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In this week’s puzzle, 16 clues needed to have a word in the definition unmixed after the removal of one letter, these removed letters giving a range of ingredients. I can’t believe this device hasn’t been used before, but I don’t remember it. It turned out to be quite entertaining, although many of the words to be treated were fairly obvious, especially ampul in 27ac, nazirs in 33ac and dioptase at 1dn. Not that it was particularly easy to be sure of the unmixed word and extra letter.
In the end, it turned out to be straightforward, and the ingredients were, as I half expected, chemical elements. These could be mixed in various ways to give alloys which were to be entered around the perimeter of the grid. The final alloy, which would perhaps be pertinent to its discovery, was given by six symmetrically placed unchecked letters in the perimeter. I needed Mrs Bradford to discover EUREKA which I had heard of, but forgotten.
An entertaining puzzle from Ploy, with one or two quite tricky little clues!
Solving time: about 2 hours
The six alloys required for the perimeter, from top left corner clockwise, were:
| Alloy | “Ingredients” |
| PEWTER | lead (Pb) & tin (Sn) |
| PINCHBECK | copper (Cu) & zinc (Zn) |
| CHROMEL | chromium (Cr) & nickel (Ni) |
| SHIBUICHI | copper (Cu) & Silver (Ag) |
| BRONZE | copper (Cu) & tin (Sn) |
| SHAKUDO | copper (Cu) & gold (Au) |
Legend:
Definition in clue
X = letter removed before unmixing
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden
| ACROSS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Removed Letter |
Answer | Clue and Explanation |
| 8 | EAGERS | Bores enraged at first — no head on beers! (6) E (Enraged at first) + (L)AGERS (no head on beers) |
|
| 9 | AHULL | Everyone to go round half of dismantled ship with sails furled etc (5) ALL (everyone) around HU(LK) (half of dismantled ship) |
|
| 10 | C | PREST | I must leave minister to PRIEST (minister) – I |
| 12 | DARDIC | 50% of school class in charge of particular language group (6) (STAN)DARD (50% of school class) + IC (in charge) |
|
| 13 | R | SEA AIR | Refreshing feature of (IS AREA)* |
| 14 | TACH | Clasp shelled nuts (4) (PIS)TACH(IOS) (shelled nuts, ie without casing) |
|
| 16 | N | DALT | Offspring raised by D (departs) + ALT (high note) |
| 18 | I | EARL | Real suspect is REAL* |
| 19 | URALI | Rural idyll harbours poison-yielding plant (5) in rURAL Idyll |
|
| 20 | LET INTO | Admit to the knowledge of title on novel (7, two, words) (TITLE ON)* |
|
| 23 | C | KEY GRIP | GREY* in KIP (bed) |
| 25 | STUMM | Quiet street, a couple of miles beyond university (5) ST (street) + MM (a couple of miles) beyond U (university) |
|
| 27 | U | ACAI | Reversal in cardiac arrest? What a S. American back in cardIAC Arrest |
| 30 | PLIE | Dance movement used vigorously for the most part (4) PLIE(D) (used vigorously, mostly) |
|
| 31 | HERS | That woman’s healers withdrawing alcoholic drink (4) HEALERS – ALE (alcoholic drink) |
|
| 33 | Z | OUTGAS | Remove [G (government) AUTOS]* |
| 34 | STELAR | Excellent, pulling length of stone slab (6) STELLAR (excellent) – L (length) |
|
| 35 | AGARS | Jellies are served, primarily, after fish (5) A (are) + S (Served, primarily) after GAR (fish) |
|
| 36 | N | INURE | I go over end of fanfare to make less I + RUN< (go) + E (end of fanfarE) |
| 37 | PURDAH | Bean plant in settlement forms a secluding screen (6) URD (bean plant) in PAH (settlement) |
|
| DOWN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Removed Letter |
Answer | Clue and Explanation |
| 1 | A | TARTAR | Two salts and TAR (salt, as in sailor) twice |
| 2 | RESET | Put on a course once more, with Egypt supporting research (5) ET (Egypt) supporting RES (research) |
|
| 3 | ISRAELI | Haifa resident, perhaps, is a priest penning recipe (7) IS A ELI (priest) holding R (recipe) |
|
| 4 | G | NADIA | AIDAN< (man’s name meaning fire) |
| 5 | CHARR | Fish of burn and river (5) CHAR (burn) + R (river) |
|
| 6 | HURT | Time and time again withdrawing over injury (4) HOUR (time) + T (time) – O (over) |
|
| 7 | ELICIT | Bring out elegance of wording, avoiding extremes (6) (F)ELICIT(Y) (elegance of wording without first and last) |
|
| 11 | S | TAPIR | Odd-toed T(H)A(T) (that, on and off) + P (Populated initially) + IR (Iran) |
| 15 | N | ANNUL | (C)ANNUL(A) (narrow tube, without ends) |
| 17 | A | LAYER | Surprisingly early producer of EARLY* |
| 21 | EPITAPH | Happiest drunk has cut inscription on stone (7) HAPPIEST* – S (has) |
|
| 22 | U | TSUGA | A sudden wind knocked back tree [A GUST (sudden wind)]< |
| 24 | EMETIN | Drug encountered in sick-making alkaloid? (6) E (drug) + MET (encountered) + IN |
|
| 26 | MIHRAB | Aged couple must leave Birmingham, developing niche (6) [BIRMINGHAM – MING (couple, old word)]* |
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| 28 | COARB | Head of family as a rule inside traditional building (5) A R (rule) in COB (traditional building) |
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| 29 | P | AUREI | Earlier Roman IE< (that is, backwards) after (J)A(N)U(A)R(Y) (January periodically) |
| 30 | B | PAGRI | George, King and Emperor, got onto publicity agent for protection from GRI (George, King and Emperor) after PA (publicity agent) |
| 32 | SLUR | Slight hints of social lapses upset royalist (4) initials of Social Lapses Upset Royalist; slight, vt |
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