Enigmatic Variations 1182 Sticky End by Ferret

A new setter for me to blog – we’ve got 7 clashes, extra letters in the wordplay, three semicircles to draw and some names to find – Maybe I will come to a sticky end too?

Some tough clues and some easy ones and the odd one in between made this quite slow going. Certainly one for the middle to heavyweight division.

The extra letters in the across clues became obvious first marginally before I had all of the extra letters

HENRY GRAHAM GREENE BOOK

The downs took a little longer to get

CONNECT TO FORM STICK OF ROCK

That led me to the book – BRIGHTON ROCK – and whilst I’ve seen the film, none of the names were in my memory banks. So I ended up brushing up on the plot in Wikipedia and it turns out that Fred Hale was killed on the orders of PINKIE witnessed by ROSE.

Original grid with clashes

P

I

IL

A

UO

L

I

E

G

E

D

O

M

P

R

E

P

P

Y

S

A

E

H

E

V

B

O

L

RE

F

I

N

E

S

N

A

M

E

R

S

I

C

E

L

N

A

T

A

L

I

T

Y

B

E

E

T

A

L

K

Y

L

E

B

R

O

L

I

T

E

R

Q

T

EI

B

R

EO

A

D

E

X

O

N

S

A

M

N

E

S

I

C

S

N

I

O

S

A

G

Z

O

R

O

G

E

N

D

O

M

I

N

E

E

RS

T

H

EY

M

E

E

N

S

U

E

R

E

B

A

R

L

E

D

Revised grid with real words showing the characters to find.

O

N

F

U

P

F

O

R

A

P

A

C

E

P

I

L

A

U

L

I

E

G

E

D

O

M

P

R

E

P

P

Y

S

A

E

H

E

V

B

O

L

E

F

I

N

E

S

N

A

M

E

R

S

I

C

E

L

N

A

T

A

L

I

T

Y

B

E

E

T

A

L

K

Y

L

E

B

R

O

L

I

T

E

R

Q

T

I

B

R

E

A

D

E

X

O

N

S

A

M

N

E

S

I

C

S

N

I

O

S

A

G

Z

O

R

O

G

E

N

D

O

M

I

N

E

E

R

T

H

E

M

E

E

N

S

U

E

R

E

B

A

R

L

E

D

Excuse the graphics but my result is below:

Brighton being stamped through the stick of rock.

There are a couple of clues I couldn’t parse 13ac and 8dn (Thanks Mike for the explanation) – let me know what they should be and I’ll update.

A nice end game certainly even with my poor artistic talents. Cheers Ferret

Key:

Underline definition; * anagram; Re. reverse

ACROSS

H	4 Go on following or willing to join in? (5, two words)
	Hup (go on) + f (following) + or = UP FOR
E	9 Fast copy of the highest quality (5)
	Ape (copy) + ace (of the highest quality)
N	13 Hand over duck dish (5)
	PILAO
R	14 Old regime abandoned allegiance (8)
	(old regime)* = LIEGEDOM
Y	15 Conservative looking younger with “lively” clothing (6)
	Yr (younger) in peppy (liely) = PREPPY
G	17 Milton’s aims to bottle pure alkenes (8)
	Goles (Milton’s aims) around fine (pure) = OLEFINS
R	18 Someone who informs police about soldier’s mistake (5)
	Rev. Man (soldier) + err (mistake) = NAMER
A	19 Italian migrant left by boat heading to Egypt (5)
	Saic(boat) + e (Egypt) + l (left) = SICEL
H	21 Clever nurses Prince inspired at first birth (8)
	Hal (prince) + I (inspired at first) in natty (clever) = NATALITY
A	23 Plant ecstasy in path of policeman (4)
	Beat (path of policeman) around e(ecstasy) = BEET
M	24 Radical piece from calm Kylie (5)
	Hidden cALM KYLie = ALKYL
G	26 Spanish river goddess has brother (4)
	Ge (goddess) + bro (brother) = EBRO
R	29 Elaborate rite that subsequently admits ordinand (8)
	Later (subsequently) around (rite)* = LITERATE
E	33 Slow and full-toned live track (5)
	Be (live) + road (track) = BROAD
E	34 Former wife found with one’s superior officers in Yeomen of the Guard (5)
	Ex (former wife) + one’s = EXONS
N	36 People who forget foreign names turn about in shame (8)
	(names)* + re(c (about) in sin) = AMNESICS
E	39 Mineral one got initially processing part of earth’s crust (6)
	Ore (mineral) + (one g (initially))* = OROGEN
B	40 Ministers in Cape Town complete pit with business expansion scheme (8)
	Do (complete) + mine (pit) + bes (business expansion scheme) = DOMINEES
O	41 Plant unknown in Thailand habitat (5)
	Y (unknown) in t (Thailand) + home (habitat) = THYME
O	42 Follow nose moving around European Union (5)
	(nose)* + Rev. eu (European union) = ENSUE
K	43 Reinforcing steel rod on ship (5)
	Re(On) + bark (ship) = RE-BAR

