 Look impertinently good in part (4) | OGLE | R |
ROLE (part) around Good | |
| 8 Scots grandchild about to chop chrysanthemum (5) | OX-EYE | A |
OYE (grandchild: Scottish) around AXE (to chop) | |
| 9 More than one plan that is involving Australia (5) | IDEAS | T |
ID EST (that is) around Australia | |
| 10 Tried on pants, having worked in oil earlier (6) | OINTED | R |
TRIED ON (anag: pants) | |
| 13 Deceive US police in swindle (5, 2 words) | CHEA(T ON) | CON (swindle) around HEAT (police: US) | ||
| 17 Collect article found in a bog (5) | AMASS | O |
A+MOSS (bog) arouned A | |
| 19 Impressive golf performance in part of Antrim – not here! (5) | GLEN(EAGLES) | EAGLE (impressive golf performance) inside GLENS (of Antrim) Glens of Antrim |
||
| 20 Feeble Californian wasted days wearing headphones (7) | CAND(Y-A)SS | DAYS (anag: wasted) inside CANS (headphones) | ||
| 21 Chap in the main upset – fevers? (5) | AGUES | Y |
GUY (chap) inside SEA (the main; rev: upset) | |
| 22 Wally raised money with carol-singer (6) | NITWIT | A |
TIN (money; rev: raised)+WAIT (carol-singer) | |
| 24 Smoothly support reducing coral island (6) | LEGATO | L |
LEG (support)+ATOL[l] (coral island; reduced) | |
| 25 Ohio city’s light on Chinese criminals (6) | DAYTON | G |
DAY (light)+TONG (Chinese criminals) | |
| 27 Historic point where fish will be caught in evening long ago (5) | NEELE | E |
ENE (evening; archaic) around EEL (fish) | |
| 28 Finish support for bridge, having woody material inside (5) | EN(DAR)CH | END (finish)+ARCH (support for bridge) | ||
| 29 Things to emulate? I certainly fail mostly (5) | IDOLS | O |
I DO (certainly)+LOS[e] (fail; mostly) | |
| 30 Shows anger about new founder and patron of Girl Guides (5) | AGNES | R |
RAGES (shows anger) around New | |
| 31 Historic exploit turned over bomb site I abandoned (5) | GESTE | G |
EGG (bomb; rev: turned over)+S[i]TE (minus I) | |
| 34 English individual interrupted by Academician regarding the dawn (4) | EOAN | E |
English+ONE (individual) around Academician | |
For the first time I correctly guessed a theme based purely on the title and the preamble, aided by a commemorative newspaper article I happened to read shortly before starting the puzzle. But I think that made the actual puzzle only slightly easier to solve! There was still plenty to chew on in the clues. I spent a little while assuming that EAGLES/CLIFFE was AY/CLIFFE though. The choice of words generated by extra letters seemed a little… arbitrary? Not sure that particular device added very much. But I very much enjoyed the puzzle, thanks to Phi and kenmac.
As the preamble pointed out, the date was spot on for this bicentenary. I realised what it was about when I had LOCO… at 4a, having seen a news item on the subject on that day. A T and an N in the other name suggested STEPHENSON, and my progress in this quite tough puzzle was helped by these leads. Darlington and Stockton were my first two clashes – in fact I was positively expecting a STOCK/TON clash having got DAR/LINGTON. The other three were less predictable and came more naturally from solving the clues.
An enjoyable puzzle with what was for me an interesting and worthy theme, and with a very good set of clues.
Thanks to both Phi and Ken.