The three Mephisto setters have put their heads together for this special occasion. In each row, one clue’s wordplay and grid entry both fail to account for one or two letters, producing twelve numbers with an appropriate total. Numbers in brackets are lengths of grid entries.
From that we can deduce that:
All the down clues are normal and represent our best way into the puzzle
6 of the across clues are normal and 12 are special. The special ones include 11A, 17A, 19A, 21A, 27A and 33A.
The special clues contain a definition to a word that is 1 or 2 letters longer than the grid entry. The wordplay defines the grid entry.
The letters removed from the defined word to create the grid entry are most likely drawn from V=5; X=10; L=50; C=100; D=500; K=1,000; M=1,000. The sum of the letters removed is 3,000
My apologies if the blog is a little hurried. On Monday the Secretary of State announced the complete reorganisation of local government in Dorset and that created a lot of work for me. In the blog I’m missing one parsing at 27A and I just haven’t found time to sort it out, but I know you will help me! On edit: Blog now corrected
My thanks to the setters for a fun puzzle
ACROSS
1 Maestro playing out of his skin is a star (5)
ASTER; (aestr)*; anagrist from (m)aestr(o); normal clue
6 Galley recipe one found in plane? (6)
TRIREE; T(R-I)REE; recipe=R; special clue; TRIRE-M-E; M=1,000
11 Seen to need treatment, inside leg being raw (8)
CRUENESS; CRU(seen)*S; CRUS=leg; special clue; CRU-D-ENESS; D=500; sum=1,500
13 Fabric covering a penetrating beam (6)
RAPERY; RA(PER)Y; special clue; D-RAPERY; D=500; sum=2,000
14 Close search, mostly during breaks (5)
FINIS; F(IN)IS(h); normal clue
15 Name behind Australian rock (5)
ACITE; A-CITE; special clue; D-ACITE; D=500; sum=2,500
16 Stall wrapping bargain for wrinkly (6)
RUGOSE; RU(GO)SE; normal clue
17 Dry Asian who’s pukka scoffed (7)
DESIATE; DESI-ATE; special clue; DESI-C-C-ATE; C=100; sum=2,700
19 Mike with capital cut suffering with respect to gauging gear (11)
MICROMETRIA; MIC-ROME-TRIA(l); special clue; MICROMETRI-C-A-L; C=100; L=50; sum=2,850
21 Hear angelic playing here, perhaps (11, two words)
CARNEGIE,HAL; (here angelic)*; special clue; CARNEGIE HAL-L; L=50; sum=2,900
27 Seeing that twinkling within parents of dependent young (7)
ATRICES; A(TRICE)S; special clue; A-L-TRICES; L=50; sum=2,950
29 Teuchter’s topper thrice stuck by touch of industrial detergent (6)
LIIIUM; L(I-I-I)UM; touch of industrial=I; special clue; LI-X-I-V-IUM; X=10; V=5; sum=2,965
30 Lace designer of Victorian era losing money (5)
ORRIS; (m)ORRIS; normal clue;
31 Whale coming to island — one has crossed the Pacific (5)
ISSEI; IS-SEI; whale=SEI; normal clue;
32 Remove soil from disgusting Siamese cat! (Miss terribly put off) (6)
ECAATE; (Siamese cat – miss)*; special clue; E-X-CA-V-ATE; X=10; v=5; sum=2,980
33 Eager worker going after record, a shocking experience (8)
EPECTANT; EP-ECT-ANT; special clue; E-X-PECTANT; X=10; sum=2,990
34 Monastic group that’s observed outside part of church? (6)
SCREEN; S(CR)EEN; CR=Community of the Resurrection; normal clue;
35 Chemical explosive with forcefulness, not half! (5)
HEENE; HE-ENE(rgy); special clue; HE-X-ENE; X=10; sum=3,000
DOWN
1 A beard must scrape (6)
ABRADE; (a beard)*;
2 Second fast bowler may be someone out of this world (8)
SPACEMAN; S-PACEMAN
3 So much the worse — National Trust destroyed old arras? (5)
TAPIS; TA(N-T)-PIS;
4 Medicine futile ultimately with this person twitching (6)
EMETIC; (futil)E-ME-TIC;
5 Plants in magic pot vary unexpectedly, five dying (11)
CRYPTOGAMIA; (magic pot vary – v)*;
7 Escaper breaking free with ‘eavy load (7)
REFUGEE; (free)* surrounds (h)UGE;
8 Early English architect’s design initially coming out of the blue (5)
INIGO; IN(d)IGO; d from d(esign);
9 US city’s Irish painter (6)
RENOIR; RENO-IR;
10 Earl being given vote (5)
ESSEX; ESSE-X; being=ESSE;
12 European dismissal in turn sadly not stopping (11)
UNREMITTENT; (turn)* surrounds E-MITTEN; dismissal=MITTEN;
18 Exaggerate point, possibly involving silly lie? (8, three words)
PILE,IT,ON; (point)* surrounds (lie)*;
20 What’s needed is missing return (7)
REQUITE; REQU(is)ITE;
22 Huckleberry Finn, say, is for foot — it’s uplifting (6)
RAISER; replace FT in RAFTER by IS;
23 Heart of this madness is cost of borrowing for Kiwi (6)
HIRAGE; (t)HI(s)-RAGE;
24 Retired Jew by nature not cold (6)
ESSENE; ESSEN(c)E;
25 Floor that is small part of theatre (5)
FLIES; FL-IE-S;
26 Relative is careless about what winds up some (5)
NIECE; NI(E)CE; E from (som)E;
28 College fell for fad (5)
CRAZE; C-RAZE
The problem you have with 27ac, Jim, is 17ac. There are two Cs in DESICCATE, so you only need L to give you ALTRICES: ‘birds whose young are hatched very immature and have to be fed in the nest by the parents’.
Edited at 2018-03-04 10:40 am (UTC)
M, D, D, D, CC, CL, L, L, XV, XV, X, X
So for Row 4 the omitted numeral had to be between D and CC (500 to 200 inclusive).
I too found this great fun and would like to see more like it.