DOWN

C	1 One’s mate set up work with policeman (4)
	Cop (policeman) + Re op (work) = OPPO
O	2 Stunted Scottish island in part supports Ulster (6)
	NI (Ulster) + role(part) around I (island) = NIRLIE
N	3 Savage penalty put on Queen by Chancellor (6)
	Fin (penalty) + er (queen) + ce (Chancellor) = FIERCE
N	5 Invalid ran by central spot of a ward (7)
	(ran)* after pupil (central spot) = PUPILAR
E	6 Errol maybe fashionable American name, not forgotten (5)
	Fly (fashionable) + n (name) + ne (Not forgotten) = FLYNN
C	7 French department against leaving Ionesco out (4)
	(Ionesco – on (against)* = OISE
T	8 Tea’s fresh parts go rancid (6)
	(teas)* in try (go) = REASTY
T	9 Spy again for Pope maybe (4)
	Agent (spy) = AGEN
O	10 Trouble with Islamic leader cut by half in Paris (5, two words)
	Ado (trouble) + emir (Islamic leader) – r = ADEMI
F	11 Lust after common old man’s feet (5)
	Cove (man old British slang) + ft (feet) = COVET
O	12 Beginning to steal from me upset you briefly (6)
	Rev. Rob (steal) + me + yo (you briefly) = EMBRYO
R	16 Hollow hexagonal rare Byzantine coin (5)
	(hl (hollow hexagonal) + rare)* = HALER
M	20 Giants once did battle with abstract being (5)
	Met (did battle with) + ens (abstract being) = ETENS
S	22 Able tars misspelt AB (7)
	(able tars)* = ALBERTA
T	23 Melt tellurium mineral (6)
	Blend (melt) + te (tellurium) = BLENDE
I	25 Enclosure surrounds most of old fortification (6)
	Aged – d (most of old) in Lair (enclosure) = LAAGER
C	27 Live gadfly climbing under one roll (6)
	Be (live)+ re. Cleg (gadfly) after I (one) = BEIGEL
K	28 Crake ripped up most excellent cluster of flowers (6)
	(crake)* + me (most excellent) = RACEME
O	30 Io receiving letter about ruler of the Lapiths (5)
	Io around xi (letter) + on (about) = IXION
F	31 Kick overturned case of malodorous Gordon’s empties (5)
	Re. foot (kick) + ms (case of malodorous) = TOOMS
R	32 Cast iron and bronze ring for poet (5)
	(iron)* + br (bronze) = INORB
O	35 Sound French river (4)
	Saone (French river) = SANE
C	37 Old person in E Africa regularly camped outside Zaire’s borders (4)
	CaMpEd around Ze (Zaire’s borders) = MZEE
K	38 Sendak novel in need of a cut (4)
	(Sendak – a)* = SNED