Enigmatic Variations No. 854 – Threesome by Ploy

I think Ploy must have a fetish for anagrams, or at least that’s the way it seemed to me when I was solving this puzzle. However, having said that, there were some pleasing surfaces, my favourite being 28d. An easy EV which took over twice as long to blog as it did to solve.

The theme was ‘doctors’, with four in the grid (all fictitious), for which the clues only contained the wordplay, and a further (proverbial) three to be highlighted in the grid after completion.

The proverb referred to in the preamble is “The best doctors are Dr Diet, Dr Quiet and Dr Merryman.” These doctors were to be highlighted in the grid and they could be found at (column, row, direction) c5 r4 SE, c5 r6 SE and c5 r13 NE.

*(XXX) – anagram
[x] – letter(s) removed or unused

Across
1 SKATER  *(TAKES) R (rector) – as in Torvill and Dean.
6 UNSOWN  O (old) W (whisky) in *(NUNS)
12 ONER  hidden in ‘lONE Ranger’
13 FINLAY  F (fine) INLAY (ornament with …..) – the doctor who had a casebook.
14 RAETIA  TEA (meal) in AI (top class) R (take) reversed – ‘inside’ seems to be redundant in this clue since ‘sandwich’ is the containment indicator.
15 UPCASTS  *(US PACTS)
16 INK  with p[en] gives ‘pink’
19 BEKISS  S (son) in *(BIKES)
20 WHIMSIES  *(WISHES IM)
22 TALAQ  TAL[k] (endless gossip) AQ (solution)
23 TEETHING  *(TIGHTENE[d])
25 SALTO  ALTOS (singers) with the end moved to the beginning
26 HEART  *(EARTH)
30 DISHERIT  *(HIS) in TIRED (irked) reversed
32 SMEAR  S (is) ME A R[eputation]
34 MAGIC EYE  *(GAY MICE) [abus]E
36 FOSTER  S (second) TE (note) in FOR (in favour of) – the doctor who went to Gloucester.
39 ITS  T (time) in IS
40 IN ORDER  NO (refusal) in *(RIDER)
41 BEWARE  WAR (42) in BEE (insect)
43 TIBIAE  EA (each) I BIT (a little) reversed
44 UVEA  *([m]AUVE)
45 SCRAMS  S (section) ARC reversed (westbound curve) MS (Mississippi)
46 UNRIPE  I (iodine) in *PRUNE)

Down
1 SCRIPTS  SC (small capitals) *(STRIP)
2 KWANZAA  KWANZA (Angolan currency) A (accepted) – a non-religious seven-day holiday (from 26 December to 2 January) celebrating African-American life, history and culture.
3 TOT  dd
4 ENID  hidden in ‘bENIDorm’
5 CRUX MEDICORUM – unclued, translation – a puzzle for the doctors.
7 NICE  *([s]INCE)
8 SNAKE  [i]S NAKE[d]
9 WATSON  A (afternoon) T (temperature) in *(SNOW) – the doctor who accompanied Holmes.
10 NYSSA  ASSY[ria]N reversed
11 JEKYLL  J (jack) *(KYL[i]E) L (lake) – the doctor with an alter ego.
17 SWATH  *(WHATS)
18 PITURI  *(RI[p] IT UP)
21 SETTER  S (has) [l]ETTER[s]
24 HE-MEN  ME in HEN (woman)
27 AERIAL  AIRE (river) reversed in AL (Albania, IVR)
28 RAT TRAP  *(TART) RAP (criminal charge)
29 TRISEME  I in (METRES)
31 ICONIC  I CON (study) I (in) C (Cuba, IVR)
33 E-FITS  *(IF SET)
35 ATRIA  A TRIA[l] (short test)
37 EDAM  *(bread some) = sober EDAM
38 TEEN  dd
42 WAR  homophone of ‘wore’